The New York herald., 1879-12-11
THE HARLEM SHIP CANAL

THE HARLEM SHIP CANAL.
PROGRESS OF THE ASSESSMENT or PROPERTY
TO BE coNFIscATED-TEcHNIcAL DIFFICULT
TIEs-THE LAND TO BE READY FOR THE
ENGINEERS IN THE SPRING.
The commission appointed by Judge Donthue.
unaer an act or the last Legislature. to condemn.
ian1s for the construction of the channel or hip
canal between the Harlem and Hudson |fivers
mas made rapid progress, and it is expected tho
WORK Will be fairly under way by the nMSdle
OF next Spring. The commission consists of Gen.
eral W. II. smith, president; James D. Fish and
William r. Grace. The meetings are held at Nc. d66
Broadway and for the present are devoted entirely
to the valuation Of lands 70 be condemned In or6er
that the project may be properly understood it Jis
necessary tostate that by of Congress the cost
OF constructing, THE canal win be betrayed by he
United States gpysrhment in accordance with the
plans preparedlby ,Gsheral Newton. But before the
act can take effect the value Of the land con-
demned by the commissioHbrs must be assessed
on the adjacent property. and herein lies the
delay in the completion of the work. The State of
New York has, by act of the last Legislature sur
rendered all title to the lands needed subject to the
claims of the owners OF the different tracts There
are about forty OF these owners. and the only diff
Guilty experienced by the Commissioners lies in
the controversy regarding the assessments
Up to the present time the commission
has acted only three tracts-viz. the
Kemp property, about one acre; the Carman prop.
pieces Of ve and QUARTER sores Belonging to !xo Mr
l.. Q. Morris. AS much OF the property on the line
Of the proposed canal has been coveted for railroad
purposes the owners have been very reluctant to
part with it, Tho greater part of the property
demned is composed OF marshy fats. which lie
line line Of the Park { Commissioners. But sh, the
Commissioners find it no easy task to
arrange q compensation with the owners,
who in many cases are most unreasonable in their
demands Claims are made. the Commissioners say,
for small patches. most Of which lie under water.
far beyond their value, the owners believing that
their terms must be complied with The most VAL
uable piece I Of property is that Of the spuysn Duy;
will run through solid rock on this tract and tina
width Of the channel will be confined to $50 feet.
The other portion OF the channel will be 400 feet in
width and fifteen feet In depth.
WHAT COMMISSIONER SAYS.
ject, said Mr.. James d. Fish. one Of. the comms.
sioners. LAST evening to q HERALD reporter. "for
assure you we are very an anxious to complete our
this great work. But it is not without its difficult
ties. We have had good deal of travelling and in
the Legislature mems motives are not always
correctly understood But think the success OF
am personally concerned will devote my time to
the work till 500 it successfully completed il live
80 long"
"HOw soon do you expect to have the land ready
'Not later than spring, II nothing extraordinary
takes place We will then be ready for the
tion."
''what delay do yon anticpatey'
have false ideas in regard to our position in the mat
ter. They think that come what may. we cannot
do without their land and so in many instances they
become unreasonable. But even that will
benefit not only to, the State. but to the
rivers bounding Manhattan Island on the east and
west has long been needed. and only wonder tine
work has not been undertaken long before this time.
It would have added millions not only to the value
of property. but to our commercial interests"
"What about the cost?
"Aye. that il the main question. The State Of New
York in the first place. surrenders all its rights in
the land In the next place the owners OF the prop
erty which may be condemned will be compensated
by those whose property may be benefited accord
ing to the sments. We have yet been able to
calculate the amount of the assessments, as the
work is necessarily slow
CONTINGENT EXPENSES.
"How will the contingent expenses be defrayed?s
"The contingent expenses will be very small, for
We are proceeding very economically"
You need counsel to investigate the titles to the
Eyes; but that item Of expenditure will be taxed
on the general assessment"
Glow often are your meetings held?
well very frequently. General Smith. our pros
ident, has been in Washington and called
within the past week regularly as usual. But in
the coming and succeeding weeks we intend to push
the project through 1t IL our intention to complete
our labors within three months"
"What will be the cost to the UnitedlStates govern.
ment for the deepening Of the channelT'
''Ah. now you have put knotty question. I
would say that it cannot be done for less than
$20OO.Ooo. But General Newton will be best able to
tell you about that. As far the Commissioners
concerned the land will be condemned aud turned
to him within tie time / have mentioned"
Commissioner Grace takes very hopeful view Of
the project. He says that the property have
thus tar shown great dispo ositon to aid the Com
m,ssioners in the furtherance of the scheme. some
trifng technicaties have delayed the negotiations,
but he Is satisfied that the work will fairly under
way BY the nrst OF May According to his statement
the channel will in some places DO sunk from fifteen
to eighteen feet.
General Newton expresses the opinion that tho
natural effect of the tides will be deepen the cham
mel of tue canal. The Commissioners will hold
another meeting on the return Of General Smith
from Washington