As most of us know, this past weekend was the 89th Mattapoisett River Race. Begun by Rochester’s Jim Hartley as a project for his 4H group, the race down the river from Grandma Hartley’s Reservoir became a yearly event. When William Watling became the Herring inspector for Rochester, he realized that debris in the river made passage difficult for the herring and coincidentally, for the boat racers.
He was the founder of Alewives Anonymous, which like the boat race continues today. The two have become closely allied with the President of Alewives Anonymous, Art Benner, along with others (including the race’s sponsor the Rochester Fire Dept.) clearing the river and organizing many aspects of the race prior to the Memorial Day event.
Recently, I came across a document at the museum, which highlights the historical importance of alewives (herring.) The document is a water control agreement from 1805. The agreement is between a committee appointed by the town of Rochester and Nathaniel Hammond and Abel Howes, owners of the Hammond Gristmill “known by the name of Hammond Mill” and located on the Mattapoisett River.
While the owners of the mill along with their heirs have exclusive right to the control of the water at the Hammond Dam (associated with the mill) the agreement states that they “are to furnish & provide sufficient passageway for the fish called Alewives to pass up & down said river through said Dam forever and after Commencement of the first day of April until the twenty fifth day of May annually every year after the date hereof forever the said passageway to be fifteen feet wide and be simeler(sic) to the one now in use which was made by Jonathan Church”.
It goes on to say that the passageway should be kept in the “same place where the one is now” and it is “to lay four feet & three inches below the surface of the water on the upper side of said Dam. During the said term from the said Twenty fifth of May said passageway shall be kept open the fish may have a free and uninterrupted passage through said Dam and all Mills on said Dam are to stop going during said time”. For agreeing to these conditions, the mill’s owners would receive a “sum of money equal to one eighth part of the amount of the sales of privileges of taking said fish”.
Today the mills are gone and unfortunately, so are many of the herring. However, both the boat race and Alewives Anonymous continue and with them the hope for an increase of “fish called alewives.” The picture with this article, also from the museum files, is of Bob Sherman and Cliff Vaughan, the race winners in 1957.
By Connie Eshbach