USA > Rhode Island > A history of Block Island : from its discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876 > Part 2
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SURFACE AND SOIL.
The little pilgrim band of settlers came prepared for hardships, evidently putting in practice Bacon's maxim that, -" In counsel it is good to see dangers, and in exe- cution not to see them except they be very great." The exception, however, they seem to have disregarded. There is reason for believing that on their arrival at the Island, after a scrutinizing glance at the features of the natives, they looked with unusual surprise upon the singu- lar surface that many years before had drawn from the passing voyager the remark to his king : "It was full of hills." It is doubtful whether a more uneven surface on the earth can be pointed out than that of Block Island. The steep sides of a high mountain may be inclined planes
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SURFACE AND SOIL.
of an even surface, but here we have neither even hill- sides, nor level plains. No person ever saw the surface of the ocean more uneven than is the land of Block Island, excepting those who witnessed the flood in the days of Noah. It is necessary to resort to the imagination to give an adequate view of this extraordinary unevenness which puts this Island among the natural curiosities to the observer.
Imagine, then, several tidal waves moving in nearly the same direction-from west to east, each rising about one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, and their bases nearly touching each other ; and on the tops, sides, and intervals of these, "chop-waves " in every con- ceivable shape and position covering completely the tidal waves ; and when the reader has done this he has an out- line of the view under the observer's eye who stands in a good light upon Beacon Hill.
Another peculiarity of the surface found by the first settlers has almost entirely disappeared. When they landed on the Island it must have been difficult in some places to have stepped amiss of a stone. A glance at the walls now standing are evidence enough that before they were built the surface of the ground was wellnigh paved with small bowlders. It is no exaggeration to say that more than three hundred miles of stone-wall now consti- tute the fences of Block Island. From this fact one may infer how stony the ground was in its natural condition. These stones are all so nearly round as to present the appearance caused by the action of glaciers or of the ocean. While they so frequently disturbed the plow and the hoe of the pioneers, few, perhaps, thought of their great value in future ages to fence the fields after the primitive forests had disappeared.
A heavy growth of timber clothed much of the surface of the Island at the time of its settlement. One would
22
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
hardly think this possible while looking upon its present nakedness. But for sixty years after the settlers came they had an abundance of timber for building their houses and barns, and their fences, and for their fuel. In 1689, when our vessels and the French privateers had an engagement near the Island, Rev. Samuel Niles, a witness on the land, says the artillery echoed loudly from the woods. Those acquainted with forests and echoes know that the latter come from the former only when the trees are large and standing near each other. Oak, hick- ory, elm, ash, cedar, and pine were abundant. But as the term " firing," then used for the word " fuel," is still com- mon among the islanders, so the notion then that the pro- ducts of the soil were more desirable than the timber, still continues. So long has the destitution of native timber here existed that when the writer came upon the Island in 1874, not an inhabitant knew where, or when the for- est trees were standing. Their existence is demonstrable from incidental fragments of history.
As the timber disappeared, the necessity of making walls for fences secured the clearing of the fields until they became smooth and beautiful, inviting to the plow and the mower. The industrious farmers have also filled many a slough with the thousands of cart-loads of small cobble stones. No ledges meet the eye. None have yet been discovered on the Island. There are bowlders, how- ever, large enough to be blasted for walls, and to be split for the stone-cutter.
The settlers found perhaps a better soil than they left in Massachusetts. The inexhaustible stores of peat in the little swamps of the Island are evidence of the fertility of the soil which produced those stores composed of leaves, bark, nuts, roots, and decayed wood, all of which were washed down the little steep hills into the little deep valleys at their feet. The northerly part of the Island
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SURFACE AND SOIL.
was distinguished for its great crops of Indian corn long before the settlers came in 1662. In 1636, Col. Endicott found and destroyed there immense stores of corn, and the settlers gave to that part the name "Corn Neck," having reference to the great products of that cereal. The soil is not, and possibly never has been suitable for raising wheat. It has no lime apparently. Its stones are granite with hardly an exception. Its basis is sand and gravel, with a few spots of valuable clay. The sand is impregnated with iron, and in some localities the black iron sand predominates. There are acres of it along the bathing-beach. Rye, barley, oats, and potatoes have been the principal products of the soil, which everywhere has alluvial appearances, is quick, and excellent for producing garden vegetables and luxuries, for the culture and enjoy- ment of which the Islanders have never attained to more than a negative distinction.
The distribution of water over the Island not only adds to its extraordinary beauty, but also supplies the farms with exhaustless pools, ponds, and moisture. It is doubt- ful whether another part of the continent has, on so small a surface, so many unfailing deposits of water. They are spoken of in detail under the subject of Ponds, in this volume. Their water is not the most wholesome, for it is almost invariably impregnated more or less with peat or iron, or both, from both or either of which but few springs and wells on the Island are free. Cistern water is the better and more common for domestic purposes.
RESOURCES OF BLOCK ISLAND.
PEAT AND TIMBER.
The most important of the Island's resources may be distinguished as Peat, Sea-weed, and Fish. This classifi- cation, at first, may cause a smile with some, but not with those who for years have been studiously seeking an answer to the question,- What has kept Block Island from barrenness and depopulation ? One hundred and fifty years ago the inhabitants looked upon this question with alarm. A town meeting was then called for its consideration. Wood was the only article then used here for fuel ; but that was rapidly diminishing. In the preamble of that meeting it was said that there was " great scarcity of tim- ber and fencing stuff and many people hath not enough for firing and fencing, and the main land being so far off from this place, so that if we do not endeavor to preserve our timber and fencing stuff the inhabitants must be forced to depart the Island." Their fences could be made of stone and ditches, and the timber for building could be brought from the main-land, but to bring to the Island all of its fuel was too much, and the sense of the town then was that before this would be done the Island would be depop- ulated. What, then, prevented this depopulation when the wood of the Island was exhausted ? That little, hum- ble word, Peat, furnishes the answer, and for one hundred years it kept the growing population comfortable, cooking their food and warming their cottages, in which some of the hardiest, most active and distinguished persons of the country were born and reared. Yes, it was a wise pro-
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25
PEAT AND TIMBER.
vision of Providence that put so many deep pockets into the surface of this Island and filled them so full of fuel. Without it men would have come here in boats in the fishing season, but not to remain with their wives and children. Then let poets sing as they may of this kind . of fuel, of
"Old wives spinning their webs of tow, Or rocking weirdly to and fro In and out of the peat's dull glow,"
a glance at the Island to-day is proof enough that spinning and rocking were not all they did by those hum- ble firesides. Nor has the day yet dawned when their descendants can dispense entirely with this kind of fuel. To a considerable extent it is still used by the poorer fam- ilies, and to some extent in nearly all. Indeed, it is within the memory of many of the inhabitants that a ton of Franklin coal here was not worth a pound of tobacco, for an Islander, in 1846, took that quantity in his boat, where it had been thrown from a wreck upon the shore, and carried it to Providence and there sold it for a pound of said stuff. Peat had been the common fuel, and was ade- quate until something better could be substituted. It did good service, for without it the Island long since would have been nearly, if not quite, destitute of families, espe- cially in winters, and a few fishing shanties would have occupied the shores, instead of the many comfortable homesteads and popular hotels now existing.
There are some interesting facts concerning the fuel of , Block Island. One of them is, that the inhabitants, in 1875, had lost the knowledge, to a great extent, of the use that their ancestors had made of the native timber. After a residence among them of more than a year the best information which the writer could obtain from them on the subject was only traditional that timber once grew 3
26
HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
upon the Island, corroborated by reference to the peat deposits, and that said timber was used by the early set- tlers for building purposes. A thorough searching, how- ever, of some of the old and almost illegible records has brought to light the fact that when the Island was settled, heavy forest timber was abundant here, and supplied the people with wood for fuel and timber for buildings and fences. In an inventory of Robert Guthrig's estate, in 1692, mention was made of "forty-two acres in the west woods, at 20 shillings per acre."
Rev. Samuel Niles, in his history of the Indian and French Wars, says he was on Block Island during a naval engagement between the French and English near the Island about the year 1690, and that "In this action the continued fire was so sharp and violent, that the echo in the WOODS made a noise as though the limbs of the trees were rent and tore off from their bodies." Such an echo could be only in a dense forest of large trees.
In 1714 the town enacted " That no manner of persons whatever cut any timber, trees, or poles on any man's land without his leave, and if any person do he shall pay the sum of five shillings for every tree or pole so cut."
In 1721, the venerable Simon Ray, always seeking the welfare of his fellow-citizens, secured the following enact- ment from the freeholders at a town meeting :
" Whereas this town of New Shoreham, being settled sixty years, by which long continuance of the inhabitants thereof hath occasioned great scarcity of timber and fencing stuff, and many people hath not enough for firing and fencing, and the main-land being so far off from this place, so that if we do not endeavor to preserve our tim- ber and fencing stuff the inhabitants must be forced to depart the Island :
"Therefore it is enacted by the freemen of the town above said that an upright fence shall not be above four
,
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PEAT AND TIMBER.
feet high from the ground to the top thereof, and if it be hedge and ditch, or stone ditch, or stone wall, it shall be in the same proportion according to the town viewers, and no persons whatsoever shall be constrained to make any fence against his neighbors higher than the above said, and if any cattle, sheep, or horses break through or over such fence they shall be counted unruly, and where the trespass is made the damaged person shall have his damage, any clause, act, or acts to the contrary notwith- standing, in this town above named."
This act was voted upon by each freeman making a dot with a pen under the word " Pro," or " Con." those under " Pro" being seventeen, and those under "Con," being four, twenty-one in all. In the surveys of land also men- tion was made of a " hickory tree," of a " black oak," and of a " cedar." In the peat deposits roots and trunks of large trees are frequently discovered. The kinds of timber most common here were oak, elm, pine, hickory, ash, and cedar, with a thick growth of alders, in swampy places, which were small and numerous.
That peat was not burned here until after the year 1721 is quite certain, for then its value was not understood, as may be seen from the fact that without timber the inhab- itants supposed they would be obliged to leave the Island. There were stones in abundance for fencing, and for houses, and Capt. James Sands had a stone house. But the absence of fuel was sufficient to compel a depopula- tion, a thing which the people would not have feared if they had known the use of peat as now understood.
Peat as the common fuel of the Island became so about the year 1750. Who introduced its use we cannot ascer- tain. For about one hundred years it was the only fuel, except as small supplies were had, for a few families, from wrecks, and from boats bringing wood from the main-land. The quality of the peat was found to be ex-
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
cellent, making, when properly dried, a very hot fire. Much of it has lost its woody appearance, and looks more like dark mud than like fuel, and it burns with an inten- sity which indicates, in some instances, the presence of petroleum. Around its dim light in old-fashioned fire- places several generations were warmed and fed for a hundred winters, contented with their lot, and little dreaming of the better time coming, when cargoes of coal should be landed in a national harbor on Block Island, when stoves should supersede the fire-place, and kerosene and gas the dull light of peat and candles.
It was well distributed among the inhabitants, many families owning shares in the same beds, and this owner- ship has been transmitted down from generation to gene- ration until now. The beds are also numerous, and in every part of the Island. Some cover several acres, and others are much smaller. Some are shallow, and others are deep, and most of them were formed by vegetable matter, leaves, bark, nuts, grass, ferns, decayed wood, etc., that for ages had been washed down the surrounding steep little hill-sides. Thus peat beds were deposited upon some of the highest parts of the Island, as upon Clay Head, and the supply was ample, if not exhaustless.
The present quantity of peat on the Island cannot be estimated easily. Those best prepared to judge readily, admit that if the present population, eleven hundred and fifty, were to remain uniform for a hundred years, with no other fuel than the peat which they now have, their supply would be abundant. Three beds of considerable known size, that may be very much larger than known to be, one on the east side of the Island, and two on the west, extend a considerable distance from the shore into the ocean. It is stated by Mr. Anderson Dickens, a gentleman of careful observation and truthful estimate, . that at low tide, on the west side, he has traced one bed
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PEAT AND TIMBER.
from high-water mark one quarter of a mile out into the sea and there brought away peat that burned well after it was dried. Similar observations warrant the above esti- mation of the one hundred years' supply. It is still used to a considerable extent, and where it is used the passer- by is generally informed by its peculiar odor.
Tug is its more common name among the Islanders, a name applied to it more than a century ago, and refers to the hard work of getting it from the bed. There it is very wet and heavy. Sometimes it lies so deep as to require much effort to throw it out with shovels. It is then carted away in the consistency of mud, and dumped upon smooth ground where it is made into balls, about six inches in diameter, with naked hands, and these balls are dropped side by side upon the sward, flattening out con- siderably next to the ground, and there are left to dry for one, two, or three weeks, and then they are stacked up in little pyramids about three feet high until thoroughly dried, when they are drawn in carts to the tug-house. A fire made from it needs to be frequently replenished. Its value, in equal quantity with hard wood, is some less than the latter. Peat dug in 1875, on the Island, 544 cords.
During the past few years many cords of wood have been brought from Long Island, and sold for about the same as it costs upon the main-land.
Hard coal, as fuel upon Block Island, was introduced about the year 1846. Previous to that it was valueless here because there were no stoves in which it could be burned. A cargo of it thrown from a wreck was lying then in Cow Cove. Jonathan Ball, going to Providence, took a ton of it in his boat, and on his arrival sold it to a Mr. Lloyd for one pound of tobacco, as previously stated. When first introduced some had great fears of its burning up their stoves. Now it is used quite extensively in nearly every family. About three hundred tons are con- 3*
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
sumed annually, and it is shipped to the Island directly. A soft species has been lately discovered on the Island, near the harbor.
SEA-WEED.
Sea-weed has been another indispensable resource of Block Island. Its soil in the outset was fertile, but its fertility soon would be exhausted unless duly replenished. As long ago as 1779 it was a serious question with far- mers how they should maintain the productiveness of their land. Even during the Revolution, when communi- cation between the Island and the main was almost anni- hilated, and so many articles from the main were needed here, the little boat that brought back other necessaries brought also " a quantity of ashes," and these were doubt- less intended for the soil, but were quite inadequate. That the use of sea-weed as a fertilizer was common anciently is evident from the antiquity of the claims established along the beach. The tenacity with which these claims are now held by the Islanders indicates their value. Without the grasses torn from the rocks along the shore, and from the meadows on the bottom of the sea-torn loose and driven upon the shores during the storms of autumn, winter, and spring, the farms of Block Island, long ago, would have become utterly barren. This is easily demonstrated by the sterile condition of those fields too common here that might never repay the cost of making them fertile. The same is also proved by the productiveness of the many fields where the sea com- pensates for the exhaustion of the ample harvest.
The shores of the Island are minutely divided into claims, where each man gathers this invaluable fertilizer. In the midst of storms, and immediately after them, men and boys may be seen with forks and rakes gathering it . on the beach, not waiting always for it to land, lest the
7
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SEA-WEED.
receding tide or change of wind might bear it away beyond their reach. While it is attainable it is either put into piles on the shore, above the tide, and subsequently carted to the farm, or it is put directly into the vehicle and spread upon the field, or put into large heaps of com- post near the fields for which it is intended. In the latter case it is usually composted with soil, muck, and fish offal, lying from fall until spring, and frequently it is put into barn-yards, and into pig-yards until it is decomposed, or nearly so.
Sea-weed is used in various ways. On arable lands it is either spread over the field and then plowed under, or it is put into the hill by the planter, who uses it freely for corn, potatoes, beans, and garden vegetables. For grass, its most profitable use seems to be that of covering the meadow completely in autumn. Two important things are thus accomplished-protecting the grass-roots, in the absence of snow, from the frosts, winds, and sun in winter, and at the same time nourishing the soil by the salt in the sea-weed, and by the decomposition of the latter. Thus beautiful crops of the best qualities of grass are produced, the soil kept from sterility, and the Island saved from an otherwise inevitable depopulation.
The quantity of sea-weed used upon the Island is im- mense. The annual gathering begins in October and con- tinues, at intervals, until April. The portions of the beach owned by the town exhibit the greatest industry. There the weed is common property, and those who are there first in the morning, latest at night, and wade into the surf the deepest, are generally most profited, except- ing those who thus secure a crop of pains called rheumatic. This kind of industry, common and private, on public and individual beaches, secures an annual value that could not be bought of the Islanders for twenty thousand dol- lars, nor could they get an equal quantity of fertilizers
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
from abroad for fifty thousand dollars. Its quantity, as reported by the last census, was six thousand cords, gath- ered on the shores of Block Island in the year 1875. This quantity is equal to over ten thousand single team loads, and each load is worth more than two dollars. Hence, this resource of the Island, during the period of twenty-five years, amounts to the handsome sum, or its equivalent, of half a million of dollars. 1
That sea-weed is an indispensable resource here is de- monstrated thus : Without it the Island would become sterile ; without a productive soil here the population could not be supported, since for that the fisheries are inadequate, and neither manufacturing nor commerce here exists. But the Islander rejoices in the abundance of the sea which supplies him with fish as well as with vegetation.
BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
The natives, centuries ago, were greatly dependent upon the fisheries of the Island for their support. To what degree they subsisted upon fish we have no means of knowing. The only relics of their implements for fishing with which the present Islanders have any knowl- edge, are the stone sinkers used on the fish-lines of the Indians. These were round pebbles weighing from half a pound to two pounds, taken from the beach. They were fastened to the lines by having a groove cut around them into which the line was sunk and tied. Their size and weight are good evidence of the depth of water in which they were used, and this depth indicates the size and kind of fish caught by the Manisseans. Their wam- pum strings were evidence that they did not fish with " grape vines" for lines, as some have supposed. For hooks they may have used a sharp, slender tooth fastened to a bone, or to a slim stone for a shank, as did the ancient
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BLOCK ISLAND FISHERIES.
natives of the Sandwich Islands. That the Indians caught fish in 1675 may be inferred from the fact that then Peter George's Negro, Wrathy, was made the more wrathy by being whipped with twelve lashes for "staling fish from Steven, the Endian."
The fisheries of Block Island were doubtless considered as one of its unfailing resources by the first and early settlers, and as such the fisheries have proved to be for more than two centuries. . And at the present time, with all the modern improvements of agriculture, and with the increasing income from summer visitors, and all other resources, there is good reason for believing that were it not for the fisheries here the population would soon be more than decimated, and by the absence caused by this decimation the remaining portion would be greatly re- duced in property and numbers within a few years. In- deed, the amusement of fishing, and the luxury of eating the fish direct from the salt water is a great attraction to said visitors, and this also must be included in the value of Block Island fisheries.
The fishing business here was carried on in its seasons a hundred and seventy-five years ago. In 1702 the fol- lowing town record was made which is instructive in several points, not the least of which is the law and order then maintained here. We quote it entire for various reasons.
"Apr. 14th, 1702. Then Capt. John Merritt brought before us one John Meeker for being a delinquent for absenting himself from out of said Merritt's employment, being his servant for the fishing season for forty shillings pr. month with six pounds of bread and six pounds of pork a week, the which considerations the said Meeker did promise to his faithful service till the middle of June or thereabouts, as by witness on oath doth appear before us. We therefore determine and give our judgment that
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HISTORY OF BLOCK ISLAND.
the said Meeker shall perform the said conditions as above said. The forty shillings pr. month is to be paid current money of this Colony with cost of court, which is one shilling for the constable's fees, and two shillings for other charges which said Meeker is to pay."
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