The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-02-19
IMPOUNDHD WATERS.
Newark's Big Reservoirs
At Oak Ridge and
Clinton.
PERILS OF THE SITUATION.
No Danger of the Leaks or Shortage,
But There May Be a Suspicion
of oil sometime.
OF THE SITUATION.
Special to he .yersey civ MOLE

~t
NEWARK, Feb. 10, 1892 The W big
reservoirs which are to supply Newark
with water present II desolate appearance
just now and are not Inviting places to
visit on n cold day. Bare rocks, ~leafless
trees, dreary wastes of ice and patches of
snow in the dead brown grass do not
contribute pleasing tones 10 a landscape
under a dull gray sky. nor do the ragged
banks of earth, torn by the picks aud
shovels Of the workmen, add anything
10 the beauty or interest of the scene.
Cliuton Falls was bad enough In the heat
OF The late summer when the earth was
parched and everything in the neighbor-
hood was covered with yellow dust.
Then, however. there was life in the
scene. Engines were putting. long lines
of horses aud carts were passing to and
fro. aud fully six hundred picturesque
1;olians were tearing at the h~illsides.
Spreading concrete in the core moulds, or
piling mp stone on the slopes of the dam.
Now there IL seldom u sign of life to be
seen except when Keeper Briggs energies
from his office just below the dam, or
when Il committee from Newark is in
speeding the work.
Clinton reese, voir, viewed from the top
of the dam, is Disappointing. The big
dam is impressive enough; the sheet Of
water beyond looks insignificant. This is
due to the point of view, however, the
greater part of the huge basin being hid
den away in the upper valley. There is u
point on the hillside, away to the west of
tue reservoir, from which u most cotnpre-
hensive view of the new lake can be OBJ
tanned, but there is nc place from which
the eye can grasp it all. 1t meanders
away among the hills, forming numerous
bays and coves, and in the early summer
II drive over the road encircllng the basin
will present a score Of pleasing views.
AN EXCELLENT ClNDER PATH.
The big dam is faced with cobbies, and
UPON it's crest 10 a cinder path, fiauked on
either side with soil which has been sown
with grass seed. The spillway is a de-
preston 800 feet wide on the eastern end
Of the dam. and here the core is capped
with granite and the fiattened slopes are
faced with tightly ranImed gravel on the
substructure of stone. Viewed from the
bridge at Newfoundland, the dam seems
like a perpendicular wall Of masonry
thrown across the valley. 1t looms up in
great proportions, and causes a shiyer to
run through the observers frame when he
considers the possibilities of tile whole
structure giving way under the pressure
of line water. There is little danger Of
that occurring. however. as the dam is
thoroughly constructed and the concrete
NOL0 Ii III ktC VIII
the spillway has been made wide enough
and deep enough for any
While at Clinton the reporter asked Mr..
Briggs to show him the twenty-five
million gallon leak. which one of the New
ark papers recently described. Mr.,
Briggs smiled and led the way from the
office to a small trough near the foot of
the lam. This spout was made by natl
ing two eight-inch boards together and
%plopping them up between Two stakes.
Through the gutter a triangular stream
of water, two inches wide, is constantly
flowing into a hole, from which 1t trickles
away into the stream below. The spout
was put there TO assist in measuring the
flow. 1t fills a tub holding eleven gallons
and a fraction in thirty-two seconds, and
the flow has not increased or diminished
perceptiblv since the water was shut IN.
II is measured everv day, and is con
stautly under the eye of Mr.. Briggs. The
total leakage is probably $4,000 gallons In
twenty -four hours, and it was the same
when there wal eighteen feet of water
in the reservoir as it is now when there
is twenty-five feet or more. The water is
CONSTANTLY increasing in the big basin,
ana il was within eleven feet of the over
flow on Wednesday morning. The water
W itch leaks ont through the spout has
been traced back to a natural assure in
the rock near the gatehouse, and it is
not in any way due to adefect in the con
~struction of the dam. The water which
escapes from this seam Is not lost, be
cause it flows into the bro ok which joins
the Pequannock on the meadows. just
above the bridge at Newfoundland, and
far above rheintake dam.
A ATTER FoR SURPRISE.
1t is considered rather extraordinary
that there are no other leaks in the Clin-
ton dam. Nowhere except at the wooden
spout, can more than the slightest
trickle of water be seen below the dan.
1t is Il surprise, however, that the reser-
voir should be so long filling up and it is
quite probable that the engineers are dis
appointed In it,. Three lakes back of it
are supposed to feed IL, but. their overflow
must be slight aud we may expect to find
q very low stage of water and a great
deal of muddy slopes in view in the dry
season il Clinton has to contribute to the
flow of the Pequannock. During the
dryest spell last year all of the water in
the brook could have been
through a six-iuch pipe, 1t is said.
AT Oak Ridge Reservoir the prospect is
more encouraging. The water has been
running over The rough rocks of the spill
way for many weeks and keeping up a
modest dow in the Peauannock. Tue
suiliWay mere is natural aud most pic
turesque. A wide space was cleared GU
the ledge of rock east OF the dam, and
when the water filed the reservoir the
surplus poured over the ledge and fell ~
a cataract in the deep cutting in which
the pltenOuSe ID DutlU. LIE SLreAm HOW
ing into the chasm last week was
not SO copious as 1t has been on several
occasions during the winter, buS Sill IL
was grand enough to produce a pretty eff
feet, and the opposite walls of the cut
were incrusted with fantastic accumula-
lions of snow white ice several feet thick.
This comes from the freezing of the spray
as it rises from the gorge. 1t is so thick
at present that it com pletely hides the
veXatious leak which is reported to exist
in the cut near the wall of the gate house.
This is said to be a big leak through Il
natural seam in the bed rock, but the
fact is tina the engineers do not Know
any more about 1t than do The iaymen
who have seen it. 1t appears to flow
front between the side walls OF the gate
house anu the natural wall OF rock In the
cut. and if this Is the truth of the matter
1t Is due TO defective work in building
the stone work against the face OF the
wall. II is said thai IL this is The case 1t
can probably be stopped when the water
is drawn down.
NO WASTE LIKELY.
AS in the case OF The small leak at GIN
ton, the water is not wasted, and It's I w
can be compensated for by adjusting the
valves iu the gate house. Below the Oak
Ridge dam there are several unimportaut
leaks. one OF which was there as a spring
while the dam was being constructed and
has since grown slightly in volumn, but
is not important enough TO create any
anxiety. The basin rock under the Oak
RIDGE reservoir is shaly and tull OF seams