The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-05-17
THE GREAT SHORE FRONT.
ELEMEN1S THAT DETERMINE IT'S
RELA1TYE VALUES.

Terminus Slipping on into the Rivers
The hearing In the great Railroad certio-
rari cases which has been in progress before
Supreme Court Commissioner Cassidy, in
Sites & Harrison's office in this city, and
the very careful testimony of Mr. E. W.
Harrison the only witness sworn so far
show that, in assessing the values Of Rail-
road property, nothing was left by the State
Assessors to haphazard, guess or sirmise, no
careless Investigations we're made. but that
the State fortified itself on every hand with
the records, and had the story of the re-
cords backed and corroborated by the
Judgment and opinion of local real estate
experts, before finally determining the
values. The examination in progress there
relates only to the assessments made upon
the possessions of the Central Railroad of
New Jersey, and up to this point has coy.
cred little beyond those of the Company's
possessions resting in:thls County; but the
methods pursued all over the State as to
all the Railroads by the surveyors and ex-
perts, under the instructions doubtless of
the State Board of Ass ss, are illustrated
by the methods described by Mr.. Harrison
as having been followed in determining the
taxable value of the Central property in
this County. These methods have been
generally outlined in other issues CT the
SUNDAY TATTLER. Some additional details
may interest the reader Then, to begin
with, it may be said that, as ali the lands
covered and used by the Central for Rail-
road purposes in the stretch between
Communipaw and the Long Bridge over
Newark Bay, are not of equal value, the
road was for the purpose of appraisal
divided into sections Each section had a
marked value of its own. This value has
been ascertained by searches showing the
prices for which adjoining and contiguous
pieces of property have been sold, and by
making due allowances for depreciation or
appreciation in values since the dates of
the sales. It would seem, from Mr.
Harrison's testimony, that preferences have
been given to sales effected in the several
neighborhoods in years of little real estate
activity-so as that no injustice might be
done to the railway by imposing exorbltant
values upon their real estate. Most of
these sales were between individuals owning
tracts contiguous to the railroad property
marked out for assessment; but there are
many deeds from the New Jersey Land and
Improvement Company bearing up the es-
Inmates of the experts. In some instances
the railroad is itself quoted in support of
the States figures. An average value of
So, 900 per acre is placed by the State As
SCISSORS, for instance, upon the Port john
ston Coaling Station at Bayonne. The es-
innate is based upon the considerations for
countless transfers of property right around
it, and beyond that the Central is shown
to have made lease of % 032 on the basis
of So, 900 value per acre. This is only cited
as an illustration of the methods employed
in fixing the values. The value of every
section is thus ascertained from the values
of contiguous property shown in deeds of
transfer; and equal care has been taken to
fix a fair and proper estimate upon the
value of each of the other appraised sec
tons into which the road has been mapped.
In his testimony, Mr.. Harrison gives the
date of each transfer with which COMPARE
son was made, the consideration money,
the size of the tract conveyed, and the
names of the parties to it, and shows upon
what basis of valuation, by the acre and by
the city lot, the transfers proceed. And in
all cases they bear out the estimates he has
placed on the railroad property. The tes-
timony is monotonous because of its almost
,finical particularly.
w u6u, uOW0NoI, H6 UEdACu6Q Oub HUG bu6
question of the valuation of
TERMINAL LANDS,
his evidence, besides being interesting
presented some novel points. The Cen
trails terminal property is considered by
railroad men and engineers, he says, to be
one Of the most advantageously situated,
and, by reason of its shape, one of the
most valuable terminal properties belong
ing to any railroad terminating on the har-
Dor of New York He has half dozen
reasons for this opinion. 1t is almost I'M
mediately opposite the Battery, and so near
the mouth of the river that its freight floats
can be towed without encountering the ice
This one advantage represents an enor-
nous money value in the course of the
years trade. 1t is, in the second place,
outside the busy portion of Jersey City. No
streets cross its yard No gatemen, to pre-
serve life, are necessary, as on the Penn
sylvania. It has a further advantage
in being accessible from the West without
the expense of cutting through great hills,
as the Pennsylvania has been forced to do
to reach its water front, or of tunneling,
as the Erie and Lackawanna and West
Shore have had to do to reach theirs. The
length of the yard-a whole mile-is fac
tor in the point of advantage. Long trains
can be drilled; it is not necessary to cut
them up into small sections. Fewer drill
engines and consequently fewer train
hands are therefore needed. While the
Central has a yard running a mile
inland, the Pennsylvania yard has depth
of only 1000 feet, and at Harsimus pos
sible depth, when filled in, of 2,400 feet;
the Erie's ardepth of 2, 100 feet; the Lacka-
wanna's of $500 feet; the West Shores of
only 1900 feet. Then in order to show an
additional advantage, in the fact that the
Central can utilize its shore fropt for less
money than other railroads can utilize
theirs for, Mr. Harrison made general re-
view of the shore fronts. The water priv
lege ceases on the north at point oppo-
site S0th street, New York. There the
bluffs of the Palisades descend perpen-
dicularly into theriver. From there south
TO Bergen Point the total shore front OF
the county measures 10000 lineal feet
over 10 miles. OF this, $4,000 feet was in
January, 1884, owned by the various Rail-
road Companies. OF the $4,000 feet, the
Central has $4,000 -one half, and more
the three Canal Companies 1900 feet; the
Steamship Companies, 1900 feet; the
Hoboken Land and improvement Com.
pany $500 feet; the Jersey Associates 800
the Standard Oil Company 4,100, and
other corporations 5000. From the fact
that the Palisades tread so closely upon the
river and from the fact that the river il
very deep there. and cribbing would be
attended with vast expense, Mr.. Harrison
concludes that II 900 feet of the northern
most stretch OF water front approaching
1.-THE Palisades is of little value for terminal
purposes. The West Shore and Buffalo,
Vh6se yards are furthest north, have suf
fered from the disadvantage, not only il
the narrow MSS of their yard, but in this
other respect, They haQ to fill out into
water so or go feet deep. The sinking O.
cribs there was great expense, and no
attended with satisfactory results after all