USA > Rhode Island > A history of Block Island : from its discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876 > Part 11
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POLE HARBOR.
navigable, that vessels of seventy and eighty tons burthen have actually sailed into the pond, but the place where the said channel was formed not being properly defended on the sea-side, it filled up with sand.
" The place now proposed for opening a communica- tion with the sea is about a quarter of a mile southward from the old channel, where the water is much deeper, and the channel will be secured by a point of rocks that lies to the southward, which affords the greatest prospect of obtaining an effectual and lasting harbor." (See R. I. Col Rec., VIII., 209.)
In August, 1773, Stephen Hopkins, Eseck Hopkins, and Joseph Wanton, Jr., a committee of examination of the Great Pond and the adjacent beach, reported back to the Assembly feebly in favor of the above project, which was never carried out. The Revolution soon began to absorb the attention of the colonies, and Block Island was prompt in passing a resolution to co-operate with all American citizens in opposing the aggressions of England. The long struggle for independence which followed, and the gene- ral exhaustion of the country put a long-continued obsta- cle in the way of further effort to secure a harbor for Block Island.
POLE HARBOR.
The Pole Harbor, as it may be designated, was begun about the year 1816. A single individual, at low tide, near the shore end of the present breakwater, sunk a few spiles close to each other, about six feet deep, the upper parts of them rising above the water from ten to fifteen feet. To these he could tie up his boat in ordinary weather. Others followed his example, until long rows of such poles extended out into a considerable depth of water at high tide. Between two parallel rows, stones were placed, and little piers were thus built up. This construction was carried on for many years by so many
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
Islanders that a forest of oak poles became the principal harbor into which twenty or more boats could enter at a time for lading or unlading, except in a storm. Then the boats were drawn up on the shore out of reach of the water. Well do the older inhabitants now remember the many stormy nights when in the cold wind and rain they were obliged to leave their comfortable beds and yoke their oxen, and go to the harbor and assist one another in hauling up their boats. Thus matters went on for half a century, the pole harbor being far better than none, with little improvements here and there, until the poles were over one thousand in number. After many have been removed for the present harbor, seven hundred and fifty are now standing in 1876, and are still of considerable service, in fair weather, to the fishermen. Some of them, like the stumps of the old pier still visible, will doubtless long remain after they are useless, and after those who set them have all passed away, many of them to enjoy "A Home Beyond the Tide," "Safe Within the Vail," of which we have heard them sing so heartily since the great religious awakening in 1873.
GOVERNMENT HARBOR.
The Government Harbor, at Block Island, next and lastly claims our attention. "In 1838 the two Houses of Congress passed resolutions directing the attention of the departments to this subject, and authorizing a favorable report." (Cong. Globe, Feb. 16, 1867.) In 1867 it was again agitated, after the long lapse of nearly thirty years, and after an able speech in its favor by Senator Sprague, of Rhode Island, Congress took action in favor of con- structing a breakwater at Block Island. But this national movement did not begin at Washington. What was done there was, in a measure, the effect of preceding causes. By coming back from effect to cause we shall
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find that this Government Harbor, already affording so much profit and pleasure to the public, originated on Block Island. In Jan., 1867, previous to the action of Congress in Feb. of that year, the Rhode Island Assembly instructed the Senators and Representatives in Congress from this State, "to use their best exertions to procure an appropriation from Congress for the purpose of building a breakwater, or of securing a safe harbor for vessels at said Island." This action, too, was the result of a plan previously originated on the Island, a plan which simul- taneously united the efforts of many Chambers of Com- merce, the Rhode Island Legislature, and both houses of Congress. The harbor question was introduced into the U. S. Senate by Senator Sprague on the 16th of Feb., and on the 18th the Boston Journal said: "Hon. Nicholas Ball [of Block Island] was before the Senate Committee on Commerce this morning to advocate the appropriation for a breakwater at Block Island. The committee were so impressed by Mr. Ball's plain facts they voted to rec- ommend an appropriation of $40,000." Gov. Padelford, in his message of Jan., 1873, also said: “ Much credit is also due to the Hon. Nicholas Ball, for his unwearied exertions in behalf of the improvements on Block Island, for through his means alone the attention of the Cham- bers of Commerce of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Providence, as well as those engaged in commerce in our northern cities, was enlisted in the work."
In the second session of Congress, in 1867, the Secre- tary of War was directed to cause surveys to be made for a harbor at Block Island. The survey was made by Geo. W. Dresser, Assistant Engineer, under the direction of Col. D. C. Houston, and an elaborate report of the same was made Nov. Ist, 1867, to Col. Houston, who gave an abstract of it to the War Department in Jan., 13*
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1868; and in March of that year, Secretary of War E. M. Stanton reported the same to Congress.
So many have expressed opinions in reference to the Great Pond as a harbor, the following extracts from the government survey are here given:
"At the point on the west side marked breach the Islanders make a cut, which has to be opened several times a year for the purpose of drawing off the water from the pond into the sound sufficiently to keep the road dry, which runs along the east shore of the Island from north to south between the pond and the ocean. This breach is but a small ditch dug in the sand which fills up at the mouth or west end a little higher than ordinary high-water mark during the first heavy westerly blow that occurs after it is dug out.
"It has always been a favorite idea with some of the Islanders to avail of this pond as a harbor by making a cut on the west into it from the sound. But from all that I can learn nothing of the kind has ever been attempted, except to open the breach for the purpose referred to above." [Neither Mr. Dresser, nor the Islanders were then aware of the existence of the old records which we have recently discovered of the Great Pond Harbor, of which the early part of this article gives an account. S. T. L.]
" In order to make a harbor of the Great Pond at Block Island the cut should be made, if at all, at a point farther south than the breach, for at that point the distance from the south to the deepest water in the pond is the shortest. To make a channel available for all purposes the cut should be made at least twenty-five feet deep below mean low-water mark, and the width of which the nature of the ground will admit is not over 650 feet.
" The estimates for this excavation are made upon a basis of 25 feet deep, 633 feet average width, and an
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average length at the bottom of the cut of 2,425 feet, giving 996,104146% cubic yards of excavation.
"At fifty cents per cubic yard this excavation would be $498,052.23.
" Having made the excavation it would be necessary to protect the entrance to it from the sound by piers built out into the water. These would have to be built in the most substantial manner, of masonry, and estimated upon a basis of 20 feet wide, 900 feet long on each side, and an average depth of 17} feet, would require about 24,000 yards of cubic stone, and would cost from $300,000 to $500,000, making the whole cost of the channel about one million of dollars. The action of the water would bank up the sand on the outside of these piers, and event- ually it would make land out to the ends of them. The pond at the time of making the survey at this point was two feet four inches higher than mean low-water in the sound. The average rise and fall of the tide on the west shore is about three feet six inches. This would cause a strong current either to or from the pond, causing sand and sediment to deposit at different points in the channel, according to the direction and stage of the tide. Bars would form at the ends of the channel, and the bottom of the sound being sand the channel would ultimately fill up on the sound end in spite of all precautions to protect it. The same causes that fill up the breach would fill up this, and a constant expenditure would be necessary to dredge it out.
"A glance at the soundings of the pond will show the exceedingly irregular conformation of the bottom of it, and that only a small portion of the water could be used for anchorage, without continued vexation and trouble from getting aground.
" The prevailing storms from which the most shelter is required are from the east. But this would be a head
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
wind to beat through a narrow channel to get into the harbor or pond, and if blowing hard it would be impos- sible to beat in at all, while if in the pond it would be equally difficult to get out with a west wind.
" There is one point which would be of vital import- ance if it should become necessary to use the pond as a harbor in naval defense, viz .: it freezes completely in winter.
" Hence, I conclude that although a cut might be made and kept open at a large expense, it would not be avail- able at all times either for ingress or egress, and that the advantages gained by the work would not be commensu- rate with the expense, particularly when compared with what might be obtained at the other point on the east side of the Island by building a breakwater into the bay."
In June, 1868, the bill for an appropriation for the said harbor was before Congress, asking for $74,000. It was strongly opposed by Mr. Washburn, of Illinois, in the House, and yet the vote then taken was favorable, but owing to a hurried adjournment of Congress the bill was not voted on by the Senate, and none was granted. Per- sistent efforts, however, were continued from Block Island and the Rhode Island Legislature and Congres- sional Representatives. Twelve years were thus worn away before any thing effectual was accomplished. Then the General Assembly of Rhode Island renewed its often repeated instruction to its Representatives in Congress "to use all means in their power to secure the legislation neces- sary to ensure the construction of the required pier on Block Island." In response to this the Hon. Henry B. Anthony, from Rhode Island, made a powerful speech in the U. S. Senate, Feb. 16, 1870, and in July, 1870, Con- gress made an appropriation of $30,000, for the Block Island breakwater, which already has been seen by so many who have visited the Island in fishing vessels,
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pleasure yachts, and steamers, that a description of it is not here needed.
Its construction was begun Oct. 22, 1870, " at 3.30 P. M., amid great rejoicing of the people." "John Beattie took the contract at $2.82 per ton, to put in granite from low- water mark, keeping the structure above tide as he pro- ceeded, and run it so far as the allowance would permit. Under this contract the breakwater was carried some three hundred feet, and the Islanders themselves furnished about one thousand tons of stone."
In March, 1871, another appropriation was granted by Congress of $75,000. The government contracted with Messrs. Finch, Engs & Co. of Newport, for 300,000 feet of timber for the crib, or basin, as it is now called, a tem- porary harbor for smaller vessels until the great harbor is completed. Messrs. Place & Co., of New York, furnished 56,000 pounds of iron bolts. Messrs. Campbell & Co., of New York, agreed to place 7,000 tons of granite for the breakwater, and the Islanders laid 5,000 tons besides completing Mr. Campbell's contract. Thus the stone- work, called " riprap stone," was extended into the sea over 600 feet from the shore. It now extends out one thousand feet.
In June, 1872, another appropriation of $50,000 was made by Congress, and the contract of placing 10,000 tons of stone was awarded to Hon. John G. Sheffield, of Block Island, who did the work for $7,600 less than the lowest bid from abroad. His work was completed June 30, 1873, and by his able management saved expense to the government, and gave employment to his townsmen. Meanwhile the blasting and removing of rocks and dredg- ing were going on and under this last appropriation the Government Harbor became a success, and soon the Islanders built boats with decks, and no longer, in storms, landed by riding the biggest of "three brothers" upon
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
the shore, at fearful risk, nor hauled their boats ashore with oxen in the night, to protect them from the storm, and fishing fleets from abroad find refuge from the dan- gers of the ocean.
Here it should be remarked, to the honor of those who have thus far done the work and received the appropria- tions, no complaints of embezzlement are recorded against them. No extra appropriations over and above the en- gineer's estimates have been called for. On the contrary, work, the cost of which the U. S. Board of Engineers, at their meeting in New York, in Feb., 1868, estimated at $372,000, has been done for $155,000. If the remaining work can be done with equal integrity and economy, the total cost, instead of being $2,915,016, as estimated by said board, will be much less than one-half that sum. This is an encouragement to the public and to Congress to carry the harbor construction forward.
INCIDENTS.
In the construction of the harbor a few incidents have occurred that merit a record. The removal of "Peaked Rock" is one of them. For centuries it had been a con- cealed enemy to the boatmen, raising its head near enough to the surface to sink a vessel by making a hole in its bottom. A spindle of iron for many years had risen from its peak to hold a keg over the danger. When the present basin was built this formidable rock was removed by the work of a submarine diver and the appli- cation of dualin. Twenty-five pounds of this powerful agency were applied to Peaked Rock, containing an ex- plosive power of about three hundred pounds of powder. When all was ready, and ample warning given, the elec- tric battery produced the explosion that shook the whole Island, threw up a high column of spray, and shattered the rock to fragments. Other similar rocks were thus
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removed from their troublesome positions. The lives of many fish, some of considerable size, were destroyed by the blasting.
While excavating for the "crib-work " of the harbor, a singular substance was thrown up in considerable quan- tity, of the consistency of moist blue clay. Mr. Ray S. Littlefield threw a piece into his wagon and carried it home, where it became dry and hard. After a few years he gave it to the writer, supposing it to be petrifaction. The writer proved it to be native coal, which at some future day may be an index to a mine beneath the Ocean View hill.
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TOPOGRAPHY.
THE PONDS.
One of the greatest curiosities of the Island is found to be its ponds. But few inhabited and cultivated parts of the earth can be named, no larger than Block Island, with so great a number and variety of ponds as here exist. The exact number of those which do not become dry once in ten years has not been exactly ascertained, but they may be estimated at over a hundred without exaggeration. They vary in size from the duck pool to the Great Pond, which is said to cover one thousand acres. The smaller ones are so interspersed as to furnish every farmer with the benefits of from one to twenty, and as springs are not abundant, and as only one stream can . approach the dignity accorded to a small brook, these little ponds are of very great convenience for watering animals and for raising fowls.
The formation of these ponds is peculiar. There is probably not one of them sustained by springs or streams. They are generally in little deep pockets formed by the surrounding steep hillocks constituting water-sheds for their respective ponds. These pockets have clay bottoms that hold the water like caldrons, and the surface-water compensates for the slow evaporation. The same surface- water for ages, before the forest was consumed, carried leaves, nuts, and bark, and decayed wood into said pockets, and hence an almost inexhaustible supply of peat has been preserved, and where there is a pond, peat, with a few exceptions, is obtained, and thus the many little farms of
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THE PONDS.
the Island are amply furnished with fuel for the house, and water for the animals-water not suitable for domes- tic purposes. These peculiarities of the ponds are found in the highest, as well as the lowest parts of the Island- on the bluffs near the steep descent to the sea, and in other places almost on a level with the ocean. The fol- lowing are some of the more noted:
THE GREAT POND.
This name is very appropriate, given by Roger Wil- liams in 1649, for in proportion to the land or Island, of which the pond is a part, it is an inland sea. Its length is about one-third the length of the Island, and its width is enough less to give it much of the form of an ellipse. One thousand acres are said by good authority to be em- braced in its surface. Its depth is quite variable, and much like the uneven surface of the land adjacent, ac- cording to the soundings of the government surveyor who examined it, in reference to making of it a harbor. Twelve fathoms are its maximum depth, and that on the side nearest to the sea, a fact worthy of observation. It is separated from the sea on the west by a strip of land so narrow that when viewed from Beacon Hill it appears like the rim of a basin, or an arc embracing a quarter of a circle. Its easterly shore, mostly, is called the Neck, and at the southern end, Indian Head Neck. Most of that part between its southwest shore and the sea was called Charlestown a hundred years ago, and the narrow portion of said part was then known by the name of Harbor Neck, as the harbor anciently was in the Great Pond at the breach. The south end of the pond lies about midway of the Island from north to south.
By many this pond is supposed to be sustained by springs and the main water-sheds adjacent. But this is an error. From its unshaded surface more could evaporate
14
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
in a day than would thus be supplied from such known sources in a week. As before seen, the surface of the whole Island is thickly indented with deep little pockets that catch nearly all the surface-water, and the clay bot- toms of them prevent the formation of outlets in the from of rills and springs. All the supposed feeders of the pond combined are not equal to those that support a mill-pond on some small stream that is dry a quarter of the time in the country. Whence, then, it may be asked, does the Great Pond obtain its support ? From the sea, is the simple reply. The rim between it and the sea is so narrow that the water from the latter filters through into the former. A brief examination shows this, and the principal reason why it has not been more generally admitted, seems to be that the Islanders and most of others are not acquainted with the fact that sea-water thoroughly filtered through fine sand becomes fresh. Knowing, however, that the pond is of itself fresh-water, becoming salt only as the breach lets in a little occasion- ally, and as the sea slops over into the pond during heavy storms, they have supposed its freshness must be the result of a fresh supply from the land, which is quite inadequate. This explanation is in harmony with the observation made by Lord Bacon that " sea-water passing or straining through the sands leaveth the saltness," and by this means he says Cæsar once saved his army. The Great Pond, therefore, is a body of fresh water, artificially, or incidentally salted enough to make it brackish most of the time ; and this is our apology, together with a preference for the shorter name, for calling it the Great Pond, instead of the " Great Salt Pond."
Formerly it contributed largely to the support of the Island. Its products of fish, oysters, clams, quahaugs, and scallops has been greatly dependent upon the salt-water admitted through the Breach, an opening into the sea that
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THE PONDS.
was ample for the support of these shell-fish before, and for a considerable time after the settlement of the Island. The scallop shells, and others now found at the graves of the natives show that they were common anciently; and within the memory of the present inhabitants, oysters of an excellent quality have been raked up there in large quantities. Mr. Wm. P. Ball says that when a boy he once gathered there from their native beds twenty bushels in one day. For several years the water has been too fresh to grow them, and hence this branch of Block Island fisheries has "run out," a thing to be lamented, for shell-fish are now seldom tasted on the Island. That the Great Pond might be made the source of great profit by opening the breach sufficiently to salt the millions of little oysters and clams already there planted, no one can reason- ably doubt. It is hoped that some capitalists will soon secure this opportunity which is now in the hands of Mr. John Thomas who well understands how to secure there an abundance of valuable herring, shad, and shell-fish. but lacks the means to accomplish the work necessary. He has a fifteen-year lease of the pond from the town, and from it has derived some revenue in his spring catch of herrings. Besides the above transient fish the Great Pond abounds with perch and eels, and bass have lately been introduced.
In 1762, Block Island petitioned the Rhode Island Assembly, through Edmund Sheffield and Joseph Spencer, for a chartered lottery by means of which to improve the Great Pond for fishing. In their petition it was stated " That on the westermost side of said Island there is a large pond, covering above one thousand acres of land, which formerly had a communication with the sea by a creek; that then the fishing-ground for cod was well known, and bass was there to be caught in great plenty; that since the creek has been stopped the fishing-ground
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for cod is uncertain, they being scattered about in many places; and the bass have chiefly left the Island."
As a source of pleasure to summer visitors, the Great Pond cannot be surpassed for fishing, swimming, rowing, and sailing. Free from the swells and dangerous surf of the sea, several miles in length, and broad enough for tacking in any wind, it is evidently destined to do far more for the pleasure-seeking public than it has hitherto. Mr. Simon Ball & Sons, at the south end of it, during the summer of 1876, launched a safe and commodious yacht for the accommodation of visitors, and received a liberal patronage.
CHAGUM POND.
This name is commonly pronounced Shawgum, and is probably taken from an Indian. We have a record of one Samuel Chagum, who distinguished himself here in 1711 by stealing a canoe, running away from his master, losing the canoe, and suffering the penalty from the war- dens of six months added to his former period of servi- tude. The pond lies between the Great Pond and Sandy Point, and is about as large as a tenth part of the latter pond. It is fresh, and supported from the sea, separated from it the proper distance for filtering the sea-water. In the great gale of 1815, the sea waves were so high as to pass over into Chagum Pond, the only time of which we have an account of such an occurrence.
THE MIDDLE POND.
This lies between Chagum Pond and the Great Pond, and is separated from the sea, west of the Island, by a narrow rim of sand, through which the salt-water is fil- tered and freshened. The Middle Pond is distinguished chiefly as the place where the British vessels, in the times of war, have obtained water, and where, in 1812-15, they frequently did the washing of their clothes on its green,
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THE PONDS.
eastern shore. It lies west of Hon. J. G. Sheffield's resi- dence. Chagum Pond was also a resort of the British for water.
FRESH POND.
This is about a mile south of the Great Pond, and on land much more elevated. The road south from the Cen- ter leads to it, and visitors in considerable numbers resort there for the fine perch fishing. The pond itself is also attractive, clear, and surrounded with green shores in view of pleasant residences. It covers several acres, and was anciently looked upon from the windows and doors of the first school-house, and the first meeting-house on the Island. They were located on the east shore, near the north end. There, too, the first Island minister settled, had his residence, and these sites were selected, probably, with reference to the attractions of this beautiful little sheet of water.
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