USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 67
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These laws grew up one by one. and at first were misunder- stood and willfully disregarded on all sides. Between New York and New Jersey, in the persons of the Staten Islanders and Jerseymen, there were constant quarrels, and even open war, now and then, owing to alleged infringements of the vague boundary line, by one party or the other. If one side
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
thought they discovered that an oysterman from the opposite shore was placing his oysters within their waters, they felt no hesitancy or compunction in at once raking his stock up, claim- ing that he had no right to this ground, and consequently the oysters lie had bought and placed there were public plunder. Arrests for larceny would follow, tedious imprisonments en- sile, armed guards patrol the domains of the respective states, a few men get shot, perhaps, and much trouble to the whole community be caused. The accusation was constantly being made, also, chiefly by the penniless and shiftless, against pros- perous planters, that natural-growth ground had been staked off and was being used privately, to the detriment of the general welfare of the community. Then, too, there were plenty of persons who altogether disputed any rights of property in planted oysters, and failed by their conduct to recognize the law which said there were such rights.
The home resources along the shores of Staten Island, in York bay and the North river, having long ago been exhausted, or greatly depleted, the planters in Prince's bay and on the Jersey shore now get "seed " oysters with which to stock their beds wherever they can. The chief source is Newark bay and Raritan river, though the North and East rivers and Long Island sound are drawn upon. A considerable quantity of seed is brought from as far away as Fair Haven and Blue Point. In most cases the planters themselves gather what they use, by going after it in their own sloops, taking a small boat and a man to help.
During the war of the rebellion, when the southern fields were cut off from the northern markets to a great extent, the Staten Island planters reaped a rich harvest. Their beds were unusually productive, and the prices were double what they now are, in many cases. At present the receipts are about the same as liave prevailed for several years, except that the season of 1878-79, following upon a period of financial depression, and characterized by misfortune in the growth of the mollusks, showed lower rates paid than ever before or since. Prices de- pend largely upon the quality of the different beds, and vary with localities. Virginia oysters from Prince's bay are consid- ered the best. Of natives, those grown in the sound are favor- ites; tliese supplied a large part of the shipments to Europe in 1879-80, and gave better satisfaction than any others sent.
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Perth Amboy and Keyport were the packing points. The prices received by the planters for the different kinds of Staten Island oysters in 1879 were from ten to twenty per cent. less than the previous year, np to which time the price for a long time had averaged one dollar per bushel, taking all grades and sizes together. In the fall and winter of 1879-80. however, lots sold at one dollar were rare, and the average price of "Sounds" and the best "Prince's Bays" (natives) did not average over eighty or ninety cents, while Tottenville oysters, with few exceptions, failed to come up to this even, seventy- five to eighty cents being reported for the most part.
The oyster interests of New York bay are the livelihood of a considerable number of people, though it is probable that the population at present supported by them is reduced at least a quarter from the total of ten years ago. All the inhabitants of the southern half of Staten Island may be called oystermen, since many of then have invested a little in the beds in some shape, or work more or less on hire for the regular growers. Exactly how many real planters there are on the island it wonld be difficult to learn; they are scattered everywhere, but chiefly live at Pleasant Plains, Tottenville, Rossville and Chelsea. On the north shore live many New York merchants, like the Van Names, etc., who plant sonthern oysters almost entirely. Their capital, also, with that of many other New York dealers whose names do not appear, aids a large number of ontside planters who are, in fact, only managers of the under-water estates which they apparently own and operate. This is not deroga- tory to their personal worth or dignity, but only one of the methods of trade, shaped by peculiarities of the law bearing upon the subject. By the operations in oyster culture in and about Staten Island, the number of families wholly supported is estimated to be somewhat as follows : At Prince's bay, fifty; at Tottenville, seventy-five; remainder of Staten Island, twenty- five.
The total products of Staten Island beds during the season of 1879-80, was about as follows: This ennmerates only the native oysters. About 15,000 bushels a year of sonthern oysters were planted around Staten Island; at Prince's bay, 50,000 bushels; by Tottenville planters, 55,000; by Chelsea planters, 25,000.
We append the following abstract from the report of Fish
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Commissioner Blackford, in charge of the oyster investigation, made to the legislature of New York in 1885, pertaining to the oyster interests of Staten Island.
"Most of the lands under water which surround Staten Is- land were well supplied, early in the present century, with large beds of excellent oysters, but at the present time the only lo- cality where natural beds of any account are to be found is upon the west side of the island from the neighborhood of Newark bay along the Kill Von Kull to the 'Sound,' or Rari- tan bay. The northern and northeastern portions of the island were never as well furnished with oysters as were the other sec- tions, on account of the rough nature of the bottom, but even this meager supply has been destroyed by the garbage and other miscellaneous nuisances which for many years past have been dumped or poured into the upper bay, or such oysters as are to be found there at present have been rendered useless as food, as their flavor has been ruined. The largest beds were formerly to be found in the neighborhood of Prince's and Rari- tan bays, where quite extensive areas were worked with profit to the local oystermen. As already stated, there are still lo- calities in Raritan bay, or the Sonnd, as it is called by the oystermen, where considerable quantities of oysters, prin- cipally small seedlings, can be obtained from the natural beds, But these beds are none of them in New York waters. In Prince's bay, and from this part of Staten Island out toward Sandy Hook, there are at the present time practically no natural growth beds, all of the beds which originally covered an important por- tion of the bottom of this section of the bay having been en- tirely exhausted by continuous and merciless working, and the territory thus dennded has been claimed and staked out as ground for planting. It is true that on the softer bottom of the bay at some distance out from the shores of the island, where as yet little, if any, claim for planting ground has been made, there are to be found some few scattered oysters, and there are some beds of fair size in the ship channels leading out to sea, but as a rnle all that part of the bottom which during colo- niał times and later furnished great quantities of oysters, is now claimed as private property and protected from all outside work - ers. Visits were made in the 'Lookout' to this section of the state waters on the 15th, and again on the 24th, of September, and a large and enthusiastic meeting of the oystermen of the
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southern part of Staten Island was held at Pepper's hall, in the village of Tottenville, on Monday, the 8th of December. During the visits with the 'Lookout' dredgings were made on quite a number of the planted beds and also on that portion of the bay outside of the line of staked lands. As a rule the planted beds in both Prince's and Raritan bays are of small size, but one man may control a large number of plots, which may be lo- cated at considerable distances from each other, as there ap- pears to be no law for this part of the state regulating the size of the plots, or the number of them which shall be under any one man's control. The accepted rule has been, "first come, first served," and the amount of territory held seems to have been limited only by the ability of the individual to find snit- able locations, and his desire to keep such locations away from his less fortunate neighbors. No public record is kept of any of these private claims and no revenue of any kind is derived from them, either state, county or town. Each oyster planter is a law unto himself and to his neighbors, as to his own claims, and so long as he keeps his plot staked and a small or large quantity of oysters upon his land, the courts, by mutual consent, uphold his claims to the bed. As the law thus only tacitly recognizes these claims, while it offers no protection to the claimants, they, or at least a large number of them, have accordingly formed what is known as the Richmond County Oyster Planting Asso- ciation, for the mutual protection of their beds, and this asso- ciation hires a watchman, or watchmen, who patrol the staked areas and prevent outsiders from accidentally or otherwise lift- ing the plauted crops, or one planter from poaching on another planter's preserves.
" The association is thus, to a certain extent, a close corpora- tion, except that it cannot prevent any resident of the county or state from claiming or staking off any water area not already occupied. The oystermen get rich returns from their invest- ments upon their sub-aqueous territory, and have the bulk of their taxes paid by their neighbors of the upland. So long as the majority of the riparian property owners do not seriously complain, it is not much to be wondered at that not many of the planters are in favor of any changes from the present con- dition of affairs, as regards the amount of land held, of any system of taxation for their property, or of any laws on the part of the state regulating the same. They would be very
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willing to have the state keep outsiders from locating in this vicinity, and also have the state deed or lease them the lands in perpetuity, and protect them from all harassments and injuries, but the most of them do not seem to be willing to give any re- turn for such leasing or protection. There are some, however, who are very outspoken in their opinion that it would only be fair to place a small tax upon each acre of the land held for planting purposes. As regards the amount of land to be held by individuals, most of those examined thought that ten to fifteen acres were as much as any one person could work, although they did not believe in any limitation. Some thought there should be a limit fixed at perhaps ten acres, and one planter was very emphatic in his statement that if a person could not get a good living off from eight acres he could not from eight hundred, and branded the majority of planters as ' hogs,' who wanted all the land they could get hold of, even though they possessed neither the ability nor the means to work all that they might be able to control; they simply wanted to keep the land out of the hands of others. The majority of the planters, on the other hand, claim that it is necessary to have at least three or four plots of ground, since the oysters in this vicinity take from three to five years to arrive at marketable size, and in order to have some ready for market each year a series of plants must be made. Thus, if they nse seed one year old, and they allow this seed to lie five years, they would require at least four plots, one to be seeded each year, until those first planted are ready for market, so that they shall be able to market each season the crop planted four years before. One witness who was examined even went so far as to claim that it was necessary to let the land lie at rest, in order to recuperate, three or four years after any crop had been taken from it, just as if the oysters drew their sustenance from the bottom npon which they lay and thus exhausted it, rather than from the water which was coming and going above the bed. It may be true that the tearing up which the bed receives when the oysters are removed necessitates some slight period of rest in order that the bottom inay settle again, especially when deeply harrowed by dredges or tongs, but undoubtedly much of the loose material stirred up when removing the oysters is carried off by the tides and does not settle back directly npon the beds. If it was indeed necessary to allow three or four years as a resting spell for
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each bed or part of a bed, then surely would the planters of Staten Island need very extensive plots for their planting operations.
"In most cases these planted beds are located at some dis- tance from the shore line of the island, in from eight to thirty feet of water, but some plots extend from the upland directly out for several hundred feet from tide limits. In these latter cases, when a sale of the adjoining upland takes place, the oyster beds may be included in the transfer deed of the property, although legally such disposal of the oyster interests is not recognized. Nevertheless, while the courts would not admit the deed, they would maintain the right of the pur- chaser to the property thus obtained, so long as he worked the land; or in other words, the oysters would be recognized and protected as so much property. Ordinary transfers or sales of oyster beds are mere verbal agreements and accepted by both the individuals, oystermen and the courts. In case of the death of holders of these beds, the beds become the prop- erty of the heirs, provided said heirs continue to work them. If a bed is thrown up for any reason, the first person who desires to take and work it has the privilege of doing so, when, upon staking it in and placing oysters upon it, it again becomes private property. There seems to be no recognized law or regulation whereby any one can tell when a bed is or is not worked; if it is staked off it must be taken for granted that it is in use, and if no oysters can be found upon it it must be taken for granted that the planter is allowing it to 'recuperate,' and that he alone is capable of telling how long this resting spell shall continue. Much complaint is heard from this cause on the part of the poorer oystermen, who say that large tracts of land are at the present time held in this manner. These tracts are not worked, and only a boat load or so of oysters are placed upon them. They are simply held for future use, and the 'staking in' prevents others from using them, for even if the oystermen think they are rightfully entitled to work such land when not covered with oysters, they know the uncer- tainty and worry incident to a lawsuit, and as a rule do not interfere with or disturb in any manner the land so claimed.
" The amount of ground now worked is probably much greater than when the main reliance for oysters was upon the natural beds, since ground where no natural growth occurs is
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even better than hard bottom for planting purposes, and much of this kind of bottom is utilized in this vicinity, consequently the number of bushels of oysters put upon the market now is much greater than it was then, as the beds for the most part are well cared for, or at least we found those beds which we examined to be in good condition, although there is a very great difference, even in the same neighborhood. For instance, we made one haul upon a small bed ; the dredge was down two minutes, and the result was three hundred and forty-one oysters of good size and in excellent condition for sale. Upon another bed, within perhaps twenty-five rods of the first, the most we could get at any one haul was seventy-four oysters. The oys- ters from both these places were three to for years old. In another locality, with the dredge down the same length of time, we took up one hundred and seventy oysters from a bed of three years olds, and four hundred and forty-five from a bed where the oysters were only two years old. If the growth of those two year old oysters represented the common growth in this bay of oysters at this age, it would seem hardly neces- sary to leave oysters down for five years in order to get them into fine condition for market, as the extra time would appar- ently give a greater percentage of loss in numbers than the gain would be in size. From several dredgings which we made on the mud outside the staked beds, we were able to obtain but two oysters, showing that the territory which was not taken up was of little value as natural growth ground. The flavor of the oysters from these beds was very good, but they were too salty to suit most palates, The beds are worked mostly with tongs, but in the deeper water dredges are used from either sail boats or steamers, although dredges are not allowed on the natural grounds in this part of the State.
" Before being sent to market the oysters are taken to the neighborhood of Newark bay or along the Kill Von Kull and allowed to remain in fresh water over one tide, for the purpose of freshening them, when they are ready for the purchaser, having been 'drinked' sufficiently in that time. A goodly proportion of the seed for the planted beds is obtained from the ' Sound' and from the Kill Von Kull up to and including New- ark bay. Some is brought from Virginia and Maryland, and some from the East river and Connecticut. Formerly much more seed was brought from the south than is the case at present
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time. There seems to be little choice between the seed from the different sections named, although most of the planters pre- fer the native or the East river seed. Very little seed is found in the immediate vicinity of tlie beds, and no efforts are made by the planters to catch any "set," as they think it a waste of time to make any efforts in this direction, although it seems probable that they might save a good deal of money which is now paid to outside parties, if they would take a little pains and employ some of their leisure moments in arranging suita- ble collectors, and this will undoubtedly be done in time. That seed which comes from outside localities costs from twenty- five cents to one dollar per bushel, according to quality. Among those oysters which were taken up during our cruising with the ' Lookout,' we found a few drills, but not enough to be of any moment, and tlie oystermen do not regard them as a serious trouble, although they destroy all that they catch. At tinies the star fish comes into the region in numbers sufficient to cause considerable damage, but these are rare occasions. The drum fish (Pogonias chromis) is perhaps the natural enemy which the planters here dread the most, as it is claimed that when a large school of drums makes its appearance there is no telling how much damage may be done before the fish are scared away or leave of their own volition. A small portion of a bed may be destroyed or the whole of one may be devastated, or one may be destroyed and another close by not injured at all. Some- times little damage will be done, sometimes thousands of bush- els will be eaten. The drum has the pharyngeal and palatine bones paved with large, rounded molars with which it can crush to pieces any small or thin shell, and when a school gets over an oyster bed all tliose oysters which can be taken into the month have the shells crushed, the jnicy contents sucked out and the fragments of shells scattered about on the bed. In some cases it is said that, after such a visitation, the bed looks as if an army of stone breakers had passed over it, so com pletely is it demoralized. For eight or nine years, until the past season, the drum has not visited the Staten Island oyster grounds, and the oystermen say that the mossbunker fishermen have kept them away by cruising about and drawing their nets for the menhaden. But recently a law has been passed pro- hibiting the fishermen from working in the lower bay, and just as soon, the oystermen say, as the fishermen go out the drums
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come in. It may be merely a coincidence, still the oystermen are very anxious that the bunkermen should be allowed to re- turn to their old business in the bay.
"The skate is also placed among the enemies of the oyster in Prince's and Raritan bays, but while it is possible for the skate to make way with small oysters and other small shell- fish, it is not likely that they do any great amount of damage, probably not a fraction of that caused by the mussel (Mytilus edulis), which sometimes 'sets' upon a bed of oysters in such profusion that, in growing, they finally cover the oyster almost entirely up as with a living blanket, and the result is the de- struction of the bed. The only remedy is to take up the oysters as soon as it is found that the mussels are spreading over the bed, and after removing the mussels replace the oysters upon the old, or take them to a new bed. Practically there are, according to all accounts, but three important natu- ral enemies of the planted oyster in these waters, the drum-fish and star-fish, when they, in their rare migrations, come into the bay, and the mussel. The drill cannot work very effectively among any but small seed, and the skate can hardly be taken into account. The periwinkles, or rough and smooth whelks (Cy- cotypus canaliculatus and Fulgur carica) might be formidable enemies if they were found anywhere in very great abundance. Against all of these enemies the only refuge for the oysterman is in constant supervision of his beds. He cannot leave them to chance with any certainty that chance will throw him a win- ning card. Bnt if he keeps his beds well worked and destroys all of these enemies he meets with, he may feel pretty conti- dent that the majority of his oysters will find a fair opportu- nity sometime of visiting the market. There are some other enemies, however, with which the Staten Island oystermen have to deal and against which they cannot as successfully contend as they can with those just mentioned. At times, when a strong west or northwest wind unites with a very low tide, many of the shoal water beds are left exposed, and in the winter season the oysters are liable to be frozen before any water can return to cover them, and in severe storms so much mud and sand are moved about in the waters that many beds are smothered or sanded by the deposited material. Accidents of this kind are liable to happen in all shallow water regions, and no foresight can prevent them so long as the oysters are left in
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HISTORY OF RICHIMOND COUNTY.
such exposed places. Fortunately it is not often that the oys- termen of this region experience severe losses of this nature. There is one enemy, however, which certainly can be gotten rid of, if the right means are employed ; that is, the refuse ma- terial from oil works and sugar refineries, which is now thrown in the water. There can be no doubt that many of the oysters are killed every year on the beds, in this region, just as they have been in the upper part of our bay, by the impurities which are constantly being thrown into the bay along both the New York and New Jersey shores, and it is not uncommon to dredge up great masses of oysters, literally reeking with oily slime and black, sticky mud, of the vilest smell. The law for- bids the placing of these refnse substances in the waters of the bay, and we heartily agree with the oysterman that the law ought to be rigidly enforced for this as well as other locali- ties."
JOHN SCOTT is of Scotch ancestry and the grandson of Thomas Scott, who was nearly allied to the family of Sir Walter Scott, and resided in the vicinity of Abbotsford. the home of the lat- ter. Thomas Scott's death, the result of an accident, occurred in early life. His only son, also named Thomas, resided at Winchmore Hill, Edmonton, Middlesex, England, and enjoyed an enviable reputation as a skillful engineer and surveyor, with offices at Gray's Inn Square, London. He married Sarah Mar- garet Andrews, of Newark, Nottingham, England, and had the following children: Emily, Sarah, Thomas, John, James, Wil- liam and Walter, all of whom, with the exception of the sub- ject of this biography, are deceased.
Thomas Scott, later in life, emigrated to the United States, where he followed his profession. Locating on Staten Island, he laid out the village of Clifton and made other important sur- veys.
His son John, who was born at Winchmore Hill, above men- tioned, in February, 1826, in October, 1835, emigrated with his parents and settled on Staten Island. He received a common school education and then engaged in farming. In 1848 he established himself in the livery business on the spot he has for forty years occupied in Clifton. He also devotes some at- tention to his farm and to an establishment for coach building. Mr. Scott has been as a citizen active and enterprising, doing much to promote the advancement of the place of his residence.
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