The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-07-27
PALISADES PARK.
Work of the New Jersey
and New York Commits
sionerS Begun.
THE PICTURESQUE BLUFF INSPECTED
Doubts Whether the National Gov
ernmeHt Could Acquire the
Rocks by Condemna-
ton.
PICTURESQUE BLUFF INSPECTED
ton.

/ IlOn Dy the GlM6o fStdtSS
of the Palisades of the Hudson as a
| National Reservation, in order to pro
tect and preserve unmutilated that world
renowned feature of natural scenery
have made a thorough examination OF
the physical condition of the territory
which it is proposed to save from fur
Their destruction.
On July 10, they viewed from a boat
which passed slowly up the Hudson
from Hoboken to Haverstraw, a few hun
dred feet from the shore, the lofty per-
pendicular cliffs with an irregular pile
of fragments against their face towering
| from 300 to 500 feet above the river. On
| July IS they drove and walked along
the summit of the mountain looking
down upon the river, from Fort Lee 10
| the State line, opposite Hastings. The
| weather on these trips was as varied
as the cenery, and the Commissioners
were enabled to obtain a very fair idea
| of all the aspects under which the pro-
posed reservation may be viewed, except
in a snow storm.
A STRIKING FEATURE.
AS a striking feature in the scenery.
| the Palisades may be said to begin OPP
posite the southern end of Riverside
| lark, Ill oGNtlly-oCSOhiA NAN ~
York. The bluff here at Gutenberg is
| about 100 feet in height, and this eleva-
| tion continues for a mile or more to
| Bulrs Ferry. The face of the cliff
| along this reach has been largely en-
croached upon by quarries, and the
| water front occupied for business pur-
poses to such an extent as to destroy
IT'S beauty and make It unworthy of any
attempt at preservation.
For the next mile, extending to oppos-
lite the tomb of General Grant, the bluff
| recedes from the river, and there is
| nothing distinctive in the scenery. For
| two miles northward from the Grant
| Monument. however, and extending up
as far as Fort washington on the New
York shore and Fort Lee on the New
| Jersey. while the bluff is pack from the
river shore about a quarter of a mile,
and business occupies the plateau at Its
base. She mountain rises to an elevation
of 800 f.et above the river. and the east
ward S. re is covered with one of the
most magnificent growths of natural
timber to be found in this section OF the
United States. If any effort is to be
made to create a park and pleasure
ground on the New Jersey shore, TINS
tract of about 1900 acres ought to be pre-
served in its natural condition, leaving
the river front for business purposes
SCENES OF UNPARALLELED
BEAUTY.
TT is on the stretch of twelve miles
from Fort Lee northward to the village
Of Palisades just across the New YORK.
line, that the attention of the Commis
sioners and of the public generally is
- Al ,a,A-% +;ron Hvh
Vertical cliffs of basalt rising perpen-
dicularly to a height of 800 feet at Fort
Lee up to $50 feet near the State line
within from 200 to 500 feet of the waters
edge. the intervening space being oc-
cupied by the fragments which have fal'
len from the cliffs in by-gone ages, and
which now form a rocky slope from ion
to 800 feet in height. overgrown with for
ests. and with the Hudson River a mile
wide flowing at it's base, present a scene
Of natural beauty unparalleled in the
world and u~nequalled in grandeur.
Approaching Fort Lee from the soutl
on the river, a beautifully rounded, for
est-covered hill is seen sloping to tn
waters edge and beyond it for tw'
miles a half, to the Englewood pro
montory, the cliff extends APPARENT,
l unDfOken. BuC proceeding up LIE IlNe
for a mile, a scene of devastation meet
the view. For a quarter of a mile alon:
the river front not only is the slor,'
removed, but the face of the cliff :tsel
has been blasted away, and stone crush
ers are at work and tugs and barge
lying at the long wharves to carry ava,
their product. For miles up stream thi
SCARED and mutilated precipice dis
figures the landscape, and marks III
spot where Carpenter Brothers are a
work. just above this, at Coytesyille
| Ubara a oanprO1S oitiZan has given
plot of land upon the cliff for a publi
square, are the now abandoned quarrie
of Ross & Sanford.
For three miles farther north, tn
face of the bluffs is in it's natural state
but at that point, opposite Riverdale
determined effort to deface the cliffs
and make both shores of the river un
%tenantable for residents, as much as pos
sible. Quarries have been opened TO
about 400 feet along the face of tn
cliff, and great gashes made in the for
est,covered slopes. Morning, noon an,
fired, reverberating up and down tn
river, and shaking all the buildings fror
Fort Washington to HASTINGS
Stone breakers are in constant oper
alton, and docks have been erected, with
out, however. permission. from the Ri
parian Commissioners of New Jersey, VIII
are now being urged to sanction the con
tractors Interpretation of the law passe
by the last New Jersey Legislature for
bidding the mutilation of the face of tn
Palisades, on the ground that that terri
applies only to the vertical wall of basal
800 feet from the waters edge. and doe
not include the talus or slope of rock
fragments. The geologists and engineer
of both New York and New Jersey cor
test this Interpretation. as do also law
yers. How the Riparian COMMISSIONS
will look upon it remains to be seen.
North from this point for SIX mile
there are occasional spots where tn
slope has been denuded of its timber an
the surface rock partly stripped, but n
old scars are becoming effaced by tn
growth of new timber.
THE PTERMONT GORGE.
AT a point about a mile and a hal
below the State line. and in front of tn
property of the Palisades Land Compan
principally of members of Congress VIII
divided up among themselves a frontag
of about two miles on the cliff nea
Bumpy Hook, there are two quarrie
owned respectively by the New Yor
Rock Crushing Company and p. Ga
legher, who are working them and fun
nishing concrete stone and paving block
but with less mutilation of the face an
less noise h the quarries below. T
the north of these Quarries, the Pal
to Sneden's Landing, where the eli
falls off rapidly to the Piermont Gorg'
through which the Erie Railroad reache
, the Hudson River.
The river trip vas diversified by tn
: passage of the numerous boats which pl
steamboats, laden with passengers, fleet
Of barges and canal boats in tow of tug
; and excursion steamers and barge
l crowded with pleasure seekers.
INSPECTING, THE SUMMIT. :.
The land trip on the summit of the eli
! -. diffarent ON the whole stretch r