The Romance of Norwalk

The state, wishing to wash its hands of all oyster argu¬ ments once and for all, decided that the wisest course would be the establishment of a State Shellfish Commission. The commission was formally organized in the year 1 8 8 1 and invested with the right of granting perpetual franchises “in such undesignated grounds within said area as are not and for ten years have not been natural clam or oyster beds.” The “said area” was bounded west and south by the state of New York, east by Rhode Island and north by the line following the coast of the state at high water. The Connec¬ ticut oyster grounds were now divided into “state grounds” and “town grounds,” the latter being only one-tenth of the whole. The commission announced that all those who wished to do so, might secure grants for the nominal price of $i.io per acre. During the first month, Connecticut received applications for one-tenth of the area under its control, but only one- third of that was designated. The oyster industry now took a spurt forward. Under the state legislation of 1 8 8 1 , which was extremely important, a committee of five was to be appointed in each town to designate suitable places in the water for the planting and cultivation of oysters. Anyone might apply for ground and would receive a grant of two acres provided there were no previous claims to the land desired. Grounds had to be marked with buoys or stakes bearing the name or initials of the owner. The 1 88 1 law also said that: natural beds could neither be granted nor designated; a $50 fine would be levied on anyone who assigned rights acquired, for profit or specula¬ tion; when there were more than 30 designations in one town, the selectmen were required to procure a map of the district; $300 fine or one year in jail was the penalty for unlawfully removing oysters from another’s bed; heavier penalties were decided upon were the dirty work done at night. Section 20 of the same piece of legislation prohibited OYSTER INDUSTRY 355 the taking of shells or shellfish between sunset and sunrise, from any navigable waters of the state (except clams in Branford harbor from April to October) under a fine of $50 to $100 or a jail sentence. The Shell Fish Commission of Connecticut, after its for¬ mation, promptly took over the sale of oyster lands formerly handled by the towns. But the state was not so economical as were the towns which had made quite a little money through the transactions. As a result, instead of showing a reasonable profit of about $50,000 at the end of eight years, the state books showed instead a loss to that extent. The subject of taxation of the oyster grounds, which had been a live issue in Connecticut at the time of the creation of the Shell Fish Commission, now became an extremely vigorous one. In 1882, 123 oystermen of Norwalk recommended that all lands should be subject to a reasonable pro rata tax, according to the first annual report of the state Shell Fish Commission. But the board members felt that the tax should be on both the oysters and the grounds. In 1883, in its second report, the Commission explained the trouble being experienced over the subject of valuation. One man might value his oyster grounds at 10 or 15 times more than his neighbor’s, not because they were worth that much more, but because he was honest. What to do in this case, the state didn’t know. In the fourth report, 1885, the Board stated that many loud complaints against taxes were being heard from those who had bought more ground than they could cultivate or who had purchased merely for speculation and were holding against an increase in value. In the seventh annual report, 1887, the Board reported continued rows among the oystermen of the state over the subject of assessments. At that time the tax was about eleven cents on an acre. SHIPMENTS TO EUROPE The Connecticut oyster grounds, points west of New 356 ROMANCE OF NORWALK Haven, including Norwalk, formed the chief source of oyster supply for Europe, in 1888 and 1889. Oysters were care¬ fully culled and packed for shipment in flour barrels holding about three barrels each, according to J. W. Collins in his 1891 U. S. Fish Commissioners’ bulletin. The barrel tops were pressed down as tightly as possible so that the oysters wouldn’t rattle and the shells wouldn’t open. “If the shells remain shut, the liquid stays in, keeping the oysters alive much longer than would otherwise be possible,” according to Mr. Collins. The quantity of oysters shipped to Europe from Connecti¬ cut at the time, comprised three quarters of the entire trans¬ atlantic export of oysters from America. The shipping season lasted from November to May, the oysters being sent on steamships which plied between New York and European ports. Nineteen twentieths of the oysters went directly to Liverpool. That thousands upon thousands of barrels of Connecticut oysters were shipped to Europe be¬ tween 1870 and 1890, there can be no doubt. One old oyster report maintains that shortly after the trade opened in the ’70’s, as high as 160,000 barrels were sent abroad every year. In ’85, Norwalk alone, sent 33,000 barrels to European consumers, the George H. Shaffer Co. on Water st., being the largest shipper according to Charles D. Tobey of 4 Charles st., 80 years of age, who spent 65 years in the oyster business. From 1888 to 1889, according to Col¬ lins, the state sent in one season 103,109 barrels across the Atlantic. These barrels were a good deal larger than the average. Norwalk, in 1889 had more oyster boats on her grounds, public and private, than any other city in the state. She could boast a total of 208, steam, sail and row, New Haven being second with 111. Norwalk in 1889 stood second in the state as to number of acres included in natural beds, there being 1650 acres under town control and 160 under state control. Norwalk stood first in the state however, in the number of bushels of seed oysters taken from her pri- OYSTER INDUSTRY 357 vate grounds, there being 140,780 bushels worth $81,978. She also stood first in the number of bushels of native oysters in the shell taken from her private grounds: 127,442 bush¬ els worth $127,746. Where the public grounds were con¬ cerned, Norwalk stood second with 12,500 bushels of oysters worth $5,750. The total amount of oysters taken from the Norwalk grounds public and private, not including shells in 1889 was 275,841 bushels worth $215,117. ILL LAWS PASSED During the next 30 years, many ill laws were passed by Connecticut for the “benefit” of the state’s oyster industry. There was the policing of the oyster grounds from Branford to Greenwich in 1895 to prevent thieving. Norwalk along with other cities in the state, was taxed for the protection. After awhile, the policing was abolished but the tax was not. On the contrary it was increased. In 1907, a law pertaining to oyster franchises was passed: Section 3215 of the general statutes as amended by chapter 66 of the public acts of 1907. This law provided that hold¬ ers of oyster franchises must have been residents of the state for at least a year; or all the stockholders of a company organized under the state laws must be citizens of the state. During these years, assessments were outrageous. In many instances, oyster grounds that were assessed for $5000 were offered for sale for $500 or even $'250. The Connecticut tax in 1910 was a 15 mill tax on the assessed valuation of the oyster ground franchise owned by planters. The natural growthers were required to have a boat license which cost $5 for a boat under five tons and $1.50 for each additional ton when the boat exceeded five tons. This law was very unsatisfactory and in 1910 the Board of Equalization and Oyster Investigation Commission of Conn., made two recommendations: 1. The placing of a flat valuation of $10 on every acre 358 ROMANCE OF NORWALK of ground under state jurisdiction. (At the present time, 1929, that valuation is still $10). 2. The placing of a productivity tax of two or three cents a bushel on all seed or other oysters taken from the grounds in this state for sale, or for the purpose of remov¬ ing the same out of the state. Nothing came of this recom¬ mendation. The Board in 1910 also recommended in connection with the natural oyster beds, a license of $2 for every vessel or boat under five tons and fifty cents for each additional ton. (This recommendation later became a law). At that time there were nine natural oyster beds in Connecticut: Cornell reef, natural bed, 15 acres; Portchester, natural bed, 218 acres; Great Captain’s Island, 152 acres; Field Point, 84 acres; Greenwich Point, 403 acres; Fairfield Bar and Fair- field Natural Bed, 1237 acres; Bridgeport, 334 acres; Strat¬ ford, 3055 acres; Roton Point and Fish Island, Norwalk, 307 acres. Only the last four were thought of sufficient importance to be buoyed by the state. It will be noted that Norwalk’s natural oyster bed was still numbered among those of any value. But only a small part of the acreage of this great bed was under production. In 1 £io, the Board of Equalization and Oyster Investiga¬ tion Commission found the natural oyster beds of the state practically depleted. The Board maintained that if the then present methods of use were continued, they would result in complete impoverishment of the natural beds; that where these beds had been originally productive, they were now depleted; that shellfish were often raked up and sold as seed before they even reached the size of a one cent piece. In many localities the natural grounds were being leased to private owners for the purpose of building them up. The natural growthers loudly protested of course and said that their rights were being interfered with. The Board an¬ swered that it was in favor of such a method as the natural growthers depleted, but they did not build up the beds and to back its claim, quoted Frank Wood, superintendent of the OYSTER INDUSTRY 359 Bureau of Marine Fisheries of the state of New York, as saying :