Madaket Ditch

The Madaket Ditch, formerly spelled as Maddequet Ditch, is a canal connecting Long Pond to Madaket Harbor on the western edge of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The ditch was first dug circa 1665 by English settlers and Native Americans as the first public works project on Nantucket. It runs roughly southwest for about 1 mile, and was cut as freshwater channels running through freshwater cattail marsh and salt marsh, in order to create more meadow and catch fish running through it in a weir. Fish runs have historically included perch, herring, smelt, and eels. In the early 20th century, a large dip net, about four feet in diameter and eight feet long, subconical in shape, was used instead of a weir to scoop up fish.

Today the ditch still exists at Second Bridge, with depths between 2–4 feet. As it is tidal, there is little variation in water level at the pond's end.

References

Every Man a King: The Story of English Settlement of Nantucket
Tourists Guide - Down the Harbor, Hull, Nantasket and the South Shore of Massachusetts, The Old Colony Newsroom Edition, 1897, page 92.
Madaket Harbor / Long Pond Annual Report
A Report upon the Alewife Fisheries of Massachusetts

Waterbodies of Massachusetts
Bays, Coves, and Sounds	Assonet Bay Broad Sound Buzzards Bay Cape Cod Bay Cat Cove Dorchester Bay Duxbury Bay Fairhaven Bay Hingham Bay Juniper Cove Massachusetts Bay Nahant Bay Nantucket Sound Narragansett Bay Orleans Cove Plymouth Bay Popponesset Bay Quincy Bay Vineyard Sound Waquoit Bay Warren Cove
Canals, Channels, and Straits	Blackstone Canal Broad Brook Canal Broad Canal Canapitsit Channel Cape Cod Canal Fort Point Channel Hampshire and Hampden Canal Holyoke Canal System Hypocrite Channel Jeremiah's Gutter Lechmere Canal Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse Madaket Ditch Merrimack Canal Middlesex Canal Mother Brook North Canal Pawtucket Canal Quick's Hole Robinson's Hole Salem Channel Salem Beverly Waterway Canal South Channel South Hadley Canal Turners Falls Canal Woods Hole
Estuaries	Annisquam River Back River Bass River Boston Harbor Buzzards Bay Fore River Mitchell River Mount Hope Bay Oyster Pond River Popponesset Bay Quashnet River Weir River
Harbors	Barnstable Harbor Boston Harbor East Harbor Hyannis Harbor Marblehead Harbor Plymouth Harbor Provincetown Harbor Rock Harbor Salem Harbor
Lakes	Briggs Reservoir Buffumville Lake Charge Pond Chebacco Lake Crystal Lake Follins Pond Hickory Hills Lake Indian Lake Lake Ashmere Lake Attitash Lake Boon Lake Buel Lake Chaubunagungamaug Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochituate Lake Garfield Lake Massapoag Lake Monomonac Lake Nippenicket Lake Onota Lake Quannapowitt Lake Quinsigamond Lake Rico Lake Sabbatia Lake Saltonstall Lewis Lake Little Quittacas Pond Long Pond Mystic Lakes Pine Lake Pocksha Pond Prankers Pond Silver Lake Wallum Lake Wenham Lake Whites Pond
Ponds	Abner Pond Arnold School Pond Barrett Pond Bartlett Pond Bates Pond Beaver Dam Pond Big Rocky Pond Big Sandy Pond Billington Sea Black Jimmy Pond Bloody Pond Boot Pond Brooks Pond Browning Pond Bullough's Pond Campus Pond Cedar Pond Clay Pit Pond College Pond Cooks Pond Crossman Pond Curlew Pond Deer Pond Dug Pond Dunham Pond East Head Reservoir Elbow Pond Ezekiel Pond Fairyland Pond Fawn Pond Fearing Pond Federal Pond Five Mile Pond Forge Pond Fresh Meadow Pond Fresh Pond Fuller Street Pond Furnace Pond Gallows Pond Glen Charlie Pond Great Herring Pond Great Island Pond Great South Pond Gunners Exchange Pond Halfway Pond Hardy Pond Harrobs Corner Bog Pond Hedges Pond Hocomonco Pond Horn Pond Houghton's Pond Hoyts Pond Indian Head Pond Indian Pond Island Creek Pond Island Pond (Cedarville) Island Pond (Plymouth) Jacobs Pond Keene Pond Kings Pond Lake Lashaway Learned Pond Leonards Pond Little Herring Pond Little Long Pond (Plymouth) Little Long Pond (Wareham) Little Pond Little Rocky Pond Little Sandy Bottom Pond Little Sandy Pond Little West Pond Long Duck Pond Long Island Pond Long Pond (Plymouth) Long Pond (Rochester) Lout Pond Lower Chandler Pond Maquan Pond Mary's Pond Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds Micajah Pond Mill Pond (Duxbury) Mill Pond (Wareham) Monponsett Pond Morey Hole Muddy Pond New Long Pond North Hill Marsh Pond North Triangle Pond Oldham Pond Parker Mills Pond Pembroke Street South Pond Pine Street Pond Quaboag Pond Redd's Pond Reeds Millpond Robbins Pond Rocky Pond Round Pond Russell Millpond Russell Pond Sampsons Pond Sandy Pond Sargent's Pond Savery Pond Sawins Pond Scargo Lake Shallow Pond Ship Pond Smelt Pond Smith Pool Snipatuit Pond South Meadow Brook Reservoir South Meadow Pond South Triangle Pond Spectacle Pond Spring Pond Spy Pond Stetson Pond Studleys Pond Thompson Pond Tihonet Pond Tispaquin Pond Tremont Mill Pond Triangle Pond Tuxbury Pond Union Pond Upper Chandler Pond Vaughn Pond Walden Pond Walker Pond Wampatuck Pond Watson Pond Watuppa Ponds West Chandler Pond White Island Pond Winnecunnet Pond
Reservoirs	Aaron River Reservoir Accord Pond Ashley Reservoir Assawompset Pond Big Pond Blackmore Pond Briggs Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir Fisher Hill Reservoir Fort Meadow Reservoir Fresh Pond Great Quittacas Pond Great Sandy Bottom Pond Haggetts Pond High Service Water Tower and Reservoir Lake Wyola Little South Pond Littleville Lake Lost Lake Miscoe Lake Neponset Reservoir Norton Reservoir Otis Reservoir Quabbin Reservoir Round Pond Silver Lake Stockbridge Bowl Stony Brook Stump Pond Sudbury Reservoir Sugden Reservoir Tully Lake Wachusett Reservoir Weston Reservoir

Coordinates: 41°15′40″N 70°11′28″W / 41.26111°N 70.19111°W / 41.26111; -70.19111

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