the first legal action was taken in the February town meeting of 1906,
when a committee of five men: Geo. W. Jones, Charles S. Burgess, Asa
L. Pattee, Nathan S. Ellis and Charles A. Robinson were appointed to
look into the matter and carry out the wishes of the town.
Joseph Walsh was our representative in Boston, and presided at the
meeting, acting as moderator.
Heman A. Harding, then senator from the Cape district, acted as
legal adviser for the State.
There were many meetings of the committee and interested citizens,
and among the latter A.W. Goodness, A.B. Clough and W.E.A. Clough
were untiring in their efforts and were largely responsible for the
success of the project.
On January 20, 1907, the Harbor and Land Commissioners called for a
hearing "for building jetties and dredging to make a boat harbor at
Deacon's Pond, Falmouth."
The first plan was drawn by Frank W. Hodgdon in September, 1907.
The first appropriation made for the cost was $25,000 from the State
and $10,000 from the Town.
The lower part of the land dredged was purchased on July 13, 1804,
from Abram and Lois Bowerman by Watson Jenkins, Joseph Mayhew,
Stephen Davis, Consider Hatch and Joseph Davis, Jr., and used as a
site for salt works by the whole or part of them. On August 1, 1805,
the same Abram and Lois Bowerman deeded additional land to Joseph
Davis, Jr., and on June 17, 1816, the same parties sold more land to
Nymphas Davis, the son of Joseph, Jr.
As Joseph Davis, Sr., the father of Joseph, Jr., was then a deacon
in the Congregational church, the name was gradually changed from
the old name of "Bowerman's Pond" to "the deacon's pond" and it
finally became Deacon's Pond. Later, when the name did not locate
the harbor sufficiently, it was officially changed to "Falmouth
Inner Harbor."
There were formerly two outlets from the pond into Vineyard Sound,
and some of the old deeds refer to the East and West rivers. There
was also a ditch across the marsh, probably through the land now
owned by Edward Gallagher.
In 1870-1 the land about the pond and also "Great Hill" was sold by
George H. Davis, the son of Nymphas Davis, to the Falmouth Land and
Wharf Company, and remained in its possession several years, later
becoming the property of G. Edward Smith, the president of the
company.
In 1888 Mr. Smith sold the beach, extending from the line of the
Falmouth Wharf Company west to the land now covered by the harbor,
to George H. Davis.
One of the old rivers had long since been filled and the other
changed its course so often through the beach that the town was
obliged to set stone posts to define the middle line and establish a
definite boundary.
When the land was finally acquired by the State, the channel was cut
through the land of the widow of George H. Davis on the eastern side
and a small triangular piece on the western side belonging to
Henrietta F. Goodnow.
On February, 18, 1909, the harbor and Land Commissioners advertised
another hearing in regard to the "Improvement of Deacon's Pond Harbor"
and still another on February 24, 1910.
After these hearings had been held and improvements made, the
channel was wide and deep enough to permit schooners to enter.
However, the sand drifted in and on March 11, 1911, there was
another hearing called in regard to removing a "shoal at the
entrance to the harbor" and about 32,000 cubic feet of earth was
then removed.
Since then other deepenings have been made until now, during the
summer season, it is a common sight to see some sixty boats of all
descriptions lying in the water.
In 1921 the harbor was further improved by extending the jetty on
the west side about 200 feet into Vineyard Sound.
BASS RIVER
There's a gently flowing river,
Bordered by whispering trees,
That ebbs and flows in Nobscussett
And winds through Mattacheese.
Surely the Indian loved it
In the ages so dim and gray,
River beloved of the Pale Face
Who dwell near its banks today.
Lovely it lies in the moonlight,
A silver scroll unrolled,
And glorious when the sunset
Turns it to molten gold.
Yet we love it when the mist clouds
Hang over it like a pall;
No less when the hand of the Frost King
Holds it in icy thrall.
In all of its moods and changes
We joy in its billows salt,
With the deep strong love of a lover
Blinded to every fault.
Always its gleaming beauty
Raises our thoughts from the clod;
Up, up to the crystal river,
That flows from the Throne of God.
They pass on,--the generations,--
Thou stayest, while men depart;
They go with thy lovely changes
Shrined in each failing heart.
Beautiful old Bass River!
Girt round with murmuring trees;
Long wilt thou flow in Nobscussett.
And wander through Mattacheese.
ARETHUSA.
* * * * *
A CORRECTION
The article in our May issue, "Automobile Tour of Cape Cod," was
written before the advent of automobiles to Nantucket, and therefore
did not take account of the fact that autos are now not only allowed
but plentiful there. The fact that the article was not up to date
escaped the attention of the editor.
CAPE CODE NOTES
The Harwich Independent says: Indications are that the coming
summer will be another record breaker along our shores. A big
building boom is on in cottages now under construction, and we are
to have new comers from New York, Boston, and other places. Cottages
for rental are being rapidly taken.
* * * * *
Artist George Elmer Browne left America for France the first of May
with a class of 40 pupils. Mrs. Browne and Miss Hallett will
accompany him for the summer. Provincetown will miss the Brownes
this summer, but wishes them a pleasant and successful season abroad.
* * * * *
Charles A. Atwood, night operator in the Sagamore telephone exchange,
has been awarded a Theodore N. Vail medal for his services on the
occasion of a night fire in the building where the exchange is
located, March 27, 1921, when he made his way through the smoke to
the switchboard and gave the alarm first to the Keith Car Works and
next to the local fire chief. After that he was overcome by the smoke,
and the staircase was on fire when he was revived. He got back into
the operating room after that and remained on duty the rest of the
night.
* * * * *
William Ellis and his son George were hunting driftwood along the
beach in the neighborhood of Peaked Hill bars, at the Provincetown
end and came on a sack lying in the tidewash, which was found to
contain 200 pounds of gamboge. It is thought their find came from
the wreck of the ship Peruvian, which met its fate on those shoals
Dec. 26, 1872, as no other vessel has since been wrecked there which
had gamboge as a part of its cargo. The gamboge was said to be in
perfect condition, in spite of its long immersion in the sea water.
Gamboge is a resin, orange red in color, but yellow when in powder
form. It was used in medicine as an emetic and artists, especially
those using water colors will recall it as a yellow pigment.
* * * * *
Dr. B.D. Eldredge of Harwich passed his 90th birthday on Monday, May
1st. This extreme age has dealt very lightly with the Doctor whose
general appearance is much the same as when many years younger, but
his step and carriage show some infirmity. He is destined to add
another decade of life, and the many congratulatory greetings
extended to him by friends voiced that prediction. Doctor Eldredge
is still in professional practice.
* * * * *
The "Emperor Jones," Eugene G. O'Neill's, of Provincetown, drama, has
been produced in Boston. The Provincetown players may be said to have
done themselves well by presenting as a maiden effort in Boston, this
play by O'Neill in which Charles Gilpin plays the leading role. "The
Emperor Jones" is O'Neill's first offering to Boston theatre world
although he learned his trade at Prof. Baker's Harvard 47 Workshop.
* * * * *
In a stock judging contest at the Massachusetts Agricultural College,
Amherst, recently, Lawrence High School of Falmouth won second place,
scoring 1100 out of a possible 1200 points. Eight teams competed in
the contest, with 54 competitors for individual prizes. The team from
the Lawrence High School was composed of Arthur Briggs, Edward Briggs
and Harold Dushane, and these young men are to be congratulated upon
their ability as judges of live stock. They deserve special credit
for the reason that the other teams competing were selected from much
larger schools than Lawrence High. Mr. Williams, who is taking the
place of Mr. Hawkes as agricultural instructor, accompanied the boys
to Amherst, the party making the trip by auto.
A DELAYED LETTER
In looking over some old manuscripts the other day the editor came
across the following letter which is so full of longing for the
country of the writer's ancestry that we publish it herewith, just
as it was written in 1918:
Denver, Colorado.
"A state of Maine man, Mr. Dana, has just handed me a copy of your
magazine of December, 1917. Because I am a Cape Codder marooned in
the Rocky Mountains for 40 years, though I started to run away to sea
when I was 8 years old--man proposes, God disposes. I read it through
from stem to gudgeon including the poetry and the advertisements. My
ancestor, Thomas Baxter, Yarmouth, Mass., married the daughter of
Capt. John Gorham, Temperance Gorham Sturgis, widow of Edmund
Sturgis, Jr., Jan. 26, 1879. He was a lieutenant under Capt. John
Gorham in the great swamp fight, King Philip's war, and that part of
Maine (then Massachusetts) called Gorham, was set off to them for
services against the Narragansett Indians.
"With such ancestry, followed by worthy descendants, don't you think
I have a love for Cape Cod sand? Capt. Gorham's wife was Desire
Howland, daughter of John Howland of the Mayflower and the first son
of Thomas, John Baxter, married Desire Gorham, June 11, 1706, and
with his two brothers built the old mill at Hyannis of which it is
sung:
"The Baxter boys they built a mill,
And when it went, it never stood still.
And when it went it made no noise,
Because 'twas built by Baxter's boys."
"I hope to pass my last years in my cottage in South Dennis and to
quote from Edna Howes' poem on page 23, entitled 'Who's Worrin'?'
"Cod and haddock, boned and white,
A drying on their flakes,
There's none can beat the cod fish balls
That mother only makes.
And clams and quahogs, scallops, too,
A layin' close at hand
A waitin' and a longin'
To be dug from out the sand."
"My word, Edna, you make my mouth water!
"On page 11 you say that no Canadian lynx or wild cat has been seen
on the Cape for 100 years. Make it about 50 years instead, because
there was a catamount in South Yarmouth woods in 1867 and I think I
saw it--and I could prove it if George Thatcher was alive and had
his memory with him.
"How I would enjoy being out in a cat boat off Hyannis, or Dennisport,
or North Dennis. Say! if the bluefish haven't been all caught by the
time I get there I will certainly try my luck. I would rather catch
rock cod, or perch, or tautog, than fill a creel with brook trout,
under any conditions, any day in the year; but then you don't care,
and I don't care if you don't--but I do."
Yours truly,
JOHN N. BAXTER.
A MILLION QUARTS OF STRAWBERRIES
Cape Cod strawberries are destined to become as famous as her
cranberries, her fishing, and her renown as a summer resort. One
million quarts of them left her fields the past season! And the
industry is still growing!
Cape Cod leads New England in the magnitude of this industry and
Falmouth holds the honor of being the home of the Cape Cod
strawberry.
There are in Falmouth something over two hundred acres in
strawberries, and these acres extend over an area of between six and
seven square miles. The berries for the most part are grown on land
cleared from woods within the past fifteen years. New land is being
cleared each season and the territory is becoming more and more
extensive, the industry expanding and Falmouth as a specialized
farming center more and more prominent.
The sturdy pioneers of this industry in Falmouth are Portuguese
people who drifted to the section from nearby industrial centers
like New Bedford and Fall River and who later persuaded their
friends and relatives from across the sea to join them in this land
of plenty. They are splendid people, hard working, thrifty and
industrious, and make most excellent citizens. Although but few have
had the opportunity to attend school, they are most intelligent
farmers, ready and willing to adopt methods that will financially
improve their business. The majority are, however, limited in land
area and many times are obliged to crop their small farms to excess,
for strawberries are the main cash crop, and very few who have more
recently come here have the necessary funds to acquire much land or
equipment. The acreage in berries will vary from one-half an acre to
four acres. Cultural methods are practically all hand work. The land
is cleared by hand, plants set and runners placed by hand, fertilizer
applied by hand, hand hoed, hand weeded and naturally hand picked.
The rows are set 4-1/2 to 5 feet apart, plants 14 to 15 inches in the
row. The matted row system is used, but instead of allowing runners
to set at will, each one is placed. The beds are raised six inches,
rows when fully set are from 3-1/2 to 4 feet wide. Pine needles are
used for a mulch mainly because they were handy at first, clean of
weeds and easy to apply, but the pine needle is getting more and
more obsolete, like the tallow candle, and unless the grower changes
his method of mulching or else uses a motor truck and goes a long
distance he is out of luck in the future.
The industry has seen hard times and about six years ago it was
doubtful if it could survive. Growers were working as individuals
and selling their berries and buying their fertilizer, crates and
baskets. It was not uncommon for one grower to ship his season's
crop to as many as seven or eight different commission houses. This
all led to confusion. The commission man could not depend on a
steady and sure supply. By splitting up a crop in this way the
grower actually competed with himself. Finally, by necessity, he was
forced to combine with his neighbor and pool a common interest. The
growers were guided into a co-operative association, to a large
degree, by the assistance of Mr. Wilfrid Wheeler, then Secretary of
the State Board of Agriculture.
Mr. George C. Lillie was employed as manager, and right from the
start the association rallied and has been gaining ground ever since.
At present this association, known as the Cape Cod Strawberry
Growers' Association, numbers ninety-eight men. They are
incorporated, hold shares in the association, and sell their berries
through one commission house instead of seven or eight.
There are two grades of berries sold, only one of which carries the
association stamp. Each member has a number which is placed on his
crate and about 80 per cent of the crop is shipped under the stamp
of the association. The members are paid on Wednesdays and Saturdays
during the shipping season. They also pool their fertilizer order of
over 200 tons, as well as that for crates and baskets. Payment for
these commodities are deducted from returns on the berries. Last
season the association shipped about seventy carloads of berries.
This is probably over two-thirds of the entire output for Falmouth.
Each car holds about 170 80-quart crates, and practically half are
shipped in iced cars. The berries leave Falmouth at 9 p.m. and
arrive in Boston at 6 a.m. They are there distributed to various
points, some going, we understand, as far north as Bangor, Maine.
The varieties grown are Echo, Howard 17, Abington and King Edward.
The first named are more common, but indications point to a rapid
change to the Howard 17. The Echo berry has proved a splendid variety
for this section, as it stands up so well under shipment. The Howard
17 is nearly as good a shipper, but considered a better quality berry
and does nicely on our Cape soils. The picking season is from three
to four weeks. Pickers are usually paid 2 cents a quart, and a good
picker will make from $3 to $4 a day. Five thousand quarts is
considered a fair yield per acre for the section.
The members of the association do not put all their eggs in one
basket, however. They grow besides strawberries, turnips, corn,
potatoes, carrots and raspberries for cash crops. Turnips follow
strawberries in volume and last fall the members shipped about
twenty-five carloads.--_Falmouth Enterprise_.