i'y^s'd 
 
 BOSTON HARBOR. 
 
City Document — No. 60. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 Erancis B. Fay, 
 
 South Lancaster. 
 
 JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE 
 
 BOSTON HARBOR, 
 
 rOE THE YEAR 
 
 18 52. 
 
 ■i^^t?T?^sr 
 
 BOSTON: 
 185 3. 
 
 J. H. EASTBTJRN, CITY PRINTER. 
 
7C 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON 
 
 In Common Council, December 9, 1852. 
 
 Ordered, That the Committee on the Harbor have au- 
 thority to report in print; and if they are unable to 
 report before the close of the year, that they be author- 
 ized to transmit their report to the next Council. 
 
 HENRY J. GARDNER, President. 
 
 In Board of Mai/ or and Aldermen, December 13, 1852. 
 
 Passed in concurrence. 
 
 BENJ. SEAVER, Mai/or. 
 
 Committee on Boston Harbor, for the year 1852. 
 
 Benjamin S. Allen, Edward H. Eldredge, 
 
 Benjamin James, Samuel R. Spinney, 
 
 of the B )ard of Mayor David Hamblen, 
 
 and Aldermen. of the Common Council. 
 
 „. „„^ 80SI0i*C0UifitlJaH« 
 *•'" CHBTNIfT HILL, MA 
 
EEPORT 
 
 The Committee appointed, in the organization of the 
 City Council, in the year 1852, in accordance with the 
 provisions of the City Ordinance, relating to the preser- 
 vation of Boston Harbor, passed November 12, 1846, and 
 who were authorized by an order of the Council of the 
 9th and 13th of December, 1852, to report in print and 
 to transmit their report to the present Council, have 
 attended to their duty and submit the following 
 
 REPORT: 
 
 Very soon after their appointment, the attention of the 
 Committee was called to their duty, by the reference to 
 them of several orders of notice upon petitions to the 
 General Court, praying for permission to extend wharves 
 and make other improvements in and around the harbor. 
 With a strong desire to give the questions, thus presented 
 to them, that careful examination which their importance 
 demanded, the Committee encountered great difficulty 
 from the want of accessible and authentic information. It 
 was obviously necessary that they should understand the 
 common law and the history of past Legislative action 
 in regard to the subject, as well as the original conforma- 
 tion of the harbor, and the mode in which that had been 
 affected by natural or artificial causes. 
 
 In considering the petitions referred to, the Committee 
 gave hearings to several of the parties in interest, and 
 
4 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 from various other sources obtained such information as 
 lay in their power ; a great amount of conflicting testi- 
 mony was thus adduced, which further impressed upon 
 them the necessity of obtaining an accurate and reliable 
 statement of all the facts bearing upon the subject. 
 
 To obtain these facts and to state them in a methodical 
 form became then their primary object, and though they 
 soon found that their term of office was likely to expire 
 before that object could be accomplished, they were en- 
 couraged to proceed with their investigations by the hope 
 that their labors might alleviate those of their successors, 
 and perhaps suggest such a course of action as should 
 perpetuate the knowledge and experience gained from 
 year to year, in such a shape as to be of service to the 
 City. 
 
 The Harbor of Boston extends from a cluster of 
 islands on the east, called the Brewsters, to the head of 
 tide water in the Charles and Mystic rivers and the South 
 Bay. An essential difference in the two portions of the 
 harbor and the necessity of entirely different treatment 
 for their preservation, have led to a distinction between 
 the outer and inner harbors ; the outer harbor reaching 
 from the ocean to a line passing through Governors' 
 Island, north and south, and the inner harbor comprising 
 all the tide waters to the westward of that line. 
 
 The outer harbor is protected from the encroachments 
 of the ocean by several islands, which are indeed the 
 chief bulwarks of the harbor ; they break the sea as in 
 violent storms it rolls furiously in from the ocean, and 
 make comparatively still water and safe anchorage ground 
 within. They serve, too, an important purpose in direct- 
 ing the tide-waters, as they ebb and flow through the 
 main channels, thus maintaining a depth of water suffi- 
 cient for the largest vessels. But exposed as they are 
 to the full force of our easterly gales, and to constant abra- 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 5 
 
 sion by the sea, these islands and the external headlands 
 of the harbor are continually wasting away. Very im- 
 portant changes have already taken place ; islands which 
 less than a century ago were sufficiently large to be 
 occupied as sheep pastures, have entirely disappeared. 
 Of Bird Island and Nix Mate, for example, nothing now 
 remain but shoals, covered by the tide at high water. 
 These changes, however serious in themselves, have been 
 attended by others still more alarming ; the debris thus 
 washed away from island and headland, have in process 
 of time formed new shoals, and in some places created 
 bars or spits which project from the islands in danger- 
 ous proximity to the main channels. 
 
 The City Government have made great exertions in 
 previous years to apprize Congress of these important 
 facts, and their earnest representations have not been 
 without effect, very considerable sums of money hav- 
 ing been appropriated by the National Legislature, for the 
 purpose of erecting sea walls on several of the islands 
 to prevent the further injurious action of the sea. A 
 statement of what has been already done by the govern- 
 ment of the United States, will be found in another part 
 of this report ; and it will also thence appear, that 
 although much has been done, there yet remains much to 
 do for the protection and preservation of the outer har- 
 bor. 
 
 The deteriorating causes which act upon the inner 
 harbor are different in their nature, and although as yet 
 no essential injury has been produced, they are not less 
 to be feared and guarded against. The channels of the 
 harbor being formed and continued by the tide-waters 
 passing to and from the great reservoirs of the Charles 
 and Mystic Rivers and the South Bay,^ and the scouring 
 or deepening effect of the tides in passing through the- 
 channels, being in proportion to the quantity and velocity 
 
6 BOSTON HARBOK [Sept. 
 
 of the ebb — it follows as a natural result, that any ma- 
 terial reduction in the area of those reservoirs must 
 necessarily reduce the quantity of water and diminish 
 the velocity of the current, and thus injuriously affect 
 the channels. It therefore becomes a matter of the first 
 importance to protect these reservoirs from encroach- 
 ment, and to maintain as nearly as possible their natural 
 and ancient size or water capacity. 
 
 From the best information to be obtained it appears 
 that the original area of the inner harbor, including 
 channels, flats and marsh lands, covered by high tides, as 
 specified in the report of the City Engineer, did not vary 
 much from seven thousand two hundred and twenty-eight 
 acres. The present area covered by high tides, as stated 
 in the same report, is as follows, viz : — 
 
 Of Charles River, above Charles River bridge, 1,101 acres. 
 Of Mystic River, above Chelsea bridge, 888 
 
 Of Miller's River and Prison Bay, 219 
 
 Of South Bay above South Boston bridge, 316 
 
 Of all other waters, 3,385 
 
 In all, 5,859 acres. 
 
 Thus it appears that the original water area has been 
 diminished one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine 
 acres. 
 
 Of the area covered at the present time by high tides, 
 one thousand and thirty-four acres are within the lines 
 claimed by riparian owners, and if they held a legal 
 title to the same, without restriction as to use, the harbor 
 might be filled up and the tide forever excluded to that 
 extent. 
 
 It is from the injudicious use of their property by 
 these riparian owners, and from the improper filling up 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 1 
 
 of portions of those ancient reservoirs that the principal 
 danger to the inner harbor is to be apprehended. The 
 reduction of the original area of the harbor already no- 
 ticed, has been chiefly caused by such encroachments, 
 the nature and extent of which and their effect upon 
 the City and the harbor respectively, are strikingly 
 exhibited upon a map prepared by the City Engineer, 
 at the request of the Committee, and attached to this 
 report. 
 
 The nature and extent of the jurisdiction of the Com- 
 monwealth over the flats in the harbor have been the sub- 
 jects of very considerable discussion, and have received 
 the attention of several boards of commissioners appoint- 
 ed by the General Court. 
 
 The title of the Commonwealth is founded in the first 
 place, on the right of eminent domain, the right which 
 every sovereign State possesses of disposing of all the 
 property within its jurisdiction, as the safety and well 
 being of the whole may require ; but if, in the exercise 
 of this right, private property be taken for public use, the 
 State is bound by the Constitution to make compensation 
 therefor. 
 
 There is also a title vested in the Commonwealth to 
 what is termed " the soil of the sea," that is, to the land 
 covered by tide waters within its territorial limits ; being 
 a right to the ground only, while the right of passage 
 over it, is common to every individual in the community. 
 
 It is not proposed to consider this part of the subject 
 in detail — the title as claimed for the State is here sim- 
 ply stated, and reference is made to the able exposition 
 of the law contained in the report of the Commissioners 
 appointed under the legislative resolve of May 3d, 
 1850.^ 
 
 * See page 42 of the Appendix. 
 
8 BOSTON HAEBOR. [Sept. 
 
 The right of building into and over the tide-water of 
 the Commonwealth, rests upon the Old Colony law of 
 1641, which is the following, viz. : 
 
 " It is declared that in all creeks, coves and other pla- 
 ces about and upon salt water, where the sea ebbs and 
 flows, the proprietor of the land adjoining, shall have pro- 
 priety to low water mark, where the sea doth not ebb 
 above one hundred rods, and not more where it ebbs fur- 
 ther. 
 
 " Provided, that such proprietor shall not by this liber- 
 ty have power to stop or hinder the passage of boats 
 or other vessels in or through any sea, creeks or coves to 
 other men's houses or lands." 
 
 This law, as determining the extent of riparian owner- 
 ship, has been variously construed, but the highest legal 
 opinion considers the grant and proviso as equally import- 
 ant in defining the extent of such ownership and restrict- 
 ing the use of it, and a recent decision of the Supreme 
 Court sustains the authority of the Legislature to estab- 
 lish harbor lines beyond which no wharf shall ever be 
 extended into tide water.* 
 
 The legal control over the flats, marshes, and tidal 
 ways of Boston Harbor is thus held by the Common- 
 wealth. The policy pursued by the General Court was 
 for many years exceedingly liberal, and had reference 
 mainly to the requirements of a rapidly increasing busi- 
 ness community and the pressing demand on all sides of 
 the City for more land. The ultimate injury to the har- 
 bor, that might result from the extensive encroachments 
 authorized by the General Court, seems for a time to 
 have been lost sight of, or if it were considered at all, it 
 was left to the future to protect this great interest, when 
 protection should have become absolutely necessary. 
 
 * See in page 56 of the appendix, an abstract of the decision referred to, pre- 
 pared by C. W Storey, Esq. 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No 60. 9 
 
 At an early day, the City authorities, as before stated, 
 manifested great interest in this subject. They took mea- 
 sures to represent to the National Government the inju- 
 rious effects upon the channels of the outer harbor, occa- 
 sioned by the gradual washing away of the islands and 
 headlands, and petitioned for and obtained several large 
 appropriations for their preservation. 
 
 For the first active steps, in this, as well as in many 
 other matters of great importance to the City, we are in- 
 debted to the Hon. Josiah Quincy, then Mayor, who, in 
 November, 1823, called the attention of the City Council 
 to the importance of securing Deer and Rainsford Islands 
 from the inroads of the sea. A committee was in conse- 
 quence appointed, who reported in the same month that 
 an examination of those islands, made in company with 
 Commodore Bainbridge and other gentlemen skilled in 
 maritime concerns, had resulted in a conviction of the 
 importance of taking immediate measures to secure them 
 from the inroads of the sea. The committee recommend- 
 ed that a memorial should be immediately addressed to 
 Congress, asking for an appropriation to preserve those 
 great defences of the harbor, upon which its safety and 
 convenience and the commercial prosperity of the City 
 depended. They also suggested the erection of a break- 
 water^ and the procurement of a law prohibiting the 
 taking away of ballast from any of the islands. The 
 report was agreed to, and a committee appointed to carry 
 it into effect. 
 
 On the 8th of December, 1823, the mayor brought 
 also before the City Council the importance of the imme- 
 diate purchase of George's and Lovell's Islands, the for- 
 mer being, in the opinion of men of great nautical skill, 
 
 * Municipal History of Boston, page 117. For the resolutions of the City 
 ■Government, see Appendix, page 72. 
 2 
 
10 BOSTON HARBOE. [Sept. 
 
 the bulwark of the harbor, both as being the best site for 
 a fortress, and as affording the only secure anchorage 
 ground in the outer harbor for vessels of every size and 
 description, during easterly gales. He had ascertained 
 that those islands, of such inestimable importance to 
 the City, were the property of one individual who de- 
 rived from them an income by the sale of stone and 
 gravel, and thus assisted the inroads of the sea. By 
 these combined operations one-half of George's Island 
 had been destroyed, and both of the islands could then 
 be purchased for the sum of seven thousand dollars. 
 
 The council were not, however, prepared to adopt the 
 suggestion of the mayor, but referred the subject to their 
 successors. 
 
 In November, 1824, the mayor again brought this sub- 
 ject before the City Council, stating that these islands 
 ought to belong to the City ; and that although the duty 
 of fortifying the harbor belonged to the United States, 
 yet a favorable opportunity for vesting the title to any 
 of its natural defences in the city ought not to be lost. 
 He added, that the adoption of such a measure by the 
 City Council would strongly express their sense of the 
 importance of those islands and exert a propitious influ- 
 ence in favor of any application to Congress for their 
 protection. 
 
 This persevering urgency of Mr. Quincy effected its 
 object. The sanction of the City Council was obtained, 
 and a committee appointed with full powers, who report- 
 ed, in March, 1825, that George's and Lovell's islands 
 had been purchased for six thousand dollars, upon satis- 
 factory terms and conditions. 
 
 Negotiations with the General Government were then 
 entered into, in the course of which the views of the 
 City Council were ably sustained by James Lloyd and 
 Daniel Webster, then the senators of Massachusetts in Con- 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 11 
 
 gress, and they resulted in a transfer to the United States of 
 the soil and jurisdiction of George's Island, and so much 
 of Deer Island as should be covered by their works, and 
 in an appropriation by Congress of forty thousand dollars 
 for the protection of George's and Deer islands by sea 
 walls. This sum was, however, applied to, and exhausted 
 in protecting George's Island only. 
 
 In November, 1827, Mr. Mayor Quincy again called 
 the attention of the City Council to the state of the sev- 
 eral islands and beaches in the different portions of the 
 harbor, stating that the former appropriation made by 
 Congress had been expended, and that additional appro- 
 priations were requisite for the protection of the harbor. 
 At the same time, he called their attention to a petition, 
 pending before the Legislature of the State, from the 
 town of Chelsea, relative to the jurisdiction over Chelsea 
 beach and to the importance of maintaining that beach 
 in its present state. He adverted also to the practice of 
 taking ballast and sand from Bird Island, and from the 
 bar extending from the Great Brewster to the stone mon- 
 ument at the entrance of the narrows. 
 
 An application to the Legislature was accordingly 
 authorized, and an act obtained, providing against the 
 several injuries which were specified or apprehended.^ 
 
 In 1828, a memorial to Congress, showing the import- 
 ance of the protection of Deer Island, was prepared and 
 forwarded by the City Council, and was ably sustained 
 by Mr. Gorham, the representative of the City in the 
 House. An appropriation of eighty-seven thousand dol- 
 lars was thereupon made, for the purpose of erecting a 
 sea-wall on Deer Island, which was commenced in the 
 same year. 
 
 The sagacity and foresight which prompted these early 
 movements for the preservation of the outer portion of 
 
 Municipal History of Boston, page 119. 
 
12 BOSTON HAUBOR. [Sept. 
 
 tlie harbor, and the energy and perseverance which 
 pressed them to a successful conclusion, were, with refer- 
 ence to the inner harbor, further displayed in the same 
 year (182B), when the proprietors of wharves at the 
 northerly part of the City, petitioned the Legislature for 
 permission to extend their wharves into the channel of 
 the harbor. 
 
 The Mayor, apprehensive that such permission might 
 injuriously affect the free navigation of the channel, re- 
 quested the Legislature to suspend its proceedings, and 
 by special message brought the subject before the City 
 Council, as being obviously of great importance. After 
 stating the probable consequences of inconsiderate action, 
 as well in granting authority to extend wharves, as in 
 the mode of carrying such grants into effect, he sug- 
 gested that merchants and other persons acquainted with 
 the circumstances of the harbor should be appointed 
 commissioners to examine and report, upon every petition 
 for leave to extend any structure into the harbor, such 
 facts and opinions as might guide the City Government in 
 deciding on its merits; and that every grant of such 
 permission, made by the Legislature, should be on con- 
 dition that the work should be executed in a manner sat- 
 isfactory to the City Council. 
 
 This recommendation resulted, finally, in the passage 
 of an order for the appointment of a joint committee of 
 the two branches of the City Council, to take such mea- 
 sures as they might deem proper to protect the rights and 
 interests of the City, in the extension of wharves into 
 the channel of the harbor, with power to appear before 
 the Committee of the Legislature that had the subject in 
 hearing, and, if necessary, to employ the City Solicitor 
 to maintain the rights of the City in the premises. 
 
 It will be seen that the powers given to this commit- 
 tee were very similar to those possessed by the present 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 13 
 
 Joint Standing Committee of the City Council, which 
 was provided for by an ordinance passed in 1846. 
 
 In 1829 the attention of the City Council was again 
 called to the subject, by a special message from the May- 
 or, Harrison Gray Otis, it having been represented that the 
 channel, extending from Long Wharf southerly to South 
 Boston new bridge, was becoming more shallow from va- 
 rious causes, that vessels lying at the wharves in that 
 space were endangered by easterly storms ; and that 
 there was no position in that quarter, which could be safe- 
 ly occupied by steamboats. 
 
 It was the opinion of the Mayor, that if the flats ly- 
 ing east of the channel (beyond the reach of individual 
 claims) were the property of the City, improvements 
 might be made upon them by means of breakwaters or 
 island wharves, that would afford effectual protection to 
 the harbor and wharves in that quarter, and obviate the 
 increasing shallowness of the channel ; that such im- 
 provements might be made without expense to the City, 
 and possibly upon contracts that would afford some ulti- 
 mate revenue ; that it would seem proper and necessary 
 that these flats should become the property of the City, 
 inasmuch as memorials were and would continue to be 
 frequently presented to the Legislature for private grants 
 and immunities, by the proprietors of wharves and 
 estates lying in that neighborhood, of the reasonable- 
 ness or injurious tendency of which, as well as the limi- 
 tations and regulations, to which, if granted, they ought 
 to be subjected, the City Government would possess the 
 most competent means of deciding, as the premises were 
 constantly under their observation. 
 
 Upon the recommendation of the Mayor, a committee 
 was appointed, who, after investigating^ the subject, and 
 obtaining the opinion of the Boston Marine Society,* re- 
 
 * See Appendix, page 73, 
 
14 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 ported the following orders, which were passed June lOth, 
 1829. 
 
 Ordered, That the Mayor be requested to apply, in be- 
 half of the City Government, to the Legislature, and 
 endeavor to obtain therefrom a grant to the City of such 
 portions of the flats lying east of the channel and ex- 
 tending from the free bridge north easterly towards Fore 
 Point channel, as may be sufficient for the purpose of 
 establishing a wharf or breakwater, to extend from the 
 neighborhood of Boston free bridge towards said Fore 
 Point channel, or on such parts of said flats as may here- 
 after be thought proper to be used for that purpose. 
 
 Ordered, that the Senators of this County, and the 
 Representatives of the City, be, and hereby are request- 
 ed to aid in obtaining a grant of the premises for the 
 purpose aforesaid. 
 
 In accordance with these orders, a memorial was pre- 
 sented on behalf of the City, to the Legislature of 1830, 
 and was by them referred to the next General Court. 
 The same course was taken in regard to it in 1831, and 
 no further mention of it is made in the records. 
 
 It does not appear that any definite or important ac- 
 tion upon subjects connected with the harbor, was taken 
 by the City Council for several years after this date. 
 
 In the meantime, in 1835, the number of petitions to 
 the General Court, for permission to extend wharves into 
 the harbor, yearly increasing, the attention of that body 
 was directed to the necessity of greater caution than had 
 been heretofore used in granting the prayers of such pe- 
 titioners ; the want was felt of scientific information re- 
 specting the effect of the extensive encroachments 
 already authorized, and under authority of a resolve 
 passed on the 5th of March in that year, to cause a 
 survey to be taken of certain portions of the harbor, and 
 lines to be defined beyond which no wharves shall be ex- 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 15 
 
 tended into and over the tide-water of the Common- 
 wealth, — the first board of commissioners was appointed 
 bj the Governor. 
 
 A full account of the action of the General Court up- 
 on the subject of the harbor, from that time to 1852, will 
 be found in the first fifty-six pages of the Appendix. 
 Extracts from the reports are therein given, of such 
 length as to embody the most important opinions and 
 views of the several boards of commissioners appointed 
 by the State Government. 
 
 The Committee have chosen this course, rather than the 
 insertion of such a brief summary as might properly have 
 place in their report, confident that they could in no 
 other way so effectually show, that, whatever special 
 views may have been entertained by the several commis- 
 sioners and committees who have examined the subject, 
 they have all been deeply impressed with its vast import- 
 ance to the City, the State and the Nation. Interesting 
 and valuable as these reports are, they are relied upon 
 in this connection mainly to sustain the position, that, 
 however important our harbor may be in a national point 
 of view, as a port of entry in times of peace, contribut- 
 ing largely to the revenues of the government, as the 
 spacious gateway in times of war to the homes of a rich 
 and happy community, defended by costly fortifications 
 and protecting the important naval station of Charles- 
 town ; and however valuable to the State, as its greatest 
 seaport, the great centre of its flourishing business, and 
 indeed the very life source of that mighty impulse 
 which throbs through every town and hamlet within 
 its borders, which improves the mill courses, employs 
 the mechanic, gives the farmer a market at his door, 
 and courses over iron roads northward and westward, con- 
 tributing in every way to its wealth and prosperity, — 
 however all this may be, and whatever claims we may 
 
16 BOSTON HAEBOR. [Sept. 
 
 have upon the Nation and the State for assistance in the 
 protection and preservation of our harbor, still, inasmuch 
 as the harbor of Boston is of vastly more comparative 
 importance to the City itself, than it can possibly be 
 either to the State or the Nation, in the same ratio it 
 becomes the duty of the City to guard with watchful eye 
 all that concerns this vital interest. 
 
 On the 28th of May, 1838, a joint special committee 
 of the City Council was appointed to take into consider- 
 ation the defenceless state of the Harbor, and the expe- 
 diency of addressing a memorial to Congress on the sub- 
 ject, or of instructing the representative of the City in 
 that body to use his personal exertions to procure the 
 adoption of suitable measures in regard to it. 
 
 On the 18th day of June, the Mayor, Mr. Samuel A. 
 Eliot, as the chairman of this committee, reported, that a 
 sub-committee of their number liad visited the works at 
 Fort Independence and George's Island, and conferred 
 with Col. Thayer, the superintendent, upon the subject. 
 The committee had thus learned that while Fort Inde- 
 pendence was so nearly completed that the harbor would 
 soon cease to be in that absolutely defenceless condition in 
 which it had so long remained, yet the Avork upon 
 George's Island had been suspended for want of an appro- 
 priation. 
 
 The Mayor was therefore instructed by the Council, to 
 urge upon the representative of the City in Congress the 
 importance of obtaining a suitable appropriation to com- 
 plete the defensive works in the harbor ; and to commu- 
 nicate with such other members of Congress on the 
 subject, as he might think proper. 
 
 It appears by the records of the General Court that in 
 1343, upon a petition of the City of Boston^ a resolve 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 17 
 
 (Res., 1843, chap. 16) was reported and passed, request- 
 ing the Senators and Representatives of this Common- 
 wealth in Congress to exert themselves to procure the 
 passage of measures to prevent further injury to the 
 islands and headlands in the harbor of Boston from the 
 action of the sea. 
 
 At the session of Congress in the early part of the 
 same year, the sum of $15,000 was appropriated for the 
 protection of Lovell's Island, and this sum was expended 
 in the erection of a sea wall upon that island. 
 
 In 1846, by a communication from R. B. Forbes, Esq., 
 President of the Boston Marine Society, the attention of 
 the Cit}^ Council was called to the importance of taking 
 some immediate action in reference to the preservation of 
 the islands and headlands of the outer harbor. A report 
 from a committee of the society, accompanying that com- 
 munication, contained some interesting information in re- 
 gard to the encroachments of the sea upon the islands at 
 the entrance of the harbor, and the importance of those 
 islands to its preservation. 
 
 Some statements were also made in this report relating 
 to the quantity of stone and gravel annually taken from 
 the islands and beaches, which was estimated as follows, 
 viz : 
 
 From Point Shirley and Chelsea beach, 50,000 tons. 
 From Brewster Island and the Spit, 30,000 
 
 From Deer Island, 2,000 
 
 From Long Island, 20,000 
 
 From Gallop's Island, 10,000 
 
 In all, 112,000 tons, 
 
 besides a large quantity known to be taken from Point 
 
 Alderton and other places, greatly to the injury of the 
 harbor. 
 
 Annexed to the report above alluded to, was a report 
 
18 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept 
 
 made by Col. Thayer, of the XJ. S. Engineers to the 
 Treasury Department. 
 
 An order was immediately passed by the City Council 
 appointing a committee, to whom were referred the me- 
 morial of the Boston Marine Society, and the documents 
 accompanying the same, together with the petition of 
 William Appleton and others relating to the same sub- 
 ject. 
 
 This committee reported in June, 1846; they stated 
 that in the contemplation of the subject, its importance 
 was so deeply impressed upon their minds as to lead 
 them to believe, that years of labor and of thought 
 might be considered a,s well rewarded, if they should be 
 the means of enlisting the hearty and effectual co- 
 operation of the City Government, in eflbrts to avert the 
 catastrophe of which they were warned, and for the ap- 
 prehension of which, they felt convinced there were strong 
 grounds. They also submitted statistics showing the in- 
 creasing commerce and the growth of the City. Statistics 
 upon these points are constantly before the City Council, 
 and the committee do not deem it necessary to their 
 present purpose, to present further proof of that which 
 falls within the individual experience of, and must be 
 apparent to, every citizen. 
 
 There is one point of comparison, however, that in this 
 connection deserves particular attention. The Committee 
 of 1846, stated that within the last generation, the size 
 of vessels intended for foreign trade, sailing from this 
 port had been doubled, and within a much shorter period 
 those employed in the coastwise trade, had been more 
 than doubled in size. 
 
 " Thirty years since," they say, " a vessel of 300 tons 
 for foreign voyages was of the largest class. Those now 
 built for this purpose are from 5 to 600 tons, and a few 
 reach as high as 8 or 900 tons. Thus it will be perceiv- 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 19 
 
 ed, that while the capacity of the vessel has increased, the 
 depth of water in the harbor, which is to bear her and 
 her burthen, has as constantly, though less rapidly, de- 
 creased; and the result to our beloved City, unless pre- 
 vented by those to whom belong the power and the duty 
 to do it, must be disastrous in the extreme." 
 
 Through the kindness of Gen. Andrews of the Regis- 
 try Office, Boston Custom House, the Committee have 
 obtained a tabular statement showing the increase in the 
 number, as well as in the size of vessels registered at this 
 office.^ It appears that the average tonnage of the 
 ships registered in 1850 was 1019 tons; in 1852, 1001 
 tons; and in the first nine months of 1853 the number 
 was equal to that of any preceding year, and the average 
 tonnage was 1236. Several have been built of more 
 than 2000 tons burthen, and one is now about to be 
 launched of 4000 tons. 
 
 This increase in the size of commercial vessels is not 
 confined to Boston and its vicinity, but is equally observ- 
 able in those built in other parts of the State, in Maine, 
 New York and elsewhere, which have frequent occasion 
 to use our Harbor. 
 
 An examination of the table of comparative soundings, 
 carefully prepared by the City Engineer at the request of 
 the Committee, and annexed to this report, shows, how- 
 ever, that the opinion that a material change has taken 
 place in the depth of water in the channels of the inner 
 harbor is not correct ; but that the changes have been 
 chiefly at the sides of the channels, reducing their area 
 without diminishing their maximum depth. 
 
 In accordance with the recommendation of the Com- 
 mittee of 1846, an ordinance was passed creating the 
 Joint Standing Committee of the City Council on the 
 
 * See Appendix, page 75. 
 
20 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 Harbor ; and their Report, with the accompanying docu- 
 ments, was transmitted to the Governor of the State, 
 with a request that he would lay the same before the 
 Legislature, for the purpose of inducing that body to 
 make an appropriation for the purchase of one or more of 
 the most exposed islands in the Harbor, or pass a law to 
 prohibit the taking of ballast from any of them j or to 
 address a memorial to the General Government upon this 
 subject, which it was hoped would not be without its 
 influence. 
 
 A communication from the Governor, accompanying the 
 above-mentioned documents, was referred by the General 
 Court to the Committee on Mercantile Affairs and Insu- 
 rance, on the 19th of January, 1847. 
 
 The Joint Standing Committee of the Harbor made 
 their first report on the 12th of February, 1847. It 
 referred to Gallop's Island and the Great Brewster, and 
 concluded with an order, — which was passed,— to authorize 
 the Mayor to petition the Legislature for the passage of 
 an Act to prohibit the taking of sand or gravel from those 
 islands ; and also for a grant of the flats in the Harbor 
 lying between South Boston and the channel. 
 
 The petition of the Mayor, Josiah Quincy, Jr., was pre- 
 sented to the General Court, February 16th, 1847. Com- 
 mencing with some remarks upon the value and import- 
 ance of the Great Brewster and Gallop's Island, as con- 
 stituting the principal barriers to the encroachments of 
 the sea, and safeguards to the main channels of the Har- 
 bor ; and upon their gradual diminution by the action of 
 the water ; the petition stated that the practice of taking 
 ballast from those islands preA^ailed to a great extent^ and 
 tended in no small degree, as there was reason to believe, 
 to their destruction, thereby putting in jeopardy the inter- 
 ests of all those concerned in the navigation of the Har- 
 bor; and concluded with a prayer for the passage of a law^ 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 21 
 
 with suitable penalties, prohibiting any person from tak- 
 ing ballast, sand, gravel or other soil from those islands, 
 or from any of the beaches, spits or bars adjoining them, 
 or in their immediate vicinity. This petition was also 
 referred to the Committee on Mercantile Affairs and In- 
 surance. 
 
 The proprietor of the Great Brewster Island, Lemuel 
 Brackett, protested at length against the enactment pray- 
 ed for, as tending to deprive him, without compensation, 
 of the use of his property in the manner in which it had 
 been used for a long series of years by him and his an- 
 cestors. His protest is found with the other papers re- 
 lating to the subject among the files of the Senate. 
 
 The petition of the Mayor for a grant to the City, of 
 the flats lying north of South Boston, within such limits 
 and under such restrictions as might be necessary to pre- 
 serve the rights of all concerned, was referred to the 
 same Committee. An order of notice was issued upon it, 
 and many remonstrances were presented against the 
 granting of its prayer. Several of the remonstrances 
 were signed by merchants, ship-owners and citizens of 
 Boston ; one by Marcus Morton, then Collector of the 
 Port, and nine others, one by R. B. Forbes, the Chair- 
 man of the Committee of the Boston Marine Society, on 
 Boston Harbor, and another by the Commercial Wharf 
 Company, and sixteen other wharf corporations, or private 
 wharf owners. 
 
 The Committee reported April 2d, 1847, on the sub- 
 ject of the Mayor's petition, and the report of the Com- 
 mittee of 1846, transmitted by the Governor, that it was 
 inexpedient to legislate thereon, and this report was ac- 
 cepted by both branches of the Legislature. 
 
 In 1847, several orders were passed in the City Coun- 
 cil, relating to the appointment of a Harbor Master, but 
 as the duties of that officer are mainly connected with 
 
22 BOSTON HAEBOK [Sept. 
 
 the enforcement of certain regulations respecting the an- 
 chorage of vessels, they are not important in this view of 
 the subject, although they have doubtless conduced 
 greatly to the safety and convenience of all persons con- 
 cerned in the navigation of the Harbor. 
 
 September 18th, 1848, the Committee on the Harbor 
 were directed to inquire what measures could be adopted 
 to prevent the filling up of the ship channel between 
 George's Island and the spit of the Great Brewster. It 
 does not appear that the committee made any report 
 upon the subject ; the omission was probably owing to 
 the late period of the session at which the order was 
 passed, and to the fact that the season of the year was 
 not favorable to the necessary examinations. 
 
 The Great Brewster Island was purchased by the City 
 in 1848, for the sum of four thousand dollars, with a 
 view to transfer it to the United States Government, and 
 so to insure the building of a sea wall around it. The 
 Commonwealth ceded the jurisdiction of the Island to the 
 United States, and so much of the property.in it, as might 
 be necessary for the construction of a sea wall, was con- 
 veyed to the United States by the City.^ 
 
 An appropriation of forty thousand dollars, for the con- 
 struction of the wall, was made by Congress July 20th, 
 1848, and the work was commenced early in the next 
 year, according to plans prepared by Col. Thaj^er. That 
 accomplished oCticer having in charge the fortifications on 
 George's Island, and being at that time in feeble health, 
 he was unable to superintend the construction of the wall, 
 and it was placed in charge of Capt. Benham, of the 
 United States Engineers. 
 
 The sum appropriated by Congress was altogether in- 
 sufficient to complete the work, and it was left when the 
 appropriation was exhausted, or rather when $42,000 had 
 
 * January 30, 1849. 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 23 
 
 been expended, as it appears upon a reduced plan of the 
 Great Brewster, showing the abrasions or waste of the 
 island since 1820, attached to this report. 
 
 For this plan, the Committee take pleasure in ac- 
 knowledging their obligations to the Hon. William Ap- 
 pleton, who kindly procured it for them from the De- 
 partment of Engineers at Washington. An examination 
 of the plan will show that the North Eastern bluff, now 
 117 feet high, has been wasted away during the last 
 thirty years more than 150 feet; and as the slope of the 
 bluff is towards the southwest, it is estimated that the 
 highest point must have been at least 130 feet above high 
 water mark. The immense body of earth which has thus 
 disappeared, must have been deposited where it could 
 not but prove injurious to the channels of the Harbor. It 
 was washed from a single point by the action of the sea, 
 and we are naturally aroused to a sense of the impend- 
 ing danger, when we consider the great extent of island, 
 shore and headland at the entrance of the Harbor, con- 
 stantly exposed to the same powerful and injurious 
 agency. 
 
 The work upon the Great Brewster, though yet incom- 
 plete, has answered its purpose admirably, It is in itself 
 a superb structure ; all the principal parts of it are now 
 as perfect as when left by the workmen, and this not- 
 withstanding the very severe test of the great storm of 
 April, 1851; in the course of which, however, owing to 
 the unfinished state of the work^ the sea found its way 
 round the southeasterly end of the wall, and washed out 
 the earth from behind to the depth of ten feet, thus ex- 
 posing a portion of it on both sides of the sea. 
 
 In consequence of a communication from the Hon. Wil- 
 liam Appleton, concerning appropriations for Boston Har- 
 bor, the City Council directed the City Solicitor to pre- 
 pare a Memorial on the subject, to be presented to Con- 
 gress, after it should have received the sanction of .he 
 
24 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 Committee on the Harbor. The memorial was ably 
 drawn, and met the entire approbation of the committee. 
 In pursuance of the order of the Council, Mr. Chandler 
 also proceeded to Washington, and took with him the 
 Harbor Master, and Capt. Hunt, an experienced pilot, for 
 the purpose of placing all the facts respecting the Harbor 
 before the Committee on Commerce, to whom the Memo- 
 rial was referred. On his return, the City Solicitor made 
 a report of the result of his mission,* and the hopes then 
 entertained, that it would be successful, proved to some 
 extent well founded. An appropriation of $30,000 was 
 made, on the 30th of August, 1852, for the continuation 
 of the work at the Great Brewster Island. The repre- 
 sentative in Congress, from this District, Mr. Appleton, 
 made strenuous efforts to obtain an appropriation suffi- 
 cient for its completion, and it is to be regretted that his 
 efforts were not successful. The next being a long ses- 
 sion of Congress, it is hardly probable, unless very great 
 exertions are made, that an appropriation can be obtained 
 in season to continue the work in the summer of 1854. 
 It is, however, now in progress under the supervision of 
 Col. Thayer. 
 
 It appears from a statement furnished by Gen. Totten, 
 of the Engineer Department, that Col. Thayer's estimate 
 for the completion of the works at this place, over and 
 above the sum already appropriated, was $32,700, pro- 
 vided the work could go on continuously, excepting from 
 the interruption of winter. If there should be another 
 suspension of operations, the estimated cost would be 
 magnified materially."!" 
 
 On the 29th of March, 1851, a communication was 
 addressed to the Council, by the Harbor Master, Mr. 
 Tewksbury, representing that an immediate necessity ex- 
 isted for action in regard to Gallop's Island, on the pres- 
 
 * City Document 33 — 1852. t See page 74 of the Appendix. 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 25 
 
 ervation of which depended the existence of the deep 
 ship channel of the Narrows. This was referred to the 
 Committee on the Harbor, and it appears by an endorse- 
 ment upon it, that the City Solicitor recommended an 
 application to the General Court on the subject. No fur- 
 ther action was taken, however, in respect to this very 
 important island. 
 
 It may be remarked that next in importance to the 
 Great Brewster, for the preservation of our Harbor, are 
 Long Island Head and Gallop's Island. Long Island 
 Head presents to northeasterly storms a precipitous bank, 
 rising about 100 feet above high water, and is, through 
 the action of the sea, constantly wasting away. Fully 
 aware of the importance of this point, and desirous of pro- 
 tecting it by a sea wall, Col. Thayer has several times 
 made proposals, on behalf of the United States Govern- 
 ment, for its purchase, but its owners profess to receive a 
 considerable income from the sale of ballast from it, and 
 ask for the headland a price altogether out of proportion 
 to its value. 
 
 Gallop's Island, situated upon one side of the main 
 ship-channel of the Narrows, although it does not present 
 a high bank or headland to the action of the sea, is, from 
 its immediate contiguity to the channel, of the greatest 
 importance. The proprietor of this island has for many 
 years been in the habit of selling large quantities of bal- 
 last, which has been taken from the island mostly be- 
 tween high and low water mark. Such removals of the 
 hard surface or shingle have exposed to the action of a 
 powerful current a part of the soil which is more easily 
 affected by it, and a spit has consequently been formed, 
 and is gradually making out towards the main channel 
 from the northeasterly point of the island.^ The income 
 
 * For a particular description of these changes, see pages 21 and 22 of the 
 Appendix. 
 
26 BOSTON HARBOE. [Sept. 
 
 derived from the sale of ballast has induced the owner 
 of this island also to place an entirely disproportionate 
 value upon it. The language of the Supreme Court in 
 the case of the Commonwealth vs. Tewksbury, (Suffolk 
 March Term, 1846,) shows that such a use of the property 
 may be prohibited by law without any improper infrac- 
 tion of private rights. " Without hazarding an opinion 
 upon any other question, we think that a law prohibiting 
 an owner from removing the soil composing a natural 
 embankment to a valuable, navigable stream, port or har- 
 bor, is not such a taking, such an interference with the 
 right and title of the owner, as to give him a constitu- 
 tional right to compensation, and to render an act uncon- 
 stitutional, which makes no such provision, but is a just 
 restraint of an injurious use of the property, which the 
 Legislature have authority to make."^ In the opinion 
 from which the previous extract was made, in the case of 
 the Commonwealth vs. Tewksbury, the Court say, with 
 reference to the Stat. 1845, c. 11, under which the de- 
 fendant had been indicted for removing the soil from his 
 own land — " The statute, though recent, is a mere revis- 
 ion of a former one, St. 1796, c. 73, (2 Special Laws, 
 283.) They are alike in substance and purpose, and the 
 only change is, in substituting an indictment for a qui 
 tarn action, as the mode of prosecution. The object of 
 both is apparent, and is a very important one, to protect 
 the harbor of Boston, by preserving the integrity of the 
 beaches and the natural embankments of sand and gravel 
 by which it is bordered, "f 
 
 It appears, however, that by a Statute of the succeeding 
 
 * 11 Metcalf Eep. 55. 
 
 tFrom the same opinion, we make the following quotation, which is not with- 
 out interest, viz : — " The importance of such natural beaches, in a public point of 
 view, may be estimated by the case of Plymouth Beach. The port of that ancient 
 town was protected by a narrow strip of land, extending in front of it. In con- 
 Sequence of cutting away the wood upon it, or from some other cause, it was 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 27 
 
 year (Stat. 1846, c. 106,) the Statute of 1845, c. 117, 
 was repealed as to a part of Mr. Tewksbury's beaches in 
 Chelsea, and $500 were ordered to be paid him out of 
 the treasury of the Commonwealth, " as an indemnity for 
 the loss, suffered by him under the operation of said act, 
 by reason of being unnecessarily debarred from the use of 
 his land, for the purpose, as was intended, of securing the 
 harbor of Boston." 
 
 The Committee are not aware of the reasons which in- 
 duced such a course on the part of the Legislature of 
 1846, and have thought it not impossible that the fact 
 was not brought to their notice that the law of 1845 was 
 not new, except in the form of its sanction. It is obvious 
 that the only way in which Mr. Tewksbury's rights were 
 affected by that law, was that that made it the duty of 
 the public officers to take cognizance of proceedings 
 which had been unlawful for nearly half a century, and 
 which had perhaps been allowed to go on with impunity, 
 merely because the mode of punishing them was pecu- 
 liarly odious. 
 
 In this connection, the committee think it not entirely 
 useless to refer to the Act of June 12th, 1818 — (Mass. 
 Special Laws, Yol. 5, p. 254) — entitled " An Act for the 
 preservation of Bird Island in Boston Harbor." This act 
 provides that no earth or stones shall be taken from Bird 
 Island without license first obtained from the Selectmen 
 of Boston, in writing, specifying the quantity to be re- 
 • moved, and the object of removing it. Every person who 
 without permission obtained as aforesaid, shall remove 
 any earth or stones from such island, shall forfeit and pay, 
 for each offence, the sum of twenty dollars to the use of 
 
 washed away and broken through by the wind and sea, and the navigation was in 
 danger of being wholly destroyed. Under these circumstances, the public, the 
 government both of the United States and of this Commonwealth, took measures, 
 at great expense, to restore the beach, by artificial means, to its original condi- 
 tion." 
 
28 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 said town. An act somewhat similar was passed, March 
 31st, 1834. (Mass. Special Laws, Yol. 7, Chap. 168,) en- 
 titled " An Act concerning the Islands and Beaches in 
 the Harbor of Boston." This Act provides " that if any 
 person shall wilfully carry away from any island in the 
 harbor of Boston, or from any beach adjacent thereto, 
 any earth, gravel, stone or other materials composing such 
 island of beach, without the consent of the owner thereof, 
 the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay 
 for each offence, to the. use of the Commonwealth, a sum 
 not exceeding one hundred dollars nor less than five dol- 
 lars," " provided that this act shall not be construed to 
 prevent the taking of shell-fish from such islands and 
 beaches." Section 2 of the same act imposes a like for- 
 feiture for building a fire on Spectacle Island in the har- 
 bor, without the consent of the owner or owners thereof. 
 
 In the course of the investigations which they have 
 found necessary for the preparation of their report, the 
 attention of the Committee has been frequently drawn to 
 the great extent of the researches of scientific men into 
 the modes of preserving or improving water courses and 
 harbors. The annals of the various scientific societies of 
 England and the Continent of Europe are replete with 
 valuable information derived from a vast amount of study 
 and experiment, persevered in through long periods of 
 years, and by the ablest engineers, — which alone could 
 have enabled them to carry on or complete the great 
 works now finished or in progress. Some of these works 
 have been the means of opening to a thriving and exten- 
 sive commerce, ports which were previously accessible 
 only to the smallest vessels, or of preserving valuable har- 
 bors from impending destruction, and have thus shown 
 that it is permitted to man, by the exercise of his intel- 
 lect and the exertion of his mechanical skill, to regulate 
 and control the wildest and most powerful agencies of 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No 60. 29 
 
 physical nature. Desirous of placing before the City 
 Council a statement of the condition of the science of 
 Hydrography, the committee requested James Hay ward, 
 Esq. to prepare a communication on the subject, which 
 was kindly furnished by him, and will be found in the 
 Appendix, page 65. The attention paid by Mr. Hay- 
 ward to this branch of his profession, and the great op- 
 portunities he has enjoyed of personally examining the 
 best illustrations of it to be found in Europe and this 
 country, render his communication highly valuable. 
 
 The Light House Board appointed by the Secretary of 
 the Treasury under authority of the Appropriation Act 
 of March 3d. 1851, — and which was composed of Officers 
 of the Navy and Engineers eminent for their scientific 
 attainments. — in their report to the Secretary, dated 
 January 20th, 1852, — after discussing the subject of 
 Light Houses at length, and the best modes of building 
 and maintaining them adopted in Europe and in this coun- 
 try, consider the subject of buoys and the purposes for 
 which they are intended in an elaborate and interesting 
 manner. 
 
 The remarks of the Board upon Boston Light will be 
 found in the Appendix, page 79. 
 
 The committee have had frequent conferences with 
 several of the most experienced pilots in the city, and 
 have found them uniformly disposed to afford the com- 
 mittee every facility, and communicate to them all the 
 information in their power. They have received also a 
 written communication from Mr. Gurney, which is in- 
 serted in the Appendix, page 77, and will be found 
 interesting. 
 
 The committee having thus, in pursuance of the plan 
 stated in the outset, presented a brief statement of all 
 the important historical facts bearing upon the subject of 
 the Harbor, which a careful investigation has disclosed to 
 
30 . BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 them ; and having stated the result of examinations made 
 under their direction, which have required no inconsider- 
 able amount of labor and time ; they here take occasion 
 to say, that in collecting the materials for their report, 
 they have been more and more deeply impressed with 
 the importance of the subject, the paucity of information 
 in regard to it, and the necessity of early and efficient 
 action upon it, on the part of the City Council. 
 
 It is obvious from what has been said, that no actual 
 control over the flats, water-ways or channels of the har- 
 bor is legally vested in the City of Boston. Nothing 
 therefore can be done in the matter but through the ac- 
 tion of the State and National Governments ; except, 
 indeed, that the City can become by purchase the owner 
 of certain islands and headlands before mentioned as 
 being of great value for the preservation of the harbor. 
 Future City Councils must be the judges as to the expe- 
 diency of such purchases. There is ample precedent for 
 such expenditure ; and it is to be hoped that the City 
 Government will avail itself of favorable opportunities, 
 which will probably occur, to obtain a title to those strong, 
 though perishable, harbor defences. Such an ownership 
 will not only give to the City the sole use and manage- 
 ment of these places, but may lead to an arrangement 
 with the United States Government, by which the system 
 of erecting sea walls, already proved to be so beneficial, 
 shall be continued and completed. 
 
 With regard to any action which may be had, as above 
 suggested, through the State or National Governments, it 
 is to be observed that the subject in contemplation is 
 very complicated ; demanding a large application of sci- 
 entific principles, with an ample basis of practical obser- 
 vation. The committee feel assured that no man or body 
 of men could, with the present data only, construct a 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 31 
 
 plan of proceeding which should embrace all the condi- 
 tions and anticipate all the difficulties of the question. 
 
 The risk of failing to achieve the best mode of remedy 
 is involved with another even more serious, — that of mak- 
 ing worse the present condition of the harbor. Every 
 island and point of land, — indeed, every obstruction in 
 the harbor, natural or artificial, communicating, through 
 the common medium of the water, with all the others, 
 affects and is affected by their condition, while the water 
 reciprocally suffers a variation in all its currents by a 
 change in any of the solids which it surrounds. Every 
 dilapidation of an island is the beginning of a shoal, and 
 a power added to encroachment in some new direction. 
 These facts suggest the difficulty of the problem which is 
 to be solved, in securing the harbor from further injurious 
 change. 
 
 No subject can come before the City Council, upon 
 which a greater diversity of opinion exists, or in relation 
 to which more numerous and adverse interests are repre- 
 sented, than that of the changes in the inner harbor, for 
 which petitions are presented at every meeting of the 
 State Legislature. 
 
 Scientific men do not always agree as to the effect of 
 contemplated changes, nor as to the influence of various 
 methods of obtaining compensating supplies of water. 
 Successive Boards of Commissioners, by the difference of 
 opinion expressed in their reports, have convinced the 
 public of the intrinsic difficulty of the subject ; and from 
 parties directly or indirectly interested in local improve- 
 ments, we have every possible reason urged that the 
 ingenuity of individual interest can suggest. 
 
 It is, however, agreed upon all hands, that Boston has 
 no interest paramount to that of her harbor. Upon its 
 preservation depends her commercial prosperity. -If 
 through neglect .or misfortune, it shall ever become insuf- 
 
32 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 ficient to accommodate the largest vessels employed in 
 commerce, from that moment her decline will commence. 
 And it will not readily be believed that a city which has 
 always displayed so much sagacity to discern and ener- 
 gy to pursue her true interests, will have failed to in- 
 form herself upon a point so vital as this to her well- 
 being. The best and most accurate information, and the 
 soundest opinions respecting the harbor, will, on the con- 
 trary, always be expected of the City in her corporate 
 capacity. Her opinion will be respected, and her influ- 
 ence felt in the commencement, and during the progress 
 of any action on the part of the Governments of the 
 State or the United States, in regard to the harbor. 
 
 The City, therefore, is bound to place herself in a po- 
 sition to supply the best and most comprehensive infor- 
 mation possible with regard to the actual changes in the 
 outer as well as the inner harbor. The formation of the 
 Harbor Committee, a Standing Committee of the City 
 Council, was one step towards this desirable end, but with 
 the liability to an entire change of its members annually, 
 and with the limited means now at their disposal, con- 
 sistent progressive action on their part is extremely diffi- 
 cult if not impossible. It is to be considered that the ex- 
 perience of one Committee does not descend to their suc- 
 cessors, and that a considerable time may be required for 
 each successive committee to apprehend even the ele- 
 ments of the subject. 
 
 In entering upon the duties of their office, each com- 
 mittee should find in the archives of the City the means 
 of availing themselves readily of the experience of their 
 predecessors and seeing at a glance the existing condition 
 of the harbor, and the nature of the changes to which it 
 is subject, and of the plans proposed for its improvement. 
 To obtain the knowledge required to deal properly with 
 this question, to discover when and where proposed alter- 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 33 
 
 ations would be injurious or beneficial, or how to frame a 
 petition to either Grovernment for aid, it becomes neces- 
 sary to adopt a system of observation, to be continued for 
 a series of years, and until a sufficient collection of facts 
 shall have been made to form the basis of a correct opin- 
 ion. It is only by a course of continuous observations, 
 that we can hope to mature a system that shall effectu- 
 ally preserve the harbor. 
 
 The committee, therefore, respectfully recommend the 
 immediate adoption of measures to secure a careful obser- 
 vation of the harbor and the changes going on within it, 
 and an investigation of the causes of such changes, under 
 the direction of the City Engineer, who shall be required 
 to make an annual report thereon. 
 
 Accurate surveys of the islands and headlands should 
 be made yearly, and the results delineated on plans 
 drawn upon a large scale, so as to show the comparative 
 abrasions of their soil, one season with another, and direct 
 attention to the points most seriously affected by the 
 action of the sea. By this means also the formation of 
 shoals and spits, and the changes of current injurious to 
 the main channels of the harbor, would be accurately 
 known and defined. 
 
 Soundings should be accurately made in certain lines, 
 at stated intervals, atid their results recorded in a perma- 
 nent form. It has been found that the preliminary 
 arrangements necessary to locate these lines involve the 
 chief part of the expense attending such examinations. 
 Permanent monuments can be erected, which will enable 
 the engineers to trace the most important of the lines 
 without new instrumental observations, and the expense 
 would then be comparatively inconsiderable. 
 
 The publication of the reports above-referred-to would 
 inform the citizens generally upon a subject in which all 
 
U BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 are interested, and would probably exercise an influence 
 on the public mind strong enough to overrule the efforts 
 of private speculation, when they are opposed to the pub- 
 lic interest. 
 
 It will be seen by reference to the resolves of the City 
 Council, passed November 24th, 1823, (Appendix page 
 72,) that a very similar project was then entertained by 
 the City Government. If the surveys then authorized 
 had been made, and had been continued during the thirty 
 years that have since elapsed, there would probably be 
 now sufficient information upon the subject of harbor 
 changes. 
 
 In the mean time, although the proprietors of certain 
 islands may have rendered themselves liable to indict- 
 ment by such use of the property as has been injurious 
 to the public, yet as they probably proceeded under a. 
 misapprehension of their rights, and as it is desirable 
 that all parties interested should have an opportunity to 
 be heard in defence of their rights, the committee recom- 
 mend the presentment of a petition to the General Court, 
 setting forth the present state of facts, and praying for 
 the enactment of a law to prohibit the owners or other 
 persons from taking stone, sand or gravel for ballast or 
 other purposes from any of the islands, headlands, beach- 
 es or shores, within or surrounding* the harbor. 
 
 The recent examinations, made at the request of the 
 committee, have disclosed many encroachments upon the 
 harbor, beyond the lines established by law as the limits 
 of any structure whatever. This indicates an urgent de- 
 mand for permanent, visible monuments defining the 
 limits alluded to. Any future encroachments would thus 
 be matters of entire publicity, and trespassers would be 
 at once detected, if the law and a sense of right were not 
 sufficient to prevent any attempt to invade the public 
 interests. 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 35 
 
 A request for an appropriation, to defray the expense 
 of establishing such monuments, might well be included 
 in the before-mentioned petition for a protective law. 
 
 The Attorney of the Commonwealth, for this District, 
 has been directed to prosecute all cases of encroachment 
 under the acts establishing the lines of the harbor. But 
 to enable him to do this, those cases must be brought 
 to his notice. On the 16th of April, 1846,^ a commission 
 was appointed to report the facts in all cases of viola- 
 tion of these acts, but such a mode of proceeding neces- 
 sarily causes delay; and the committee would recom- 
 mend that the City Solicitor be directed to take the 
 proper measures to set on foot prosecutions against those 
 who have, as appears by the statement of the City Engi- 
 neer, encroached upon the harbor lines. 
 
 Besides the encroachments upon the waters of the 
 Harbor, caused by the extension of wharves beyond the 
 Commissioners' lines, it will be seen by the report of the 
 City Engineer, that in several instances at East Boston 
 it has been found that proprietors have extended the 
 solid structure of their wharves beyond the limits author- 
 ized by the most liberal construction of the law. 
 
 In all acts granting permission for such extensions, 
 the following clause has been inserted, viz : "provided, 
 also, that so much of said wharf as may be constructed 
 below said low water mark shall be built on piles, 
 which piles shall not be nearer to each other than six 
 feet in the direction of the stream, and eight feet in a 
 tranverse direction." 
 
 It is evident that solid structures must have a more 
 powerful effect in changing the direction of the channels 
 than wharves upon piles, and if the judicious restrictions 
 of the acts have not been complied with, the parties 
 transgressing must of course be viewed as trespassers, and 
 
 *See Appendix, page 15. 
 
36 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 if properly presented, would no doubt be prosecuted by 
 the District Attorney. 
 
 It appears, by the map accompanying this report, that 
 the harbor lines are still incomplete. The petition to 
 the General Court, before-mentioned, should contain a 
 prayer for the establishment of such lines around the 
 South Bay and in Mystic River, as may, upon examina- 
 tion, be found necessary to preserve the water capacity of 
 those reservoirs. And it should be urged upon the Legis- 
 lature, that all future grants for improvements in the har- 
 bor should be made upon the express condition, that the 
 compensating supplies of water, so essential to the con- 
 tinuance and preservation of the channels, shall be ade- 
 quately provided by the grantees, under the direction of 
 one or more public officers. 
 
 The committee further recommend that a memorial to 
 the General Government be prepared, stating the urgent 
 necessity of an appropriation for the completion of the 
 sea wall around the Great Brewster Island, and for the 
 erection of a similar wall to protect Long Island Head. 
 
 The Committee cannot close this report without ex- 
 pressing their obligations to Col. Thayer for the facilities 
 given by him for an examination of the present state of 
 the government works in the harbor, and for valuable 
 information upon the subject generally. They have also 
 been much indebted to James Hayward, Esq. and to E. 
 S. Chesbrough, Esq., City Engineer, for valuable scientific 
 information ; and to C. W. Story, Esq., for efficient aid in 
 the collection of legislative and legal authorities. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 For the Committee, 
 
 E. H. ELDREDGE. 
 
EEPORT OE THE CITY ENGINEER. 
 
38 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept 
 
 BosTONj July 8, 1852. 
 E. S. Chesbrough, Esq., 
 
 City Engineer: 
 
 Dear Sir, — I am authorized by the Standing Committee 
 on the Harbor to request you to prepare, for the use of 
 the City Council, a plan showing all the Commissioners' 
 Lines established by Legislative enactment in and above- 
 the Inner Harbor of Boston, with the present limits and 
 boundaries of wharves and other improvements encroach- 
 ing upon the waters of the Harbor ; to report the nature 
 of the structures, together with such other scientific infor- 
 mation as you may be able to collect, in reference to the 
 effect of said improvements upon the currents and chan- 
 nels of the harbor ; and to cause soundings to be made,, 
 which shall show the depth of water at low tide in the 
 most important parts of the harbor. 
 
 Also to report to the Committee a proper system of 
 fixed boundaries or monuments, by which the Commis- 
 ioners' lines may be easily ascertained and defined be- 
 yond any probable contingency. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, &c. 
 
 E. H. ELDREDGE. 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.—No. 60„ 39 
 
 City Engineer's Office, 
 
 Boston, August lUh, 1853. 
 
 Sir, — In accordance witli your instructions of July 8, 
 1852, the accompanying map of the Harbor, plan of the 
 Great Brewster, and sections of soundings, have been pre- 
 pared. 
 
 In consequence of the large amount of other work call- 
 ed for by the city, it was impossible to make the necessary 
 examinations and present the map and plans at an earlier 
 day ; it having been understood, from the commencement, 
 that the amount appropriated for the purpose would not 
 justify the employment of a large or expensive extra 
 force. 
 
 The Harbor Commissioners' lines have been laid down 
 on the map according to the description of them in the 
 city ordinances. It will be seen by referring to the ordi- 
 nances, that these lines have been established by diifer- 
 •ent commissions, and at different times, and that they are 
 still incomplete, especially around the southern portion of 
 the South Bay and in the Mystic River. 
 
 The letters at the principal angular points on the Har- 
 bor Commissioners' lines, laid down on the plan, indicate 
 the names of wharves and other localities where the an- 
 gular points are, as will be seen by the table of refer- 
 ences ; and the dates show the years in which the lines 
 were established by legislative authority, as will be seen 
 by referring to the city ordinances, except for the lines 
 on the Charlestown side of Mystic River, and for those 
 on the South Boston flats towards the main channel, 
 which have been established since the publication of the 
 city ordinances. 
 
40 BOSTON HAUBOR. [Sept. 
 
 In the preparation of the map, advantage has been 
 taken of every known reliable source of information, but 
 the principal basis has been the United States Coast Sur- 
 vey. As this, however, was made six years ago, it did 
 not include many improvements and changes made since. 
 Many of these have been obtained from the plan of 
 the East Boston Company's lands, and from the plans of 
 individuals and corporations, kindly loaned for the pur- 
 pose. In some instances it has been necessary to re-sur- 
 vey wharves that have recently been altered, particularly 
 between the Battery wharf and Gray's wharf at the 
 North End, between Wales's wharf and the Old South 
 Boston Bridge on Fore Point Channel, and between 
 Craigie's and the Cambridge Bridges on the west side of 
 the city. The intention has been to show all the wharves 
 and other structures on the harbor as they exist at the 
 present time, and it is believed that this object has been 
 very nearly if not fully attained, at least as far as it 
 could have been done without making expenditures not 
 justified by the appropriation. 
 
 The following encroachments upon the harbor have 
 been made beyond the Commissioners' lines : — 
 
 Amory's Wharf Face is 43^ feet outside the line. It 
 was supposed to be pressed out by the filling, and there- 
 fore not insisted on as an encroachment. Mentioned in 
 report on encroachments by Messrs. Bell and Lincoln in 
 1847. 
 
 Tileston's, Prentice's, Liverpool and Packard's Wharves, 
 and Pearson's Dry Dock, reported by Messrs. Bell and 
 Lincoln as over the Line in 1847, are within the new line 
 established in 1850. 
 
 Burchsted & Leavitt's Dry Dock (next north of Otis's 
 wharf). Both Piers are S}4 feet over. 
 
 Foster's North Wharf Face is 2 feet over. 
 
 Battery Wharf North corner of projecting part of face 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 41 
 
 is 11/^ feet over. South corner of do. is 1)4 feet over. 
 Resting on piles. Extended in 1849. 
 
 North Battery Wharf. Face is parallel to line and 11 
 feet over. Extended in 1849. On piles. 
 
 Constitution Wharf. North corner of face is 19 feet 
 over. The angle in the face is 24 feet over. South cor- 
 ner is 11/^ feet over. On piles. Extended in 1837. 
 
 Aspinwall's Spar Yard (next south of Chelsea Ferry 
 Slip). North end is 7 feet over. Angle in face is 12 
 feet over. South end is 13 feet over. Hests on piles. 
 Extended in 1837. 
 
 Harris's South Wharf (next north of Chelsea Ferry). 
 Northeast corner is 6 feet over. Southeast corner is 1/4 
 feet over. On piles. Extended in 1849. 
 
 Hichards's Wharf (now Harris's north wharf). North- 
 west corner is 7 feet out. Southeast corner 3 feet out. 
 At 8 feet from the southeast corner the angle of the 
 Commissioners' lines is on the face. On piles. Extended 
 in 1849. 
 
 Fiske's Wharf. Face is parallel to line and 6 feet 
 over. Extended in 1837. On piles. 
 
 Comey's Wharf. Northwest corner is 3 feet over. 
 Southeast corner is 2 feet over. On piles. Extended in 
 1833 and '34. 
 
 Bartlett's South W^harf (adjoining Gray's) is 7 feet 
 over. On piles. Meationed by Messrs. Bell and Lincoln. 
 Extended about 1840. 
 
 Bartlett's North Wharf (Davis's wharf). North corner 
 is 25 feet over. South corner 16 feet over. On piles. 
 Extended about 1840. - Mentioned by Messrs. Bell and 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Ingersoll's Wharf (between Vinal's and Chamberlin's). 
 On piles. 8 feet over. Mentioned by Messrs. Bell and 
 Lincoln. Extended in 1837. 
 
42 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 Spaulding's Wharf (at foot of Poplar street). Solid 
 structure. North corner is 12 feet over ; the south cor- 
 ner is 15 feet over. Already a subject of litigation. 
 
 Taylor's Wharf (at foot of Poplar street). Solid struc- 
 ture. North corner is 40 feet over ; the south corner is 
 27 feet over. Already a subject of litigation. 
 
 Hoppin's Wharf (at the Eye and Ear Infirmary, Charles 
 street). North corner is 5 feet over ; south corner is 4/i 
 feet over. Solid. Extended in 1 848 and '49. 
 
 What effect, if any, these structures have had in 
 changing the direction of currents and altering the shape 
 of the channels, beyond what would have taken place if 
 there had been a strict adherence to the laws relating to 
 the Harbor Commissioners' lines, it is impossible to deter- 
 mine ; but there is reason to believe that up to this time 
 they have not caused much injury to the harbor. This 
 should not, however, be considered as any excuse for un- 
 lawful encroachments. 
 
 At East Boston, Kelly & Holmes's wharf extends about 
 16 feet, and Cunningham's wharf about 2 feet, on piles, 
 beyond the Harbor Commissioners' lines. 
 
 The case of Alger's wharf and the Boston wharf, at 
 South Boston, are already known as having been the sub- 
 jects of judicial and legislative proceedings. 
 
 At East Boston, Jones's, Clifton's, Weeks's, Cunning- 
 ham's, Tufts's, the East Boston, the Atlantic Steamship 
 Co.'s, and the Grand Junction Railroad wharves have 
 been extended by special acts of the Legislature, which 
 provide that no solid structures shall be built "below 
 low water mark." If the low water level adopted on 
 the United States Coast Survey, which is that of the low- 
 est spring tides observed, or 16.8 feet below the coping 
 of the Dry Dock at Charlestown, be considered as the 
 one intended by the Legislature, and if the chart of the 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 43 
 
 Harbor prepared for the Legislature in 1837, by Messrs. 
 Baldwin, Thayer and Hay ward, which is the best known 
 authority on the subject, be adopted as settling where the 
 16.8 feet line should be, then the solid portions of the 
 above mentioned wharves have been extended considera- 
 bly beyond their lawful limits ; in some instances as 
 much as two hundred feet. If mean low water level, as 
 determined by the Coast Survey, or 15 feet below the 
 coping of the Charlestown Dry Dock, be considered as 
 the limit intended by the Legislature, then some of these 
 solid structures extend as much as three hundred and 
 fifty feet beyond their lawful limits. 
 
 The lines of 16.8 and 15 feet below the coping of the 
 Charlestown Dry Dock, and the solid portions of the 
 wharves, in front of East Boston, will be found indicated 
 on the map. How great the influence of these encroach- 
 ments upon the currents of the harbor has been, it is im- 
 possible to determine ; but that it has been considerable is 
 very probable. No structures that have been erected 
 during the last fifteen years have had so great an effect 
 in changing the direction of the current of the main 
 channel, as the East Boston wharves have had. It is 
 a source of much regret that the Harbor Commissioners' 
 lines could not have been established nearer the shore, 
 around the point at the west end of Sumner street, than 
 they now are. 
 
 It is also greatly to be regretted that the Legislature 
 did not establish the line of low water mark by reference 
 to fixed monuments, as the level intended cannot be deter- 
 mined by any of the acts referred to ; and if it could be, 
 there would be, in most cases, some dif&culty in applying 
 it ; for a point below low water mark this year may, 
 owing to changes that are constantly taking place in the 
 harbor, be above it the next, and vice versa. 
 
44 BOSTON HAEBOR. [Sept, 
 
 There is reason to believe that encroachments with 
 solid structures, unlawfully extended helov7 low water 
 mark, are not confined to East Boston, but may be found 
 around the northern and western part of the city proper ; 
 and the. City's own wharf, near the Charles Biver Bridge, 
 is probably no exception. The means of determining the 
 original line of low water mark around the city proper, 
 however, are not so satisfactory as in the case of East 
 Boston, as no authentic record of soundings made around 
 the city proper, previous to the building of most of the 
 existing wharves, is to be found. 
 
 Soundings have been made on a number of lines in various 
 parts of the harbor. As any attempt to mark their depths 
 on the map, so as to compare them with the depths of pre- 
 vious soundings, would cause confasion, the lines alone 
 have been indicated on the map, while the soundings have 
 been marked on the sheet of sections, together with those 
 previously made. By examining them carefully, it will 
 be seen that since 1835, as far as examinations have been 
 made, no perceptible diminution in the depth of the cen- 
 tre of the main channel has taken place, and none of im- 
 portance in that of the Fore Point channel. 
 
 The sides of the channels, however, have changed in 
 several places, being generally more shallow at the ends 
 of the wharves than formerly ; the principal exception 
 being along the narrowest part of the channel between 
 Boston and East Boston, where there is greater depth. 
 From two to six feet of deposit has been made at the 
 ends of the wharves on Fore Point channel, and it is well 
 known that considerable expense is incurred below the 
 Ferry wharf, on the East Boston side, in maintaining a 
 sufficient depth of water. 
 
 The greatest observed change in any part of the har- 
 bor is that at the head of Governor's Island. As com- 
 pared with the soundings of 1847, tliosc of 1842 show a 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No 60. 45 
 
 deposit there of at least 8 feet for a quarter of a mile. 
 This appeared so astonishing, that some error in the last 
 soundings was suspected, but other soundings, made this 
 year, by a different assistant, on a line crossing the others, 
 confirm those of 1852. (See Sections U and Y). 
 
 So remarkable a change in less than six years appears 
 totally unaccountable, and it is very probable that some 
 undiscovered error will yet explain it. 
 
 The shallowest part of the main channel, as indicated 
 on the Map of the Coast Survey, is just above the Upper 
 Middle. (See Section U). An examination of this will 
 show that no diminution in the depth of the centre of the 
 channel has taken place since 1847 ; the section referred 
 to makes it a little greater, but there has probably been 
 no change. The apparent difference on this, as well as 
 on the other sections, is owing to the difficulty there was 
 in making the soundings to within a foot, and in taking 
 them at points identical with those of 1847. 
 
 The bottom at this most important part of the main 
 channel being gravelly, and so hard that an iron rod 
 could not be made to penetrate it more than an inch or 
 two, shows that there can scarcely be any doubt that the 
 water is quite as deep there now as it has ever been 
 since the first vessel sailed into the harbor. 
 
 It is very evident, however, that the width of the 
 main channel is less than it was formerly, as extensive 
 deposits are made on its sides, where the current is much 
 less rapid than in its centre. The comparisons made by 
 Lt. Davis, in his memoir to the Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences, April 1st, 1851, between the soundings of 1817 
 by Com. Wadsworth, and those of the Coast Survey of 
 1847, make this very clear. 
 
 The flats are not only extending out, generally, but they 
 are rising higher from the accumulated deposits upon them. 
 It is not easy to determine the rate at which they rise, 
 
46 BOSTON HAKBOR. [Sept. 
 
 if there is a uniform one ; but a comparison of Des 
 Barres' chart with the most recent soundings shows that 
 a considerable portion of the South Boston flats has risen 
 from four to six feet since 1764. An examination of 
 section A 'shows that the Charles River flats, near the 
 West Boston Bridge, have risen one foot since 1835. 
 
 With regard to a system of fixed boundaries or monu- 
 ments, by which to ascertain and define the Harbor 
 Commissioners' lines, the best plan would be to survey 
 with care the wharves which are on the angular points of 
 the Commissioners' lines, around the city proper, on 
 the southerly side of Charlestown, and on the westerly 
 side of South Boston. In almost every case there are 
 houses and streets that could be .made to serve as fixed 
 monuments of reference. All around East Boston the 
 Harbor Commissioners' lines are so carefully described 
 and defined with reference to streets and established lines 
 of lots, that it will always be possible to re-establish 
 them, if every wharf in that part of the City should be 
 destroyed. The several surveys that have already been 
 made, by the different Boards of Harbor Commissioners, 
 by the United States ofiicers, and by the City of Boston, 
 are suflicient to show approximately where the harbor 
 lines have been located by the Legislature ; but in some 
 cases it would be difficult to detect a variation of ten 
 feet, owing to the uncertainty of dimensions obtained by 
 scale from plans. Visible monuments on the wharves 
 would be of great service, in assisting those who may 
 make examinations to detect encroachments that might 
 otherwise pass unnoticed. 
 
 By your verbal directions the original high water line 
 has been traced on the map, as accurately as the sources 
 of information obtainable at this office would allow. 
 Much labor and research were expended, in order to 
 make this part of the map perfect; but it is greatly to 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 47 
 
 be regretted that the authorities relied upon do not agree 
 very closely among themselves. The greatest cause of 
 doubt is owing to the flatness of the original margin of a 
 great part of the City, in consequence of which the differ- 
 ences between the line to which ordinary high water and 
 that to which very high water flowed must have been 
 considerable, in some places probably three or four 
 hundred feet. This was particularly the case at the foot 
 of the Common. The sources relied upon are the plans 
 found in Snow's History, and Frothingham's Siege of 
 Boston, besides those of Osgood Carleton and S. P. Fuller. 
 E. S. Rand, Esq., has also furnished some valuable infor- 
 mation, relative to the original high water line in the 
 western part of the City, obtained during his examination 
 of titles to estates there. 
 
 As this is a subject of general interest in a historical 
 point of view, would it not be advisable to induce private 
 individuals, who may have old plans or deeds, or any 
 other kind of information, that w^ould aid in correcting 
 this portion of the map, to give or loan them to the city ? 
 
 An examination of the original high water line, as laid 
 down on the map, will give a very satisfactory view of 
 the diminution of water area that has taken place in the 
 harbor since the first settlement of the city. The follow- 
 ing approximate estimates of original and present areas 
 have been prepared to show this diminution. 
 
 Water area of Boston Inner Harbor, included letiveen the 
 north side of South Boston and the parallel of 40° 20'; the 
 meridian marlted 0° 3' east of the State House ; the shores 
 of East Boston and Chelsea., and the bridge beticcen them ; 
 zvith the bays and inlets ivest of these lines ; calculated from 
 measurements by scale from larger plans. 
 
 "Water area of Ancient Harbor as above 
 
 defined, _ _ _ _ _ 7,228 acres. 
 
48 
 
 BOSTON HARBOK. 
 
 [Sept. 
 
 Area of filling and wharves in Boston, 493 acres. 
 " " " " S. Boston, 59 " 
 
 " " " " E.Boston, 99 " 
 
 « " " " Charlestown, 67 " 
 
 " " " " E. Cambridge, 46 " 
 
 Boston "Water Power Company's Empty 
 and Full Basins, 
 
 Mill Dam, ----- 
 
 Present Water Area of Inner Harbor, 
 
 591 
 14 
 
 1,369 acres. 
 
 5,859 
 
 Area witbin the Commissioners' Lines 
 
 liable to be filled, on S. Boston Flats, 533 acres. 
 " " in South Bay, 66 " 
 
 between Mill Dam and 
 the Commissioners' Lines, 27 " 
 
 a 
 
 on West Boston Shore, 
 
 15 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 on Cambridge Shore of 
 
 
 
 
 Charles River, 
 
 280 
 
 ii 
 
 a 
 
 E. Cambridge, in Mil- 
 
 
 
 
 ler's River, 
 
 28 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 East Boston Shore, 
 
 153 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 Chelsea, 
 
 35 
 
 " 1137 acres, 
 
 Area of Boston Inner Harbor outside the 
 
 Commissioners' Lines, as far as estab- 
 lished, ------ 
 
 4722 
 
 The area of Mystic River above Chelsea 
 
 Bridge is - - - - -838 acres. 
 
 " " Charles River above 
 
 Charles River Bridge, 1101 •' 
 ■ « « Miller's River & Prison 
 
 Bay, 219 " 
 
 " '• South Bay above South 
 
 " " Boston Bridge, 316 " 
 
 « «• all other waters, 3385 '' 5859 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 60. 49 
 
 The accompanying plan of the Great Brewster shows 
 a most remarkable change in a short time in that part of 
 the Harbor, and proves that without the protection the 
 General Government is now giving to that Island, by sea 
 walls, it would be entirely washed away in a few years. 
 Col. Thayer of the United States' Engineers, Avho has 
 charge of all the government works in the Harbor, and who 
 has been most kind and courteous towards those who have 
 visited or sought information relative to them, states that 
 the location of portions of the wall laid down on the 
 plan, but not actually built, will be changed somewhat. 
 As the copies of the plan were all struck off before this 
 fact was known, it was not thought necessary to have 
 new ones printed ; as the main object of the plan was 
 to show the great exposure of that part of the Harbor, 
 to rapid and important changes. 
 
 It may be expected, perhaps, that some suggestions 
 will be made here relative to the future extension and 
 alteration of the Commissioners' lines, and other matters 
 bearing upon the preservation and improvement of the 
 Harbor. These subjects were not embraced in your 
 instructions, moreover they demand the close investiga- 
 tion of commissioners or other competent persons espe- 
 cially appointed for the purpose, with ample time and 
 means at their disposal.^ A very large amount of such 
 information, of a very interesting nature, has already 
 been embodied in the appendix to your Report. 
 
 The importance of the Harbor to the commercial pros- 
 perity of the City suggests the necessity of watching 
 with constant care the changes that take place in it, 
 from time to time, from whatever cause. For these 
 changes can only be detected by examination of the 
 parts of the Harbor affected. By comparing the results 
 
 * See note, page 51. 
 
50 BOSTON HARBOE. [Sept. 
 
 of such examinations with others obtained previously, 
 information of great importance will be gained, and fu- 
 ture changes and extensions of the Commissioners' lines 
 may be made with much greater safety. 
 
 I have been principally assisted in the examinations 
 made, and plans prepared, last year and this, by Messrs. 
 Joseph Bennett, S. S. Greele, and W. H. Bradley, and 
 have received much aid from Mr. George P. Tewksbury, 
 late Harbor Master, who has pointed out the rock north 
 east of the Great Brewster, and mentions that there are 
 other dangerous rocks not to be found on any chart of 
 the Harbor, but known to the pilots. 
 
 I would also acknowledge my indebtedness for valua- 
 ble information to James Hay ward, Simeon Borden, 
 R. H. Eddy, William P. Parrott, and T. & J. Doane, 
 Esqs.; and to Col. Ezra Lincoln, for so long a use of 
 the perfect and beautiful chart of the Harbor, prepared 
 for the State of Massachusetts under the direction of the 
 Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. I 
 have also been freely allowed to borrow or copy plans 
 and charts in the custody of the Librarians of the State 
 Library, the Boston Athenseum, and the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society. The copies thus obtained will be 
 valuable for future reference. 
 
 Annexed will be found a table of reference for ex- 
 plaining the letters and figures on the map. 
 
 Which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 E. S. CHESBROUGH, 
 
 Ciiy Engineer. 
 
 To E. H. Eldredge, Esq., 
 
 Of the Earlor Committee o/" 1852. 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 60. 51 
 
 NOTE . 
 
 Since the foregoing report went to press an important fact has 
 been learned with regard to tlie Harbor of Glasgow, from the Civil 
 Engineer and Architect's Journal for October, 1853, page 373. In 
 a very interesting article upon the Conservation and Impi'ovement 
 of Tidal Rivei's, by Edward Killwick Calver, R. N., Admiralty Sur- 
 veyor, occurs the following : " Even in the Clyde, where vessels 
 have been got up to Glasgow, the lower river has suffered. In 1768, 
 where there was 12 feet at low water, the general depth is from 9 
 to 10 feet, and in several places it is reduced to 6 feet, or one half 
 the original quantity." The object of calling attention to this fact is 
 to show the impropriety and danger of adopting plans for extensive 
 changes and improvements in the Harbor, without first investigating 
 most thoroughly everything bearing upon, or that would be affected 
 by, them. The great increase in the depth of water at Glasgow and 
 the consequent benefit to its commerce by the improvements which 
 are described by Mr. Hayward in his letter — (see Appendix page 
 67) — and which Mr. Calver considers the cause of the reduction of 
 depth he mentions, has been looked upon as one of the greatest tri- 
 umphs of modern engineering. The Clyde, it may be said, is differ- 
 ent from the Harbor of Boston ; but other cases different from these, 
 and differing from each other, in a greater or less degree, will be 
 found mentioned by Mr. Calver, and in the voluminous reports on 
 Harbors by Committees of the British Parhament. 
 
 This opportunity is taken to acknowledge the receipt of valuable 
 informa,tion from Capt. E. Barker, and Mr. Billings, Civil Engi- 
 neer at the Navy Yard, relative to the original high water line around 
 Charlestown. Also to say that the solid portion of Jones's Wharf 
 which is said, on page 42, to extend beyond low water mark, does not 
 encroach beyond its lawful limits. 
 
 E. S. C. 
 
 Nov. 19, 1853. 
 
52 BOSTON HARBOR. [Sept. 
 
 Talle of Reference for the letters marking the Harbor 
 Commissioners' Lines. 
 
 [The numbers of the pages refer to the City Ordinances published in 1850, 
 unless otherwise mentioned.] 
 
 A Point on the westerly side of channel of Roxbuiy Creek, 
 1000 feet from Harrison Avenue, opposite South 
 Burying Ground, - - - - - - 165 
 
 B Point 1250 feet from South Boston Bridge, 
 
 C Heath's Wharf, afterwards Miller's, now Evans & 
 
 Miller's, 158 & 165 
 
 D "Wright's Wharf, afterwards the first wharf of the South 
 
 Cove Co., 158 
 
 E Brown's Wharf, 156 
 
 F Wright's North East Wharf, 156 
 
 G Wales's Wharf, 156 
 
 H Ai-ch Wharf, 156 
 
 I Otis's Wharf, 156 
 
 K Foster's South Wharf, 156 
 
 L Rowe's Wharf, 156 
 
 M Long Wharf, 156 
 
 N Union Wharf, .-.--.. 156 
 
 O Battery Wharf, 156 
 
 P Constitution Wharf, 156 
 
 Q Richards's Wharf, - 156 
 
 R Gray's Wharf, - - 157 
 
 S Vmal'sWliarf, ....... 157 
 
 T Brown's Wharf, - 157 
 
 U Trull's Wharf, 157 
 
 V South abutment of Warren Bridge, - - - 157 
 W Northern angle of solid part of Boston and Lowell R. R. 
 
 grounds, -------- 159 
 
 X Northeast side of Lowell R. R. Bridge, - - - 159 
 
 Y West side of Cragie's Bridge, - - - - - 160 
 Z Northeast corner of wharf of Charles River Wharf Co., 1 60 
 A* Ledge at Taylor's Wharf, 160 
 
1853.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No 60. 53 
 
 B* Southwest comer of Pier Wharf, on south side of Cam- 
 bridge Bridge, 160, 163 & 170 
 
 C* Point 1086 feet from northeast corner of Beacon and 
 
 Charles Streets, 164 & 170 
 
 D* Point at west end of Mill Dam and 20 feet from it, 164 &; 170 
 
 East Boston. 
 
 A? Point A in south line of Sumner Street, 800 feet from 
 
 Jeffries street, "■ 161 
 
 B'^ Point B in division line of upland lots, 60 and 61, - 161 
 C^ " C " " " " water lots of Dunbar and Fet- 
 
 typlace & Samson, - - - - - - 162 
 
 D^ Point D in range of easterly boundary line of Eastern 
 
 R. R. Company's water lot, - - - - 162 
 
 E'^ Point E, 510 feet from point F, - - - - 162 
 F^ " Gr in division line of water lots of Aspinwall and 
 
 Pratt & Cushing, - - - - - - 162 
 
 G^ Point H in range of northeast side of Maverick street, 1 62 
 
 H^ " I, - - - 162 
 
 P " K of page 162 and point A of page 167, - 
 
 K^ " B, 167 
 
 L*^ « C, 167 
 
 M^ " D, 167 
 
 N^ " E, ........ 167 
 
 O*^ " F, northwest corner of west pier of Glendon Rolling 
 
 Mills, 167 
 
 P'^ Point G, east pier of Glendon Company, - - - 168 
 
 Q2 " H, - - - 168 
 
 R2 " I, 168 
 
 S' " K, 168 
 
 Chelsea Shore of Chelsea Creek. 
 
 T'^ Point L, 202 feet from Marginal Street on west side 
 
 of bridge, -- ------ 168 
 
 IP Point M, 168 
 
 V^ « N, 168 
 
 W" " O, - - - 168 
 
 X~ " P, southwest corner of Glendon Mills Pier, - 169 
 
 Y^ « Q, 169 
 
 Z^ « R, 169 
 
54 BOSTON HARBOR [Sept. 
 
 A^ Point S, southeast corner of Winnisinamet Co.'s Wharf, 169 
 
 B^ " T, southeast corner of small pier, - - - 169 
 
 C^ " V, end of piling of ferry pier, - - - 170 
 
 j)5 u -^^ dolphin in marsh, - - - 170 
 
 North side of Charles River and in Millers River. 
 
 A^ South corner of island, built by Maine E,. R-? - " 1*^^ 
 B^ South corner of northwest abutment of Cragie's Bridge. 
 C^ Point 2000 feet north from Harbor line heretofore estab- 
 lished along the Mill Dam. 
 D^ Point on north shore of Charles River, near its mouth. 
 E^ End of 4th line on north side of old channel. - 
 F^ Westerly projection of State Prison Yard; end of 5th line, 165 
 
 G' I-F is 6th hne. 
 
 H^ I^ is 7th line. I is at Prison Point Bridge. 
 
 P K' is 8th line. 
 
 K^ L^ is 9th line. L is abutment of Lowell R. R., 
 M° Westerly Wharf of Navy Yard, - - - - 160 
 
 N^ A pier of Charles River Bridge, - - - - 160 
 
 O' Thompson's Wharf, - - - - - - 161 
 
 P^ Southeast corner^ of wharf of Charlestown Land and 
 
 Wharf Company, - - - -- - 161 
 
 Q^ Point in range with east side of 5th Street, - - 161 
 R^ Wharf B, -------- 161 
 
South Boston. 
 
 A^ Southerly extremity of Tenth line, - - - 165 
 
 B^ Point on northerly side of S. B. old bridge, 117 feet east- 
 
 wardly from west side of the draw, - - - 159 
 C^ Northerly corner of Alger's old Wharf, - - - 159 
 D^ Northwest corner of George C. Thatcher's small Wharf, 
 
 (64 feet from Free Bridge,) - - - - 159 
 
 E^ Point 520 feet eastwardly from east side of Free Bridge, 159 
 F^ Northwesterly limit of solid fillings, _ _ _ *159 
 
 G^ Northwesterly limit of any structure, . _ _ *159 
 H^ Point in east line of P Street, extended northward 2800 
 
 feet from Fourth Street, _-.--* 
 1' Northerly extremity of a line parallel with and distant 
 
 from P Street, 1400 feet, * 
 
 K^ Point in northerly line of Fourth Street, 1400 feet from 
 
 P Street, --------* 
 
 L^ Point in east line of P street, extended noi-thwardly 
 
 2400 feet from Fourth Street, - - - - * 
 M' Northerly extremity of a line parallel with and distant 
 
 from P Street 1000 feet, * 
 
 N' Point in northerly line of Fourth Street extended, 1000 
 
 feet from P street, -_____« 
 
 * See Acts and llesolvcs, 1853, Chap. 385, Sec. 2. 
 For lines in Mystic River, see Acts and Resolves, 1852, Chap. 105. 
 
 Encroachments. 
 
 In consequence of a mistake as to the position of the south abut- 
 Eient of Warren Bridge, referred to in the act of 1837, (See City 
 Ordinances, pages 157 and 159,) several important encroachments — 
 especially those by the Fitchburg and the Boston and Maine Rail- 
 roads and Bartlett's wharves, — which should have been described in 
 the report, were omitted. The Commissioners' lines on the accompa- 
 nying map have been corrected. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 The first Board of Commissioners for the survey of Boston 
 Harbor was appointed by Governor Davis, under authority 
 of a resolve of the Legislature, passed March 5, 1835. 
 
 " To cause a survey to be taken of such portions of the Harbor 
 of Boston as are comprised between Boston South Bridge and the 
 dam of the Boston and Roxburj Mill Corporation, including the 
 "wharves and flats of East Boston and of Charlestown, and to de- 
 fine upon a plan or plans, such lines as they shall think it expe- 
 dient to establish, beyond which no wharves shall be extended into 
 and over the tide-water of the Commonwealth, on either side of 
 said harbor, and report their doings to the Governor and Coun- 
 cil."* 
 
 This Board consisted of Messrs. Loammi Baldwin, S. 
 Thayer, and James Hayward, all engineers of eminent scien- 
 tific attainments. The Report, submitted by them January 
 30, 1837, is distinguished by the minuteness and accuracy of 
 the survey, soundings and other scientific details. 
 
 Several lines were recommended by the Commissioners j 
 they say, in reference to them, — 
 
 " They intend only to mark on one side, the extent to which 
 wharves, either solid or on piles, may be built into and over the 
 tide-water from the shore. But they do not decide, in any case 
 whatever, the relative rights of individuals within it, or give by the 
 survey and plans the boundary or breadth of any wharf or other 
 property situated between it and the shore. We leave all legal rights 
 as we found them, only prescribing limits we think it expedient to 
 estabhsh, beyond which they cannot go further into the channel 
 or tide-water, for the general good and preservation of the harbor." 
 
 *By Res. 1835, Ch. 85, (April 6th,) $5,000 were appropriated to carry out the 
 provisions of the Kesolve of March 5th. 
 
 By Res. 1836, Ch. 62, (April 9th,) the Commissioners were directed to delineate 
 the flats on maps, and give the names of the owners. 
 
 By Res. 1836, Ch. 98, (April 16th,) the Attorney General was directed to en- 
 force the law respecting obstructions of the harbor. 
 
2 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 South Bay, in its connection with Four Point Channel, is 
 thus spoken of : — 
 
 " If, by any process, this great reservoir becomes contracted to 
 any considerable extent by wharves, filling, or other construction, 
 the channel will soon feel the injurious consequences. In fixing 
 the lines on either side between the two bridges, we were confined 
 by the wharves already built, or by those now building by the 
 South Cove Company. But the channel here is principally pre- 
 served by giving such direction and position to the lines as to 
 limit all dangerous encroachments on the scouring effect of ebb 
 tide. Great obstructions to the passing and repassing of the 
 tide is caused by the piles of the Free bridge, by the planked 
 sides of the wharves above and below the draw, and by the ob- 
 lique position of the bridge with regard to the current. From the 
 south abutment of the bridge we have, upon careful examination, 
 placed the line as before described, on the south and southeast 
 side of Four Point channel, and if the flats here are filled up above 
 high water in the direction marked on the plan, from South Boston, 
 the flood tides from toward Four Point corner, nearly opposite 
 India Wharf, will all be forced into the channel, and the ebb tides 
 returning must take the same course, and act as a scouring cur- 
 rent to wash out the channel and preserve its depth." 
 
 The following extracts will show their views upon a point 
 of great interest : — 
 
 " Boston harbor being only a channel for the tide to flow 
 in and out of the great reservoirs before mentioned, it may not be 
 irrelevant to show how it may be suddenly or gradually destroyed, 
 and become only a safe anchorage for the lightest coasting craft, 
 where the largest merchant vessels and even ships of the line now 
 ride in deep water with perfect safety. It is obvious to every 
 reflecting man, for instance, that if a dam were to be built on the 
 site where South Boston Free bridge, or South Boston bridge, 
 now stands, and the tide prevented from flowing above, Four Point 
 channel would soon be filled with sediment, and not be distinguish- 
 able from the surface of flats on the southeast side. Similar effects 
 would also result from the erection of dams in place of Chelsea 
 and Charles River bridge. These would stop the tides, and as 
 there would be no current either way, silt and sediment would, in 
 a short time, fill this beautiful part of the harbor, and render it 
 only accessible for fishing boats. 
 
 " The Commissioners are aware that this is putting a 
 strong case, as no such dams can ever be erected without the 
 
APPKNDIX. O 
 
 sanction of the Legislature. But what would evidently be the 
 consequence in the course of a very few years by the supposed 
 dams, will as certainly be eifected more gradually, and the ruin 
 of the harbor as complete at a more distant period, by cutting off 
 large portions of the Charles or Mystic rivers above the two 
 bridges, either to stop the tide altogether, or partially, from flow- 
 ing and filling the extensive basins of either. When the Boston 
 and Roxbury Mill Corporation was chartered, June 14, 1814, it 
 was authorized also to build a dam from Boston to South Boston, 
 not northerly or easterly of South Boston bridge. This would 
 have cut off all South bay, probably amounting to 200 or 300 
 acres, and the effect would have been very injurious, if not 
 destructive, to Four Point channel. Besides the Boston and Rox- 
 bury Mill Corporation, which, by their dam, cut off from Cambridge 
 bay 700 or 800 acres, another dam was authorized much earlier, 
 June 1806, from Prison point, in Charlestown, to Lechmere's 
 point, in Cambridge, by an act establishing the Proprietors of 
 Prison Point Dam Corporation. Instead of the dam a bridge has 
 been substituted. This would have cut off Miller's rivers, and 
 several hundred acres more from the great basin of Charles river." 
 
 After stating the Old Colony Law of 1641, they add — 
 
 " This is all the written law we have upon the subject, upon 
 which many principles at common law and points of practice have 
 been decided in the courts, with which the commissioners have no 
 concern." 
 
 " But they believe, and feel it to be their duty to state the rea- 
 sons, that the full and equal enjoyment of rights given by this 
 ancient law is inconsistent with the existence of the harbor. An 
 instance is presented in South bay. The proprietors of the shores 
 surrounding the flats of this basin have a right to build their 
 wharves or solid filling, extending one hundred rods into and over 
 the tide-water, if not interrupted by channels within that distance. 
 As we do not know any legal objection to their exercising or sell- 
 ing this right, and one hundred rods in width round the said basin 
 will make a considerable part of its area. Four Point channel may 
 be effected, and as South Cove Company has already filled nearly 
 all the surface of flats between the two bridges, by an act of Jan- 
 uary 31, 1833, the absolute ruin of that channel hangs upon the 
 contingency whether the ancient law is in force relative to the tide- 
 water of South bay, and whether the owners will ever exercise 
 their rights. The same effects may be produced in numerous 
 places on the Charles and Mystic rivers, by a^different mode, but 
 quite as fatal to that part of the harbor." 
 
^ APPENDIX. 
 
 By an Act of the Legislature, passed April 19, 1837, the 
 line was established, which is described in the Ordinances of 
 the City, pages 156 and 157, and shown upon the plan at- 
 tached to this report, as one of the lines in Boston Harbor, 
 beyond which no wharf or pier should ever be extended into 
 and over the tide-water of the Commonwealth, 
 
 It was prescribed by the said Act — 
 
 " Sec. 3. No wharf, pier, or building, or incumbrance of any 
 kind, shall ever hereafter be extended beyond the said line into or 
 over the tide-water in said harbor. 
 
 " Sec. 4. No person shall enlarge or extend any wharf or 
 pier, which is now erected on the inner side of said line further 
 towards the said line, than such wharf or pier now stands, or than 
 the same might have been lawfully enlarged or extended before 
 the passing of this act, without leave first obtained in due form of 
 law. 
 
 " Sec. 5. No person shall in any other part of the said harbor 
 of Boston, belonging to the Commonwealth, erect or cause to be 
 erected any wharf or pier, or begin to erect any wharf or pier 
 therein, or place any stones, wood, or other materials in said har- 
 bor, or dig down or remove any of the land covered with water at 
 low tide, in said harbor, with intent to erect any wharf or pier 
 therein, or to enlarge or extend any wharf or pier now erected : 
 provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be con- 
 strued as intended to restrain or control the lawful rights of the 
 owners of any lands or flats in said harbor. 
 
 " Sec. 6. Every person offending against the provisions of this 
 act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable 
 to be prosecuted therefor, by indictment or information, in any 
 court of competent jurisdiction, and on conviction shall be punished 
 by a fine not less than one thousand dollars, nor more than five 
 thousand dollars, for every offence, and any erection or obstruc- 
 tion which shall be made, contrary to the provisions and intent of 
 this act, shall be liable to be removed and abated as a public 
 nuisance, in the manner heretofore provided, for the removal 
 and abatement of nuisances on the public highways." 
 
 The second Commission, consisting of H. A. S. Dearborn, 
 James F. Baldwin, and Caleb Eddy, was appointed by Gov- 
 ernor Everett, under a resolve of the Legislature passed 
 April 9, 1839, 
 
APPENDIX. O 
 
 " To cause to be taken a copy of tlie survey of the harbor of 
 Boston, made by Commissioners, under a resolve, approved the 
 fifth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, 
 and upon such copy or survey define such fines as they shall think 
 expedient to establish, beyond which no wharves shall be extended 
 into and over the tide-waters of the Commonwealth, on either side 
 of said harbor : provided, that so much of the line as is defined by 
 an act, approved the nineteenth day of April, one thousand eight 
 hundred and thirty-seven, shall be considered the estabhshed line 
 for that part of the harbor." 
 
 From their report, submitted December 28, 1839, the fol- 
 lowing extracts are made : — 
 
 " The hydrographical features of Boston Harbor, including its 
 whole expanse, from the open ocean to the extremities of the 
 channels, bays, and estuaries, as far as the tide flows, are so very 
 extensive and diversified, so peculiar is the topography of its nu- 
 merous islands and of the circumjacent country, — so recondite, 
 complicated and difficult of solution are many of the laws relating 
 to fluids, and so uncertain are the results which may be produced 
 by any diminution of the whole area, or change in the width, 
 depth, or direction of any of the channels, by artificial means, that 
 questions of the gravest import are presented, for rigid investiga- 
 tion and profound consideration, whenever bounds are to be pre- 
 scribed, beyond which, no obstructions shall be placed, that may, 
 in any manner, impede, or divert from their natural and ancient 
 course, the movements of the tides. 
 
 " Within this immense haven are numerous large and expensive 
 commercial, naval, military and manufacturing establishments, as 
 well as a vast amount of navigation of every denomination, to each 
 and all of which particular portions, or the entire expanse of 
 water, is immediately or indirectly important ; but in a special 
 manner as regards a free passage to and from the ocean, equal at 
 least to that which has hitherto been enjoyed, and is indispensable 
 for all the purposes, that induced the location of the numerous 
 works which have either been completed, are in progress, or have 
 been projected, and the successful prosecution of that diversified, 
 prosperous and valuable maritime industry, for which the requisite 
 natural facilities have been so abundantly and completely afforded. 
 
 " There are no problems in engineering, whose comprehension, 
 solution and practical illustration have so entirely frustrated all 
 the attempts of the most ingenious and scientific, as those which 
 arise in the construction of hydraulic works, or in efforts to im- 
 prove the navigation of rivers and harbors by the erection of piers, 
 dams, jetties, break-waters and dikes, or the removal of impedi- 
 ments, for a more free and copious current of water. 
 
O APPENDIX. 
 
 " The experiments of the most enlightened nations of antiquity 
 and of the most learned and accomplished engineers of modern 
 times, both in Europe and in this country, for the accomplishment 
 of those great objects which are either demanded to afford protec- 
 tion, and give facilities to commercial operations, or as a motive 
 power for manufacturing or other purposes, have often failed in 
 producing the anticipated results, from causes, which had been 
 accidentally neglected or were disregarded, from their supposed 
 insignificance, or which had not been sufficiently investigated and 
 understood, or are still incapable of satisfactory explanation." 
 
 " As late as 1798, the island called ' Nick's Mate,' was so large 
 as to be used as a sheep pasture, but it has long since been so 
 entirely destroyed, that only a reef of rocks, visible at low water, 
 designates its position, and on which it has been necessary to 
 erect a monument, as a landmark for mariners. 
 
 " By a chart of the harbor, which was executed in 1775, Bird 
 Island appears to have existed at that time ; but long after the 
 settlement of Boston, it was so extensive, as to have afforded an 
 ample site for a spacious fort, which was for many years main- 
 tained as one of the chief military defences of the city ; — now 
 nothing remains but an extensive shoal, a very small portion of 
 which is bare at low water. 
 
 " From a statement made to one of the Commissioners, by the 
 late gallant captain John Forster Williams, a few years before his 
 death, that portion of the main channel, called the ' Narrows,' 
 which passes between Level's and Gallop's islands, where the 
 Magnifique, a French seventy-four, accidentally grounded and 
 was sunk, during the war of the revolution, had been so filled up, 
 by the extension of the beach from the western side of the first 
 named island, as to have been converted into solid land, and the 
 place in which the wreck of that ship is buried, is not, at this 
 time, overflowed at high water, by the ordinary tides. 
 
 " When an examination was made of Deer Island by the officers 
 of the city, and other persons who were invited to accompany 
 them, for the purpose of obtaining facts, to be included in a me- 
 morial to Congress, representing the importance of protecting, by 
 a sea-wall, that vast natural break-water from total demolition, it 
 was ascertained, from comparing the existing area, with that 
 which appeared to have been its extent, by a survey which had 
 been made about an hundred years anterior, that at least sixty 
 acres had been washed away, by the perpetual action of the sea. 
 
 " When the French fleet, under the command of Count D'Es- 
 taing, took refuge in Nantasket Roads, after the partial action 
 with the British squadron under Lord Howe, and encountering a 
 severe gale off Newport, in the autumn of seventeen hundred and 
 
APPENDIX. 7 
 
 seventy-elglit, a large field-work was erected on the eastern side 
 of George's Island, for the protection of the ships, against an 
 anticipated attack from those of the enemy, which appeared off the 
 harbor ; but so powerful and rapid has been the action of the 
 waves in violent storms, upon that portion of the island, that the 
 lofty compact, and solid earth has so far disappeared, as to leave 
 only a few feet of the sod-work of one of the salient angles of the 
 most western bastion. 
 
 " But nearly every island and head-land presents the effects of 
 these causes, at distant and different periods of time, which are 
 still in operation for their destruction, on some portions of their 
 shores. Steep acclivities are to be seen, which are sodded over 
 from their summits to their bases, denoting the ravages which had 
 anciently been made, during a long succession of years, until a 
 new direction was given, in some inexplicable manner, to the cur- 
 rent, and the violent action of the waves, which had impinged 
 upon and gradually worn them away ; and now, not merely shoals 
 or bars, but dry beaches, and in some cases large tracts of land 
 covered with vegetation, extend into the harbor, from these lofty 
 banks, while on the opposite shore, or at some other points of the 
 same islands and promontories, a like process of devastation is 
 going on with equally striking consequences. 
 
 With these numerous and well-established facts, it is obvious, 
 that the changes which are continually being produced throughout 
 the harbor result from the causes which have been named ; and 
 that any artificial means which may be employed to vary, accel- 
 erate, impede or prevent the action of any of them, may have a 
 salutary or injurious effect, at some of the most important points 
 in the harbor ; as it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to 
 predict from scientific principles, or data, sufficiently numerous 
 and conclusive, what will be the precise effect of any enlargement 
 or diminution of the volume of water, at any particular points of 
 the harbor. But it may be assumed, as an important and well- 
 estabhshed element in the inquiry, that whatever is done that shall 
 reduce the quantity of water, that passes into the large estuaries 
 and bays, north, west and south of the city, and now covers the 
 vast extent of shoals in other parts of the harbor, will have a direct 
 tendency to create obstructions at some points, in the various 
 channels, while at others the depths may be deepened, according 
 to the manner in which the diminution of the volume of water 
 may be occasioned, in these immense basins. This may be effected 
 in two modes. First, by filling up portions of these capacious 
 reservoirs, and converting so much of their areas into solid land ; 
 and second, by contracting the channels, through which the water 
 flows into and out of them, during the flux and reflux of the tides. 
 
 " By the former mode, all the channels below would gradually 
 
8 APPENDIX. 
 
 be contracted in width and depth, from the sediment which would 
 be accumulated in them, in consequence of the abated influence of 
 the tides ; and bj the latter, while the immediate effect would be, 
 to deepen those narrowed channels, from the increased velocity 
 thus occasioned in their currents, the debris which was thereby 
 removed would be deposited at other places, more or less remote 
 from the ocean, according to the violence of the action which may 
 be given to the receding waters. 
 
 " From these considerations, it has been deemed of the first 
 consequence, that bounds should be established, beyond which ob* 
 structions should not be extended into any portions of the harbor, 
 so far as it could be done, without a direct infringement of private 
 rights, and a due regard to the general weal. 
 
 " But such is the imperiously increasing demand for greater 
 accommodations, by all the branches of the infinitely varied indus- 
 try, in which the accumulating population of the metropohs is em- 
 ployed, that it is impossible to meet it, without yielding much of 
 mere theory, to the practical advantages which will be gained, 
 from the increased facilities which such encroachments are intend- 
 ed to afford. 
 
 " It is as true, in relation to commercial emporiums as of nations, 
 that they cannot remain stationary ; they must advance or retro- 
 grade in population, aflOiuence, consequence and grandeur ; and 
 these latter glorious results are. dependent upon the active indus- 
 try, intelligence, and enterprise of the former ; and as the con- 
 tinual enlargement of maritime cities is alternately the happy cause 
 and admirable effect of their own and their country's prosperity, 
 whatever can be accomplished, that shall tend to produce such tri- 
 umphant consequences, it is the dictate of wisdom to attempt, and if, 
 unfortunately, any of the anticipated injurious effects, upon the 
 capacity of Boston harbor, should be experienced, from any pros- 
 pective reclamations, which may be made from its domains, it is 
 highly probable, that the immense advantages which will have 
 been thus derived, will warrant the experiment, and justify the 
 expenditures, which may thereby be rendered necessary, to obvi- 
 ate or remove every impediment, which such encroachments may 
 have produced, to the free navigation of the various channels, by 
 the usual artificial means which have been resorted to, in other 
 ages and nations ; for it would not be considered an enlightened 
 and patriotic policy, to establish the limits of a flourishing commer- 
 cial capital, beyond which it should not be enlarged, from a pre- 
 sumed apprehension that injury, in some unknown manner, might 
 possibly be thus done, to the natural features of its harbor. That 
 very intelligence, enterprise, and wealth, which had been employed 
 in layij;ig its foundations, and rearing it to its present flourishing 
 condition, would be directed to render all the chief approaches 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 from the ocean, and the interior havens, roads, anchorages, and 
 docks, commensurate with the increased wants of the expanded 
 population and business." 
 
 In accordance with the liberal views of the Commissioners, 
 several lines were recommended, and established by an Act 
 of the Legislature, passed, March 17, 1840, with the same 
 restrictions and liabilities as those attached to the Act of 1837. 
 Said lines are fully described in the Ordinances of the city of 
 Boston, p. 158 to 163, and appear upon the plan attached to 
 this report. 
 
 By an Act passed March 6, 1841, the line between West 
 Boston bridge and the Boston and Roxbury mill dam was 
 altered in part, as described, pages 163 and 164 of the City 
 Ordinances ; a further alteration was made b)'' Act of May 3, 
 1850, described in the City Ordinances, page 170, and it 
 appears as altered upon the plan. 
 
 The third Commission was appointed under a resolve of 
 the Legislature, passed March 22, 1845 — 
 
 " To take or cause to be taken, as soon as practicable, accurate 
 surveys of South Bay, Charles E-iver, and Mystic River and Pond ; 
 (above and beyond the limits prescribed to Commissioners hereto- 
 fore appointed for the survey of Boston Harbor, under a resolve 
 passed on the fifth day of March, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and thirty-five,) to extend to the head of tide water on 
 each, and embrace the marshes and flats which are overflowed by 
 the spring tides in either ; for the security of the said rivers and 
 bay, as reservoirs essential to the continuance and capacity of 
 Boston Harbor for commercial purposes, as well as the facilities of 
 inland navigation and shij)-building, now afibrded by said rivers 
 or either of them," with directions to " report how far, and to 
 what extent, if any, the said bay and rivers, or either of them, 
 may be curtailed or diminished without endangering the harbor of 
 Boston, and greatly impairing the advantages of navigation and 
 ship-building on said rivers : " also " to report if there be any 
 means whereby the capacity and beneficial action of said reser- 
 voirs upon the harbor may be enlarged and increased." 
 
10 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The report submitted by the Commissioners, Messrs. James 
 Hay ward and Ezra Lincohi, Jr., contains much vakiable infor- 
 mation in regard to the area of the marshes and flats covered 
 by tide-water ; and the opinion of the Commissioners, contain- 
 ed in the following extracts, as to the importance of the great 
 reservoirs, and the probable effect of certain improvements, 
 upon the main channels in the harbor, deserves attention. 
 
 South Bay. 
 
 " The Commissioners find that the area of South Bay, — above 
 the old South Boston Bridge, — is at present 345 acres. This 
 area is about 75 or 80 acres larger than formerly, the bordering 
 marsh land having been excavated for the purpose of filling up the 
 South Cove and other neighboring flats. And 196 acres of marsh 
 still remains connected with this bay. The channel above this 
 bridge, is of small dimensions at low water, being nowhere more 
 than 300 feet wide ; and, except in the neighborhood of the bridge, 
 not generally more than 100 feet in width. Of these 345 acres, 
 from 250 to 300 are liable to be filled up by the owners, and will 
 undoubtedly be so filled, to the entire exclusion of the tide. 
 There are contracts already existing for enclosing, this very year, 
 some 40 acres of these flats, with half as many acres of marsh, 
 with a view to filling them up some feet above high water mark : 
 as the demand in that neighborhood for building ground increases, 
 other proprietors of flats will undoubtedly do the same ; and, not 
 many years hence, this bay will probably be reduced to one quar- 
 ter of its present area. 
 
 " With a proper disposition of the channels and flats below, it 
 is believed that this reduction of the area of South Bay, will have 
 no prejudicial effect on the main channel of the harbor. If the 
 flats east of Fore or Fort Point Channel were placed in the custody 
 of some responsible agency, — to be filled up or otherwise disposed 
 of, with an intelligent view to the improvement of commercial 
 accommodation in the port of Boston, — there is no doubt that 
 they can be so disposed of, as that the entire extinction of South 
 Bay, as a part of the scouring apparatus of the main channel, 
 would be no detriment to the harbor. The true principle is, to 
 preserve a proper balance between the capacity of the channel and 
 the area of the tidal rivers and bays above, to be filled and emp- 
 tied twice every 24 hours through this channel. In the present 
 state of things, Fort Point Channel would undoubtedly suffer by a 
 very great reduction of the capacity of South Bay ; but if the 
 wall which was proposed to be built on its eastern margin were 
 erected, it would counteract, to a great degree, the inconvenient 
 effect of such reduction. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 11 
 
 Mystic River. 
 
 " The area of Mj^stic River, above Chelsea Bridge, is 878 acres ; 
 the area of marshes adjacent, is l,53-3 acres ; and, if we add to 
 these the area of Mystic Pond, which is 228 acres, we have, for the 
 whole area within the banks, 1,106 acres ; and when the tides are 
 high enough to cover the whole of the marshes, the Avater surface 
 above Chelsea Bridge is 2,639 acres. It should be remarked, 
 however, that at oicap tides there is no flood tide setting into Mys- 
 tic Pond. The bottom of the channel at the outlet is near the 
 level of high Avater at these tides, and being composed of a coarse 
 and compact gravel, is not worn awaj by the action of the Avater, 
 and, consequently, is not in a situation to receive the tide water 
 at neap tides. If it should be found desirable to employ a greater 
 scouring power in this river, the channel at the outlet might be 
 enlarged at a comparatively small expense, to the size of the river 
 half a mile beloAv. Whether the owners of the outlet, and those 
 interested in the navigation of the river, have a right to change 
 the character of Mystic Pond, as it Avould be by opening such a 
 channel, is not the province of this Commission to determine. The 
 pond is in two divisions, Avhich are not very different in area, 
 and Avhich are united by a strait Avhich is fordable in all states of 
 the water. The loAver division of this pond is somewhat brackish. 
 It receives the water from the river below at high Avater at spring 
 tides — which water is diluted by being mingled with the Avaters 
 discharged from the pond ; yet, notAvithstanding its freshened 
 character, it is heavier than the Avaters of the pond, and occupies 
 the lowest place. On the return of the tide, the top water is dis 
 charged from the pond ; so that the southern division has become 
 permanently brackish, notAvithstanding the perpetual influx of 
 fresh water from the river above. If the channel at the present 
 outlet were to be enlarged, so as to give the same freedom of 
 influx and efilux here as in the river beloAv, this southern division 
 of the pond Avould soon be very much like the river beloAV as to 
 the character of its Avaters ; and the same process Avhich is now 
 constantly going on at the outlet, Avould be daily taking place at 
 the narrows, or Avhatever the strait is called Avhich divides the 
 pond, — and the whole pond Avould, probably, in a few years, be- 
 come entirely unfit for any other use than that of a basin to receive 
 and discharge the tides of the river. 
 
 Aside from the damage that such a change in the waters of this 
 pond would do the bordering estates, Ave are not quite satisfied that 
 such an experiment is altogether desirable in itself. The velocity 
 of the currents in the various parts of the river Avould be variously 
 increased by the change, and in some parts to a very inconvenient 
 extent. If the channel in the upper section of the river, and into 
 the pond, could be so enlarged that the Avholc pond Avould be dis- 
 
12 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 charged and filled by every ebb and flood — as the river itself is 
 now — the amount of water passing Chelsea Bridge, in ordinary 
 tides, would be increased 25 per cent. The quantity passing 
 Maiden Bridge would be increased 47 per cent. ; the increase at 
 the rail-road bridge would be 73 per cent. ; at Ten Hills Farm 
 the quantity passing would be doubled ; and at the mouth of the 
 river proper — at the spur of Winter Hill — 120 per cent, more 
 water would pass each tide than does at present. That this addi- 
 tional quantity of water should pass, each tide, through the present 
 channel, it would require the average velocity of the current, in 
 these various places, to be increased in the same ratio. Suppose 
 that the average velocity of the current at half tide, at the Boston 
 and Maine Rail-road Bridge, to be now 4 feet per second ; by 
 making the change proposed, the current at the same place, (on 
 the supposition that the pond is emptied and filled each tide 
 through the present channel,) must be 7 feet per second. Or, 
 suppose that at half flood now, in a given tide, the average veloci- 
 ty at the narrows, the spur of Winter Hill, is 5 feet per second — 
 it would, in the case supposed, become 11 feet per second. And 
 in any section of the river higher up, the change would be propor- 
 tionally greater. The bottom and sides of the present channel 
 are not adapted to this changed state of the current. Portions of 
 the bed and banks of the river, which have hitherto resisted the 
 action of the water, would yield to this increased action, and incal- 
 culable changes in the channel itself would be the consequence. 
 
 " We are of opinion, however, that, if this experiment were tried, 
 the results above stated would not be realized to their full extent 
 — as, in the present state of the channel, the pond would not be 
 filled and discharged to the present compass of the tides in the 
 river — and, consequently, the actual velocity of the current Avould 
 not be as great as is stated in the above hypothesis. But the ve- 
 locity of the current must be very much increased by such an 
 addition to the capacity of the reservoir ; and, probably, large 
 portions of the present bed and banks of the river would be 
 removed from the narrower parts, and carried down and deposited 
 in the wider parts below the Ten Hills Farm. The river in this 
 part being eight or ten times as wide as it is at the narrows, and 
 above, the velocity of the current on the ebb, is, of course, dead- 
 ened by the expanded character of the channel ; and the marsh 
 mud and other material which the current, in its increased veloci- 
 ty, may be able to carry with it, will be deposited, and the forma- 
 tion of a shoal or bar be the undoubted result. This process would 
 go on till the river had acquired a permanent state ; that is, till 
 the capacity of the channel should be so enlarged, and (for the 
 same reason) the velocity of the current should be so diminished, 
 that the sides and bed of the river AYOuld be able to resist the fur- 
 ther action of the water. 
 
APPENDIX. 13 
 
 Charles River. 
 
 " The area of Charles River above Charles River Bridge, -within 
 its banks, including Miller's River, (the estuary bank of East 
 Cambridge,) and the bay back of the State Prison, is, in all, 1,340 
 acres. The amount of marsh land connected with it, and over- 
 flowed at spring tides, is 915 acres. 
 
 That part of Charles River between Warren Bridge and the 
 Brookline branch of the Mill Dam road, and which, for the sake 
 of distinction, we call Cambridge Bay^ has a deep and spacious 
 channel as far up as the cross dam of the Boston Water Power 
 Company. From thence to the mouth of the river proper, which 
 is about half a mile, there are shoals which have been caused, un- 
 doubtedly, by the diminished current, occasioned by the sudden 
 expansion of the river at that place, into the broad bay above 
 mentioned. From the Charles River Bridge to a point about 
 1,000 feet southwesterly of West Boston Bridge, there is from 15 
 to 20 feet of water in the channel at low water — and, in many 
 places, a greater depth ; but from the last mentioned point to the 
 Cross Dam beforementioned, the channel shoals away ; and thence 
 to the mouth of the river proper, it is broken, and has not more 
 than three or four feet of water at low water. 
 
 " From this point upwards, Charles River has a much better 
 channel than Mystic River. It has, in the neighborhood of its 
 mouth, from 10 to 15 feet of water at low water. And it main- 
 tains a much greater regularity in its character, quite up to the 
 head of tide water, than does the corresponding part of Mystic 
 River. The average height of high water at the bridge near the 
 Old Village in Cambridge, — which has been always called " Cam- 
 bridge Bridge" and Avhich was long the only bridge over the 
 channel of Charles River below Watertown, (there are now 
 eleven,) is two inches ; and that at the bridge near the arsenal in 
 Watertown, is four inches higher than high water at the Navy 
 Yard. And the average compass of the tides in this river, is very 
 nearly the same that it is at Charlestown. The bay or shoal at 
 the head of Cambridge Bay, the mouth of the river proper, is the 
 principal impediment to navigation. The most feasible way of 
 removing this is by the dredging machine. 
 
 " The importance of this river and bay, and that of the Mystic, 
 to the preservation of the main channel, down to the islands, are 
 altogether incalculable. They are the two main arteries which 
 literally supply the life current of Boston Harbor. And the Com- 
 missioners would respectfully recommend to the Legislature the 
 preservation of these estuaries, to the greatest extent that may be 
 consistent with the rights of individual proprietors of bordering 
 estates. 
 
 " If the modern construction of the colonial law of 1641, that 
 
14 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 * the riparian proprietor has a right to exclude the tide water 
 from the flats in front of his estate, to the distance of one hundred 
 rods, if there be no intervening channel ; ' if this modern construc- 
 tion of the law must prevail, then Boston Harbor is in danger of 
 serious injury. This subject is one which commends itself to the 
 careful consideration of the Legislature. The whole State has an 
 interest in it. The preservation of Boston, as a place of trade, of 
 commerce, of ships, — is every year increasing in importance to 
 the whole northern section of the country. Every part of New 
 England has its rail-roads running to this city. These have been 
 built for purposes of business, of trade. They connect the interior 
 of the country with the commerce of the world. But, annihilate 
 the harbor of Boston, and these expensive facilities for inter-com- 
 munication will become of little value either to the city or the 
 country." 
 
 " We have spoken of the importance of these two large estua- 
 ries, as means of preservation to the great channel which consti- 
 tutes what may be called the main trunk of the inner harbor. 
 We beg leave to suggest a few considerations touching the main 
 channel itself. 
 
 " This channel commences at the junction of Charles and Mys- 
 tic Rivers, opposite the ISTavy Yard, and extends southeasterly 
 about three and a half miles, opening into the lower harbor be- 
 tween Fort Independence and Fort Warren. From its mouth be- 
 tween these two islands, to the Cunard Wharf, this channel is very 
 straight, and of a clear width of about 3000 feet. Before the 
 extension of the wharves at East Boston, the width of this channel 
 in the narrowest point was about 1700 feet. It has been consid- 
 erably curtailed by the extension of wharves and other fixtures, 
 particularly at East Boston. The Commissioners would respect- 
 fully suggest that the channel between East Boston and the city 
 proper is, in their opinion, to be treated with great care and cau- 
 tion ; that it should not be unnecessarily narrowed. In the ex- 
 tension of wharf accommodations at East Boston, it would be well 
 to build on the Avest side of the island, opposite the Navy Yard, 
 and along the southeastern side towards ]3ird Island. But the 
 further encroachment upon the main channel opposite the city 
 proper, and opposite to the flats at the mouth of Fort Point Chan- 
 nel, should be avoided, — at least, till a more urgent necessity 
 arises than exists at present ; and till there shall be opportunity 
 to observe the effects of encroachments upon that channel already 
 made. 
 
 " The building of new wharves, the extension of old ones — the 
 filling up of flats to the exclusion of the tide, and the consequent 
 diversion of the currents to a greater or less degree, are pro- 
 ducing changes in the state of the harbor, some of them innocent. 
 
APPENDIX. 15 
 
 some of them more or less detrimental to its character, and some 
 of them tending to serious consequences. Changes of this kind 
 have been observed since the survey made in 1835. Some of 
 these are traceable to particular causes, and tend to throw light 
 on the general subject of causes and effects in relation to these 
 changes. They all show the importance of having the harbor 
 taken care of — of having it in the custody of some responsible 
 authority, which shall insure the requisite watchfulness and care 
 — a commission emanating from the Legislature ; that it should be 
 the duty of such a commission to see that the works permitted to 
 be erected on the borders of the harbor, or within its channels, 
 should be so constructed as to do no injury, or the least possible 
 injury, to the same ; that they should be what they were author- 
 ized to be, and nothing more. That the said commission should 
 keep a careful record of all such changes in the structures and 
 fixtures in and about the harbor. That plans should be taken of 
 all such structures, upon such a scale as will readily show what 
 the structure is, particularly in relation to its tendencies and effect 
 upon the tides, the channels, and the facilities of navigation. 
 That the result of these alterations should be carefully observed, 
 and recorded for after reference and comparison ; and, that such 
 observations and experiments upon the motions, magnitude and 
 effects of the tides, as will show the tendencies of the existing 
 state of things, be made on such occasions, and at such intervals, 
 as will furnish the desired information." 
 
 The lines recommended by the Commissioners in Charles 
 River, Miller's River, and South Bay, were, by an Act 
 passed April 26, 1847, established as the lines in Boston 
 Harbor beyond which no wharf or pier should ever be extend- 
 ed into and over the tide-water of the Commonwealth. Said 
 lines are fully described in the Ordinances of the City, pages 
 164, 165, and appear upon the plan.* 
 
 Fourth Commission — under a resolve of the Legislature, 
 approved April 16, 1846 — Messrs. Joseph Bell and Ezra Lin- 
 coln, Jr., were appointed Commissioners 
 
 " To ascertain what private rights will be affected by adopting 
 the precautions and restrictions recommended and pointed out in 
 
 '^ 1847, Ch. 34, (April 7,) appropriation of $3,500 to procure a chart of Boston 
 Harbor, by the Officers and Engineers of the United States engaged in the Coast 
 Survey. 
 
16 APPENDIX. 
 
 the report and plans of the commissioners appointed for the survey 
 of the South Bay, Charles River, Mystic River and Pond, — what 
 is the value of those rights, and what amount of compensation will 
 be required by the proprietors for the necessary interference with 
 them ; " " also, to examine the wharves and other structures that 
 have been built or extended on the borders of the harbor of Bos- 
 ton, or within its channels, by permission from the Legislature, 
 granted since the establishment of the line recommended by the 
 commissioners in the year 1837, or otherwise, and to report the 
 facts in all cases of violation of the law." 
 
 In respect to private claims, after an able examination of 
 the law, the Commissioners arrive at the following conclu- 
 sion : — 
 
 " It seems entirely clear, therefore, that the colonial ordinance 
 of 1641, has now the force, under our constitution, of a statute 
 within that portion of the Commonwealth formerly constituting the 
 Colony of Massachusetts Bay. By this, therefore, as a rule of 
 property, all the flats within the scope of the present inquiry are 
 fully embraced, and must be finally determined. 
 
 " The judicial decisions, also, on this subject, within the Com- 
 monwealth, from an early period have been founded on, and, so far 
 as they have gone, been in accordance with this ordinance. 
 
 " The rights of the sovereign, by the common law, have given 
 place, to a certain extent, to the rights of the riparian owner, and 
 a qualified ownership has been constituted between high and low 
 water mark, in him, to the extent of 100 rods, on the sole condition 
 that such owner shall not, in the language of the proviso, ' by this 
 liberty have power to stop or hinder the passage of boats or other 
 vessels in or through any sea, creeks or coves, to other men's 
 houses or lands.' 
 
 " The precise legal bearing or extent of this proviso, has not, 
 so far as the undersigned have been able to learn, been the subject 
 of any final and exact judicial determination. 
 
 " But, construing the grant and the proviso together, as they 
 must be, both being equally in force, and constituting together an 
 important rule of property, it seems clear, that while important 
 public rights have been surrendered to the private owners of ad- 
 joining upland, still other and important rights are reserved to 
 the public. The exact divisional line or the precise extent of 
 the rights granted and the rights retained, depending, as they do, 
 upon the construction of an act of legislation, rests with the judi- 
 cial department of the government, when properly presented ; and 
 until such determination shall be had, it will not be reasonable to 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 17 
 
 expect any great degree of certainty or accuracy in estimating 
 the comparative value each may respectively claim in this species 
 of property." 
 
 In pursuing their investigations, with a view to discover 
 all cases of violation of the law, they examined carefully the 
 several Acts establishing lines in the harbor, as well as the 
 numerous Acts granting leave to individuals and corporations 
 to extend separate wharves to said lines, and caused the lines 
 about the City proper. East Boston, South Boston, and 
 Charlestown, to be accurately re-surveyed. The Commission- 
 ers reported no less than twenty-three cases of infringements 
 of the law. In reference to this subject, the following resolve 
 was passed by the Legislature : — 
 
 Resolved, That the District Attorney for the County of Suffolk 
 be, and he is hereby directed, by filing information, by indictment 
 or other process, to abate nuisances, and to enforce penalties that 
 have been, or shall be, incurred, by any violation of the law passed 
 on the nineteenth day of April, 1837, entitled " an Act to pre- 
 serve the Harbor of Boston, and to prevent encroachments there- 
 in," and of any subsequent law made for the same purpose. Ap- 
 proved April 26, 1847. 
 
 February 17, 1848, an order was passed directing the com- 
 mittee on mercantile affairs, &c., to inquire " whether any, 
 and, if any, what measures have been taken to carry into 
 effect the resolve of April 2G, 1847. 
 
 In their report the Committee insert a letter from Samuel D. 
 Parker, Attorney of the Commonwealth for Suffolk County, 
 from which the following extract is made : — 
 
 " If the prosecutions contemplated were to be in the form of 
 informations, I can also state that my attention has not been called 
 to the subject by any body ; and, to this very hour, I am informed 
 of no intrusion, except the Boston Wharf Company's, against 
 whom a temporary injunction was, before 1847, ordered by the 
 supreme court, and an old indictment is still pending, in the mu- 
 nicipal court. I have never seen, nor been served with, a copy 
 of the report of the legislative committee, mentioning the intru- 
 sions, if there be such a report, or of the names of the intruders, 
 which you spoke of ; and I do not understand the resolve to cast 
 c 
 
18 APPENDIX. 
 
 on me the duty of surveyor, or to go on a hunting excursion all 
 along the commissioner's line, which itself is not, as far as I know, 
 made visible by inspection. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, neither the grand juries, by in- 
 dictments, nor I, by informations, have done anything in the 
 premises." 
 
 By a resolve of the Legislature, approved May 10, 1848, 
 the Secretary of the Commonwealth was directed to furnish, 
 without delay, an attested copy of the report made by Joseph 
 Bell and Ezra Lincoln, Jr., to the Attorney of the Common- 
 wealth for the county of Suffolk, and to the Attorney for the 
 Northern District; and the said Attorneys were required, 
 without delay, to prosecute all violations of the law passed 
 April 19, 1837, and any subsequent law made for the same 
 purpose. 
 
 Upon receipt of the certified documents referred to, the 
 County Attorney addressed letters to the Mayor and Alder- 
 men, the City Solicitor, the City Marshal, the Harbor Master, 
 the Boston Marine Society, and to such private individuals 
 as, in his judgment, might be able to furnish information 
 upon the subject. 
 
 A circular was then prepared by the County Attorney, and 
 addressed to all the parties infringing upon the law — in con- 
 sequence of which, nearly all the cases were satisfactorily 
 adjusted, the wharves being reduced to their proper limits — 
 four only remain unsettled ; three of these are still before the 
 supreme court. 
 
 Fifth Commission — 
 
 Under authority of a resolve of the Legislature, passed 
 April 16, 1846. Governor Briggs appointed Messrs. Thomas 
 G. Carey, Simeon Borden, and Ezra Lincoln, Jr., Commis- 
 sioners 
 
 " To examine the position of the flats in the Harbor of Boston, 
 between South Boston and the Channel, and lying opposite to the 
 wharves on Sea and Broad Streets, with a vieAv to ascertain 
 
APPENDIX. 19 
 
 •whether any improvement can be made thereof beneficial to the 
 commerce of Boston, and to report such a plan of improvement as 
 may appear to them to be feasible and judicious ; and whether it 
 would be beneficial to straiten the Commissioners' line between 
 Arch Wharf and Wales's Wharf." 
 
 The Commissioners' Report is dated 2d of February, 1847. 
 With the assistance of Dr. Bache, Superintendent of the Uni- 
 ted States Coast Survey, they obtained a valuable chart of 
 the flats in question, based upon scientific triangulation and 
 accurate soundings ; and after repeated examinations of the 
 flats and channels, and also of the lower harbor, for the pur- 
 pose of ascertaining what would be the probable efiect, either 
 above or below, of any changes that have been proposed, 
 they say — 
 
 " The flats in question, lying between a line 1650 feet from 
 high water mark, above referred to, and a line or lines hereinafter 
 described, beyond which the commissioners do not deem it expe- 
 dient to enclose, cover a surface of about 360 acres, extending 
 from Fort Point Channel, on the south side of the city, to the con- 
 tinuation of the easterly line of the enclosure used for the South 
 Boston institutions, and in front of the whole shore of South Bos- 
 ton. They are covered, at each ordinary tide, to the depth of 
 about ten feet. If the whole area of the flats opposite the shore 
 of South Boston were situated above the city, receiving the tide 
 through any channel by which vessels must pass to reach their 
 places of discharge, there can be no question that it would be ex- 
 tremely dangerous to the commerce of the port to enclose them. 
 To exclude from such a basin a volume of water that aids to scour 
 the channel in the upper harbor, as it passes to and from the sea 
 four times a day, might produce changes of the most injurious 
 character. The enclosure of the back bay, as it is called, by the 
 Western Avenue, is an instance of this kind which it would be 
 hazardous to repeat. But the flats in question lie helow the city. 
 The water that covers them aids in no such scouring process. 
 That process is, in fact, somewhat diminished in its effect, by suf- 
 fering a portion of the water that daily ascends, as a supply for the 
 upper basins, to flow over so wide a surface instead of confining 
 its passage to the channels. 
 
 " This opinion is corroborated by the observations of Lieut. 
 Charles H. Davis, the officer at the head of the hydrographical 
 party, by whom the data for the chart accompanying this report 
 were furnished. He says, in a letter to the commissioners, giving 
 
20 APPENDIX. 
 
 the result of his daily observations upon the tides and currents in 
 the inner harbor, that ' the ebb tide crosses the northeast end of 
 the South Boston flats ; and, on looking at the chart^ you will per- 
 ceive that this is its necessary course, — the northeast end of the 
 flats running further out into the ship channel than any other 
 part.' ' Near slack water, both of ebb and flood, the tide flows 
 broad over the flats, but with a velocity so small, that it is inap- 
 preciable, and with no general or determinate direction.' " 
 
 " The commissioners are, therefore, of opinion, that no evil 
 would ensue from giving permission to build any solid structures 
 on these flats, that may be required for commercial purposes. 
 On the other hand, if a sea-wall or line of wharves were erected, 
 at a suitable distance from that edge of these flats which makes one 
 side of Fort Point Channel, and if a similar barrier were made on 
 the side towards the main channel, in the opinion of the commis- 
 sioners, the current in each channel would be rather quickened, 
 and its depth more securely preserved by the change. 
 
 " In order to prevent any injury to the wharves already erected 
 on the Boston side of Fort Point Channel, by cutting off such 
 passage as it is found convenient to use over the flats in their 
 present state, as well as for the general improvement of that chan- 
 nel and the main ship channel, the commissioners are of opinion, 
 that, whenever the flats in question are enclosed or built upon, as 
 above suggested, the whole area on the exterior of the lines above 
 described should be excavated, to a depth of ten feet below the 
 plane of reference for the soundings oa the chart presented. In 
 their view, also, no extension beyond the line of 1650 feet from 
 the high-water mark should be permitted, unless the party or par- 
 ties so extending should be under obligation to excavate to the 
 depth above specified, from the end of his or their structure to 
 deep water, and to cut off the northerly point of the flats outside 
 of the line drawn for enclosure from Fort Point channel to the^ 
 main ship channel. In order to be certain of the practicability of 
 such an excavation, the commissioners have had the whole area o£ 
 flats, beyond the line of 100 rods from high water mark, carefully 
 sounded by men of experience in such work, and they have found 
 nothing but strata of clay and loose sand, which can be easily re- 
 moved by the excavating machines now in common use. This 
 excavation should be made at the expense of those who may be 
 suffered to build upon the flats, if such permission should be given 
 to any party. And it is believed that the facilities and conveni- 
 ence which such an excavation would afford to vessels passing into 
 or out of Fort Point channel, at all times of tide, would fully com- 
 pensate the owners of wharves adjoining that channel for the loss 
 of the privilege of passing over the flats with vessels of light 
 draught at high water. It would seem that these owners, if they 
 
APPENDIX. 21 
 
 ■were not thus secured against injury by the change proposed, 
 would be entitled to an indemnity ; on the same principle on which 
 they would be entitled to compensation if a bridge should be 
 thrown across Fort Point channel, to connect any enclosure on 
 the flats with the city. 
 
 " In regard to the lower harbor, the quantity of water that en- 
 ters to cover this shoal of flats, extensive as it is, is scarcely appre- 
 ciable, when considered in relation to the great flood that approach- 
 es from the sea to fill the harbor at every tide. And, in the 
 opinion of the commissioners, the enclosure can produce no percep- 
 tible efiect on the outer channels in any way. If it were other- 
 wise, they would discourage any plan of alteration, believing, as 
 they do, that no change should be permitted, that could diminish 
 the depth of channel below. They have given careful attention to 
 that subject, and, after personal examination of the points of dan- 
 ger, they present some considerations that seem to them impor- 
 tant in framing any measures that may be proposed for the 
 security of the harbor. In making laws that are intended for this 
 purpose, a careful discrimination of the causes from which injury 
 proceeds, and intelligence in applying the remedy, are peculiarly 
 necessary. Otherwise, as has been the case heretofore, onerous 
 restrictions may be imposed, that have no tendency to stop the 
 mischief; and the community are left under false security, in the 
 belief that nothing more is necessary, when, in truth, nothing has 
 been efibcted. 
 
 " Some of the islands and headlands in the harbor are gradually 
 wasting away by the action of the sea, and some of the shoals are 
 found to be increasing. One change is probably the cause of the 
 other. The earth and small stones, that are loosened from the 
 headlands, are carried by the currents and lodged upon the adja- 
 cent shoals, which are generally extended by these additions. 
 Whenever this waste of the headlands is stopped, by suitable pro- 
 tection from the sea, the increase of the shoals must cease, since 
 the materials by which they are extended will no longer be sup- 
 plied. In the meantime, the removal of small stones for ballast 
 from the headlands must be injurious, as it hastens their waste. 
 But the removal of such stones from the shoals to which they 
 have been carried by the action of the current, after being de- 
 tached from the headland, can do no injury. It may rather be 
 beneficial, by retarding the increase of shoals, if it diminishes 
 what aids to form them. 
 
 "A more particular description of these changes, and their 
 causes, is as follows : The elements which combine to destroy or 
 waste the islands and headlands above referred to, are the waters 
 of the ocean, agitated by strong winds and storms, and the vari- 
 ous tidal currents, These elements act upon the headlands some- 
 
22 APPENDIX. 
 
 what in tlie following manner. Almost every island and headland 
 is more exposed to the action of the waves, when the wind blows 
 from some particular quarter or point of the compass, than when 
 it blows in any other direction. If the wind to which the coast is 
 most exposed be a prevailing wind, and, at the same time, has a 
 tendency to increase the height of tides when it blows strongly for 
 any considerable length of time, its destructive operations will be 
 greater than if its tendency were to prevent high tides ; as the 
 action of the waves, during the full spring tides, has a more de- 
 structive influence than during the neap tides. For the purpose 
 of illustrating our views, we will suppose the shores of an island, 
 or headland, to be of two or three miles in extent, extending in a 
 north and south direction, and more exposed to the action of the 
 waves when the wind blows from the northeast, than from any 
 other quarter. We will now suppose the northeast wind to be a 
 prevailing wind upon the coast, and frequently blowing very 
 heavy. It will be obvious to every person, who has witnessed the 
 dashing of heavy waves upon a beach or shore, that the tendency 
 of each successive wave is to move the sand and small shingle, 
 upon the surface of the beach in the direction in which the wave 
 itself rolls ; and the tendency of the under-tow, as it is called, is 
 to roll or wash the shingle and sand, in a line at a right angle 
 with the direction of the beach, towards the ocean, or low-water 
 mark. A succeeding wave again rolls it obliquely towards high- 
 water mark ; when the under-tow again takes it back in a perpen- 
 dicular direction. The action of successive waves, continued for 
 any considerable length of time, particularly if aided by a tidal 
 current, will remove the shingle and sand, composing the surface 
 of the beach, from the northerly end of the island, or headland, 
 towards the south, until the shingle is nearly, if not all, swept off, 
 leaving the finer and lighter particles of the primitive earth ex- 
 posed to the action of the waves. This action will mix them with 
 the waters of the ocean ; and they will be taken away by the tidal 
 currents, and be gradually deposited, in proportion to their specific 
 gravities, the minuteness of their division, and the motion or agi- 
 tation of the water in which they are suspended. Long continued 
 operations of this kind will undermine the headland banks, and 
 cause them to tumble into the sea ; the grosser particles covering 
 the beach with sand and shingle, while the finer parts are mixed 
 with the waters, and taken away in the manner above-mentioned. 
 In this manner, will the sand and shingle-gravel continue to be 
 swept along the beach, until they reach the end of it. They will 
 not remain at rest, until they arrive at a point beyond the influ- 
 ence of the waves. There they will form shoals, and frequently 
 beaches of great length. Sometimes these operations are some- 
 what counteracted by the equal exposnre of the headlands to 
 
APPENDIX. 23 
 
 •winds having opposite effects. The sand, in this case, will be 
 sometimes moved in one direction, and sometimes in another. 
 The tendency "will be, to afford a more constant covering of the 
 beach with sand and gravel, which constitute its natural protec- 
 tion against the wasting influence of the waves. In cases of this 
 sort, the effect is, usually, the formation of two shoals and beaches 
 one at each end, of the headland. In the winter season, when the 
 northerly winds prevail, the shoals at the south will increase ; and 
 in summer, when the southerly winds prevail, the shoals at the 
 north will increase. 
 
 " The commissioners, entertaining the views above expressed, 
 believe that the unfavorable changes which are going on in the 
 harbor, are not of a nature to be affected by any new structure 
 that may be erected on the flats lying in front of South Boston ; 
 the outward changes having been probably produced solely by 
 causes that have arisen in the lower harbor itself. They believe 
 those causes, however, to demand serious and early attention, 
 beginning, as they appear to do, with the waste of headlands on 
 which the security of our navigation depends, and requiring only 
 suitable defences and short breakwaters to preserve the channels. 
 
 " In respect to a plan for the occupation of the flats in question, 
 the commissioners suppose that it would be premature, and of 
 little use, to present any design or drawing in detail, until it shall 
 be decided whether the right to occupy that portion of the area 
 which remains under the control of the Commonwealth, is to be 
 united with the property on the margin of South Boston. To 
 leave an open passage between that margin and an insulated en- 
 closure upon the flats, might be injurious to Fort Point channel, 
 by diminishing the volume of water that scours it towards its 
 mouth. But, with this exception, they believe that any plan 
 which may be found most convenient for commercial purposes, 
 whenever more accommodation is required, may probably be 
 adopted without injury to navigation, whether it be by an entire 
 enclosure in sea-walls, approaching within a moderate distance 
 of the channel, or by the extension of wharves from the South 
 Boston shore towards the main channel, after that shore shall itself 
 have been advanced forward upon the flats, by filling up. 
 
 " In the present state of the title to the property, therefore, 
 they present no plan in detail. Nor can the commissioners assume 
 the responsibility of expressing an opinion at all favorable to a 
 change of such magnitude in the harbor, without referring to some 
 considerations that were presented in the legislative report wliich 
 recommended their appointment. 
 
 " Although the title to these flats is clearly in the Common- 
 wealth, it is held in trust for the benefit and security of commerce ; 
 
24 APPENDIX. 
 
 being a right to the ground only, ^yhile the right of passage over 
 it is common to every individual in the community. No instance 
 is known in which the sovereign power of a state has put property 
 of this nature into the market for sale. It may prove to be a 
 question of serious consequence, whether the change proposed is 
 to be made under the direction of a controlling power that regards 
 the security of navigation as the object paramount in importance, 
 or whether the rights of the Commonwealth are to be transferred 
 to parties who look for a pecuniary gain, from speculation in this 
 property, as the chief object of consideration. If these rights are 
 to be transferred at all, the city of Boston, whose interests are 
 inseparable from those of navigation, would seem to be the safest 
 and most suitable depository of a trust that concerns the prosper- 
 ity of the State and the commerce of the Union." 
 
 The Sixth Commission, consisting of Messrs. S. S. Lewis 
 and Ezra Lincoln, Jr., having been appointed by Governor 
 Briggs, under the resolve of the Legislature, passed April 7, 
 1847, " relating to the survey of Boston Harbor," were 
 authorized and directed by an additional resolve, passed 
 May 10, 1848, 
 
 " To define, upon a plan, or plans, such lines, in that portion of 
 the harbor of Boston, lying between East Boston and Chelsea, and 
 known as Chelsea Creek, as they shall think expedient to estab- 
 lish, beyond which no wharves or other structure shall be extend- 
 ed into and over the tide-waters of the Commonwealth ; also to 
 ascertain whether any obstructions are forming in Fort Point 
 Channel, in the harbor of Boston, and whether any legislation is 
 necessary to prevent or remove the same. 
 
 " The commissioners, in regard to the first requirement of the 
 above recited resolve, to define lines, &c., in Chelsea Creek, after 
 an examination of the same, with reference to the rights of the 
 Commonwealth, are of opinion that this estuary of the harbor of 
 Boston, obstructed, as it has been, by one or two solid dams above 
 the bridge which connects East Boston with Chelsea, exercises 
 but little scouring influence upon the main channels of the harbor. 
 In deciding, therefore, upon lines to which wharves might be ex- 
 tended, Avithout detriment to pubhc or private rights, the commis- 
 sioners were governed mainly by a desire to keep the present 
 channel in such condition, with reference to width, &c., as to 
 
APPENDIX. 25 
 
 accommodate the shipping which might hereafter have to pass into 
 and out of said creek, and, at the same time, reconcile anj con- 
 flicting views which parties, owning on opposite sides of the creek, 
 might hold. 
 
 " With this view, and in order to make the entrance of the chan- 
 nel easy of access, it became necessary to keep the line on the 
 East Boston side, opposite the ferry slip of the Winnisimmet Com- 
 pany, above or within low-water mark some distance, as represent- 
 ed on the plan herewith presented, thereby cutting off a considera- 
 ble area of the flats belonging to the East Boston Land Company. 
 This arrangement, however, was assented to by the said company, 
 and a vote of its directors was passed, sanctioning the line, and, 
 m effect, making a dedication of the area, so cut off, to public 
 uses. 
 
 " The lines hereinafter described, are beheved to be generally 
 satisfactory to all the riparian proprietors, and entirely consistent 
 with all the public interests. 
 
 " In regard to the second instruction recited in the resolve 
 passed May 10th, 1848, viz., *■ to ascertain whether any 
 obstructions are forming in Fort Point Channel, &c.,' the com- 
 missioners would observe that there is a well known bar in the 
 vicinity of the Summei Street wharf, so called, and extending 
 nearly across the channel aforesaid, so as to leave but a narrow 
 passage at low-water near the South Boston flats for vessels draw- 
 ing over six feet of water. This bar is indicated on the plan of 
 the inner harbor of Boston heretofore prepared for the Common- 
 wealth ; and the commissioners have recently sounded upon 
 various parts of it, and found it to be about one hundred feet in 
 width, composed of soft clay four or five feet in depth, covered 
 with a stratum of coarse gravel. From the nature of the bottom 
 of the channel, above and below this bar, it is believed that a 
 deposit of the silt from the drains, which empty into the docks in 
 this vicinity, maj be made about the bar. The vessels which go 
 up the channel are liable, at low water, to catch upon this bar, 
 and are then obliged to wait for the turn of the tide. As the bar 
 is, as before suggested, of a nature to be easily excavated, the 
 commissioners are of opinion that it would greatly facilitate navi- 
 gation in this channel, if it should be removed. After it has 
 been once removed, the water, which comes down from South 
 Bay, at every ebb tide, will unquestionably keep the channel 
 clear ; and, as it has been proposed and recommended heretofore, 
 hj State commissioners, that the line between Wales's and Arch 
 Wharves, should be straightened on certain conditions, the com- 
 missioners would recommend that the proprietars of wharves, in 
 the vicinity of this line should, in case it be straightened, and, when 
 they are permitted to extend to it, be required to remove this bar, 
 or obstruction, in the channel." 
 
26 APPENDIX. 
 
 The lines recommended by the Commissioners were estab- 
 lished by an act of the Legislature, passed May 2, 1849 — they 
 are fully described in the Ordinances of the City, pages 166 
 to 170, and may be found upon the plan attached to this 
 report.* 
 
 The seventh Board of Commissioners, appointed by the 
 Governor and Council under a resolve of the Legislature 
 passed May 10, 1848, — 
 
 " to consider and report to the next Legislature what are the 
 rights and duties of the Commonwealth in relation to the flats in 
 the harbor of Boston ; — also to consider whether the public good 
 requires that any portion of said flats should be filled, and to what 
 extent ; and whether the maritime interests do now, or probably 
 may hereafter, require the excavation of any part of them to 
 enlarge the harbor accommodations ; — and also, if it shall be 
 deemed expedient to fill any of said flats, to report the outlines of 
 a plan for that purpose, and the terms upon which such filling up 
 should be authorized," 
 
 Consisted of Messrs. John M. Williams, David Cummings, 
 Thomas Hopkinson, George S. Boutwell, and Charles Hud- 
 son. 
 
 The comprehensive nature of the questions submitted to 
 the commissioners warranted the general view of the subject 
 which is taken in their report submitted in January, 1850. 
 
 They discuss at length the legal merits of the case, and 
 say,— 
 
 " The better opinion seems to be, in England, that the king 
 holds the land between high and low water mark, as well as under 
 all navigable waters, in trust for the use of the people ; and 
 though he may grant his private right to others, it must still be 
 subject, in the hands of his grantee, to the right of all his sub- 
 jects to pass and repass, Avithout obstruction, on both the land and 
 water. It has been supposed by some that, in analogy to this 
 principle, the Commonwealth holds the flats over which its title 
 
 *Stat. 1850, Ch. 216, April I7ili. The Hue on Fore Point Channel, betwjen 
 Wales's wharf and xVrch wharf altered. 
 
 Stat. 1850, Ch. 254, April 30th. An Act authorizing: the proprietors of several 
 wharves, between Arch wharf and Wales's wharf to extend to the new line of 
 Fore Point Channel, jirovided a certain bar in said channel, opposite the foot of 
 Summer street, be excavated to the depth of twelve feet below low water, &c. 
 
APPENDIX. 27 
 
 extends, in trust for all the people, and can onlj alienate them 
 subject to this trust. But the analogy fails in two important par- 
 ticulars. 1st. The Commonwealth, in its sovereign capacity, 
 possesses not only the rights and powers, on this subject, which 
 are possessed by the king in England, but also of the British Par- 
 liament, consisting of king, lords, and commons ; and it has never 
 been doubted that Parliament, in its arrogated omnipotence, may 
 grant an exclusive right to flats, unincumbered by the supposed 
 trust. 2d. The Commonwealth is the pubhc — the people — in 
 whom, in their collective capacity, full sovereignty resides. The 
 Commonwealth is, therefore, both the trustee and the beneficiary. 
 The trust estate and beneficial interest are united, and conse- 
 quently the trust is merged in the fee. 
 
 " Subject to the restrictions and limitations before mentioned, 
 the Commonwealth has the full power, title and control of the flats 
 in Boston harbor. The right to manage and dispose of them is, 
 by the Constitution of the Commonwealth, vested in the Legisla- 
 ture. The Commonwealth may, by the acts and at the discretion 
 of the Legislature, cause or permit them to be excavated or 
 embanked, or retained, or otherwise disposed of. It may grant 
 them to the city, to the riparian proprietors, or to other per- 
 sons or corporations, at such times, in such manner, on such 
 terms and conditions, and for such considerations of public benefit, 
 pecuniary or otherwise, as the Legislature, in the exercise of its 
 sound, constitutional discretion, may judge to be most proper, and 
 most conducive to the public interest and welfare." 
 
 In considering the " duties of the Commonwealth," they 
 pass in review the reports of the several preceding commis- 
 sioners ; and although they agree with their predecessors in 
 general positions, and adopt the most of their conclusions, 
 they differ from them entirely in regard to the policy to be 
 pursued, as will appear from the following extracts, viz. : — 
 
 " If the South Bay were kept open to its full extent, a sea wall 
 upon the easterly side of Fore Point Channel might quicken the 
 current in that channel, and so increase its depth. But as the 
 greater part of that spacious bay is, or will be, closed so as to 
 exclude the water which has heretofore entered it, we are unable 
 to perceive why the same causes which are allowed to operate in 
 other parts of the harbor, may not operate here to the injury of 
 this channel. Nor are we able to see how a sea wall on the east- 
 erly side of this channel can avert the calamity, in case South 
 Bay should be filled up. In that case, there would be a little 
 more than a narrow channel left open above the South Boston 
 bridges, and no water would pass up Fore Point Channel, except 
 
^W APPENDIX. 
 
 what would be required to fill the narrow channel ahove the 
 bridges. 
 
 " Nor is it by any means certain that filling up all the South 
 Boston flats, — a tract of some seven or eight hundred acres, now 
 covered by water, at every tide, to the depth of eight or ten feet, 
 will not prove injurious to the main channels in the harbor. It 
 was in evidence before the commissioners that there had been a 
 great reduction in the depth of Fore Point Channel, and also in 
 the main ship channel both in the upper and lower harbor. At 
 the ' Narrows,' so called, in the lower harbor, it was shown that 
 the water had shoaled from three to five feet within the last twen- 
 ty or thirty years ; and that though this was ascribed in a good 
 degree to the washing away of the islands and headlands in the 
 outer harbor, the same accretion is observable in the upper har- 
 bor, where these causes do not exist. In Fore Point Channel, at 
 the ' Upper Middle,' and indeed in almost every part of the harbor, 
 the channels are becoming more obstructed by becoming more 
 shoal or more narrow. It is a well known fact, that at the 
 wharves and in the docks there is a constant accretion of matter, 
 so as to render it necessary to dredge them out once in four or 
 five years. 
 
 " But the arguments against filling up these flats are met by 
 the declaration, — that the quantity of water which would be dis- 
 placed by the proposed improvements, would be so small as to be 
 hardly appreciable upon the main currents in the harbor. But a 
 glance at what has been done, and what may be done, by the 
 shore owners, will show that the quantity of water which has 
 been and may be displaced is far from being inconsiderable. Bos- 
 ton proper, which originally contained less than 1000 acres, now 
 contains more than 3000 acres. This increase of more than 2000 
 acres has all been made by encroachments upon tide water. In 
 addition to this, the Mill Dam cut ofi" 700 or 800 acres more ; — 
 to this may be added the large quantity of land made at Cam- 
 bridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, and East Boston. Here we have 
 an area of several thousand acres which are forever lost to the 
 harbor. This exclusion of tide water from so large a surface, has 
 produced a sensible efiect upon the channels in the harbor. The 
 harbor master testified that the filUng up above Charles Kiver 
 Bridge, has produced a visible efiect upon the current between 
 Boston and East Boston. By reducing the volume of water from 
 Charles River, the former balance of power between the currents 
 from the Charles and Mystic Rivers at their confluence, had been 
 destroyed ; and the consequence Avas, that the main current be- 
 tween Boston and East Boston was brought nearer to the Boston 
 shore than it was formerly. 
 
 " But we are not to confine our attention to the three or four 
 thousand acres of flats which have been already irrevocably lost 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 29 
 
 to the harbor. By the report of Messrs. Hayward and Lincohi, 
 in 1846, it appears that at that time the tide flowed over an area 
 of 5000 acres above the Charles River, Chelsea and South Bos- 
 ton bridges ; and of this 6000 acres, 2700 were above low w^ater 
 mark, and so were liable to be filled up by the shore owners, 
 leaving only about 2300 acres to be flowed by the tides. It 
 should also be borne in mind that every acre of the flats situated 
 just above low water, is as important to the harbor, and receives 
 and discharges as much water, as an acre in the deepest channel ; 
 it being only the water between high and low water mark which 
 carries on the scouring process, by which the channels are kept 
 open, "When we are called upon to decide whether it would be 
 safe to fill up eight or nine hundred acres in front of South Bos- 
 ton, we are to remember that one-half of this area may be filled 
 at the pleasure of the shore owners ; and the real question to be 
 decided is, whether the State should, at the present time, author- 
 ize the filling up of some four hvmdred acres more, in addition to 
 the five or six hundred acres at South and East Boston, and the 
 twenty-seven hundred acres above the bridges, all of which may 
 be filled by their respective owners, and much of which will proba- 
 bly be filled, as the demand for land is constantly increasing. 
 
 " When the subject is stripped of all its disguises, and is pre- 
 sented in its naked form, we are inclined to hesitate before we 
 pronounce in favor of filling up the flats over which the State has 
 control. When the safety of the harbor is placed in competition 
 with any magnificent scheme of land speculation, we must decide 
 in favor of what we believe to be the safety of the harbor. When 
 we consider, that a volume of water, of an average depth of at 
 least seven feet, covering an area larger than the whole city of 
 Boston proper, is now liable to be excluded from the harbor, we 
 want something more than a mere speculative theory of tides and 
 channels, to justify us in adding to this quantity. When we con- 
 sider, that flats once filled can never be restored to harbor accom- 
 modations ; but that flats kept open, can, at any future period be 
 filled, when it shall have been demonstrated by experience, that 
 previous fillings have wrought no injury to the harbor, — we 
 believe it to be the dictate of wisdom to pause before we make 
 any further grants, except they be accompanied with an obligation 
 to make corresponding excavations, or other improvements, in the 
 harbor." 
 
 They submit a variety of statistics and think, — 
 
 " These facts will fully sustain the position that our commerce 
 has tripled in the space of twenty years. And if the commerce 
 of Boston is to go on increasing in this ratio, the day is not far 
 distant when the flats will be wanted for dockage and anchorage 
 
30 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the vessels, which our growing trade will call into this port. 
 And even now these flats are used by vessels of a light draft of 
 water. The eastern coasters, with wood and lumber, frequently 
 pass across the flats at high water. And it was in evidence be- 
 fore the commissioners, that during periods of easterly winds, 
 when it is difficult to go to sea, there are frequently several hun- 
 dreds of these small vessels, mostly from Maine and the British 
 Provinces, lying in the harbor ; and, owing to the crowded state 
 of the channel, large numbers of them resort to the soft mud on 
 the flats, for anchorage; — a fact that shows most conclusively, 
 that fifty, or even twenty years hence, the very space which it is 
 now proposed to fill up, will become absolutely necessary to accom- 
 modate the vessels in the harbor. The extreme line which has 
 been recommended, which for the sake of distinction, we will call 
 Mr. Carey's line, not only allows all the South Boston flats to be 
 filled, with the exception of a small point opposite Rowe's wharf, 
 but actually cuts off nearly two hundred acres below low water 
 mark ; — the greater portion of which, as shown by the soundings, 
 has a depth, at extreme low water, of from three to four feet, — 
 while some portions of the harbor, thus proposed to be cut off, 
 have a depth of from four to seven feet ; and to these soundings 
 we may add two feet, to show the depth at mean low water. 
 Here there are nearly two hundred acres, well adapted to the 
 anchorage of these small coasters, which it has been proposed to 
 fill up ; but which, we are satisfied, will, in a few years, become 
 almost indispensably necessary for this class of vessels. We, 
 therefore, should regard it as a departure from the dictates of 
 true wisdom, to suffer any embankment or structure to be erected 
 upon any of the harbor belonging to the State, which can be used 
 as a roadstead, or converted into wet docks. 
 
 " We have already stated what we believe to be the rights of 
 the Commonwealth, in the flats situated between the one hundred- 
 rod line and the channel. We have no doubt but that she has an 
 interest, a vendible property, in these flats, which she may dispose 
 of as she pleases, under the limitations we have stated. And 
 what is true of the flats in Boston harbor, is true of the flats simi- 
 larly situated, in every other harbor in the State. The question 
 is not local in its character, but is coextensive with our coast. It 
 is a subject in which the whole State has an equal interest, and 
 hence the impolicy and injustice of granting these flats to individ- 
 uals or corporations, without consideration. Neither the riparian 
 owners, nor the city or town within whose territorial limits they 
 may happen to be situated, can claim them in virtue of their 
 proximity. They belong to the State, and are the property of 
 the whole people. 
 
 " But though the State possesses this property, and the Legis- 
 lature may dispose of it as they please, they are bound by every 
 consideration of sound pohcy to make such a disposition of these 
 
APPENDIX. 31 
 
 flats as will best promote the prosperity and general welfare of the 
 community. 
 
 " Nor will they, as guardians of the public weal, confine their 
 views to the present condition of things. Any policy which does 
 not look forward at least a century, and consider the wants of the 
 people at the end of that period, is repugnant to the spirit of the 
 age, and so dishonorable to the character of this Commonwealth. 
 While the present wants of the people should be provided for, 
 their future prosperity and welfare should not be overlooked. A 
 system should be adopted, in the disposition of this property, 
 which will meet the wants of the present generation, and at the 
 same time subserve the interest of those who come after us. If 
 the State, actuated by a narrow and parsimonious policy, should 
 dispose of this property to individuals, and put the avails into her 
 own treasury, in a short time this money would be expended, and 
 so be forever lost to the State ; while the property, passing into 
 private hands, would be appropriated, to the perpetual injury of 
 the harbor, and consequent detriment of the commerce of the 
 Commonwealth. But, on the other hand, if the Legislature should 
 hold this property in their own hands, to be appropriated from 
 time to time for the improvement of the harbor and the promotion 
 of commerce, a perpetual benefit would be conferred upon the 
 whole people. 
 
 " We regard this interest in the flats as a sort of marine invest- 
 ment for the benefit of the State, which should be managed with 
 a sole reference to the commercial prosperity of the whole people. 
 Nor is this a partial or local view of the subject. Though these 
 flats do not belong, as property, to the county of Sufiblk,any 
 more than to the county of Berkshire, yet it is the prosperity of 
 Boston which has given a value to this property, and contributed 
 to the general prosperity of the State. And though the disposi- 
 tion of these flats which we have indicated might, in the first 
 instance, be more productive to the interest of Boston and its 
 vicinity than to the rest of the Commonwealth, its beneficial 
 efiects would soon be realized by the people at large. Boston is 
 not only the political but the commercial capital of the State ; 
 and whatever increases her commercial prosperity, confers a direct 
 benefit upon the whole people, by creating a market, and increas- 
 ing the demand for labor, and for every article that labor can 
 produce. The commercial prosperity of the city increases the 
 amount of taxable property in the State, and gives rise to those 
 moneyed institutions and business transactions from which the 
 State derives its principal. revenue. This commercial prosperity 
 also gives an impulse to our manufacturing and mechanical indus- 
 try, thereby creating a market for agricultural products, not only 
 in our cities, but in every village throughout the State. If the 
 Legislature, to realize a present pecuniary advantage, should dis- 
 pose of all the flats in which the State has an interest, and should 
 
32 APPENDIX. 
 
 suffer tliem to be filled, to the ruin of the channel, and commerce 
 should desert the city, the withering effects would soon be felt in 
 the business prosperity of the whole State ; and our young men 
 would leave our rugged hills and ungenial climate, to seek in 
 other States that employment which their own denied them. If 
 the Legislature, therefore, look to the permanent welfare of the 
 whole people, they cannot, in our estimation, make a better or 
 wiser disposition of them than to dedicate them to the interest of 
 commerce. The treasure is found in the deep ; and let it be so 
 appropriated that that deep may bear upon its surface, and bring 
 to our shores, the more useful treasures of which we may all par- 
 take. But though we should regard it as unwise, and unjust to 
 one portion of the community, to grant these flats to an individual 
 or corporation, without consideration, yet we would recommend 
 that a liberal policy be adopted ; and if any portion of them can 
 be filled without detriment to the harbor, grants should be made 
 upon terms so favorable as to encourage enterprize, and ensure 
 the completion of the work, that thereby an additional amount of 
 property may be created, to sustain, by taxation and otherwise, 
 the interests of the people. 
 
 " We believe that the growing commerce of the city will, with- 
 in fifty years, require the utmost capacity of the harbor ; and 
 that nothing should be filled which is capable, by excavation, of 
 being converted, at a reasonable expense, into wet docks or road- 
 steads." 
 
 Following out this idea, the commissioners propose a line 
 which they say will save to the harbor about 450 acres, that 
 Mr. Carey's line would allow to be filled. They also recom- 
 mend the excavation of the flats below the proposed line, 
 suggest a system of wet docks, and present a sketch of the 
 same prepared by W. P. Parrott, Esq., engineer. 
 
 " The flats in the harbor of Boston seem admirably adapted to 
 the purpose of wet docks. In the first place, they are situated 
 near the centre of busuiess, which cannot be said of the Atlantic 
 Docks in New York. Nor is it necessary to destroy a large 
 amount of valuable land covered with buildings, as was the case 
 at Liverpool and London. With us, the flats, at present, are use- 
 less ; and, by converting them into wet docks, a large amount of 
 land will be created, suitable for warehouses. Such docks would 
 answer the double purpose of land and water, — giving an ad- 
 ditional amount of wharf-room and storehouses, and at the same 
 time afibrding the largest accommodation for the shipping in the 
 harbor. Besides, that portion of the harbor is somewhat exposed 
 to easterly winds, and the sea wall enclosing the docks would act 
 as a break water, and so protect, not only the ships in the docks, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 33 
 
 but those in tlie upper portion of Fore Point Channel. Nor 
 "^ould the advantages be confined to the harbor. By excavating 
 the flats in front of Fore Point Channel, all that portion of the 
 city from India wharf to Summer Street wharf, would be brought 
 directly to deep water, and the value of property in that part of 
 the city would be greatly increased. 
 
 " Another advantage resulting from such improvement in this 
 part of the harbor is this : — it would open a more direct com- 
 munication between our railroads and deep water. The Lowell, 
 Fitchburg, Maine, and Eastern railroads enter the northern part 
 of the city, and can find deep water in that region of Boston or 
 Charlestown, or by the Grand Junction Railroad, of East Boston. 
 Bat the Old Colony, Worcester, and Providence roads enter th3 
 city in the southerly section, and hence would be accommodated 
 by a connection with deep water on Fore Point Channel. The 
 prospective growth of our inland trade, makes it highly important 
 that improvements be made in every part of the harbor, which 
 will facilitate that valuable part of our trade." 
 
 In reference to the flats in Mystic River, the Commissioners 
 say,— 
 
 " There is another considerable portion of flats in Mystic River, 
 between Maiden and Chelsea bridges, a grant of which has been 
 asked by the citizens of Charlestown. This tract contains about 
 one hundred acres. These flats not only belong to the Common- 
 wealth, but their title is embarrassed by no water rights of the 
 riparian owners. By the law of 1641, no proprietor was allowed 
 to cross any creek or channel ; and, as there is a channel on each 
 side of the river, and these flats are situated between the channels, 
 they cannot legally be claimed by the shore owners, on either side 
 of the river. The commissioners are inclined to the opinion, that 
 these flats might be filled, and the navigation of the river there- 
 by improved. They were, however, inclined to believe, that the 
 plan proposed, extended too far below Chelsea Bridge into the 
 channel. And they had some apprehension, that confining the 
 flow of the water to the Chelsea shore, might produce an eddy, 
 and cause a deposit on the flats near the navy yard, to the injury 
 of that establishment, and of navigation in that part of the harbor. 
 But if the Legislature, in their wisdom, should see fit to make 
 this grant for sufficient consideration, they should provide that the 
 material to fill the flats to the height of extreme high water, should 
 be taken from the marshes above, between high and low water 
 marks, so that the river should be capable of receiving and dis- 
 charging as large a quantity of tide water as at present. The 
 materials should be taken under the direction of some skilful 
 person, appointed by the government, wdio should see that it be 
 
34 APPENDIX. 
 
 taken, not only between high and low water, but at such points, 
 and in such a manner, as to improve the navigation of the river ; 
 and that the parts excavated, be so situated as not to be liable to 
 fill up with sediment. The company should also be recjuired to 
 excavate the flats below their embankment to the channel, — and 
 to keep the flats, the channel of the river, and the marshes so 
 excavated, open to a given depth. These precautions appear to 
 the commissioners to be indispensably necessary to the safety of 
 the harbor, and the Legislature would be false to the trust reposed 
 in them, to make a grant without securing the performance of 
 these, or similar duties, in the most ample manner." 
 
 They also consider the subject of the flats in the Back 
 Bay. No extracts are made from that part of the report, as 
 those flats are undoubtedly lost for every valuable purpose 
 to the harbor. The Commissioners, however, travel a little 
 out of their way to say, — 
 
 " They (the Water Power Company,) have also, by contract 
 or compromise, permitted the reservoir to be abridged to a large 
 extent, by the city of Boston, who seem never to have hesitated 
 to give precedence to the proprietary right of making land for 
 sale, over the commercial value of flats and tide waters to the 
 harbor." 
 
 The conclusion is as follows, — 
 
 " The commissioners would respectfully recommend to the 
 Legislature, to retain in their own hands, all such portions of 
 these flats as are not imperiously demanded by the present wants 
 of the community. Let not the plea that the flats arc wanted for 
 building purposes, or that the harbor is ample to meet the present 
 and future wants of commerce, induce the Legislature to grant 
 to individuals or corporations what, at no distant day, must be 
 required by the public for the accommodation of trade. Nor 
 would it, in our judgment, be wise to surrender these flats, or the 
 guardianship of them, to the city of Boston, or in any other 
 city or town in which they are located. It has been recommend- 
 ed by one commission, to surrender them to the city of Boston, — 
 which, it is said, having the most direct interest, would appropri- 
 ate them in the wisest manner for the interest of commerce. 
 But we should fear that the interest of Boston would be too 
 direct for a wise disposition of this property. The policy which 
 this city is now pursuing, is fiUing up south Bay, after every 
 board of commissioners has reported that such a course would 
 be ruinous to certain portions of the harbor, leads to the appre- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 35 
 
 liension, that slie might not prove the best guardian of the com- 
 mercial interests of the State. 
 
 " If these flats were granted to any of these cities, to be ap- 
 propriated for the public good, there would be great danger that 
 local considerations would control the manner of their disposal. 
 The question of their disposition would soon become a matter of 
 party contest, and there would be danger that present interest 
 would prevail over public considerations, and that grants of an 
 impolitic character would be made. Grants, looking more to im- 
 mediate income, than to future growth, — more to private than to 
 public considerations, — more to local advantage, than to the 
 general welfare. 
 
 " These flats being the property of the whole people, — and the 
 members of the Legislature coming from all parts of the Com- 
 monwealth, and knoTying the wishes of their constituents, — we 
 know of no body so well qualified to exercise a wise guardianship 
 over this great interest as the General Court. The property is in 
 their hands ; and there we may safely trust it ; knowing that in 
 them, we have a tribunal as independent and impartial as the lot 
 of humanity will admit." 
 
 This report was referred to the Joint Standing Committee 
 of the Legislature, on Mercantile Affairs and Insurance, of 
 which the Hon. Benjamin Seaver, present mayor of the city, 
 was chairman. 
 
 The following extracts, made from their report, in Senate, 
 April 26, 1850, will show that the views of the Commission- 
 ers v/ere severely criticized, and particular attention is called 
 to the manner in which the unjust imputation of the Com- 
 missioners upon the city of Boston is answered, — 
 
 " The commissioners, if we rightly understand them, take the 
 ground, that (with certain exceptions, arising mainly out of the 
 ordinance of 1641, and the Constitution of the United States,) 
 the Commonwealth has the absolute title to the flats, both the 
 property and every beneficial use, as fully as the allodial title a 
 citizen has to his farm. Their reasoning is this : The king held 
 the fee in lands, under tide waters, in trust, for the use of his 
 subjects ; and Parliament, which represents the subjects, had the 
 control of this trust and use ; that the Commonwealth succeeds to 
 the rights of both the Crown and Parliament, and the trust is, 
 therefore, merged in the fee, and the title becomes absolute. 
 We understand their opinion, therefore, to be, that the title of 
 the State to the flats is the same, as respects the degree and kind 
 
36 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 of property, with that -which it holds in the State House yard, the 
 ai'senal lands, and in its wild lands in Maine ; that they are prop- 
 erty, to be sold, at the discretion of the Legislature, and the pro- 
 ceeds put into the treasury, the purchaser, if not especially 
 restricted, gaining the right to fill up and build upon them, except, 
 perhaps, as against certain private rights of riparian proprietors. 
 
 " This is matter of great consequence ; for it should be borne 
 in mind, that the same rule applies to channels, and the deep sea, 
 within county lines, as to the flats. We are not ready to acqui- 
 esce in this result, and the reasoning upon which it rests seems to 
 us too technical. By the law of all civilized Europe, before the 
 feudal system obtained in England, there was no such thing as 
 property in tide waters. Tide waters were res omnium, that is, 
 they were for the common use, like air and light. If the sea 
 receded, or by the operation of natural or artificial means, the sea 
 ceased to flow in certain spaces, the land under the water would, 
 doubtless go to the abutters, by accretion, or alluvion. In Eng- 
 land, the fiction of a fee in the Crown, and the control of the 
 trust in Parliament, we understand to have been a mode, suited 
 to the times and the genius of the feudal law, for insuring to the . 
 State the control over tide waters. The Commonwealth succeeds 
 to this right of control. By its sovereign authority, for the bene- 
 fit of the public, it regulates the use of tide waters, and, any title 
 it may have in lands under them is only incidental to the tide 
 waters, and held for the reason, that control over the land is 
 necessary to the control of the sea above it. The property the 
 State has in the channels and harbors, is evidently held only upon 
 reasons of public policy, all depending upon, and arising out of 
 the fact, that they are under tide waters. This is not property 
 that the State has purchased, or holds by conquest, as it holds its 
 wild lands, and its State House, and arsenal yards. Its right is 
 simply a rule of law, depending upon reasons of State, and when 
 the reason ceases, the rule should cease also. Whatever may 
 occur to its public lands, by natural or artificial means, the prop- 
 erty remains unafiected. But, if the sea should entirely recede 
 from a bay or basin, and the land under it should gradually change 
 to marsh, and then to upland, is it supposed that the State would 
 own this land, in its new condition, as its absolute property ? 
 Does the State, at this moment, own all the lands, now marsh or 
 uplands, which it ever held, as channels, or below the ordinance 
 line, from which the sea has receded, since the settlement of Mas- 
 sachusetts ? If the commissioners' argument is sound, whenever 
 a channel, within one hundred rods of high water mark, fills up, 
 so as to become part of the flats, the title to it is not in the ripa- 
 rian proprietor, but in the State. Hoav far the same rule should 
 apply, when the sea is shut out by ai-tificial means from channels, 
 or flats below the ordinance line, Ave are not required to say. But 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 37 
 
 we express our doubt, whether the Commonwealth can disregard 
 the reason upon which its title rests, and sell channels and har- 
 bors to be used for other purposes, putting the full value of an 
 absolute title into its treasury. The novelty of the doctrine now 
 set up, — the fact, that no instance is known in any country, 
 where the sovereign power has undertaken to sell this species of 
 property, and the universal practice of this Commonwealth, from 
 our earliest history, must be regarded as important considerations 
 in the discussion of such a question. The fact of the grant by 
 the ordinance of 1641, of the flats before men's estates ; the 
 fact, that the Legislature has constantly granted to proprietors the 
 right to extend wharves, without charge ; the various acts in rela- 
 tion to the harbors in the State, all show conclusively, that the 
 policy of the Commonwealth has been entirely adverse to the 
 exercise of any such extreme right as that now set up. 
 
 " Your committee believe, that the exercise of any such doc- 
 trine is as inexpedient as it is unjust. The tvJiole State is inter- 
 ested in the harbors of the Commonwealth. If the idea is to be 
 entertained and acted upon, that the flats in the various harbors 
 are vendible property, liable to be put into the market, sold, and 
 the proceeds put into the treasury of the State, it will tend to 
 injure the harbors, by throwing the flats into the hands of specu- 
 lators, and thus introduce a new and dangerous element into the 
 policy of the State. Your committee believe, that the flats in all 
 the harbors of the State should be used only for the benefit of 
 those harbors. They should be granted, not for private benefit, 
 not for public economical result, but strictly for the benefit of the 
 harbors, where they are situated. Whenever a petition is pre- 
 sented for leave to occupy them, the single question should be, 
 as it always has been, — will the grant benefit the harbor ? or, — 
 will the increased facilities, which will be given to commerce and 
 commercial enterprise, compensate for any slight detriment of the 
 harbor ? There may be great public enterprises and improve- 
 ments to carry out, for which it will be necessary to grant large 
 portions of flats. In such cases, if individuals or corporations 
 are to be benefited, the State may stipulate, that, as a considera- 
 tion for the grant, they shall make certain other improvements in 
 the same harbor. In other words, the flats in each and every 
 harbor of the State should be devoted entirely to the benefit and 
 improvement of that particular harbor. 
 
 " The cit}^ of Boston was represented before the committee, by 
 the city solicitor, and a committee of the city council. Strong 
 exceptions were taken to those expressions, iu the report of the 
 commissioners, which refer to the conduct of the city of Boston, 
 in relation to the flats in Boston harbor. Tlius, the commission- 
 ers, on page 45, allude to that city as seeming ' never to have 
 hesitated to give preference, to the proprietary right of making 
 
38 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 land for sale, over the commercial value of flats and tide waters 
 to the harbor.' Again, on page 46, ' the policy which the city is 
 now pursuing in filling up South Bay, after every board of com- 
 missioners has reported, that such a course would be ruinous to 
 certain portions of the harbor, leads to the apprehension, that she 
 might not prove the best guardian of the commercial interests of 
 the State. 
 
 " In regard to the remark first above quoted, the counsel for 
 the city denied that there was any evidence, whatever, furnished 
 by the commissioners, to sustain it, nor was there any such evi- 
 dence in existence. He declared it to be without evidence and 
 without foundation, and a gratuitous imputation upon a city which 
 has a deeper interest than any other portion of the State can have 
 in preserving Boston Harbor. 
 
 " In regard to filling up South Bay, the facts appear to be 
 these : — In the report of Messrs. Hay ward and Lincoln, made in 
 1846, they state the area of South Bay to be 346 acres. This 
 area is about 75 or 80 acres larger than formerly, the bordering 
 marsh land having been excavated, for the purpose of filling up 
 the South Cove and other neighboring flats. The city of Boston 
 have a large tract of marsh land, east of Harrison Avenue, Avhich 
 could not be suitably improved without building a sea wall at great 
 expense. From the condition of this land, its liability to become 
 a nuisance and source of filth in that part of the city, and from 
 the necessity of making more extensive arrangements for a more 
 effective drainage, the city entered into a very expensive contract 
 to build a sea-wall, and fill about sixty-nine acres of the flats 
 which belong to the city, by a title as good as any title in the 
 Commonwealth. Nor was this operation commenced in the dark. 
 In the year 1847, the city petitioned the Legislature for leave to 
 construct a railroad from the Providence Railroad to these flats 
 for this very purpose, and an act was passed for that purpose. 
 (Act of 1847, chapter 250.) Failing to make an arrangement 
 with the Providence Railroad Company, the city then petitioned 
 for leave to construct a railroad from the Old Colony Raih-oad 
 across South Bay for the same purpose. This was strenuously 
 resisted by the city of Roxbury, on account of the obstruction to 
 navigation, but was granted after a full hearing on the merits, and 
 the act was passed and the bridge built. (Act of 1848, chapter 
 37.) This subject, in one form or another, has been repeatedly 
 before the Legislature, or some of the committees, and no objec- 
 tion has ever been made to the project, but it has been regarded 
 as a great public improvement. And when it is remembered, 
 that the city are only filling up the flats which belong to it by a 
 perfect title ; that they are doing this, not as a private specula- 
 tion, but as great public improvement demanded by a due regard 
 to the health and prosperity of the city ; that the Legislature 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 39 
 
 have sanctioned the 'W'ork by two special acts, and that, after 
 these flats are filled. South Bay will have a larger area than be- 
 fore South Cove was filled up, your committee do not see any 
 foundation for the remarks made by the commissioners." 
 
 The Legislative Committee obtained the opinion of Mr. 
 James Hay ward, civil engineer, and a member of two of the 
 previous boards of Commissioners, which is attached to their 
 report. Mr. Hayward considers it " above all things desira- 
 ble that the main body of these (the South Boston,) flats 
 should be devoted to a system of tidal basins, wet docks, 
 warehouses, and other facilities for conducting the commerce 
 of this port, which the increasing business of this country is 
 certainly soon to demand, and for which the locality in ques- 
 tion is remarkably well adapted." He, however, differs entirely 
 from the Commissioners, in regard to the excavation of the 
 flats, and advocates the erection and maintenance of a sea- 
 wall on the east side of Fore Point Channel, — 
 
 " This entire section of the harbor, presenting a front of one 
 mile in length, is directly exposed to the southeast winds, which 
 have been the most destructive to which the harbor is ever ex- 
 posed. It would be a great boon to the owners of that property, 
 and, indirectly, to that section of the city, to have the whole line 
 of wharves — from the free bridge down to India wharf — perfectly 
 protected from all winds, — as it would be by this improvement. 
 Fore Point channel would then be a complete tidal basin, in every 
 particular as good as that of the Atlantic Dock, in the port of 
 New York, which has been recently built at a great expense. It 
 will, when built round, according to the design, have fifty per 
 cent, more water front than the Atlantic Basin, and about twenty- 
 five per cent, greater area of water surface, and all this exclusive 
 of the slips on the sides of this channel. It may be made to 
 accommodate a greater number of vessels, than the New York 
 basin, and these vessels would be as perfectly protected. The 
 area of this channel, between the free bridge and its mouth, is 
 just equal to the two great basins, — the import and export basins, 
 of the West India Docks in London. There is not a wharf on 
 that channel which would not be increased in value by carrying 
 out these improvements. On the contrary, excavating these flats, 
 as proposed by the late commissioners, will totally destroy Fore 
 Point Channel. The current in this channel would entirely cease, 
 and the water in front of all the wharves, from Hobbs' wharf to 
 
40 APPENDIX. 
 
 Long wharf, would be either a gentle eddy, or nearly a dead pool ; 
 and it would be found, that this channel and the docks, along and 
 between these wharves, would fill up faster than they ever have 
 before. 
 
 " That the excavation of these flats would be likely to cause 
 Fore Point channel to fill up, and that a sea-wall on the eastern 
 side of that channel would tend to avert that evil, even the report 
 of the late commissioners furnishes some incidental evidence. It 
 informs us, that ' some of the most intelligent and practical of 
 those who had given depositions in favor of a sea-wall on the 
 eastern side of this channel, found their opinion of its utility upon 
 the apprehension, that the great volume of Avater from South Bay 
 might cut a new channel through the flats to the main ship chan- 
 nel, and 80 leave Fore Point Channel to fill vp.^ The report 
 adds, that ' much of this testimony would be materially modified 
 by the present state of things, relative to the filling up of South 
 Bay.' This is, probably, an inference of the commissioners ; but 
 there must be some mistake, either of principle or of fact. If 
 these deponents apprehended that the refluent waters from South 
 Bay might wear a new channel across the South Boston flats, and 
 thus deprive Eore Point Channel of the scouring agency of these 
 waters, and recommended the erection of a sea-wall to force these 
 waters to pass through this channel, and thus to avert the calami- 
 ty, I should not feel quite at liberty to hifer, that these ' intelli- 
 gent and practical ' gentlemen would change their minds as to the 
 importance of a scour for this channel, because the quantity of 
 water, available for this purpose, was liable to be considerably 
 diminished. If it is to be apprehended, that the water from 
 South Bay may, in a course of years, wear a new channel through 
 the flats, and thus destroy Fore Point Channel, it is quite obvious, 
 that excavating the flats, which are the only barrier against such 
 fiction of the water, must hasten the apprehended catastrophe. 
 And I find it not easy to believe, that these intelligent witnesses 
 would doubt, that the proposed sea-wall, or some equivalent struc- 
 ture, would be the proper protection to this channel, with a small- 
 er quantity of water as well as with a larger. 
 
 " But the greatest evil likely^ and I think I may say, certain, 
 to result from the excavation of this great body of flats, — is the 
 gradual destruction of the main channel of the harbor. Serious 
 evils are likely to follow from the encroachments which have been 
 made on the east side of this channel, by bringing so far forward 
 into deep water, the East Boston wharves. Its tendency is to 
 create a change in the main channel, by wearing off on the south 
 side, just below the mouth of Fore Point Channel, and causing it 
 to shoal in front of the lower wharves in East Boston. The exca- 
 vation of the flats would, inevitably, increase this evil ; whereas, 
 the tendency of the pier which the commissioners of 1846, pro- 
 
APPENDIX. 41 
 
 posed to be erected along the margin of this channel, would be, 
 to arrest this process of deterioration, before the evil shall become 
 irremediable." 
 
 Mr. Hayward points out certain errors in the statement of 
 of the commissioners, as follows, viz., — 
 
 " It is quite manifest, that the sources of information on whicli 
 the late commissioners have relied, are, in many instances, far 
 from being authentic. They have fallen into a mistake with respect 
 to the amount of tide-water which has been excluded by filling up 
 the flats in and about the city. The report goes on to particular- 
 ize: ' Boston proper, which originally contained less than 1,000 
 acres, now contains more than 3,000 acres. This increase of 
 more than 2,000 acres, has all been made by encroachments upon 
 tide-water. In addition to this, the mill-dam cut off 700 or 800 
 acres more, — to this may be added the large quantity of land 
 made at Cambridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, and East Boston. 
 Here we have an area of several thousand acres which are forev- 
 er lost to the harbor.' This certainly looks appalling, but it is 
 mostly imagination. Boston proper, instead of containing ' more 
 than 3,000 acres ' above high-water mark, contains, at this mo- 
 ment, less than half that area. This correction reduces, very 
 essentially, the ' increase which has been made by encroachments 
 upon tide-water.' The amount cut off by the mill-dam is, I be- 
 lieve, not over-stated. But the material for the ' large quantity 
 of land,' said to be, made in Cambridge, — that made on the south 
 and west side of Charlestown, and a large amount on the west and 
 northwest, as well as on the south sides of Boston proper, and no 
 inconsiderable amount at East Boston and South Boston, has been 
 taken from the marshes and flats, between high and low water- 
 marks, in the rivers and bays above the harbor, which has 
 enlarged these estuaries to that amount, and thus, has been a 
 benefit, rather than a detriment, to the harbor channels. The 
 principal exception to this beneficial effect is, that too much of 
 this material was taken from South Bay instead of being taken 
 from the larger estuaries above the harbor." 
 
 And says in reference to the change in the current be- 
 tween Boston and East Bosion, — 
 
 " The main cause of this change in the current between Boston 
 and East Boston, particularly at ebb tide, is undoubtedly the ex- 
 tension of the wharves at East Boston. It was, without doubt, 
 a great mistake to allow the wharves on that island to project so 
 far into the main channel. It was considered, by the harbor com- 
 
42 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 missioners of 1835, to be a misfortune that the passage for the 
 tide could not be widened on that side, Avithout disturbing then 
 existing improvements ; but further encroachment has been since 
 made upon the main channel on that side. 
 
 " I have no doubt that, in the course of the next generation, 
 the commerce of Boston will be quadrupled. And it is with 
 reference to its future wants, and the desirableness, at all times, 
 — of affording the utmost facilities for doing this business, — of 
 laying upon it the fewest possible burdens,— that I am obliged to 
 differ from the commissioners as to their general views of the har- 
 bor, and the details which are mainly contemplated in their report. 
 The measures which are definitely recommended, by the commis- 
 sioners, to be pursued by the present generation, are such as will 
 not only take from the premises in question those characteristics 
 which constitute their principal value in relation to the expected 
 wants of commerce at this port, — but they will really put at haz- 
 ard the most important feature of the present harbor, — the main 
 channel between the city and Fort Independence. 
 
 " It is, without doubt, a great error to suppose that the princi- 
 pal want of commerce at this port is anchorage ground. And it 
 would be a fatal mistake to excavate those flats to a depth of 
 twelve feet below low-water mark, with the idea of benefiting com- 
 merce,— -r-to say nothing of the expense of it ; which will be for 
 the whole five hundred acres, several millions of dollars." 
 
 The eighth commission, consisting of Simon Greenleaf, 
 Joel Giles and Ezra Lincoln, Jr., Esquires, was appointed 
 under authority of resolves of the Legislature, approved May 
 3, 1850. 
 
 This commission was authorized to define upon a plan or 
 plans, such lines as they shall think expedient to establish, 
 beyond which no wharves shall be extended into and over 
 the tide waters of the Commonwealth, on the flats on the 
 easterly side of Fore Point channel, and northerly shore of 
 South Boston. 
 
 Also to examine if any alterations in the lines and chan- 
 nels of South Bay, or any part of Fore Point Channel, be 
 necessary to preseve the deptli of water, or prevent the form- 
 ation of shoals, and bars thereon. 
 
 Also to make inquiries respecting the flats in the Back Bay, 
 and report what measures can be taken for the improvement 
 
APPENDIX, 4d 
 
 of the same. As it is not supposed that any further injury to 
 the harbor of Boston can be occasioned by the improvement 
 of flats from which the tide-water is now excluded, no 
 extracts will be made from their report referring to that 
 subject. 
 
 The commissioners were also authorized to obtain the 
 advice and assistance of the attorney-general of the Com- 
 monwealth, upon any legal points or questions that might be 
 involved in the examination of the several subjects referred 
 to them. 
 
 The well known ability of the commissioners, and the 
 attention paid by them to the legal merits of the case, gives 
 weight to their opinion and entitles it to particular considera- 
 tion. The report, from which the following extracts have 
 been made, is dated March 22, 1851. 
 
 "1. The title of the Commonwealth [to the flats in question] 
 may be deduced in the first place from the right of eminent do- 
 main, which is an inherent attribute of sovereignty. It is the 
 paramount right, which every sovereign state possesses, of dispos- 
 ing of all the property within its jurisdiction, as the safety and 
 well being of the whole may require. The right of determining 
 the existence and extent of the public exigencies must rest with 
 those to whom the exercise of sovereign power is entrusted. Un- 
 der our constitution, all public property is, in the first instance, 
 entrusted by the people to the Legislature, to be administered and 
 disposed of for the good of the whole. This trust is in its nature 
 discretionary. The Legislature must of necessity be the sole 
 judge of the time, manner and circumstances, in and under which 
 the public property shall be apphed, or private property be taken, 
 for public uses. And it is not to be supposed that the public 
 functionaries will be regardless of their duty, or incapable of 
 performing it. Against hasty or unwise legislation, our constitu- 
 tion has provided no security but the veto of the executive, and 
 the interest, wisdom and justice of the legislative body, and its 
 relations with its constituents. If, in the exercise of this right 
 of eminent domain, private property is taken, or, which is the 
 same thing, its value is directly impaired, the State is bound to 
 make adequate compensation, upon principles of natural justice, 
 exphcitly recognized in the constitution. 
 
 " It is universally admitted to be the duty of every government 
 to promote the public convenience, and the interests both of agri- 
 culture, and of trade and commerce ; and consequently, to pro- 
 vide not only pubhc commons and highways, but common harbors 
 
44 APPENDIX. 
 
 and landing places for these puposes. The right of travel and 
 navigation, in the pursuit of lawful business, is the jus publicum, 
 or right of all men, subject to which, as modified and limited in 
 its exercise by the sovereign power, all real property is holden. 
 
 " The commissioners, therefore, conceive it to be clear, that this 
 Commonwealth has the right, in the exercise of its eminent do- 
 main, to define the territorial limits beyond which no riparian 
 proprietor of lands shall obstruct the free flow of navigable waters, 
 or impede the passage of any vessel or property, water-borne ; 
 and the right to take any measures, in its discretion, to protect 
 its harbors from injury, and to render them safe and commodious 
 for navigation by all the citizens. 
 
 " 2. There is, in the second place, a title in the Commonwealth, 
 to what is termed ' the soil of the sea,' that is, to the land covered 
 by tide-waters, within its territorial limits. 
 
 " This title may be deduced from general principles of national 
 law. Writers of acknowledged authority on this subject agree, 
 that ' everything, susceptible of property, belongs to the nation 
 that possesses the country, and as forming the entire mass of its 
 wealth,' and ' that when a nation takes possession of a country, 
 everything that is not divided among its members remains common 
 to the whole nation, and is called public ivealth. The nation, in 
 monarchies, is represented, in regard to its property, by 'the 
 crown,' which holds the national domains in trust ; in this country 
 the title to such property is vested in the State or people, the 
 power of disposal bemg in the legislative body. And as the land 
 covered by the sea is a thing in its nature susceptible of property, 
 this State, as soon as it became a sovereign power, became the 
 owner of all the lands within its territorial limits, which had not 
 already become the property of private persons ; including, of 
 course, the flats in question. 
 
 " 3. This title may also be deduced from the crown of Eng- 
 land, by actual conveyances. That the title to the soil of the sea 
 was vested in the crown at the time of the first settlement of this 
 country, is now too well settled to admit of question. It is so 
 laid down by that great jurist, Lord Hale, in his treatise De Jure 
 Maris, beyond which no authority need be cited ; and this doc- 
 trine has uniformly been admitted in this country, in all our 
 judicial tribunals, without dispute. 
 
 "King James I., having this title, in the year 1620, granted 
 to the Plymouth Company ' all that part of America,' between 
 the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude ; including 
 not only the ' firm lands,' but also the ' soils, grounds, havens, 
 ports, rivers and waters ' therein, and the islands on the coast. 
 In 1627, the Plj^mouth Company conveyed to Sir Henry Rose- 
 well and others, ' all that part of New England ' extending from 
 three miles northward of Merrimack river to three miles south- 
 
APPENDIX. 45 
 
 ward of the southernmost part of Massachusetts Bay ; with the 
 same particular enumeration of the soils, grounds, havens, ports, 
 islands, &c. This charter was confirmed by letters patent of 
 King Charles I., in 1628 ; and though these letters were unjustly 
 vacated by chancery in 1684, yet the chartered rights of the 
 Massachusetts Company were restored, and the Province of Mas- 
 sachusetts constituted, by a subsequent charter, granted Oct. 7, 
 1691, by William and Mary. Under this charter, the Province 
 of Massachusetts held all the teritorial rights and titles now in 
 question, down to the period of the revolution, at which time they 
 passed to the Commonwealth. This property is thus vested in the 
 State, for the general benefit of the people ; subject to be man- 
 aged, ordered and disposed of, like other pubHc property, as the 
 Legislature in its wisdom may deem most conducive to the good 
 of the whole. The commissioners are unable to find any practical 
 distinction between one kind of public property and another, so 
 far as regards the right of legislative disposal. Should the 
 Legislature be inveigled into an unwise grant to individuals, either 
 of property or of corporate franchises or powers, the grant must 
 stand upon the same footing with grants of private property or 
 easements by private persons. If the grant amounts to the 
 alienation of any attribute of sovereignty, entrusted to the legis- 
 lative body for purposes of government, it is merely void for want 
 of authority in the Legislature to make the grant. And if, being 
 within the powers entrusted to the Legislature, any grant has 
 been obtained by fraud and imposition, it may for that cause be 
 set aside in the courts of law. 
 
 " It was argued, with much ingenuity and learning, before the 
 commissioners, that the State was entitled to the soil under tide 
 water only as an incident to the waters themselves ; that these 
 were common property, or res omnium ; and that when the waters 
 receded, or were shut out, the title of the sovereign receded also, 
 and was excluded ; and hence it was inferred, that the State could 
 have no absolute title to the soil under tide waters, nor to the 
 lands from which those waters are excluded, whether by natural 
 causes, or by artificial dams and embankments, made by public 
 authority. This reasoning, though universal in its terms, was 
 especially appHed to the lands within the Receiving Basin of the 
 Boston and Roxbury Mill Dam, in Back Bay. 
 
 " In regard to lands, gained from the sea by alluvion, or imper- 
 ceptible and gradual accretion, by the natural and ordinary action 
 of the waters, it is universally admitted that they belong to the 
 riparian proprietor. It is equally clear, that the losses of soil, 
 occasioned in like manner, are to be borne by the proprietor alone. 
 He takes the chances both of loss and of gain. But this rule is 
 founded, not upon the notion of any reliction or extinguishment of 
 the title of the State, as depending on tide waters, or any act of 
 
46 APPENDIX. 
 
 the State ; but on the principle that such imperceptible accessions 
 are the natural growth of the land to which they are attached, as 
 the growth of a tree belongs to the tree ; and on the maxim of 
 right, which gives the profits and advantages of a thing to him 
 who is exposed to suffer its damages and its losses. In like man- 
 ner, and on the same principle, what is gained from the flats or 
 bank, bj similar gradual action of the waters, is gained to the 
 state owning the soil of the sea. 
 
 " But it is not easy to perceive any necessary connection between 
 the right to control tide waters, and the title to the soil over which 
 they flow ; nor any dependence of the one upon the other. The 
 tide waters are nothing more than a common highway, over which 
 the right of passage, which is common to all, is not yet restricted 
 to particular lines and limits ; and such the whole territory of the 
 State would be, if no private citizen owned any portion of it in 
 severalty. 
 
 " This universal right of passage and travel, whether on land 
 or water, is regulated and controlled by the State, in virtue of its 
 right of government, as an attribute of sovereignty, and not in 
 virtue of any proprietorship in the soil. On the upland, where 
 the State owns nothing, the land being held by private persons, 
 this right of control, in the making, altering and regulating of 
 highways, remains nevertheless in the State, in full and unim- 
 paired amplitude and vigor ; it would also remain, to the same 
 extent, in regard to the control of the tide-waters, if the State 
 owned nothing in the soil under them. Its title to this soil, as we 
 have already seen, is derived from other sources ; by virtue of 
 which it owns all the lands within its bounds, whether under water 
 or above water, which it has not granted away. Such grant, if 
 any there be, may always readily be shown, by the production or 
 other proof of the charter, resolve or deed, or by evidence of 
 ancient and exclusive possession, from which a charter or grant 
 may be presumed. 
 
 " It may be added, that the title of the State, as absolute own- 
 er of all the land covered by water, lying below low-water mark, 
 or more than one hundred rods from high-water mark, though it 
 has not been directly adjudicated upon, to the knowledge of the 
 commissioners, has been several times distinctly recognized by the 
 Supreme Judicial Court, as an unquestioned title, in reference to 
 the ground within the Receiving Easin of the Boston and Roxbury 
 Mill Corporation. (See 12 Pickering's Reports, 476 ; 23 Pick- 
 ering's Reports, 391.) 
 
 " The fallacy of the reasoning which makes the title of the 
 State to the land in question depend on its control of the tide 
 waters, is supposed to arise from not distinguishing between things 
 which are the common property of all men, without regard to 
 national character, being in their nature incapable of separate 
 
APPENDIX. 47 
 
 possession ; of wliicli the air, and light, and the high seas are 
 examples ; and those things which are capable of separate 
 possession, and are the property of the State, subject to its abso- 
 lute control for the common good ; among which are the sea near 
 its coast, the banks of the sea, and the ports and harbors within 
 its territorial limits. 
 
 " The commissioners, while they perceive no limit to the power' 
 of the Legislature to manage and dispose of these public lands, 
 as well as any other public property, except such limit as its own. 
 good judgment and discretion may prescribe, are nevertheless of 
 opinion that the preservation of our harbors is an important pub- 
 lic trust, which ought always to be kept in view in disposing of 
 the flats therein ; especially when it is considered that the interest 
 of private individuals leads to continual encroachments on the tide 
 waters, by extending their wharves and embankments. 
 
 " II. Such being the general title of the Commonwealth, the 
 next inquiry is, as to the titles of private citizens and corporations 
 to any lands within the original bounds of the harbor. 
 
 " The title of the Plymouth Company, as derived from the 
 crown of England, originally covered all the land below high- 
 water mark. But, by the Colonial Ordinance of 1641, the pro- 
 prietor of the land adjoining tide waters, became entitled to the 
 land ' to the low-water mark, where the sea doth not ebb above a 
 hundred rods, and not more wheresoever it ebbs further ; provi- 
 ded, that such proprietor shall not by this liberty have power to 
 stop or hinder the passage of boats or other vessels, in or through 
 any sea, creeks or coves, to other men's houses or lands.' This 
 ordinance is the source and foundation of all the right which ripa- 
 rian proprietors have to the flats below their respective lands. The 
 extent of the right has not been fully and completely defined by 
 any judicial decision, to the knowledge of the commissioners ; but 
 it has been adjudged, that any natural creek, in which the tide 
 ebbed and flowed, and from which it did not ebb at the times when 
 from natural causes, it ebbed the lowest, would constitute the 
 ulterior boundary of the flats. It has also been held, that by 
 force of this ordinance, the riparian proprietor has a fee in the 
 soil of the flats, to the extent therein described, as parcel of and 
 incident to his upland ; but that he holds it only Buh modo, limi- 
 ted and qualified by the proviso therein contained ; that he may 
 build a wharf or other permanent structure upon it, or he may 
 enclose it with rows of piles, so as to exclude other persons from 
 it ; but that he is restricted from making such a use of it, as would 
 impair the public right of passing over the water in boats or other 
 vessels to other men's houses or lands ; it being the intention of 
 the ordinance, to reserve a free passage over the water in such 
 places, ' to other men's houses and lands,' in the same manner as 
 it existed before the pubhc property in the shore was transferred. 
 
48 APPENDIX. 
 
 " The right of the proprietor to the use of the flats being thus 
 held, subject to the paramount public right of passage over them 
 when covered with water, the question has been raised, whether 
 it is competent for the Legislature to prescribe the method of 
 using this public right of passage, and to fix a hmit, beyond which 
 no wharf or other obstruction shall be erected to impair it, with- 
 out the payment of any damages to the owner of the flats. In 
 the solution of this question, it is to be considered, that the right 
 of way, intended to be preserved by the ordinance, is, from its 
 nature, a public, and not a private way ; it is not a way restricted 
 to the houses or lands of the adjacent or any other particular 
 class of proprietors ; but it is a way to ' other men's,' namely, all 
 other men's, estates, anywhere. Such ways it is the duty of 
 every government to provide, when requisite for the convenience 
 of its citizens ; and the legislative act by which such convenient 
 way or passage is secured, whether it be in the form of a 
 statute or a resolve, and whether general or particular, is con- 
 ceived to be merely the ordinary exercise of sovereign power, in 
 the regular course of good government. And the estabUshment 
 of the commissioners' or harbor line, so called, beyond which 
 no wharf shall be extended, is nothing else than a legislative act, 
 defining the limits and boundary, and securing the safety, of a 
 public highway for navigation, which it is perfectly competent for 
 the Legislature to do. If, then, the ordinance of 1641, with its 
 proviso, is to be expounded as a grant of the flats, subject to the 
 perpetual public easement and servitude of such right of way, the 
 act of the Legislature, in defining the limits and boundaries, and 
 securing the safety of such way, would not seem to subject the 
 Commonwealth to the payment of damages to the owner of the 
 flats ; for, in that case, nothing would be taken from him for pub- 
 lic use which he ever owned. The case may, in this view, be 
 likened to any grant of land by the State subject to the location 
 of a road over it, in such manner as the State might afterwards 
 determine ; or the grant of a township of land, subject to the 
 public use of its navigable waters. But if the ordinance, with 
 its proviso, is to be expounded as a grant of the flats upon con- 
 dition that the grantee shall not erect any obstruction thereon to 
 the free passage of boats and vessels, then the act of the Legis- 
 lature, in establishing the extreme limit of any soHd embankment, 
 or, in other words, in defining the harbor line, may be regarded 
 as an exercise of the right of eminent domain, taking private 
 property for public use ; in which case, the owner of the land 
 thus taken would be entitled to the payment, by the Common- 
 wealth, of such damages, as he may thereby have sustained. In 
 either case, the right of the Legislature to establish such line is 
 beyond question. 
 
 " Which of these is the true interpretation of the ordinance, is 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 49 
 
 a question of no inconsiderable difficulty. And as it is understood 
 to be involved in a case now under advisement in the Supreme 
 Judicial Court, the commissioners deem it proper to await its de- 
 cision by that tribunal." 
 
 In considering the lines to be established upon South Bos- 
 ton flats, they say, — 
 
 " These flats contain about five hundred and fifty acres, between 
 the high and low-water lines. About two hundred acres, fronting 
 northeasterly on the main channel, and northwesterly on Fore 
 Point Channel, are below the line of riparian proprietorship, and 
 belong to the State. The average depth of high water upon these 
 flats is about nine feet. When covered with water, they form 
 part of the roadstead of Boston harbor, and affoid harbor-room 
 and anchorage, upon their margins, for coasters and vessels of 
 light draught ; when bare, these flats are a source of unwholesome 
 nuisances, and they prevent water access to the entire northern 
 shore of South Boston, and effectually separate that important 
 section of the city from its main centres of business. The mag- 
 nitude of these inconveniences will go on increasing with the 
 population and business of the city. A wise forecast, therefore, 
 clearly requires a division and appropriation of these flats to the 
 uses of the harbor and the shore, respectively, according to their 
 present and prospective exigencies. 
 
 " The value of the whole of South Boston will be greatly en- 
 hanced by building out its nortliern shore, and excavating the 
 margins of the channels, until good wharf and dock accommoda- 
 tions are obtained, and by making a new and broad avenue, run- 
 ning from the foot of Summer street, nearly parallel with West 
 Broadway, to the vicinity of the city institutions. It is evident 
 to the commissioners, that some such improvements will certainly 
 be made, at no distant day, for they are wanted by the public. 
 The question is, how can these exigencies be satisfied without in- 
 jury to the harbor ? To answer this question, it must be ob- 
 served, that there are but two places, in the main channel of 
 the harbor, where apparently much danger is to be apprehended 
 from shoaling, or a change of currents. The first, and most im- 
 portant of these, is at the Narrows, in the lower harbor. Mat- 
 thew Hunt, a pilot of forty years' experience, stated to the 
 commissioners, that the depth of water in the Narrows has mate- 
 rially lessened within the period of his observation ; and, if the 
 changes now taking place there shall go on as fast for twenty 
 years more, that channel will be destroyed for large vessels ; that 
 the spit on the easterly end of Gallop's Island is making out into 
 the channel, and already turns much of the flood tide from the 
 Narrows, through a side channel, into Nantasket Roads, in a di- 
 
50 APPENDIX. 
 
 rection south of Long Island, and around into Hingham harbor. 
 He further stated, that the channel through the Narrows, -which 
 is the only ship channel for large vessels, at all times safe and 
 practicable, into and out of the harbor, is not much over six hun- 
 dred feet wide, from ten feet soundings on one margin to ten feet 
 soundings on the other ; and at mean low water, the least depth 
 is twenty five or six feet. Upon the preservation of this narrow 
 channel, thereiore, depends the safety and value of Boston har- 
 bor, and the millions of local property in its vicinity. But, in 
 the opinion of the commissioners, these unfavorable changes which 
 are going on in the Narrows, are owing to local causes, which are 
 mainly the extension and enlargement of the spits on the east end 
 of Gallop's Island, the southwest side of Lovell's Island, and the 
 west end of the Great Brewster. The present and ultimate ef- 
 fects of these increasing spits upon the Narrows deserve the 
 immediate and serious attention of the Legislature and of Con- 
 gress ; and prompt measures should be adopted by Congress and 
 by the State, to prevent the further washing away of the islands 
 in the lower harbor. This must be done, in a great measure, by 
 walling them around on the seaward side, and by placing heavy 
 stone baUast upon their beaches ; and such material portions of 
 the islands as cannot certainly be preserved while remaining pri- 
 vate property, should at once be purchased by the State, or by 
 the United States, for the purpose of being secured against furth- 
 er destruction. 
 
 " As, however, the Narrows are far down the lower harbor, and 
 nearly five miles from the South Boston flats, the commissioners, 
 after maturely weighing all the considerations pertinent to the 
 case, cannot perceive any reasonable probability that the estab- 
 lishment of the harbor lines, hereinafter described and recom- 
 mended, will produce any injurious effects upon that critical part 
 of the main ship channel. 
 
 " The other important point in the harbor channel, to which 
 the attention of the commissioners has been specially directed, is 
 called the Upper Middle, which is a shoal of sticky Mud in the 
 main channel, lying off the lower end of the South Boston flats, 
 and about equidistant from Castle Island on the southeast, and 
 Governor's Island on the northeast, and just below where the 
 Glades Channel, which is the deepest, though narrow and crooked, 
 branches off to the north of Governor's Island. This shoal seems 
 to be of the nature of a bar, formed by the flood tide in coming 
 u]! between the two islands above-named ; and the Lower Middle 
 may have been formed in a similar manner, by the ebb tide pass- 
 ing down between the same islands. 
 
 " A comparison of charts and soundings, of successive dates, 
 does not indicate so much recent shoaling upon the Upper Middle, 
 as the testimony of living witnesses tends to prove. It was 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 51 
 
 stated to the commissioners, by persons wlio have L;>ng observed 
 the changes taking place in the harbor, that the water has shoaled, 
 upon the Upper Middle, more than three feet within the last 
 twenty years. It is now eighteen feet deep there, at' mean low 
 water. But whether the water has shoaled there within that 
 period, or whether ships are now built of a larger draught than 
 formerly, it is but too evident that large vessels frequently touch 
 in passing the Upper Middle, and not unfrequently they are 
 obliged to wait for a half or a full tide, before attempting to pass 
 at all. It becomes, therefore, quite material to determine what 
 effect the filling up of any considerable portion of the South Bos- 
 ton flats will have upon this part of the channel. 
 
 " Nothing is more difScult than to foresee, with certainty, the 
 ultimate result of any specific alterations in irregular channels, 
 like those of Boston harbor, for the reason that the proximate 
 effects of such alterations become, in turn, themselves the causes 
 of other effects, and so on to infinity, giving rise to a series of 
 casual relations which no scientific formula can grasp and re- 
 solve." 
 
 Ill reference to the lines in South Bay, the Commissioners 
 say,— 
 
 " The existing harbor line on the east side of the bay, above 
 the South Boston old bridge, runs parallel with Dorchester turn- 
 pike, and touches the margin of the deep channel at two points. 
 It was strongly urged upon the commissioners, to recommend an 
 alteration in this hne, by advancing it further into the bay, and 
 without regard to the only existing deep channel ; requiring, how- 
 ever, that a new channel should be excavated by the ri[/arian 
 owners, before they should fill up the old one ; but, after having 
 carefully considered the proposed alteration, in all its bearings 
 upon the public rights, and the interests of navigation, the com- 
 missioners are decidedly and unanimously of the opinion that it is 
 inexpedient and unnecessary. The reasons in favor of it are pri- 
 vate and inconsiderable, while those against it are public and 
 weighty. South Bay is quite enough contracted by the harbor 
 lines as now established. 
 
 " No harbor lines have yet been drawn or established around 
 the southern or upper end of the bay ; and the commissioners, 
 though not authorized to draw such lines, cannot omit this oppor- 
 tunity of expressing their opinion of the great importance of 
 immediately extending the harbor line entirely around this bay ; 
 and, in completing the harbor line around the bay, the largest 
 tidal area which the State is entitled to retain, or is willing to 
 pay for retaining, should be secured ; for upon this scouring barfia 
 
5*3 APPENDIX. 
 
 depends entirely the security and value of Fore Point Channel, 
 with its long line of wharves and docks on either side, down to 
 the main channel of the harbor. 
 
 " The flats in Boston harbor, including its bays and rivers, in 
 which the Commonwealth has a valuable interest, are quite exten- 
 sive ; and the disposition which shall be made of them, whether 
 by keeping them open or filling them up, is a matter of the great- 
 est consequence to the conservation of the harbor, and the inter- 
 ests of navigation ; and it may therefore be thought expedient, 
 by the Legislature, to vest the disposition and administration of 
 the public rights in these flats, in some permanent board of trus- 
 tees or commissioners, who can devise and see to the faithful 
 execution of some general, safe and beneficial plan for the best* 
 improvement of these flats, within the limitations and lines which 
 may be established by the Legislature, charging all the expenses 
 of such board upon the proceeds of the flats, which should be so 
 improved, or disposed of, as to remunerate the State for all past 
 or future expenses in regard to the preservation and improvement 
 of Boston harbor. And the commissioners, guided by the expe- 
 rience of other governments upon similar subjects, propose to 
 report a project or bill, " for carrying out the purposes above indi- 
 cated ; and for the full and final execution of their commission, 
 further time is respectfully requested." 
 
 By the Act of 1851, chapter 254, the line of the harbor 
 between Battery and Gray's wharves was more accurately 
 deflined. 
 
 Further time was given to the Commissioners by the 
 resolve of 1851, chapter 8U, for the "full and final execution 
 of their commission." On the twenty-fourth of May, 1851, 
 Governor Boutwell vetoed " an Act to authorize the Boston 
 Wharf Company to complete and maintain their wharf." 
 The concluding sentence of the veto message leads to the 
 inference that the Governor was influenced more by the views 
 of the Board of Commissioners, of which he had been a 
 member, than by an investigation of the subject at that 
 time. It is as follows, viz. : 
 
 " I need not say that these objections have been prepared 
 without proper opportunities for examination, and may 
 contain errors of fact in regard to certain points which I have 
 presented ; but these errors, if shown to exist, will not 
 
APPENDIX. 53 
 
 diminish my confidence in the justice of the conckision to 
 which I have arrived." 
 
 Under the same date, "an Act to establish the Eastern 
 Avenue Corporation," was returned to the Senate by the 
 Governor, with a brief statement of objections, conckiding 
 thus : 
 
 " It is Kkely that another avenue to South Boston may, at 
 some future time, be constructed ; but it should have regard 
 to the rights of individuals, the rights of the Commonwealth, 
 and, above all, to the safety of the harbor. The bill to 
 which I have made these objections, appears to me to be 
 essentially defective in all these particulars." 
 
 The final report of the Commissioners is dated March 11, 
 1852 ; a large part of it is devoted to an examination of the 
 rights and interests of the Commonwealth, in the flats in 
 Back Bay, and to a consideration of the plans for the im- 
 provement of the same. 
 
 They also recommend the establishment of a State Com- 
 mission upon Boston Harbor, and its tributary waters. 
 
 A part of the duties proposed for the said Board of perma- 
 nent Commissioners, is " to watch the effect upon the harbor, 
 of any and all improvements and alterations upon the shore, 
 and within the harbor lines, and of the action of storms upon 
 the islands and channels in the bay, and report the same to 
 the Legislature, for their action, or application to Congress in 
 reference thereto." 
 
 In reference to the line of riparian ownership, they 
 say,— 
 
 " Some decisions founded on this ordinance seem, on first exam- 
 ination, to establish the principle, that this propriety in flats 
 belonging to the land adjoining, though it be but a liberty to ex- 
 clude trespassers, qualified in favor of sea travel, authorizes the 
 riparian proprietors to take exclusive possession of such flats, and 
 forever exclude the sea therefrom, to the extent of low-water 
 mark, when from natural causes it ebbs the lowest, or one hun- 
 dred rods from the marsh banks, in all the ^ creeks, coves and 
 other places about and upon salt Avater, where the sea ebbs and 
 flows, in Boston harbor and its tributary waters. If such be the 
 settled construction of the ordinance, then it is in the power of 
 
54 APPENDIX. 
 
 riparian owners, by cutting off and filling up the heads, channels 
 and tidal-wajs of such creeks, coves, and other places, to com- 
 plete, what they have already begun, a serious and irreparable 
 injury to the harbor, and the state and national interests connect- 
 ed therewith. 
 
 " It is, however, the opinion of the commissioners, that in all 
 such places, at full sea, there is a public right of way for water 
 passage, even up to the marsh bank, or high water mark ; and 
 that the State has the right to insist, for the safety of the harbor, 
 that the tide shall not be excluded from its natural and ancient 
 channels, and that this right of water-way shall not be impaired 
 by riparian owners, without leave first being obtained in legislative 
 form. 
 
 " In the opinion of the commissioners, it is of the utmost im- 
 portance to the safety and conservation of Boston harbor, that its 
 tidal basins and ways in all the creeks, coves and rivers, above a 
 sectional line, running from Fort Hill to East Boston, should be 
 preserved to the utmost possible extent. If any filling up shall 
 be allowed, an equivalent excavation higher up should be required. 
 No language is strong enough to express the importance of this 
 matter to the interest of the State in the harbor ; and it would 
 be wise for the Legislature to pass an act without delay, prohibit- 
 ino" the diminution of any of the upper tidal basins and ways of 
 Boston harbor, and providing for the payment of such damages as 
 may be just, if any, for taking private property for public uses. 
 And no encroachments whatever upon the tide waters of any part 
 of the harbor, should hereafter be allowed to be made, without 
 notice thereof first being given to the State, or its commissioners, 
 and permission duly obtained therefor. 
 
 " The storms are wearing away the headlands and islands, ^ind 
 shoaling the channels in the lower harbor; and the indiscriminate 
 and planless pushing out of shore improvements, is deranging the 
 currents, and filling up the channels and tidal basins of the upper 
 harbor. Hence the natural compensation of causes afiecting the 
 conservation of the whole harbor, has become disturbed. The 
 true policy, therefore, in regard to Boston harbor, is a conserva- 
 tive one, to keep it as near as may be, in its structural relations, 
 as nature made it ; and it ought never to be subjected to experi- 
 mental treatment, with a view to make it an artificial harbor, by 
 essentially changing its roadstead, or the form and direction of 
 any of its natural channels. 
 
 " All of our existing laws in aid of the harbor, regard and pro- 
 tect it as consisting of two principal elements, to wit : roadsteads 
 and channels : and, in the opinion of the commissioners, neither 
 of these essential characteristics should ever be sacrificed, or put 
 in jeopardy, by any land or wharf enterprises upon its shores, to 
 extend beyond the harbor lines already established or recommend- 
 
APPENDIX. 55 
 
 ed ; and these lines, which have been drawn and fixed at so large 
 an expense to the State, ought never to be disturbed by special 
 legislation or otherwise, for anj purpose except a manifest improve- 
 ment of the harbor." 
 
 An act for the extension of the Boston Wharf was again 
 returned to the Senate by Governor Boutwell, together with 
 his objections thereto. By a vote of two-thirds of the Sen- 
 ate, the bill was passed "notwithstanding the said objec- 
 tions," 29th April, 1852. 
 
 An act to incorporate the Eastern Avenue Corporation, 1852, 
 chap, 142, was approved by the Governor, April 24th. 
 
 The foregoing extracts have been made with care for the 
 purpose of showing, as clearly as possible, the views of the 
 several Boards of Commissioners upon all points of general 
 interest in connection with the harbor.* 
 
 *It has been, for sorrve years, the custom of the General Court to print all documents of 
 importaRce that come before them. Subjoined is a list of all the printed documents to be 
 found referring to this subject, — 
 
 PRINTED DOCUMENTS OF THE SENATE. 
 
 1836. No. 3". Bill to regulate anchorage of vessels in Boston Harbor. 
 " 65. Bill to incorporate the Boston Wharf Company. 
 
 Report of Survey of Boston Harbor. See House Doct. No. 63. 
 Bill to establish regulations concerning Boston Harbor. 
 Report of Committee to Survey certain parts of Boston Harbor. 
 Bill concerning Boston Harbor. 
 
 1846. " 8. Communication from Secretary of War respecting transfer of jurisdiction 
 
 over certain islands, and act ceding over Governor and Lovell's. 
 " 59. Resolve in relation to Flats 
 " 30. Report and Bill to confirm an act authorizing the Boston Wharf Company to 
 
 extend their wharves 
 
 1847. " 4. Message from the Governor, with documents relating to the condition of the 
 
 islands in Boston Harbor. 
 
 " 25. Report of Committee on Flats. 
 
 " 58, 78. Bills to establish regulations for the Harbor of Boston. 
 
 " 63. Report and resolves relating to Survey of the Harbor. 
 
 " 87. Report and Bill concerning lines in the same. 
 
 " 97. Amendment to above bill. 
 
 1848. " 117 Report and Resolve respecting Flats. 
 
 " 134. Re[ifirt and Resolve respecting encroachments in the Harbor. 
 
 " 140. Hill additional lo establisii regulations concerning Boston Harbor. 
 
 1849. " 50. Bill ceding to the United States jurisdiction over Great Brewster, &;c. 
 " 53. Report of Committee on Survey of Chelsea Creek. 
 
 " 54. Preliminary Report of Committee on Plats. 
 
 " 119 Report on above report, and Resolve relating to tiats in the Harbor. 
 
 1850. " 3. Report of I ommissioners on Flats in Harbor. 
 " U9. Report on above report. 
 
 " 53 Memorial of Koxbury respecting Flats. 
 
 " 115. Resolve additional authorizing survey of Back Bay. 
 
 " 101. Bill authorizing extension of wharves in Boston Harbor. 
 
 1851. " 12 i. Report and Resolve giving further time to Commissioners to make final report. 
 
 1852. " 44. Hill concerning the Boston Wharf Company. 
 " 121. Veto ilessage on above. 
 
 " 45. Report of Conmiissioners on Boston Harbor and Back Bay. 
 " 133. Resolves concerning " " " 
 
 1837. 
 
 « 47. 
 
 1839. 
 
 « 30. 
 
 1840. 
 
 " 8. 
 
 
 « 37. 
 
56 APPENDIX. 
 
 DECISION OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT. 
 
 The most important of the cases arising under the acts 
 fixmg the harbor lines, mentioned in a previous part of this 
 appendix as pending before the Supreme Judicial Court, has 
 since been in effect decided. Pursuant to an order of the 
 Senate, the Clerk of that Board procured a copy of the opin- 
 ion of the court in that case and caused it to be printed. It 
 is to be found in Senate documents, 1853, No. 1U9, from 
 which the abstract given below has been made. No final 
 judgment has been given in the case, but the main principles 
 on which it rests are stated very ably and elaborately by the 
 court. The other cases remain under advisement. They 
 are all to a great extent within the principle of the case of 
 the Commojiwealth vs. Alger, though they differ from it in 
 some details of importance to the parties in interest. 
 
 SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT. 
 
 Suffolk County, March Term, 1853. 
 
 Commonwealth vs. Alger. 
 
 Mr. Chief Justice Shaw delivered the opinion of the 
 Court. 
 
 After remarking upon the great importance of the case, as 
 affecting the relative rights of the public and of individual 
 proprietors in the soil lying on tide water between high and 
 
 printed documents of the house of representatives. 
 
 Report and Bill to preserve the Harbor of Boston. See Senate Doc. 47. 
 
 Resolves relating to Boston Harbor. 
 
 Bill to authorize Boston Wharf Company to extend their wharf. 
 
 JMeinorial of VVilliiim Appleton and others relating to flats in harbor of 
 
 Boston. 
 Statement of Boston Wharf Company relating to the e.xtension of their 
 
 wharves. 
 Bill to cede to the U.S. jurisdiction of Minot's Rock in Boston Harbor or Bay. 
 An Act to establish Refjulations concerning Harbor of Roston. 
 Act to authorize Boston Wharf Company to extend their wharf. 
 Resolve relating to flats in Harbor of Boston. 
 Communication from Colonel Thayer, U. S. Engineers, asking cession of 
 
 Juiisdiction of part of Great Brewster Island. 
 " 16G. An Act to preserve that part ol Boston Harbor called (>helsea Ci'eeb, and to 
 
 prevent encroachments therein. 
 
 1850. " 74. Report on Extension of Wharves at East Boston, stating that prnprietnrs 
 
 of wharves and flats in l-^ast Boston have been authorized to extend 
 their wharves t ' the Commissioner's line e^Jtablished by the act entitled 
 "An Act concerning the Harbor of Boston," passed 17th March, 1840. 
 
 " 141. An Act in addition to an Act to preserve the Harbor of Boston, and to 
 prevent encroachments therein. 
 
 " 95. Report of (/'omniittee on Mercantile Aflfairs and Insurance, on petition 
 of Boston Wharf Company. 
 
 1851. " 106. Report of Commissioners on Boston Harbor and Back Bay. 
 
 1837. 
 
 No. 63. 
 
 18^9. 
 
 " 6"). 
 
 1845. 
 
 « 57. 
 
 1846. 
 
 " 58. 
 
 
 " 73. 
 
 1847. 
 
 " 98. 
 
 
 « 157. 
 
 
 " 140. 
 
 1848. 
 
 " 215. 
 
 1849. 
 
 " 59. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 57 
 
 low water mark, and stating that the defendant had been 
 indicted at the June term of the Municipal Court in 1849, for 
 having erected a wharf beyond the Commissioners' line, so 
 called, in Boston Harbor, in violation of the Statute, 1847, 
 chapter 278, the learned Chief Justice proceeded to say that 
 the case came up, on the report of the judge of that court 
 who tried it, and that the uncontested facts were these, viz. : 
 The defendant was and had been for more than thirty years 
 the owner of a tract of land, consisting of upland and flats, on 
 or near Fourth Street, in South Boston, bounded on an arm 
 of the sea between South Boston and Boston proper. In 
 1843 he commenced building a wharf on his said flats, but did 
 not complete it till after the Commissioners' line of 1847 had 
 been established, after which time he built a certain triangu- 
 lar piece of the wharf, which constituted the offence charged 
 in the indictment. This triangular piece was beyond the 
 said Commissioners' line, but on the defendant's own flats, 
 not a hundred rods from the upland, nor below low water 
 mark, and it did no injury to navigation. 
 
 The first question then was, what were the right of own- 
 ers of land bounding on salt water to the flats over which 
 the sea ordinarily ebbs and flows, under the law of Massachu- 
 setts ? 
 
 In disposing of this question, the rights of owners of flats 
 were deduced primarily from the common law of England 
 and the charters of the colony of Massachusetts, and next 
 from the ordinance of the Colony, passed, probably, in 1647, 
 but commonly termed the ordinance of 1641, relating to the 
 subject. This ordinance, in the opinion of the court, 
 changed the antecedent law which limited the right of pri- 
 vate proprietors to ordinary high water mark, and, subsequent- 
 ly to its passage, the grantees of lands bounding on sah 
 water took an estate in fee in the land between high and \uw 
 watermark, subject to the restriction expressed in the proviso 
 of that ordinance, and to such other limitations of absolute 
 dominion as other real estate is subject to, for the benefit and 
 security of other proprietors and of the public, among which 
 limitations were these ; — that until such lands were enclosed 
 
 H 
 
58 APPENDIX. 
 
 and while they were covered with salt water, all persons had 
 the right to use them for the ordinary purposes of naviga- 
 tion, and that such lands should not be enclosed or built upon 
 so as to impede the public right of way for boats or vessels. 
 
 Assuming then that the defendant was the owner in fee of 
 the soil upon which the wharf was built, it remained to 
 inquire whether it was competent for the legislature to pass 
 the acts establishing the lines of the harbor and what was 
 the legal effect of those acts. 
 
 It was now clear that the Commonwealth held all the 
 powfsr that existed anywhere, to regulate and dispose of the 
 sea shores and tide waters within its limits and all lands 
 under them, and all public rights connected with them, but 
 this power, however derived, was held in trust for the best 
 interests of the public, and the question was whether the 
 acts under consideration were within the just and legitimate 
 exercise of that power. The object of those acts was to 
 prevent injurious obstructions of the harbor of Boston and 
 to secure the public right of navigation, an object, of course, 
 of deep interest to the public. The principle was well set- 
 tled that every holder of property in the Commonv/ealth held 
 it subject to such general regulations as were necessary for 
 the public welfare, and the legislature had the power to sub- 
 ject rights of property, like all other social and conventional 
 rights, to such reasonable restraints and limitations as the 
 common good required. This power was very different from 
 the right of eminent domain which authorized the taking of 
 private property for public use, upon condition of making 
 reasonable compensation therefor. It was rather the police 
 power — the constitutional power of the legislature to make 
 all manner of wholesome laws for the general good. 
 
 It was much easier to perceive the existence of this power 
 than to mark its boundaries. It was exercised without ques- 
 tion in the enactment of laws prohibiting the storage of 
 gunpowder, the erection of large wooden buildings, the exer- 
 cise of noxious trades, or the raising of dams, in particular 
 localities. In cases of this description, though the prohibi- 
 tion might diminish the profits of the owners of the land 
 
APPENDIX. 59 
 
 affected thereby, it did not entitle those owners to compensa- 
 tion. It was not an appropriation of their property to a pub- 
 lic use, but the restraint of an injurious private use of it by 
 them, and therefore not within the principle of property taken 
 under the right of eminent domain. 
 
 This distinction, the court thought, Avas manifest in prin- 
 ciple, though the facts and circumstances of different cases 
 were so various, that it was often difficult to decide whether 
 a particular exercise of legislation were properly attributable 
 to the one or the other of these two acknowledged powers. 
 In this connection was cited the case of the Commonivealth 
 V. Tewkshury, 11 Metcalfs Reports, 56, wherein it was held 
 that the Stat. 1845, eh. 117, which imposed a penalty on 
 any person who should remove stones, gravel or sand from 
 certain portions of the beaches of Chelsea, being passed for 
 the protection of the harbor of Boston, extended as well to 
 the owners of the soil as to strangers ; and that this was not 
 such a taking of private property for public use as to render 
 the statute unconstitutional, though it provided no compen- 
 sation to the owners of the land affected by it.* 
 
 Some weight was also attached by the court to the consid- 
 eration that the colonial ordinance which extended the rights 
 of riparian owners to low water mark was not absolute but 
 qualified with the reservation affecting the right of naviga- 
 tion. It was to be presumed that our ancestors, in enacting 
 that ordinance, had in view the rules of the common law, and 
 the practice under them, and that they well understood that 
 all real estate granted by a government to individuals was 
 subject, by reasonable implication, to such restraints in its use 
 as should make its enjoyment by the grantee consistent with 
 the equal enjoyment by others of their several and common 
 rights. When, therefore, in conferring the general right, they 
 reserved some right to individuals and the public of passing 
 with vessels, but without defining that right, it seemed rea- 
 sonable and just to construe such reservation more liberal- 
 
 *By the Stat. 1846, cli. 206, the statute above named was repealed as to part 
 of the beaches owned by Mr. Tewksbury, and $,500 were ordered to be paid to 
 him from the treasury " as an indemnity for the loss suffered by him under the 
 operation of said Act, by reason of being unnecessarily debarred from the use of 
 his laadj for the purpose, as was intended, of securing the harbor of Boston " 
 
60 APPENDIX. 
 
 \y in favor of the right reserved than it otherwise would be 
 construed. And it appeared to the court that the legislative 
 power of restraining the injurious use of real estate applied 
 for various reasons more directly to land separating the up- 
 land from the sea, than it did to inland property ordinarily 
 used for agricultural purposes. For reasons before given 
 therefore, the court held that the legislature had the right, in 
 the exercise of the police power before-mentioned, as distin- 
 guished from the right of evnijient domain, to pass general 
 laws equally affecting all riparian proprietors on the same 
 line of shore, reasonably restraining their use of their prop- 
 erty, and sanctioned by suitable penalties. Wherever there 
 was a general right on the part of the public and a general 
 duty on the part of individuals to respect such right it 
 was competent for the legislature to prescribe a precise rule 
 for declaring and securing it, and the exercise of that power 
 was in most cases where it has occurred, of very great utility. 
 Such cases, for example, were found in the laws regulating 
 the construction and repair of highways and bridges. The 
 court referred, by way of illustration, to several cases estab- 
 lishing the right of the public to have innavigable rivers 
 kept open for the passage of fish to their head waters, and 
 particularly to the case of Stoiighton v. Baker, 4 Mass. Re- 
 ports, 528, in which it was held that the legislature had the 
 right, in 1835, to require fish ways to be made through a dam 
 across the Neponset River, which had been erected in 1633, 
 in pursuance of a grant from the colonial government, which 
 grant contained no reservation providing for the passage of 
 fish. The court referred also, in the same connection, to the 
 provincial act of 15 Geo. II., passed in 1741, by which it 
 was provided that fish ways should be constructed, at the 
 expense of the owners, through all dams erected across 
 streams through which certain kinds of fi^h usually passed, 
 and that the owner of any dam built before 1709 should be 
 reimbursed the first cost of such fishways, but should after- 
 wards maintain them at his own expense. This act was 
 declared to be still in force, in the case of the Commonwealth 
 vs. Chapin, 5 Pick. Reps. 199. And the court considered 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 61 
 
 that the only ground on which laws of that description could 
 have been made and adjudged valid was, that the right of 
 soil in rivers not navigable was held subject to a public right 
 which iiiight be declared and defined by legislative enact- 
 ments. In reference to the case before them, the court con- 
 cluded that it was competent for the legislature to make a 
 law defining the harbor lines, and that it was for the legisla- 
 ture, under a high sense of their duty and responsibility, to 
 make such reasonable regulations as in their judgment were 
 necessary to protect public and private rights. If any por- 
 tion of the wharf in question had been erected beyond the 
 Commissioners' line before the passage of the act of 1847, 
 then, to such portion that act did not apply. The laws on 
 this subject were all simply prospective in their operation. If 
 indeed, before their passage, any one had so built into navig- 
 able water as to cause a nuisance, he might be liable to 
 indictment and punishment, but not under those laws. And 
 any person, who had built on his own soil, before those laws 
 were enacted, in a manner not amounting to a public nuisance 
 at the time of the erection, had only exercised his lawful right; 
 and any law to punish acts lawful at the time they were done 
 would be ex post facto and contrary to the constitution and 
 to the plainest principles of justice, and of course void. 
 
 In regard to the fact that the wharf built by the defend- 
 ant did not obstruct navigation, that circumstance afforded 
 no defence. It had been held by the court that the law was 
 valid, and the only question was whether the structure was 
 within or beyond the prohibited limit. 
 
 The Chief Justice concluded as follows, viz. : 
 " On the whole, the court are of opinion that the act fix- 
 ing a line within the harbor of Boston beyond which no 
 riparian proprietor should erect a wharf or other permanent 
 structure, although to some extent it prohibited him from 
 building such structure on flats of which he owned the fee, 
 was a constitutional law, and one which it was competent 
 for the legislature to make, that it was binding on the de- 
 fendant, and rendered him obnoxious to its penalties if he 
 violated its provisions." 
 
62 APPENDIX. 
 
 EEMARKS OF LIEUT. C. H. DAVIS. 
 
 The following extract from a paper among the ?*Iemoirs of 
 the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, written by 
 Lieut. Charles H, Davis, of the U. S. Navy, deserves consid- 
 eration, Mr. Davis having been employed to execute the hydro- 
 graphical portion of the survey of Boston Harbor, in connec- 
 tion with the United States Coast Survey, and having been led 
 by his acquaintance with and interest in the subject, as a na- 
 tive of Boston, to make a particular examination of the harbor, 
 " for the purpose of ascertaining what alterations have taken 
 place since the survey of Commodore Wadsworth, in 1817." 
 He thus closes a series of very interesting scientific re- 
 marks, — 
 
 " To do justice to our admirable harbor, unsurpassed in its con- 
 venience, security and ample dimensions, as it is rarely equalled 
 in its beauty, it may be well to compare it with a few of the prin- 
 cipal maritime ports of the world, 
 
 " At New York (to begin at home) there are twenty or twen- 
 ty-one feet of water on the bar, and the mean rise and fall of 
 tides is five feet ; the depth at the entrance of the inner harbor 
 of Boston is eighteen feet, and the mean rise and fall of the tides 
 ten feet ; making the average depth in the two places about the 
 same. Boston, however, enjoys this double superiority, — that, 
 while at New York the bar is at the outer entrance, and ships 
 must keep the sea until they are able to pass it, at Boston the bar 
 is at the entrance of the inner basin, vessels are landlocked when 
 they reach it, and, if compelled to wait for the tide, can lie in 
 safety ; and Boston, moreover, has several excellent roadsteads, 
 in which New York is comparatively deficient. 
 
 " At the entrance of the estuary of the Mersey, there are only 
 eleven feet of water at low spring tides ; but the rise of tide 
 varies from twenty-one to thirty-one feet. The construction of a 
 new harbor of refuge, at great cost, in this vicinity, is one of the 
 splendid enterprises in which the British are now engaged. The 
 harbors of Dublin are artificial ; a bar prevents the entrance of 
 large vessels into the river, and the navigation of the bay is very 
 dangerous in stormy weather. The channel of the river Clyde 
 above Greenwich is only three hundred feet wide, and at Glas- 
 gow there is now, after all the remarkably successful improve- 
 ments made in the navigation of the river, only nine feet of water 
 at low neap tides. 
 
APPENDIX. 63 
 
 " Hamburg, tlie greatest commercial city of Germany, perhaps 
 of the Continent, can only be approached with safety at all times 
 by vessels drawing fourteen feet of water, though vessels drawing 
 eighteen feet can come up with the spring tides. Marseilles, the 
 great emporium of the South of France, the centre of nine-tenths 
 of the commerce of France with the countries bordering on the 
 Mediterranean, has for its port a basin three thousand feet long, 
 and quite narrow, having only sixteen or eighteen feet of water 
 at its entrance, with no perceptible tide, and kept open only by 
 the incessant use of dredging-machines. The port of Havre is 
 kept clear by artificial means. 
 
 " But the best idea of the capacity of Boston Harbor, and of 
 the most suitable mode of improving its conveniences for com- 
 merce, is obtained by comparing it with London in some particu- 
 lars ; and this comparison is suggested by the report of the com- 
 missioners of January, 1850. It is recommended in this report 
 to excavate upon the flats wet docks, in imitation of London and 
 Liverpool, and a plan is submitted in which the place of these 
 docks is drawn, above low-water mark. This recommendation is 
 founded upon a total misconception of the nature of the case, and 
 ignorance of the actual condition of Boston Harbor. Wet docks 
 have been constructed in London at an enormous cost, because 
 they were absolutely indispensable. As the commerce enlarged, 
 the ships that entered the river would have blocked it up, and 
 intercepted all passage, had they not been drawn out on one side 
 or the other. The maintenance of the commercial prosperity of 
 the city depended on having some auxiliary space into which to 
 take vessels that must unavoidably he still a long time, while 
 discharging, loading, repairing, &c. The natural room was too 
 limited ; artificial room was to be created. In the case of Liver- 
 pool, docks are required, whatever may be their ■ expense, if a 
 great trade is to be sustained, in consequence of the want of good 
 anchoring-ground in the Mersey, and because it would not under 
 any circumstances be either safe or commodious for vessels to load 
 and discharge cargoes by the side of a pier, or by means of light- 
 ers, where the rise and fall of the tide is thirty feet. The cases, 
 therefore, of Boston and London, or Liverpool, are essentially 
 different. 
 
 " Neither is it correct to speak of the Atlantic Dock at New 
 York as belonging to the same system as the Enghsh docks. The 
 Atlantic Dock is formed by the enclosure of a natural water area, 
 deepened and improved undoubtedly. It is hardly worth while to 
 say, that this is a very distinct thing from the construction of one 
 of the London docks, occupying ground on which formerly stood a 
 populous parish, with its dwellings and churches. 
 
 " But while the London docks do not furnish us an example for 
 imitation, we may copy with advantage the plan of the Atlantic 
 
64 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dock. The water area of the London docks is about one hundred 
 and eighty eight acres. Now the whole amount of the water 
 area of the Fore Point Channel, including the space between the 
 wharves, added to that of the two Mystic Channels, is about the 
 same as the water area of the London docks. So far, then, from 
 being called upon to excavate wet docks on the South Boston 
 Flats at an incalculable cost, we have merely to inclose these chan- 
 nels suitably, and maintain them in a good state, to have at once 
 a protected water area equal to that of the London docks, but 
 having this remarkable superiority ; that by far the greater por- 
 tion of it is provided with natural reservoirs of back-water, which, 
 if properly treated, will serve always to keep it open. And to all 
 this is still to be added Chelsea Great Creek, the water area of 
 which is in itself equal in amount to that of the London docks, 
 and which, though it has no rear receptacle, possesses in its natu- 
 ral state every advantage of security that art could bestow. 
 
 " It is painful to see opinions so erroneous, upon a subject of 
 such vast importance as the preservation of Boston Harbor and 
 the improvement of its commercial accommodations, ofl&cially and 
 formally laid before the Legislature of the State. 
 
 " If the Fore Point Channel were appropriately walled in, 
 (there being already sufficient wharf-room, and if the proper 
 accessories were provided, there is no reason why it should not, 
 considering its convenience and proximity, take the place in Bos- 
 ton Harbor of the Atlantic Dock in New York. At present it 
 exhibits a melancholy spectacle of resources wasted and opportu- 
 nities unimproved. 
 
 " Regret is sometimes expressed that so large a quantity of the 
 tidal marshes and mudlands should have been filled during the 
 present century. But this operation was the necessary concomi- 
 tant of the growth of the city, and indeed the very mode of its 
 prosperity and increase. The statesmen and political economists 
 of the day would not have hesitated to sanction and encourage 
 the schemes of aggrandizement of enterprising and sagacious pro- 
 jectors, even if they had foreseen that one of their results would 
 be the loss of water capacity in the main channels of the harbor. 
 Their part was to lay the foundations of our commercial greatness ; 
 one of the duties devolved upon us, is to preserve and improve the 
 instruments of commerce ; and with prudent measures we shall 
 always have it in our power to secure to Boston Harbor its pres- 
 ent reputation of being one of the safest and most commodious in 
 the world." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 65 
 
 COMMUNICATION OF JAMES HAYWARD, ESQ,. 
 
 Boston, April 18th, 1853. 
 E. H. Eldredge, Esq., — 
 
 Dear Sir : — I have received your note of Saturday, re- 
 questing from me " a statement showing that the attention of 
 eminent engineers and of scientific societies in Europe, has, 
 for some years been directed to the subject of tidal harbors 
 and their preservation ; " and, also, that I would give you 
 my " views upon the peculiar wants of our own harbor, and 
 the effect of recently proposed harbor lines." 
 
 As to the first of these inquiries, it may be sufficient to 
 say that the subject of the preservation and improvement of 
 harbors has engaged the attention of engineers and govern- 
 ments in Europe, more or less, for many centuries back. 
 For a century back, we have, in considerable detail, the his- 
 tory of tidal rivers and harbors in Great Britain. For that pe- 
 riod, these rivers and harbors have been professionally treated, 
 and the results of such treatment recorded for the benefit of 
 those who should come after. Measures for the preservation 
 and improvement of harbors were adopted upon theoretical 
 principles and limited observation at first, and the results of 
 these measures observed and noted. Mistakes were some- 
 times made : — but even these mistakes form a very impor- 
 tant portion of the records of the profession. They serve as 
 beacons to warn others against taking the course in which 
 their predecessors had made shipv/reck. By careful observa- 
 tion and cautious experiments, together with minute atten- 
 tion to the modified results of natural agents, produced by 
 artificial appliances, — the science of hydrography has grown 
 up. And it may be safely said that, at the present day, the 
 principles of no branch of engineering science are better set- 
 tled than those of this department of the profession. Occa- 
 sional discoveries were earlier made ; but it was not till the 
 present century that there was the beginning of any thing 
 like a system with regard to engineering practice in this behalf. 
 There were Smeaton, and Golborne, and Telford, and Nim- 
 I 
 
66 APPENDIX. 
 
 mo, and the elder Rennie, who made important contributions 
 to this science ; but much has been added more recently. 
 There is probably no one subject which has employed more 
 engineering talent or engineering labor in Great Britain during 
 the present century, than hydrography. Every harbor, even 
 the smallest, has had its resident engineer to look after its wel- 
 fare. Besides this, for many years, this interest has been the 
 special care of Government. These remarks are true not of 
 Great Britain alone, but of France, Holland, and other Euro- 
 pean States. We have more details of the history and pro- 
 gress of this subject in Great Britain than elsewhere. A 
 Board of Harbor Commissioners has been established in every 
 port of any importance in the three kingdoms. And, in the 
 8th of Victoria, a special commission was appointed by the 
 crown, consisting of ten gentlemen connected with different 
 branches of the government, who were authorized and direct- 
 ed to make a thorough investigation of the entire subject, 
 and to propose such measures for the preservation and im- 
 provement of the harbors, and for the perfecting of the sys- 
 tem of supervision and conservation, as they should judge 
 best calculated to promote the object in view. These gen- 
 tlemen held long sessions ; examined engineers and others 
 having knowledge of the condition and wants of the various 
 harbors, and the necessities and conveniences of commerce 
 at the various sea-ports in the kingdom ; and then decided 
 on certain regulations to be proposed to government for the 
 better management of these trusts ; — and sent to the different 
 harbor boards, circulars containing the proposed regulations, 
 for the purpose of eliciting the opinions of these boards as to 
 the propriety of the changes proposed to be introduced in the 
 management of these important trusts. To give some idea 
 of the magnitude of this system of care for the harbors of 
 Britain, it may be sufficient to state, that the Commissioners 
 received answers to their circular, from about 400 harbor 
 boards. 
 
 The examinations of engineers and nautical men before 
 the " Tidal Harbor Commissioners" elicited a vast amount 
 of information ; and showed how thoroughly the subject had 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 67 
 
 been studied and how well it was understood. The records 
 of this commission contain a vast number of reports of the 
 most eminent engineers in the country, giving details of their 
 practice and experience on these subjects. These reports are 
 elaborate and able, and they constitute a fund of information 
 for the commercial inquirer, and a treasury of science on this 
 subject for the hydographic engineer. The great success 
 which they have had in preserving and improving tidal rivers 
 by properly directing the currents, is one of the great tri- 
 umphs of engineering skill. A letter which I received within 
 the last year from the engineer of the harbor of Glasgow, 
 Scotland, gives a striking example of this success. "The 
 size of vessels " — ^he says — " frequenting this harbor half a 
 century ago, was about 10 or 15 tons ; they were open deck- 
 ed fishing boats. Yesterday the H. C. Ridston, 1400 tons 
 register, a sailing ship, left the harbor. To day a steamer of 
 1800 tons, tomorrow one of 2245 tons register leaves ; and 
 two others, each 2400 tons, will in a short time. These 
 are paddle steamers, and do not frequent the Clyde : But it 
 is no unusual thing for ships of 600 or 700 tons to lie at the 
 quays." — Other analogous cases might be cited. 
 
 With regard to " the peculiar Avants of our own harbor," 
 respecting which you inquire, it is not easy to answer in a 
 few words. The great want of Boston harbor, — which in- 
 cludes all the peculiar wants, — is "a well devised, intelli- 
 gent and permanent system of supervision and care. The 
 great danger to the harbor is the piece-meal, irregular and in- 
 consistent legislation which we have in relation to it. 
 
 Cluestions, supposed directly to concern the harbor, are 
 usually sent to the Committee on Mercantile Affairs and In- 
 surance. This Committee is changing every year ; it gener- 
 ally consists of gentlemen engaged in trade, who are not sup- 
 posed to be specially versed in the philosophy of tidal chan- 
 nels and tidal currents. Petitioners for grants lay before that 
 Committee such evidence as they think will establish their 
 own case ; probably they are generally honest in their opin- 
 ion of its propriety ; for people usually persuade themselves 
 that what they want is reasonable. There being perhaps no 
 
68 APPENDIX. 
 
 private interest opposed to the legislation asked for ; and 
 those who see a strong public objection, yet having no re- 
 sponsibility in the case, feel it to be an ungracious act to go 
 up to the legislative hall to state these objections : and the 
 objectionable grant is made. The petitioners for Railroad 
 grants are sent to another Committee, or to two or three 
 other Committees. This is another class of cases which 
 sometimes affect very seriously the interests of navigation. 
 Currents are turned from their proper course ; eddies are cre- 
 ated ; and in a recent instance a very important channel and 
 passageway for vessels has been entirely subverted by a 
 charter from the liCgislature of the State. And, even when 
 these Committees are most anxious to avoid mistakes, they 
 have so short a time to inform themselves as to the facts 
 and the deductions to be drawn from them, that they so mis- 
 apply the general principles of science in these cases, as to 
 put one in mind of an attempt to practice the healing art 
 from a book of recipes by a man unacquainted with the 
 diagnosis of diseases. The truth is, that every case in hy- 
 drography has its peculiar characteristics ; and any successful 
 treatment of a case must have reference to all these peculi- 
 arities. One is likely to do great mischief by undertaking to 
 prescribe without the requisite skill. Take a single illustra- 
 tion. It is a general rule that, in harbors consisting of river 
 channels, — like Boston harbor, — the necessary backwater to 
 scour out these channels should be carefully preserved. This 
 has been so often repeated that there are, in this community, 
 few men who have not a general notion, more or less dis- 
 tinct, of the truth and importance of this axiom. The mis- 
 fortune is, that there are many people who undertake to play 
 the engineer on these subjects, of whom this axiom consti- 
 tutes the chief, if not the entire " stock in trade." They are 
 not aware that there may be danger from too much scour as 
 well as from too little. Nor is the quantity of scour the only 
 or the principal thing to be cared for in the preservation of a 
 harbor. The direction of this reflux current in every part of 
 the channels, and especially in those parts used for naviga- 
 tion, is a most important circumstance. There are other 
 
APPENDIX. 69 
 
 peculiarities in relation to this scouring process, equally im- 
 portant. One single fact further in illustration. A harbor in 
 the south of Europe, which formerly had two rivers empty- 
 ing their waters into the extreme upper part of that harbor, 
 — somewhat as the Charles and the Mystic empty their 
 waters into Boston Harbor, — was found to be fast filling up. 
 Indeed vast expenditures were required to keep the harbor 
 open, and preserve the proper depth of water for navigation. 
 It was finally decided by the engineers to change entirely 
 the courses of these rivers, so that they should not flow at 
 all into the harbor proper. And their courses were turned 
 in a manner analogous to what would be done here, if 
 Charles river were carried through the low part of Roxbury 
 into Dorchester Bay, and Mystic River were carried, through 
 Chelsea or the back part of East Boston, into the deep water 
 back of Governor's Island. It turned out that the engineers 
 were right in their opinions : — by this change one of the 
 best harbors in Europe was saved probably from entire de- 
 struction. But it would be very unsafe to infer from the 
 statement of this case, that this is the proper treatment for 
 every other harbor in which it should be found that bars were 
 forming and the channels were becoming less deep. There 
 were peculiar circumstances attending this case, W'hich made 
 the treatment adopted by the engineers the only proper 
 remedy for the evil. And every case has its peculiarities and 
 should be treated with a skilful reference thereto. To this 
 end, — and this remark applies with peculiar force to Boston 
 Harbor, — it is not sufficient that there have been careful 
 and ample surveys of the channels and flats, and examina- 
 tions of the currents ; that the characteristics of the former 
 are recorded with sufficient minuteness upon charts, and the 
 latter are indicated in reports. They should be under the 
 supervision and responsible care of an authority which 
 should not be subject to perpetual change ; and should be 
 carefully watched and occasionally re-examined, so that no 
 great change can take place without the .knowledge of the 
 Board which have the harbor in custody. And when there 
 is a tendency to deterioration the proper preventives should 
 
70 APPENDIX. 
 
 be seasonably used, which will be likely to save the public 
 from the necessity of large expenditures for remedy ig, the end. 
 
 In reply to your inquiry as to my opinion of " the effect of 
 recently proposed harbor lines," — ^I must say that I look upon 
 that experiment with the greatest apprehension for the safety 
 of the main channel. The very proposition, to adopt these 
 lines as boundary lines of the harbor, implies that the flats 
 lying between these lines and the shore are to be granted to 
 somebody for the uses of commerce. The next step, therefore, 
 will probably be, to authorize the occupancy of these flats by 
 either solid or pile wharves, as shall be the opinion of the 
 legislature at the time the grant is made. This done and 
 the structures built, it will be found that there is no water 
 (or from to 3 feet) at low-water, at these wharves ; and the 
 proprietors of the same, finding their wharves from 1200 to 
 1500 feet from the navigable channel, will, as a matter 
 of course, ask permission of the legislature to excavate the 
 flats between their property and the main channel ; so that 
 they can get their vessels in and out of their docks. This 
 will then be thought a measure of necessity, and will be 
 likely to be granted : and the result of this will be the ruin 
 of the main channel : for, as soon as the ground is broken 
 between these lines and that channel, the current at ebb tide, 
 which is very strong in the latter half of the ebb, — and which 
 in consequence of modern structures, sets strongly upon that 
 side of the channel, — will very materially aid this process of 
 excavation, and will sweep this material into the main chan- 
 nel. Thus, from 30 to 60 per cent, would eventually be 
 added to the width of this channel, and about the same pro- 
 portion subtracted from its depth. 
 
 This widening of the channel, however, would not be 
 likely to proceed with regularity ; some parts of the bottom 
 would probably be found to be much harder than other parts ; 
 (indeed there is existing evidence of this diversity of char- 
 acter in the flats,) and the channel would, at no very dis- 
 tant day, become essentially injured, if not entirely destroyed. 
 That it would be unsafe to disturb the surface of the flats be- 
 tween the proposed harbor lines and the main channel, there 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 71 
 
 is unmistakable evidence. Since the harbor survey of 1836, 
 many thousand tons of earth have been washed from these 
 jflats into the channels by the ordinary operation of the daily 
 tides, in consequence of the surface being broken by the 
 keels of vessels and other accidental causes. How much 
 greater would be the exposure, if, along the margin of the 
 channel, the surface of the flats should be broken up by 
 dredging machines and left to the constant action of the 
 tides, at the place where their power is greatest ! There is 
 already an unhealthy action going on in the main channel, 
 occasioned by artificial causes. It is of the greatest impor- 
 tance to the interests of commerce, and therefore to the in- 
 terests of the City and the State, that nothing should be done 
 to increase this deleterious action ,• but rather that this work 
 of deterioration should be stayed before we are brought to 
 the necessity of choosing between an immense expense to 
 save the harbor, and an entire destruction of it as a place for 
 large vessels. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the South Boston flats, outside the 
 line of private ownership, will not be appropriated till there 
 shall be established, in connexion with their occupancy, a 
 system which, — while it shall add greatly to the commercial 
 conveniences of this port, — shall secure the safety and per- 
 fection of the main harbor channel. 
 
 There does not seem to be any present necessity for the 
 establishment of harbor lines on that shore. The outer line 
 which is proposed as the limit beyond which no wharves 
 shall ever be built, is more than three-eighths of a mile out- 
 side the line of private ownership, more than three-eighths of 
 a mile from any improvements for trade on that part of the 
 harbor, and nearly tliree-quarters of a mile from the general 
 line of any such improvements. There is therefore, no oc- 
 casion for legislative action at present in this behalf: And it 
 is better to wait till a system can be matured which will 
 give the greatest amount of commercial convenience, and at 
 the same time secure the safety of the harbor. 
 Yery respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 JAMES HAYWARD. 
 
72 APPENDIX. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 
 
 CITY OF BOSTON. 
 
 In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Nov. 24, 1823. 
 
 Resolved, That it is expedient that the Mayor and Alder- 
 men be authorized to cause a geometrical survey of Deer and 
 Rainsford islands to be made, and also of any other islands, 
 whose preservation they shall deem peculiarly important for 
 the safety of the harbor of this City ; also, to cause sufficient 
 stakes or strong monuments to be placed at suitable and 
 measured distances from the present external line of such 
 parts of the bank of said islands, as are exposed to be worn 
 away by the action of the waves or of tempests, and to cause 
 such surveys of the relative position of such stakes or mon- 
 uments to the bank and to one another to be made, and such 
 plans to be taken and preserved, as may enable the City au- 
 thorities in any future years to ascertain the nature and 
 degree of loss annually sustained from the elements, on such 
 islands. 
 
 Resolved, That it is expedient that a Committee of both 
 branches of the City Council be appointed for the purpose of 
 drafting a respectful memorial to the National Legislature, 
 setting forth the great and successive dilapidation of these 
 islands, their importance to the harbor, and to the shipping, 
 as a barrier and shelter in storms and tempests, and soliciting 
 an efficient appropriation, to be expended, either under the 
 direction of the City authorities, or under such superintend- 
 ence as the general government may appoint, for their perma- 
 nent preservation, and that the said memorial, when prepared, 
 be laid before the City Council for consideration and adop- 
 tion. 
 
 Resolved, That it is expedient that the same committee be 
 authorized also to prepare a respectful memorial to the Legis- 
 lature of this Commonwealth, stating the tenor of the me- 
 morial mentioned in the preceding vote, and praying the 
 countenance and support of the State authorities in behalf o 
 
APPENDIX. 73 
 
 the said application of the City to the General Government, 
 for the objects specified in their said memorial. 
 
 Resolved, That the same committee be authorized to apply 
 to the State Legislature for an act, prohibiting under efficient 
 penalties, the removing or carrying away of stones, for ballast 
 or any other purpose from the shores of any of the islands in 
 the harbor, under such restrictions and conditions, as to the 
 wisdom of the Legislature may seem expedient. 
 
 Sent down for concurrence. Came up concurred. 
 
 Read and concurred. 
 
 Boston, March 29, 1852. 
 A true copy from the records of the City of Boston. 
 Attest,-— SAML. F. McCLEARY, Jr., City Clerk. 
 
 Vote of the Board of Trustees of the Marifie Society. 
 
 At a trustee meeting of the Boston Marine Society, held at 
 the Marlboro' Hotel, on Tuesday, the 2d June, 1829, the fol- 
 lowing communication received from a committee of the 
 City Council, relative to a communication from the Mayor of 
 the City of Boston, on the subject of the flats ; it was voted, 
 that Winslow Lewis, Esq. be requested, as a committee, to 
 bring the subject before the Marine Society at their next 
 meeting, (this day) and to obtain their views and opinions as 
 to the expediency of the measures recommended, and to 
 report to an adjourned meeting of the committee of the City 
 Council. 
 
 After a deliberate discussion on the subject of the above 
 application, it was unanimously 
 
 Voted, That it is the opinion of this Board that a wharf or 
 breakwater, commencing at the dolphin lately put down on 
 the flats opposite the draw on the east side (3f South Boston 
 Free Bridge, and continued to the end of said flats, opposite 
 to Central wharf, would have the effect of deepening the 
 J 
 
74 APPENDIX. 
 
 channel within it, which is daily becoming more shallow to 
 an alarming degree, and would be a means of greatly protect- 
 ing the wharves in that section from easterly winds, and 
 would add much to the facility of navigation in the harbor of 
 Boston. 
 
 A true copy from the record. 
 
 Attest, — Thomas English, Secretary. 
 
 The above is a true copy of a paper accompanying the 
 petition of the City of Boston, and filed with said petition. 
 
 Attest,— CHARLES CALHOUN, 
 
 Clerk of the Senate. 
 
 Extract from a letter from Gen. Totten, of the Engineers' 
 Department, to Hon. William Appleton, in answer to inqui- 
 ries made at the request of the Committee, as to the appro- 
 priations by Congress for the construction of the sea wall 
 upon the Great Brewster Island, and the amount necessary 
 to complete the work. 
 
 " In compliance with the further desire of the Department, 
 Col. Thayer made an estimate of the amount necessary to 
 complete the work, over and above the sum already applica- 
 ble ; which estimates was submitted to Congress by the Sec- 
 retary of War, with the estimates for Rivers and Harbors on 
 the Atlantic, the amount being - - .- $32,700.00 
 
 The first appropriation for tliis work, July 20, 1848, $40,000.00 
 
 The next, and last, August 30, 1852, - - - 30,000.00 
 
 " Wanted to complete, according to the estimates of Col. 
 Thayer, $32,700, provided the work can go on continuous- 
 ly, — excepting from the interruption of winter, — and this 
 may be the case, if the requisite grant is made early in the 
 next session. If there is another suspension of operations, 
 the cost will be magnified materially." 
 
 Dated Engineer Department, Washington, March 17, 1853. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 W: 
 
 The following table showing the comparative size of 
 the vessels registered in this District, together with the ac- 
 companying list, were prepared by General Andrews of the 
 Registry Office, Boston Custom House. 
 
 Vessels Measured at Boston. 
 
 Years Meas'd. 
 
 No. Vessels. 
 
 Denomination. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Av. Tonnage. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1800 
 
 9 
 No barks 
 
 Ships, 2,247 
 measured this year. 
 
 250 
 
 2,247 
 
 1844 
 
 16 
 16 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 8,365 
 
 4,624 
 
 523 
 
 289 
 
 12,989 
 
 1845 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 8,380 
 4,317 
 
 558 
 269 
 
 12,697 
 
 1849 
 
 20 
 16 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 14,162 
 4,416 
 
 708 
 276 
 
 18,578 
 
 1850 
 
 23 
 12 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 21,291 
 4,392 
 
 926 
 366 
 
 25,683 
 
 1851 
 
 27 
 11 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 27,535 
 3,430 
 
 1,019 
 311 
 
 30,965 
 
 1852 
 
 35 
 4 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 35,057 
 1,278 
 
 1,001 
 319 
 
 36,335 
 
 From Jan. 1 ~ 
 toOct.1,'53, 
 
 I 35 
 \ 5 
 
 Ships, 
 Barks, 
 
 43,257 
 1,563 
 
 1,236 
 313 
 
 44,820 
 
 Tonnage of Ships and Barks registered at the Boston 
 Custom Souse. 
 
 Hate. 
 
 Name of Vessels. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Name of Vessels. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 
 
 1850. 
 
 
 Aug. 
 
 16, 
 
 Bark Ella, 
 
 196 
 
 January 9, 
 
 Ship "William Sturgis, 
 
 650 
 
 
 21, 
 
 Ship Gentoo, 
 
 747 
 
 
 10, 
 
 " Clara Wheeler, 
 
 996 
 
 Sept. 
 
 3, 
 
 " Shirley, 
 
 911 
 
 
 10, 
 
 « Tirrell, 
 
 943 
 
 
 24, 
 
 " John Bryant, 
 
 722 
 
 April 
 
 18, 
 
 " Moses "Wheeler, 
 
 872 
 
 
 24, 
 
 Bark Geo. E. Webster 
 
 354 
 
 May- 
 
 3, 
 
 " Greenwich, 
 
 787 
 
 
 28, 
 
 Ship Antarctic, 
 
 1116 
 
 
 4, 
 
 Bark Rhone, 
 
 360 
 
 
 28, 
 
 " John H. Jarvis, 
 
 741 
 
 
 13, 
 
 " Wabash, 
 
 299 
 
 Oct. 
 
 9, 
 
 " Prospero, 
 
 646 
 
 
 14, 
 
 Ship Hemisphere, 
 
 949 
 
 
 15, 
 
 " Surprise, 
 
 1262 
 
 
 21, 
 
 " Trimountain, 
 
 1032 
 
 
 25, 
 
 " Union, 
 
 688 
 
 June 
 
 8, 
 
 " Sachem, 
 
 718 
 
 
 28, 
 
 Bark Sumpter, 
 
 381 
 
 
 15, 
 
 " Cornelius Grinell 
 
 1118 
 
 Not. 
 
 12, 
 
 Ship Art Union, 
 
 750 
 
 
 19, 
 
 Bark Kremlin, 
 
 470 
 
 
 16, 
 
 Bark Behring, 
 
 376 
 
 
 26, 
 
 '• May Queen, 
 
 325 
 
 
 18, 
 
 " Paragon, 
 
 309 
 
 July 
 
 6, 
 
 " Sultana, 
 
 452 
 
 
 22, 
 
 Ship Meridian, 
 
 1285 
 
 
 30, 
 
 " Race Horse, 
 
 514 
 
 Dec. 
 
 5, 
 
 " Daniel "Webster, 
 
 1188 
 
 Aug. 
 
 2, 
 
 " Isabella, 
 Ship President, 
 " Berkshire, 
 
 356 
 
 1091 
 
 
 21, 
 
 " Stag Hound, 
 
 1534 
 
 
 16, 
 
 615 
 
 
 
 25,683 
 
76 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Date. Name of Vessels. 
 
 1851. 
 Jan'ry 16, Ship Witchcraft, 
 
 16, " John Bertram, 
 
 21, " Gamecock, 
 March 7, " Hamlet, 
 
 7, Bark Ivedar, 
 15, " Ala, 
 
 17, Ship Shooting Star, 
 
 22, " Napoleon, 
 27, " Andes, 
 
 April 9, Bark Edisto, 
 
 26, Ship Flying Cloud, 
 May 1, Bark Mermaid, 
 
 1, Ship Southern Cross, 
 
 8, " Telegraph, 
 12, Bark Echo, 
 
 30, Ship Syrene, 
 30, " Courser, 
 July 8, Bark Chester, 
 Aug. 1, Ship Staflordshirc, 
 6, Bark J. H. Duvall, 
 20, Ship John Wade, 
 20, '• E. B. Forbes, 
 29, " Coringa, 
 29, " Sam'l Lawrence, 
 29, Bark Georgiana, 
 29, Ship Caroline, 
 
 Oct. 13, " " Eobert Harding, 
 13, " North America, 
 20, " Susan Hincks, 
 
 Nov. 5, « Flying Fish, 
 
 12, " Geo. Washington, 
 15, " Northern Light, 
 19, Bark Modena, 
 
 Dec. 5, " Sea Bird, 
 6, Ship Antelope, 
 
 13, Bark Kocket, 
 Dec. 30, Ship Hoocrly, 
 
 31, St'mship Eajah Wallie, 
 
 Tons. 
 
 1310 
 
 1081 
 
 1392 
 
 757 
 
 347 
 
 464 
 
 903 
 
 649 
 
 450 
 
 366 
 
 1782 
 
 533 
 
 938 
 
 1069 
 
 196 
 
 1064 
 
 1025 
 
 200 
 
 1817 
 
 200 
 
 639 
 
 756 
 
 701 
 
 1035 
 
 195 
 
 722 
 
 765 
 
 1464 
 
 783 
 
 1505 
 
 1534 
 
 1021 
 
 200 
 
 334 
 
 507 
 
 395 
 
 1304 
 
 562 
 
 Jan'y 
 Febr'y 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 27, 
 
 4, 
 
 5, 
 
 4, 
 
 6, 
 
 8, 
 
 27, 
 
 28, 
 
 16, 
 
 19, 
 
 19, 
 
 24, 
 
 25, 
 
 1, 
 
 16, 
 
 ^^' 
 August 2, 
 
 10, 
 
 13, 
 
 17, 
 
 30,965 
 
 1852. 
 
 Ship Dauntless, 791 
 
 " Ocean Eagle, 597 
 
 " Polar Star, 667 
 
 Bark Old Hickory, 432 
 
 Ship Beverly, 676 
 
 " Lady Franklin, 464 
 
 " Lanark, 299 
 
 " Ellen Foster, 997 
 
 " Cape Cod, 774 
 
 " Sov'n of the Seas, 2421 
 
 " Stephen Glover, 733 
 
 Steamship Sir J. Harvey, 620 
 
 " City of Boston, 559 
 
 Bark Thorndike, 399 
 
 Ship Polynesia, 1084 
 
 '= Onward, 874 
 
 " Winged Arrow, 1052 
 
 " Golden Fleece, 968 
 
 Bark Celistia, 248 
 
 Ship Celestial Empire, 1395 
 
 Date. Name of Vessels. Tons. 
 
 Sept. 6, Ship Malay, 868 
 
 17, " Gem of the Ocean, 702 
 
 28, " John Gilpin, 1089 
 Oct. 5, " Agnes, 929 
 
 11, " Westward Ho, 1650 
 27, " Queen of the Seas, 1356 
 
 Nov. 6, " Whirlwind, 961 
 
 10, " Alexander, 596 
 
 12, " Lotus, 660 
 12, " Winged Eacer, 1767 
 22, " Bald Eagle, 1704 
 
 29, " Golden Eagle, 1121 
 Dec. 4, " National Eagle, 1049 
 
 9, " Golden West, 1441 
 
 14, " Flying Childers, 1126 
 
 20, " Star of the Union, 1057 
 
 21, " Hussar, 721 
 24, Bark Richmond, 199 
 31, Ship Phantom, 1289 
 
 Total, 36,335 
 
 1853. 
 
 Jan'y 13, Ship Mountain Wave, 633 
 
 28, " Emp'ss of the Sea, 2197 
 
 28, " Golden Light, 1141 
 
 31, " Champion, 1023 
 
 Feb'ry 1, " Eadiant, 1318 
 
 1, " Mystery, 1155 
 
 March 5, " Storm King, 1289 
 
 18, " Climax, 1051 
 
 24, " Competitor, 1871 
 
 April 1, " Queen of Clippers, 2361 
 
 1, " Star of Empire, 2050 
 
 1, " Cleopatra, 1563 
 
 1, Bark Firefly, 401 
 
 18, Ship John Land, 1065 
 May 5, " Wizard, 1601 
 
 10, Bark Wildfire, 338 
 
 10, Ship West Wind, 1071 
 
 20, " White SwalloAV, 1192 
 
 24, " Shawmut, 1035 
 
 25, " Waverley, 750 
 
 26, " Water Witch, 1204 
 June 3, " Chariot of Fame, 2500 
 
 14, " Wild Eanger, 1045 
 
 15, « Bronita, 1127 
 17, Bark Daniel Webster, 264 
 
 July 5, Ship Whistler, 942 
 
 6, " Amphritrite, 1686 
 
 26, Bark Young Turk, 343 
 
 22, Ship Edith Eose, 510 
 
 30, Bark Tally Ho, 217 
 
 Aug. 25, Ship Fearless, 1184 
 
 30, " Matchless, 1033 
 
 Sept. 1, " Lightfoot, 1996 
 
 9, " Ocean Pearl, 847 
 
 19, " Sea Flower, 1024 
 28, " King Fisher, 1286 
 30, '= Neptune, 1033 
 
 Oct. 1, " Keporter, 1474 
 
 Total, 
 
 44,820 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 77 
 
 E. H. Eldsedge, Esq. 
 
 Dear Si?' : In reply to your letter requesting information 
 from the Pilots of Boston, in reference to the changes that 
 have taken place in the Channels, and the state of the Islands 
 in the lower harbor, my opinion is based upon an experience 
 of forty-five years, the changes in that term of years have 
 proved detrimental, and they will continue to increase un- 
 less those changes are met with the interest that a subject of 
 so much importance demands. The Islands and headlands 
 have been constantly wasting away, and of course washing 
 their waste matter into the Channels, thereby creating and 
 adding to the shoal bottom. The Great Brewster, which is 
 now partially protected by a Sea Wall, has been too much 
 neglected ; it should be finished with all the despatch that can 
 be practically applied, if not, the wasting away of that Island 
 will prove the ruin of our harbor, but if properly fortified with 
 a piece of masonry, such as it requires, succeeding genera- 
 tions will appreciate it as a valuable legacy, for it will be the 
 main protector of our harbor and channels, and the basis 
 on which we must depend for the future increase of our com- 
 mercial interests. 
 
 There are other points that claim the consideration of all 
 who are interested in this subject, viz : The Narrows — the 
 main ship channel — removing the top surface from the 
 beaches bordering on the Narrows is injurious, and has prov- 
 ed itself so, especially from the beach of Gallop's Island, as 
 the south gales sweep across it and wash the loose matter into 
 the channel. The southeast and northwest points of Lovell's 
 Island have made and are making out into the Narrows ; — 
 also the northwest point of the Spit, which, if not arrested 
 from further progress, will be the cause of material injury. 
 
 To prevent further encroachment in the Narrows, it is the 
 opinion of all, who are practically informed, that a break- 
 water built across Black Rock from Lovell's Island to the 
 Spit would be a sure protection to that channel, as it would 
 turn the force of the rapid cross-current natural to Black 
 
78 APPENDIX. 
 
 Rock, and create a regular current in the Narrows ; the va- 
 rious currents running into the Narrows have caused eddies, 
 and the extension of the points, which if allowed to increase, 
 willin time entirely obstruct that passage. 
 
 Other material improvements might be made in the 
 harbor, that would create a confidence in all who have 
 to navigate it. Barrel Rock in Broad Sound should be 
 removed, and large prominent beacons and buoys placed 
 in proper positions. Such valuable acquisitions should not 
 be out of place to act as decoys, but rather as guides, 
 that all who are dependent upon them may have an im- 
 plicit reliance that they are truly positioned. Such is not 
 the case with many of the beacons recently built. The in- 
 ner harbor should also receive some notice ; much good may 
 arise through the introduction of more prominent buoys, lo- 
 cated properly ; and dredging away the upper middle would 
 improve the capacity of our harbor in that vicinity. I would 
 also suggest to you the propriety of erecting landmarks upon 
 the Graves, Outer Brewster and Egg Rock, so they may be 
 distinguished from each other when made in thick weather, 
 and there should be a beacon erected upon the Harding's 
 Rocks, which are so much dreaded by all approaching the 
 Harbor in thick weather. 
 
 My opinion is, that all of the headlands that are openly 
 exposed to the force of the easterly gales should be protected 
 by sea-walls. 
 
 I do not suggest these few ideas with any selfish interest, 
 either personal or professional, but for the general good, as it 
 is daily demonstrated in the perseverance of the merchants, 
 the increase of commercial business, as well as the enormous 
 increase in the tonnage of ships, that the public should turn 
 their attention to the preservation of our fine harbor, without 
 which Boston would be a mere cypher in the catalogue of 
 commercial cities. 
 
 I am respectfully yours, &c. 
 
 HENRY GURNEY. 
 
APPENDIX. 79 
 
 Extract from the Report of the Light House Board, to 
 the Secretary of the Treasury, dated January 30, 1853. 
 
 BOSTON LIGHT. 
 
 Revolving sea-coast and harbor light. William Long, prin- 
 cipal and only keeper — was a sea captain. Fourteen 21- 
 inch English parabolic reflectors ; lamps and burners Ameri- 
 can. Plating and reflectors good — scratched in cleaning. 
 Depth of reflector 8| inches ; 6|- inches for ordinate ; placed 
 on two faces only. Lantern, iron. Plate-glass, 24x36 inches. 
 Ventilators good — circular — resembling furnace registers. 
 Lantern too small for present arrangement of the lamps and 
 reflectors ; keeper absent. Dome of lantern and inside sashes, 
 if not black, not very clean. Iron floor and iron staircase. 
 Tov/er of rough-hammered masonry, laid in courses with 
 lime-mortar, well pointed. Arch to lantern floor of brick ; 
 dry inside ; six iron bands around the tower outside. Tower 
 wants whitewashing inside and out, and a little painting. 
 Two copper conductors — one broken and neglected by the 
 keeper ; all the bands of the tower touching the conductors. 
 Tower cracked. Fog-bell moved by machinery ; weights or 
 hammers too light. Keeper took charge October 20, 1849. 
 Does not light up at sunset, and puts out before sunrise. 
 Has a cistern for rain water. Cellar for oil under dwelling 
 not in order. Oil-tanks want painting. No curtain to protect 
 the apparatus. Dwelling-house in good order and clean. 
 Buoys ill the harbor and its approaches too small ; gener- 
 ally spar-buoys, and small of their kind. 
 

 
 
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