Ancient ferries. Present ferries. 1. Before the opening of the Charles River Bridge for public travel June 17, 1786, the only public means of direct communication between the peninsula of Boston and the northerly and easterly parts of the State was by ferries. These were established very soon after the settlement of Boston. The court of assistants, November 9, 1630, ordered the governor to permit the first applicant "to set up a ferry between Boston and Charlestown" at a certain rate of toll, and in 1631 it is stated that Edward Converse hath undertaken to set up a ferry betwixt Boston and Charlestown." May 14, 1631, Thomas Williams set up a ferry between Winnisimmet and Charlestown and from Winnisimmet to Boston. In 1635 the general court ordered that there should be a ferry set up on Boston side, by Wind-mill Hill, to transport men to Charlestown and Winnisimmet; and in 1638 there was a ferry appointed from Boston to Winnisimmet, Noddle's Island, and the ships the person to be appointed by the magistrates of Boston." The rates of toll for ferries were from time to time prescribed by the general court. 2. 66 Since the erection of the bridges over Charles River, For statute provisions relating to ferries in this commonwealth, see Gen. Stast., c. 47 connecting Boston with the adjacent towns, the only public ferries existing connected with Boston, are the Winnisimmet Ferry, between Boston and Chelsea, and the East Boston Ferry and People's Ferry, between Boston and East Boston. how estab 3. Public ferries being public highways, the authority to Public ferries, establish them in the county of Suffolk when the public con- lished. venience required, was vested prior to the city charter in the court of sessions or county commissioners, and since 1821 it has existed in the mayor and aldermen or board of aldermen. The legislature has always had the power to establish, regulate, and control ferries. 1833, 197. 4. The Winnisimmet Company, incorporated in 1833, was Winnisimmet empowered to purchase and hold any ferry or ferry rights be- Ferry. tween Boston and Chelsea; and to construct and maintain wharves and other works suitable and convenient for steamboats and other vessels that may be used on any such ferry; but they were not authorized to build any bridge or dam over the channel of any public navigable waters, or otherwise permanently to obstruct the same. A penalty of not less than twenty dollars and not over one hundred dollars was imposed upon any person obstructing the passage of the boats or wilfully injuring the property of the corporation. Nothing in the act was in any way to affect the power of the legislature to grant such other ferries as they lawfully might if this act had not been passed, nor to limit or affect in any way the right of the legislature to fix, regulate, and at their pleasure to change the rates of toll at any ferry owned or conducted by said corporation, or to authorize any other tribunal to do the same." 66 The Winnisimmet Company may extend its in Boston and 211. 5. By the statutes of 1837, chapter 211, the Winnisimmet Company were authorized to extend their wharves, dock, and landing-place, situated near the foot of Hanover Street, wharves, &c., Boston, into and over the tide waters of the harbor, with the chelsea. 1837, right to use and occupy the flats within or adjoining the said wharves and structures when so extended; such wharves and structures not to extend beyond the commissioners' line, and not to be built otherwise than on piles within two hundred and twenty-five feet of said line. The act of 1846, chapter 166, 1846, 166. 1846, 166. East Boston ferries. East Boston incorporated. 1852, 244. authorized the company to extend its wharves and docks for the reception of the ferry boats at Chelsea, over the tide waters in the harbor, not exceeding sixty feet from the end of their wharves as there existing, by driving piles in front of said wharves, with the right to use and occupy the flats adjoining for the purposes of the ferry. EAST BOSTON FERRIES. 6. The East Boston Company, incorporated in 1833, and owning all the land and water rights in East Boston, at once made arrangements for ferry communication with the city proper. They expended $ 85,611 for boats, drops, slips, tanks, wharf, and landings; and appropriated 562,500 feet of land, valued then at $56,250, for ferry purposes, all of which in 1835 they conveyed to certain associates, acting under a license from the mayor and aldermen, for $66,000; stipulating as a part of the agreement with the purchasers, to make no conveyance of any wharf-lot on the island without the condition "that no ferry should ever be established or run from the premises." The ferry did not prove profitable, losing the first year $ 22,000. In 1836 the Eastern Railroad Company obtained control of the stock, purchasing five hundred and seventy shares for $ 57,000, the whole stock consisting of one thousand shares of $100 each. In 1842 the East Boston Company arranged with all the proprietors in the ferry, other than the railroad corporation, to exchange their stock in the ferries, share for share, for stock in the land company, and thus became joint proprietor with the railroad in the ferry. The two companies maintained the ferry for the succeeding ten years, from 1842 to 1852, the aggregate receipts for that time being less than the expenditures by $ 29,000. 7. In May, 1852, the East Boston Ferry Company was Ferry Company chartered for the term of twenty years, (the act to be void if the ferry was not opened in five years,) and purchased of the East Boston Company and the Eastern Railroad Company their interest and property in the existing ferry, at an appraisal of $ 200,000, all except $2,000 of which was paid in shares and divided equally between the two corporations. The charter 1852, 244. ized to purchase the ferry. Ibid. §§ 9, 11. 8. The city is authorized to purchase the ferry, its fran- The city authorchise and property, at any time during the continuance of its charter, by paying such a sum as will reimburse the amount of capital paid in, with a net profit thereon, as may be agreed on, of not over ten per cent. per annum, from the time of the payment thereof by the stockholders to the time of such purchase. Scrip, called "Boston Ferry Scrip," to an amount not exceeding $500,000, and bearing not over six per cent. interest, may be issued for the purchase. In case of purchase the city will take all the rights and liabilities of the company; and when it is reimbursed from tolls collected for the cost of the purchase and the expenses of its management, and has established a fund for the future support of the ferry, the tolls are to cease, and the ferry be maintained by the city as a free Ferry, when to ferry; authority being given to the city council to re-establish the rates of toll when the fund shall be found insufficient for be re-estabthe support of the ferry. be free. lished. Rates of toll established, and receipts. People's Ferry 9. The mayor and aldermen established rates of toll in October, 1852, which were substantially the same as had been for many years received under the license to the former company. Under these rates in 1853, the excess of the receipts over the expenditures was $19,506.50; the expenditures being $ 78,005.88. 10. In May, 1853, the People's Ferry Company was incorporated with a charter substantially identical with that of the East Boston Ferry Company. It commenced operations October 12, 1854, with two boats, adding soon after a third; and on the 26th of the following December, the rates of toll were established by the mayor and aldermen. The first year both ferries were in operation, their expenditures exceeded $ 100,000, while the amount realized by both was only $88,156.17. The second year their receipts were $112,000, with an expenditure of about $ 95,000. Both companies became involved in debt, and in 1856 they petitioned the mayor and aldermen for Rates of toll. higher rates of toll. The petition was denied, and the corpora Petition for free ferries or reduced rates of City Doc. 1857, Recommenda tion established for themselves rates of toll about forty per cent. higher than they were legally entitled to receive, and entered into mutual obligations to take no lower rates. 11. In the summer of 1857, the petition of Joseph H. Adams and eight hundred and seventy others, citizens of Boston, was presented to the board of aldermen "asking that body to free the ferries between Boston and East Boston, or render such aid to the ferries as will cause a reduction in the present rates of toll." A lengthy report was submitted upon this petition in August, 1857, recommending that the two companies unite or come to some concert of action, that they run no more boats than may be necessary, and return to the old rates of toll. established by law; and that when the two companies should be united, or when they, or either of them, should return to the old rates of toll, it would be expedient for the board of aldermen under their powers as county commissioners, when requested so to do by the corporations, or by either of them, to lay out public avenues to the ferry slips over the lands of said corporations. 12. The recommendations of the committee were not |