The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-02-23

NEWARK, Feb. %, 1890. Although
the prospects Of much work being
done this season on the new
Water Supply plant of Newark
were not cheerful when the autumn
closed with little accomplished, the
open weather has made it possible to
prosecute the great task with amaz
ing rapidity. Not only have the sur
veys been completed and the lines laid
out, but much has been done in clear
ing ground and in road building.
Over three miles of new road marks
the site of the big lake by encircling
it, and at other points the engineers
have been obliged to elevate public
roads 60 keep them out of the water
which will cover their present situa-
ton when the dams are built. Tire
remainder of the work has consisted
and still consists OF exploring and de
yeloping the sites of the dams
The visitor to the region located by
the company frequently finds himself
on the verge of q grave-like excava-
fion. Scores of these are to be seen in
the valley at Oak Ridge, and they are
merely indications of the work of the
engineers in determining the distance
to and the nature of the bed rock I'M
DERIVING the soil and drift.
AN EXAMINATION OF THE SITE.
A reporter paid visit to the valley
Of the Pequannock ON Tuesday. go
ing directly to Oak Ridge station on
the New York, Susquehanna and
D@afl i,
east and few flakes of snow were
Paterson city. When the wild
valley of the Pequannock was
reached and the train began to
climb from the edge of Pompton
Plains up the incline toward Butler.
occasional patches of blue could be
seen through the thin gray clouds
which hung low on the mountains.
Above Smiths Mills at an altitude of
$50 feet, region of hoar frost was
entered, and out the mountain sides
as well as in the valley the leafless
trees were draped in ghostly white by
the rhine encasing every twig and
branch. Occasionally CLEAN of sun
light breaking through the clouds
cast a silvery sheen over the FROST
enveloped scenery, and promised to
quickly dispel the glory of the pic
ture- The view of that silver-eneased
valley was an inspiring one, but one
which few artists would dare to trans
fer to canvas and incur the criticism
of those who never have had the
pleasure of seeing such beautiful
phase of nature. A fog lying between
the hills had CONCEALED during the
tsf hi L.
presence of the fine ice in the air and
on the trees. At Charlottesburg the
steadily climbing train ran out Of this
region of frost, and at Newfoundland
the sun was shining brightly. and
blue sky, with swiftly-inoving. fieecy
clouds. hung over the valley
NEWFOUNDLAND AND THE PEQUAN-
Mock
The village of Newfoundland lies in
the centre of an almost circular pla-
teau several miles in width and 700
feet above tidewater Tt is walled by
lofty hills and, no doubt was once
the bed of an extensive lake fed by
Pequannock River. When ranging
through the valley of the river seek
ing a reservoir site the engineers of
the water speculation gazed with
covetous eyes on the great basin and
turned away in sorrow. 1t had all the
natural advantages which they sought
and would have made storage reger-
Voir as large as Greenwood Lake and
with twenty times the watershed to
feed it, but the disadvantages out
weighed the advantages. The rich
little village of Newfoundland would
have to be purchased, and besides this
great tanks and pumping stations of
the old pipe line, and the track and
the buildings of the Sugquehanna
road are located there. 1t was too
costly for consideration, and the en-
Rineers Went further without faring
much worse Oak Ridge is about three
miles from Newfoundland by the road
aud a mile further by the winding
river. About one mile west of the
store at Oak Ridge, on the road lead
ing to Milton, white truss bridge
crosses the Pequanock River. North
OF this bridge the valley stretches be-
fore the eye until it abruptly ends at
the base OF a mountain, whose ton is
1882 feet above the sea level Directly
behind this mountain lies bunker
pond, which in itself is a fine storage
reservoir. At the base of the mount
ain is settlement known as Wallace
Corners, and between this little cIus-
ter Of farm-houses and the white
bridge at Oak Ridge is the principal
part of the Reservoir possessions
Of the East Jersey Water Company.
THE GREAT RESERVOIR.
1t is a valley nearly three miles in
length, with hills on each side which
ascend gradually to the mountains,
and the imaginative engineer, stand
ing on the crown of one of these foot
hills, can see in his minds eye a lake
filing up the space at his feet and
stretching away to the north with
many windings, with bays and capes.
and with an island or two to
break the monotony of the surface.
1T will be lake a mile in width in one
or two places and except at the dam
not less than quarter of mile wide
anywhere. The exact location of the
dam has not been decided upon. but
portable rock drill, an ingenious