The History of the Coonamessett River

When times change, what we value as ecologically or economically important in Falmouth’s open spaces and natural environment can change as well. The Town’s coastal rivers, those streams that feed the upper reaches of our great salt ponds, are near perfect barometers of that process. The Coonamessett River is a case in point. Just as the Coonamessett winds through the center of Falmouth, it has also weaved its way through the history of our Town. As Falmouth grew and changed, the river was altered to fit different needs and uses.

Initially, the Coonamessett may have been bordered by red maple or white cedar swamps. Its historic headwaters were from groundwater fed swamps near present day Hatchville Road. In fact, the river is fed by groundwater along its entire length as it makes it way to Great Pond.

The Wampanoag were the first people to use the Coonamessett River. The river’s fisheries, especially herring, were the main attraction. Herring were important not only as food, but also as fertilizer for crops. Every school child knows how Squanto taught the Pilgrims to place herring in a mound with corn seeds. The Wampanoag caught herring by building stone or brush weirs in streams to herd them into narrower waters. There, the herring could be dipped out into baskets. Possibly the Wampanoags were the first to dig the channel that connects Coonamessett Pond to the river, now known as Dutchman’s Ditch. Papers from 1804 note it as “the remains of an ancient ditch.” Evidence suggests the Wampanoags dug channels at other Cape Cod ponds.

European settlers first arrived in 1660. The Coonamessett River was initially known as the Five Mile River and marked the early eastern edge of Town. Philip Dexter located Falmouth’s first grist mill at the mouth of the river around 1700, as the Coonamessett was one of the few rivers with enough water flow to power a waterwheel. Construction of the mill caused the first major alteration to the natural river system. The river was dammed while trees and other vegetation were flooded or removed from the mill pond.

The gristmill was essential to the prosperity of Falmouth as in other early New England towns. Corn was the basic food crop; since wheat, rye and oats failed to grow well in New England This “yellow gold” was a early form of currency and was traded for farms, animals and workers. Because hand grinding corn in any quantity was laborious and slow, millers were one of the most important persons in town. They were lured to a town with incentives of free land for their mill and home. In addition, they were exempt from paying taxes and serving in the military. As a consequence, they had enormous political power.

By 1795, there were three mills along the Coonamessett, causing a decline in the native anadromous fisheries in the river. Alewives and sea-run brook trout, (also known as “salters” since they move between coastal salt waters and rivers), were initially abundant in the river. Cold groundwater upwelling into the river made it an ideal habitat for the salters which perish at water temperatures above 70 degrees. Both fish need unimpeded access along rivers to go to and from salt water. The mills altered their habitat by constricting or preventing their river passage, increasing water temperatures and adding silt to the water column. The result was much reduced fish populations.

Herring served a multipurpose role at that time in Falmouth. It was an essential source of protein in people’s limited diets, especially after a lean winter. Farmers also still followed the Wampanoag method of using them as fertilizer for crops. Plus, herring supplied additional income. Herring were sold to offshore fisherman for bait or sold to packers to be salted down and shipped to the West Indies. Herring were so important that early town laws mandated that they be reserved freely to all citizens and that each had sharing rights. Sharing rights meant that if two men were netting herring and a third appeared, the harvest must be split three ways.

The fall off in the herring population along the Coonamessett sparked years of heated conflict between mill interests and fishery proponents and is popularly known as the “herring war.” It started in 1798 with a bylaw passed at Town Meeting. The bylaw gave an elected committee the right to remove any obstructions or open sluiceways in any dam to allow fish free passage from April 1st to June 10th. Needless to say, the Coonamessett mill owners were not happy with this since it meant pulling up their waterwheels and sitting idle for ten weeks. They ignored the law.

Seeing this, the “pro-herring” forces petitioned the State Legislature in 1804 for an amendment, just for the Coonamessett river, to allow sufficient “passage way” for the fish to reach Coonamessett Pond. The “anti-herring” side also traveled to Boston to plead their case.

Tensions reached a peak in 1805 when the anti-herring group packed a cannon on the Village Green with herring. Instead of shooting out fish, it exploded, killing the gunner and dissipating the conflict for awhile. The controversy basically boiled down to the rights of the individual property owners versus the rights of the public at large to use natural resources, an issue we still grapple with today.

The mills were very important to Falmouth’s economy as well as Cape Cod’s. Only four woolen mills were ever built on Cape Cod, three of them in Falmouth and one in Sagamore. One of the two on the Coonamessett was located near the southern end of the present day cranberry bogs. Known as the Pacific Mills, it had developed by 1880 into a large complex with a dye house and waste house in addition to the mill building. The mill was best known for “Falmouth jeans and kersey,” clothing popular with whalers. The circa1840 mill building, complete with the turbines, existed until 1977 when it was lost in a fire.

A second gristmill, the Parker mill, was located near where John Parker Road crosses the present day bogs. Farther upstream, north of Sandwich Road, a fulling mill was built in 1788 by Shubael Lawrence. A fulling mill served a vital function in early towns by processing woolen cloth. Wool woven on home looms had to be cleaned of animal grease, shrunk and softened before it was ready to be cut and tailored. Shubael’s son, inherited the mill and donated $10,000 upon his death to Falmouth Academy, which changed its name to the Lawrence Academy. Later the name was transferred to the present day junior high school.

Vestiges of the herring war appeared again in 1865 with another bylaw to protect herring. It read:

"Voted that the herring of rivers of the town be allowed to pass up and down said rivers into the ponds unmolested, from 12 o’clock, noon Saturday, to 12 noon on Monday each week, except that the herring in Coonamessett River be allowed from 10 o’clock at night to 5 in the morning of each day in the week unmolested in addition."

In the 1820’s, tourist sport fishing was beginning to flourish. Wealthy city folks traveled about searching for the best trout streams. Anglers from Boston were enticed to Cape Cod by sporting magazines extolling the excellence of its sea-run brook trout streams . Fishing for the salters became such a popular sport that portions of Cape Cod rivers were leased to individuals giving them exclusive fishing rights. The wealthy C. E. Roberts leased a large portion of the Coonamessett River from the Town in the 1880s. He extolled the virtues of fishing on the Coonamessett in a self published pamphlet entitled Salters: Or, Brook Trout That Seek the Salt Water:

"The large trout which I have taken in the Coonamessett River are the most beautiful that I have ever seen, and there is not a state in New England where I have not fished a good share of the lakes. rivers and brooks… and I will say that for beautiful trout I have never yet seen any that can equal those taken on the Cape."

In 1891, the Swift brothers purchased the old mill properties to convert the wetlands along the river into cranberry bogs. Cranberries were an increasingly important agricultural crop on Cape Cod. First commercially grown in the mid 1800s in Harwich, cranberry cultivation was an attractive alternative source of income for retired fishermen and sea captains. It was also seen as a way to convert “worthless swamps” into productive land.

This transformation of the wetlands along the river to cranberry bogs had the severest impact yet on its natural system. Cranberries prefer growing on coarse, sandy soil above rich peat muck. Therefore, old cedar swamps along rivers or drained mill ponds were especially desired sites. An 1886 manual on cranberry growing, Cape Cod Cranberries by James Webb advised how to prepare the bog sites:

"In clearing a bog, we first mow off all the bushes and low undergrowth. Next, we cut the principal roots of the large trees, and the wind will generally blow them over. The ground being soft, they will pull up a great mass of roots in their fall."

Cranberry cultivation also required a highly manipulated water system. The river was straightened, diked, dammed and channeled to regulate water supply. Aquatic plants that interfered with bog operations were also destroyed. What was once a meandering river was now a bog ditch.

As cranberry cultivation increased (15,000 barrels were produced in Falmouth by 1895), a new labor force was needed. Portuguese and Cape Verdean immigrants were attracted to these new jobs and were hired as cranberry pickers at the rate of 75 cents a day. The Swift bogs employed many of them and they were housed at a dwelling on John Parker Road. The Book of Falmouth, states that almost all of Falmouth’s early Portuguese settlers lived in that house at one time.

Not just men worked the bogs, but also women and children. Since bog owners paid by the amount, even children worked to contribute to the family earnings. However, America’s view of child labor was changing. In 1904, the National Labor Committee organized to change labor laws and to protect underage children. The photographer Lewis Hine was hired by the Committee to document violations of labor laws protecting young children. His most famous photographs are of poignant young mill workers. He traveled widely across the country and came to Falmouth to photograph cranberry pickers. His pictures at the Swift bogs can be seen in The Book of Falmouth. The widespread publicity from Hine’s photographs helped reform labor laws, eventually leading to passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. The Act set a 40 hour work week with a minimum wage of 40 cents per hour and set a minimum age limit. Therefore, Falmouth made a contribution to the working conditions we enjoy today.

In 1971, worried about the loss of open space, the Town acquired 110 acres of uplands and cranberry bogs in the Coonamessett River valley for conservation purposes. Half of the purchase price was provided by Self-Help State funds, a program to assist Conservation Commissions in acquiring land for natural resource and passive outdoor recreational purposes. According to the Record of Deed"…[t]he Trust property shall be used for the purposes authorized by MGL Ch.40. Section 8-C ..relating to conservation, including the protection and development of the natural resources and the protection of the watershed resources of the Town of Falmouth”. Over time the Town has purchased additional bogs and uplands.

From the beginning, the Conservation Commission realized the potential for conflict between a commercial operation in a conservation area. Minutes from a June 2, 1971 meeting state: “It was generally agreed that the Commission was faced with a complex problem in attempting to have a productive cranberry bog in a public conservation area.” Concerns were raised about the use of pesticides so close to the river and the alewife run plus the presence of children and fisherman along the stream edges. Thirty years later these concerns are still valid.

Throughout its history, the Coonamessett was altered to harvest its resources as the wants of the Town changed. Now, as the economics of cranberry growing decline and we move into the 21st century, it is time to reevaluate the needs of Falmouth and the uses of the Coonamessett River. It is time to consider multiple uses that foster biological diversity and serve a broader range of needs for the Town.

Author: Wendi Buesseler, Chair of the Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters of Falmouth and a member of the board of FACES.