that fishermen shall have their fish for bait at the same rate that others have at the wears, and be first served." "The property of Governor Cradock, invested at Medford for fishing and other purposes," was large. Mr. Savage says, "He maintained a small plantation for fishing at Mistick, in the present bounds of Malden, opposite to Winthrop's farm, at Ten Hills." Complaint was made by our fishermen of a law, passed by Plymouth Colony, which laid a tax of five shillings. on "every share of fish" caught by strangers" at the Cape. From all that we can gather, we conclude that Mr. Cradock had invested as much as fifteen thousand dollars, which in various trade here must have made Medford a thriving and populous plantation for an infant settlement. The fishing business continued for fifteen or twenty years, but with less and less profit to Mr. Cradock. It was finally abandoned as a failure; and afterwards the river-fishing alone claimed attention. May, 1639: The price of alewives in Medford, at this time, was five shillings per thousand. This made food incredibly cheap. In That Mystic River, as a resort for fish, was early known and greatly valued, appears from many testimonies. Josselyn's account of his two voyages to New England (1638) we have the following record: "The river Mistick runs through the right side of the town (Charlestown), and, by its near approach to Charles River in one place, makes a very narrow neck, where stands most part of the town. The market-place, not far from the water-side, is surrounded with houses." In Mystic River were "bass, shad, alewives, frost-fish, and smelts." Josselyn says, "We will return to Charlestown again, where the river Mistick runs on the north side of the town (that is, the right side, as before said), where, on the north-west side, is the town of Mistick, three miles from Charlestown, a league and a half by water, a scattered village. At the head of this river are great and spacious ponds, full of alewives in the spring-time; the notedest place. for this sort of fish." This quotation from Josselyn, while it goes to prove that bass, shad, and alewives were no strangers in our rivers, shows likewise that the population of our town was then settled chiefly between the two brick houses now standing, and that the place was called Mistick. The "Wear or Fishing Dam in Medford was at the outlet of the Pond; and, as our river was "the notedest place" for fish in the early days of our plantation, we presume that the "seine, being a net sent to fish with," was the first seine ever drawn in its waters, and the first drawn on this continent. This was probably in 1631; and the first draught was doubtless an event of liveliest interest, of raw wonder, and exceeding joy. If any web or filament of that pioneer "seine" had come down to us, it would be fitting for the town, in the year 1881, to parade it as the banner, and under it to unite in celebrating the fifth fishermen's jubilee on the river. June 6, 1639: "It is ordered that all wears shall be set open from the last day of the week, at noon, till the second day in the morning." Johnson, in his "Wonder-working Providence," says, "The Lord is pleased to provide for them great store of fish in the spring-time, and especially alewives, about the bigness of a herring. Many thousands of these they use to put under their Indian corn.' Had Mr. Cradock's letters to his agents in Medford been preserved, we should certainly have in them a complete history of the fishing establishment he maintained here, and probably a comparative estimate of sea and river fishing. The introduction of the drag-net, in 1631, when Mystic River was full of fish, was an example that would be followed more and more, as proper seines could be knit and easy markets secured. The narrowness of the river, the steepness of its banks, its freedom from rocks, and its many convenient landing-places, rendered net-fishing easy and cheap. It settled down into a regular business, and any one had a right to pursue it. We have no account of the intermittent run of certain fish, as witnesssd in our time; but presume it may not have been so remarkable then, when dams and waterwheels had not impeded or frightened the finny adventurers, or when filth and poisons had not made their highways dangerous. We think it will be found that several species of fish will have periodic returns to places which they have left for many years. Acts of legislation have not been wanting by our town or State; but the fish care nothing about votes. The first mention of specific action by the town, as such, is dated Jan. 18, 1768, when it was voted "to petition the General Court concerning the fishery in this town." March 3, 1768: Mr. Benjamin Hall and others petition the General Court "for liberty to draw with seines, at two different places in Mistick River, three days in a week." This petition was not acted upon for some years. The next act of the General Court, touching this prolific trade in Medford, was in Feb. 16, 1789, and was as follows: "An act to prevent the destruction of fish called shad and alewives in Mystic River, so called, within the towns of Cambridge, Charlestown, and Medford, and for repealing all laws heretofore made for that purpose. "Whereas the fishery in Mystic River, in the county of Middlesex, if properly regulated, will be of great public utility, as it serves to promote the cod-fishery, and is also of advantage to the particular towns through which the river runs, affording, in some measure, subsistence and support to the inhabitants thereof, and is therefore necessary to be preserved," &c. - The act provides that each of the three towns is empowered to choose a committee for the preservation of fish, whose duty it shall be to keep out of the river all obstructions to the free ingress of the fish. The act grants to Cambridge the right to fish, within the limits of that town, on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday; and to Charlestown and Medford the right of fishing, within the limits of those towns, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from the first of March to the last day of June. Penalty for each violation of the law, three pounds. In this act, the right of each inhabitant to fish is recognized and secured. If persons from other towns should either stop or catch fish in this river, they shall each be fined three pounds for every such offence; and the committee shall have power to arrest them, and sell their seines, dragnets, marsh-nets, baskets, or any other implements used by them. "This act to be in use five years, and no longer." Immediately on the passage of this act, the town proceeded, April 2, 1798, to a new step, indicated in the following vote: "Voted that the town will let out their fishinggrounds to the highest bidder the present year." While this vote was based upon the original right of the town to the fisheries within its borders, some minor questions arose, which led the inhabitants, at the same meeting, to choose a committee to inquire into the rights of the town to the fishing-grounds. The result was, that, Jan. 21, 1803, the town "voted that a petition be presented to the General Court, at their present session, to enable the town to let out the right of taking fish in Mystic River, within the limits of the town." The Legislature granted the petition; and Medford then divided the fishing districts thus: "First, from Charlestown and Malden line to Medford Bridge; second, from the bridge to the beach opposite James Tufts's barn; third, from the above-named beach to the Charlestown line westerly." Among the earliest fishermen were John Cutter, Jonathan Tufts, and Benjamin Teel. In 1803, Cutter paid sixty-five dollars, Tufts thirteen dollars, and Teel thirteen dollars, for the right of fishing. John Cutter fished near the "Dike," or "Labor in Vain; Isaac Tufts fished from the Bridge to Rock Hill; and Captain Samuel Teel and his nephew, from Rock Hill to the Pond. The names of the fishermen are seldom given in the records. Charles, Simon, and Seth Tufts are there. In 1812, the fishermen paid one hundred dollars for the right. The average, for twenty years, has been two hundred and fifty dollars. In accordance with the decision of the Legislature, the town voted, March 14, 1803, to sell their right of fishing in Mystic River. It was sold for ninety-one dollars, at public auction. The next year it was sold, in the same manner, for one hundred and six dollars: and this equitable mode of disposing of it became established; and the premium offered continued for several years to increase. The vote of the town was generally thus, as in March 1, 1824: "Voted that the selectmen be appointed a committee to dispose of the privilege of taking shad and alewives within the limits of said town the ensuing season." In 1855, Joseph L. Wheeler bought the "upper reach," from Marble Brook to the Pond, for $27.50 per annum; and James Rogers bought the "lower reach," from Marble Brook to the eastern border of the town, for $122.50 per annum. annual sales have lately been less than $200. The The shad and alewives were abundant till 1815 or 1820, when they began gradually to withhold their visits. A writer says, that, about the year 1800, it was common to take fifteen hundred shad annually at "Little River" (near Fresh Pond); but that, in 1852, there was not one taken; and that, proportionally, a similar statement might be made concerning alewives. Nothing can frighten alewives; but the shad is an exceedingly shy and timid fish. Its disappearance from our river is therefore attributed to the terrific noises made by railroad cars, as they cross the Mystic at Charlestown. The largest number of alewives taken by one draught from Mystic River was in 1844; and they counted some few more than fiftyeight thousand! We once saw taken, by one draught from this river, shad sufficient to fill six horse-carts. In Mystic River the bass have wholly disappeared; though there are those living who remember to have seen them plenty, and some of them weighing more than thirty pounds. In 1776, a negro, named Prince, was at work on the bank of the river, opposite the shallow where the ford was, a few rods above the bridge, when he saw an enormous bass swimming very slowly up the river. The tide was inconveniently low for the bass, but conveniently low for the negro. Plunge went Prince for the fish, and caught him! No sooner was he out of water than a desperate spring, such as fishes can give, released him from his captor; and back he falls into his native element. Quick as a steel-trap, Prince springs upon him again, and again clutches him and lifts him up. The fish struggles; and Prince and fish fall together. Again Prince rises, with his prize in his arms, and then brings him ashore. It weighed sixty-five pounds. Prince thought that such a wonderful fish should be presented to the commander of the American forces then stationed on Winter Hill. His master thought so too. Accordingly, Prince dressed himself in his best clothes, and, taking the fish in a cart, presented it to the commander, and told the history of its capture; and the commander gave him six cents! The shad, of late years, have not been abundant; only forty or fifty taken during a season. The number of alewives has also greatly diminished; and the town receives about one hundred and fifty dollars by selling its right of fishing through the year. Smelts continue to make their annual spring visit in undiminished numbers; and when, for noblest ends, they stealthily enter our creeks and little streams, they are watched by the hungry boys, who, for sport or profit, drive them into their scoop-nets by dozens. In this town, they do not let enough escape to keep the race alive; and if, in all other towns, they were so destroyed, this beautiful and delicious fish would become extinct among us. The greatest draught - by a certain nameless boy, fifty years ago-numbered sixty-three. They were taken from Marble, or Meetinghouse, Brook. |