The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-06-08
FACTORY POLLUTION.
The Horrors Contributed to
the PassaiC River at
the City of That
Name.
DYE. GREASE, CHEMICALS.
Tints That Spread Hundreds of
Yards-Dundee Canals Con-
tributi0n.
DYE. GREASE, CHEMICALS

Passaic is one of the most important
manufacturing cities in this State, and its
immense woollen and print mills are
known all over the country. The dve
stuff used by these print works necessar-
lily contains vast quantities OF matter that
if taken into the human system is detri-
mental to health. Every drop of Passaic
water that is consumed by the people of
this city contains portion of this dye re-
fuse as may be seen from the following
After passed the Erie Railroad bridge
that leads into Passaic City. on my voyage
of inspection up the river, first noticed
the big chemical works of Kenzie &
Ward. This concern manufactures dye
material on the east side of the river and
almost opposite the first sewer in Passaic.
The DRAWINGS from the dye works run
into the river and mingles with the
sewage from the pipe opposite. 1t is
strong combination and is at any time
able to knock out man OF perfect health
If opportunity is given it..
few rods further on an open drain
takes the place of a sewer for two fac
tories on the east side of the river and
until recently the refuse from a dozen
or more houses was emptied into this
natural drain. Inspector Leake sue
ceeded in stopping this pollution. Leav-
Ing this point l found myself opposite
Passaic City. The river was covered with
an oily, shiny coating. The water was
thick and black aud emitted foul cd or.
River street sewer refuse in many IN
| stances being lighter than the thick
water f1oated on top of the stream. The
water when not black was of almost every
| color in the rainbow. In one place it
| would be bright red. then blue, then
green. and so on, being discolored by the
| refuse from the factories. Opposite the
| River street sewer the water is very shall
| low. Before the sewer was built, 1t was
very steep at this point. Where rowboat
ca mot go now, steamboat could have
gone once. This shallow water is the re-
suit of the solid refuse from the sewer
gradually forming bar.
HALF MILE DYED.
When Reed & Barry's Dundee Dye and
| Print Works were reached the water was
| frighriul to contemplate as beverage.
| 1t was foul beyond description. This fac
| tory, when 1t empties its refuse into the
| river, discolors 1t for half mile. III the
| print works has been using blue dye. the
river becomes blue; if by chance several
colors are used the river becomes as va
| riegated in color as a comic opera cos
| tune. This mill is fed by the Dundee
| Canal. through which vast quantities of
| Paterson sewage pass to empty into the
| Passaic River and defile it,. The huge
water wheel in the canal used by
Reed & Barry stirs up the vile
water, and the odor that comes from
| it is horrible. 1t drains the sewage from
| Paterson and the refuse from factories
and the drainage for miles about into one
| liquid mass of foul filth, and after having
been thoroughly mixed, the water, II this
| vile combination may be called water,
passes into the Passaic few rods away
and then floats with the current to the
| Jersey City intake for distribution in this
| city. In this distribution. no partiality is
| shown, and the rich and the poor. the old
and the young, the well and the i'll, all
receive an equal share of the filth callsd
| Passaic water.
On the banks of the Passaic River just
above the Dundee Canal are the woollen
mills of A. Bach & Son. To prevent the
public from seeing the mill matter which
| is drained from these mills. five covered
| drains descend beneath the river and
empty the refuse far below the black and
| oily suface of the stream. When thus filth
| finally climbs through the thick water to
the top, it is frequently one-fourth of
mile from the factory. The refuse from
this factory is enormous for these hve
drain pipes are all from fourteen inches to
| two feet in diameter. Through them dye
matter of every hue passes, besides refuse
impossible to describe. But a few rods
| further up the stream the Worthing
Satinet Works are situated. This concern
| also drains beneath the surface of the
water for fear that the public should see
| and protest against the vile stuH drained
| into the river.
A BLOOD RED TIDE.
| The next and most horrible exhibition
| of the disregard mill owners have for the
| condition of the Passaic water was OBJ
served at the Passaic Print Works. Here
| from q private sever one foot square was
| shot a strong force of water, the color of
| blood rushing at tremendous velacity
| down the hill and into the river. The
| outlet of this sewer was four feet above
| the surface of the black water of the
| river. This red dye completely hid fro NJ
| view the black and fifty appearance of
| the water and for blocks around the river
was red. The red dye refuse made the
| water disgusting to look at. A few yalds
| from this spot, a 14-inch sewer was
| empting black dye water from the
same mill. The black water was of an
1ndiscribably filthy appearance. 1t was
| not simply water discolored by dye stutfs
| There appeared to be a greasy filth ming
\ ling with ii. This foul stuff mixed with
| the red dye and together they 1loated
| down toward the Jersey City intake. Ga
| Saturdays when these works empty their
| reservoirs of dye refuse, the river at Pas
| sale beggars description. In addition to
| this frightful condition Of affairs large
| covered drain delivers constantly How
ing stream OF nltl DeDGaGn Gne surface o.
| the water. The force from this sewer
| was so strong that it caused the greensh
| oily substance to bubble on the surface.
| Executing the mill managers, no person
| living can imagine how great quantity
| of poison comes from these mills
| daily to pollute the water of the Passaic.
| The solid refuse from all of these factor
| les, the managers say, is carted away ard
| is not thrown into the river. This may be
| true: but the river does not look 50. The
mill owners have already declared that If
| the law suit pending on behalf of Jersey
| City City and Newark against Passaic
| City to prevent the latter from building a
| new system of sewers to empty into the
| river is decided in favor Of Passaic City,
they will dump their solid matter into
| the river. They claim that they will have
| the same right to make Passaic River u
| huge sewer as the city will have.
DUNDEE CHEMICAL WORKS.
The Whatsoever l observed.that emptied
into the river was the one from the Dun
dee Company's Chemical Works. The
drain was two feet in diameter and the
water was foul in the extreme. A dis
gusting odor came from il. This sewer
was above the surface of the river and
| was very glad to get my nostrils few
rods from il. This concern has another
and smaller drain which is equally dis
gushing.
Thewater which came from Rittenhaus's
mauufactory, a wooilen mill, was of tuky
blackness when saw it. An hour latel
| ,r,oc rOcoib1v hlua red or Sona OthnI