The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-05-14


| amounting to about H. 0O,O 900 gallons per
day, which is the amount flowing east
wardly from Lake Hopatcong. according
to the testimony of their own engineers
The Morris Canal. under its original
charter DAVIS of 1924, page 15D by sec
ton l. is authorized to purchase, re-
eeive in donation, possess. enjoy and re-
tain all such lands, enements. heredifa-
ments. water streams and water priv
ileges, rights, goods. chattels and effects
of every description whatsoever, as may
be necessary for carrying into effect any
of the provisions of this act.
BY the Ith section it is further pro-
vided:-
s.And also, 1t shall be lawlSl for said
Company to raise the waters in the Green
Pond and Lake Hopatcong Commonly
called the Great PondD. damming the
same, and to use the surplus waters thus
saved and so much water of said ponds
as shall be necessary for SAID canal 70
take and convey said waters unto said
Canal" upon payment of damages to the
owners.
In order to make it clear that the Legis-
lature only intended to allow the Canal
Company to take such waters as were
absolutely necessary for the purposes of
navigation. it was further provided IN the
9th section as
THAT the first, fifth, sixth and eleventh
sections, and every other part of this
act, shall be so construed as that the said
corporation shall not be authorized to
take or appropriate to the use of aid
canal, or under color or pretense that the
same are necessary therefor, any lands,
waters, or streams of water, but such
only as are actually necessary for the
erection and use of said canal, for the
%urposes of navigation only, and its
necessary towing paths and works, as
specified in the fifth section of this act;
and that the said corporation shall not
be authorized to demise, grant, alien, or
sell any such lands, waters, or streams
taken or pretended to be taken, or re-
quired for the use of said canal as afore-
said, or any part thereof, to n
person or persons whomsoeyer Except
ing only such lands as may be received
by them by donation, or acquired of them
by private contraet) and that the said
corporation or any other person, shall not
be authorized to use or Appropriate any
other purpose than the mere navigation
of said canal; and all waters not used
for that purpose shall be permitted, with
out unnecessary interruption, TO flow into
their ancient and natural courses and
channels, and that the twentieth section
of this act shall be so construed as to ex-
tend to damages sustained not only by
the erection of the said canal in the first
instance. but also by the subsequent oper-
atoms Of the company. from time 70 time,
act before contained to the contrary not
Thus it viii be seen that the original
grant to the Morris Canal of the right to
acquire waters was limited to the strict
necessities of the Company; this right
was described in one of the law suits
against the Company as "a pinched
grant,
BY the Supplement- to the Act Gaws of
1886. page 2G2) then the Greenwood Lake
or Long Pond was added as a feeder, the
9TH Section above referred to was amend
ed Sc that the same should not be consid-
cred as to prohibit and prevent the said
from letting to use the water necessary
for the purposes of the canal in working
machinery other than that requisite for
the planes between BoOnton and Newark,
provided that nothing in this act con-
tanned shall be construed to authorize the
said Company to interfere with the
rights or privileges of other persons, in
the use of the waters of this State, for
the said purpose without their consent,
and provided also that he said Company
shall not carry on or engage in any
manufacturing business
In 1871 laws of 1871. page 4H) when the
lease to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com
pany was in contemplation, it was pro-
yided that such lease might be made and
that the IA Company might use the
surplus waterloo the Canal, or any of its
feeders not needed for the purposes of
navigation,in furnishing. and supplying the
inhabitants of any city, town or village,
along the line of said canal, or in the vi
entity thereof, with a sufficient quantity
Of pure and wholesome water for manu-
featuring or domestic and other purposes,
subject always to the rights of the So
ciety and other riparian owners. The
Act does not increase the power OF the
Canal Company to acquire additional wa
Ter rights, but simply to dispose Of them
if not to the detriment of navigation.
Navigatio on the Morris Canal reach
ed its highest point about the year 1866.
Since that time, there has been a gradual
decline in the use of the Cana for the
purposes of navigation, until now, 1t is
well known, thai it is operated at a loss
and has been for a number of years: on
its request in 1888, authority was given By
the Legislature to the Morris Canal, to
surrender its franchise of navigation, n
its only reason for abandoning the inten-
ton so evidenced, has been the hope that
If would be of some value as a menace
to the cities of Northern New Jersey, en-
deavoring to obtain a supply of pure and
wholesome water.
The following table shows the deteriora-
ton of this property
Gross earnings of Morris Canal n
Banking Company, as reported to the
State.-