The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-02-02
THE DUNDEE CANAL.
Can It Be Profitab1y Opened
to Navigation Again?
A BOARD OF TRADE DEMAND
History of the Waterway---The
Company Claims That the En-
terprise Would Be Useless.

PATERSON. Feb. 1, 1890. In view of
the recent demand for the opening of
the Dundee Canal to navigation made
so persistently by the Paterson Board
of Trade, a sketch of the canal and
the yicissitudes through which it has
passed will not be out OF place.
Over three score years have elapsed
since an act was passed by the New
Jersey Legislature authorizing John
S. Van Wrinkle and Brant Van Blar
cum to erect dam across the Passaic
River at point about one mile above
tide water, and although this was the
i first step taken, 1T was not until four
years after, in 1892 that any decided
measure was taken. It was in this
+ year that an act TO incorporate q COM
i pany known as the Dundee Manufac-
! turing Company was passed by the
! Legislature. The said company was
composed of Jacob d. Ryerson, Peter
/ M. Ryerson. Russell Stebbins, A. r.
/ Thompson and William NJ Chase,
/ and its OBJECT was to secure right
1 and promote for navigation the Pas
sale River and its tributaries. The
i company accomplished little towards
4 navigation until over a quarter of a
/ century later, in 1858, when the sur
/ vivors had supplement passed by
the Legislature and attached to the
original charter, authorizing them to
build the Dundee Canal for the pur-
pose of navigation and power for the
mills which were then contemplated
at Passaic. The canal was to extend
! from the point where Van Wrinkle
and Van Blarcom had secured the
right to erect the dam to the con-
/ fiuence of the Passaic River and
! Weasel Brook, a distance of two
miles. In these days freight and
/ passenger transportation was in its
/ infancy and the idea of building
i canal was to open a line of passage
/ from New York to Paterson.
AN OLD CHARTER.
An idea of its provisions is conveyed
/ in section of the charter. which
reads as follows:-
And be it enacted, That the said
company are hereby authorized to de-
mand and receive such sum and sums
/ of money for tolls and the transporta-
ton of persons and every species of
I property whatsoever on said canal and
canals, and such slack water naviga-
/ tion as they from time to time shall
think reasonable and proper, pro-
i vided that they shall not charge more
7 than at the rate of four cents per ton
per the mile toll for the transporta-
tion of every species of property. nor
more than five cents per mile toll for
carrying of each passenger on the said
canal or canals and the said river be-
tween the places aforesaid, provided,
also, that not more than one-haif the
rates of toll provided in this section
be charged farmers actually residing
on the line of the said improvements
for transporting lime or other ma
terials.
The provisions of this supplement
were all equally favorable to the com
pany, and the work of constructing
the canal and dam was begun. The
/ former was completed and the latter
nearly so when, in the early sixties,
the company became bankrupt and
the whole scheme w8s abandoned.
The lock at the dam was complete,
the gates and equipments all ready
/ for use, while the one at the southern
/
situated at a point near Jefferson
street in Passaic, was nearly so, but
has since rotted away, nothing but an
enormous pit remaining. The canal
was then fine piece of engineering
and was adequate to float vessels
/ drawing ten feet of water. But this
! much done, the navigation of the river
( remained to be established and that
constituted the greater part of the
undertaking. Several large reefs ex-
! listed between Passaic and Newark
4 which would have to be removed
even to allow small vessels to pass up.
j Then north OF the slack water, caused
1 by the dam to the suburbs of Pater-
son, We're several miles of shallow
water which would have to be deep
ened in order to allow the crafts to
1 reach their destination. These were
! the obstacles whichTose up and stared
I the insolvent company in the face,
and they, considering the revolution
of rates then being caused by the rail
roads, concluded to abandon the
scheme.
NEW OWNERS AND METHODS.
The principal officers of the COM
pany at that time were Mr. Allen.
/ president; Mr.. Atterbury, vice presi-
dent. and Mr.. Purson, secretary and
treasurer, all of Trenton. They held
the property until 1872, when they
sold it to a new company, formed un-
der the name of the Dundee Water
Power and Land Company.
The incorporates were z. Ii.
/ CheeveF, f. FL. Ammidown and
1 S. Tory, all of New York. 1t was
during the time OF unusual prosperity.
and they intended to convert the old
waterway into means to supply
power to the number of large mills
then being built, and later on, if adj
visable and practicable, open it for
navigation. The former was done,
but the latter scheme fell through, be-
cause OF the panic OF 1878 and the
4 overwhelming competition offered by
1 the railroads. Such movement
4 could only be n success under its orig
inal charter, which provided for the
transportation of passengers, etc. At
the time mentioned, after 1873. no pas
+ sengers would take transportation on
canal boats. and only slow and upper
ishable freight was shipped in that
manner. The scheme was again aban-
doned. Ia 1877, the general govern
ment had the reefs removed and
made the stream navigable for
vessels drawing not over six
feet of water at low tide.
This was done to enable lumber and