The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-01-19
HACKBNSACK MEADOWS
Curious Statistics Brought
Out by the New Drain
age Proposals.
Mr.. vERMEULE's FINE MAP
- !
Surprising Depth Of Water-Area
of the Marshes-AVerage
Depth Of Mud.
MR.. VERMEULE'S FINE MAP

eWs, Newark Bay and the two rivers OF
our valley are brought out by the latest
report of the State G%eologist and Ver-
meule's remarkable map which accom-
panies it. and shows the whole territory
from New Milford south to Staten Island,
on a scale of one mile to two inches,
which is the most generous scale upon
which @ny large maps have ever been
published in this State. This map shows
land elevations and depth of water in
feet, as well as the depth of mud on the
tide marshes.
The greatest depth of mud is twenty
feet, and the average is not over eight
feet, much of the meadow being only
four feet deep in peat mud and soft clay.
There are 1884 acres of tide marsh,
.465 acres of fresh meadows. between
Efzabethport and Hackensack, all of
which lies at or slightly above high tide.
The depth of water in the Haci1ensack
River is in, many places surprising. Vary
ing from II to is feet in the channel, be-
tween the mouth of the river and the
Newark and New York Railroad bridge,
it deepens to rs feet between that bridge
and the Plank Road bridge, and runs
from "a to 80 feet deep from there to the
Pennsylvania bridge. Gradually deepening
depth of 60 feet in the draw of the Pater-
SOM and Newark branch of the Erie,
(which at the point only 800 feet north
of the bridge. the depth is only 16 feet
below mean low tide. and below there and
the next point it shoals to 10 feet. Just
north of here. Snake Hill, a huge up
heaval of volcanic rock, rises 203 feet
| above the sea level, and the water which
washes its base is % feet deep. while a
few hundred feet north there is a depth
of 40 feet. At a point 1000 feet north OF
the draw of the Erie main line IS a
sounding of 4S feet, and at several places
| still further up the river 45, As and Al feet
are shown, with shallow places down to
IL feet between them. North of the Pater-
up as Little Ferry the deep holes range
down from ii to 80 feet, the latter sound
ing being made off the mouth of Over
peck Creek. which is sleeper than the
singular creek. AT its mouth it is Il feet
deep, and 1000 feet upstream there IS a
hole "A feet deep, above and below Wnlcn
the water is from II to IL feet in depth.
The singular thing about these holes as
h all along the Hackensack and IN
this creek they occur in soft, muddy DOT
tom. between banks, of blue mud meadow,
where it would be natural to expect that
the bottom of the stream would be al
most as level as its banks.
The Passaic has no deep noles. rs
depth is quite monotonous, running from
ten to fourteen feet in the channel. ana
showing only slight variation from the
Market street bridge to its mouth. Inc
deepest places in the bay are thirty-nve
feet. a thousand feet west of the BERGEN
Point Light and two thousand feet north
of the draw of the long bridge. At the
draw the depth is thirty feet.
An interesting point which is brought
out in this report in the discussion of the
subject of retaining the west meadows,
or Newark and Elizabeth meadows, by
dyking. is thai it can be done more cheap
" by doing it all at once than by reclaim
ing the Newark property alone. Only
1000 feet OF bansI vii be a1h NEEDED e ul # t Inc
uuire 49, 600 feet if the Newark holdings
alone were considered, as the whole length
of Bound Creek, from the bay to the up
land would have to be dyked, and this is
far greater han the distance from the
mouth of the creek to the Elizabethport
high ground.
By the more Comprehensive plan 7,0S1
acres could be reclaimed with 5000 feet
of bank. while by the effort for Newark
alone 49. Goo feet of bank would reclaim
whole 81. GOO acres of Newark and Hacken-
sack meadows can be reclaimed for 81 ,26S,-
400. which is allowing 20 per cent. over the
estimated cost sbo, for q. commences nth g sara with rms an
after charge of about 81 a year per acre
for pumping.
The town ofeKearny, has 4;5Oo acres OF
Newark 10000 acres, Clinton, 62S acres.
Elizabeth 2,45O acres and Jersey City 1,450
acres. The rest all belong to the several
districts up the Hackensack and west to
the unbroken ridge dividing that valley
from the PaSsaic.
The dyked meadow between Frank
Creek, in Kearny. n the H~ackensack,
has sunk from two or three feet since the.
land was imperfectly reclaimed in 1868.
Much of this was formerly a dense cedar
swamp, and the stumps and fallen trunks
can be seen from the trains at this day.
1t is estimated that the cost of an en-
bankment would be 81 a running foot if
the work was done by hand and eighty
five cents a foot if machinery was used
for ditching and banking. Cross banks,
: without the sheet piling of timber neces-
sary to the river banks, would cost sixty
cents a foot by hand and forty-ive cents
a foot for machine work.
The suggestion is made that much fill
ing could be done by dredging the bay
and river, thus improving the waterways
and raising the meadows at one opera
ton.
No plan is considered except as a tenn
porary expedient which does not contem-
plate pumping as an ultimate necessity
to get rid of sewage and flood water. as
~sluices, which might serve for a year or
two. would fail when the meadows had
shrunk, as they surely would after re-
clamation.