The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-06

1T IS Pure WATER
Where Mr.. P. H. Flynn
Will Get the New Sup
ply For This City.
AMONG THE NORTH JERSEY HILLS
Crystal Lakes and Sparkling
Streams There In
Abundance

| Men whose opinions on the subject are
worth anything say there is no purer or
more wholesome water in the State OF
| New Jersey than that which P. H. Flynn
will furnish the city under the contract
which the Mayor has just approved. All
who have visited that region which is
drained by the Rockaway River, common
| ly spoken of in this connection as the
| Rockaway watershed agree to that.
People who have visited the town
| of Boonton will remember that al
| most the first thing that attracted
their attention was the sound of rush
| ing water which came from the woods
opposite the station. There was some
charm about the sound which impelled
them to cross the tracks to see what they
thought must be waterfall. They found
themselves on the brink of a wooded val
ley. through the bottom of which was
rushing and tumbling oyer big boulders
turbulent stream which looked more
like a stream of white foam than of
water.
That is the Rockaway River. 1t con-
tinues on it's foamy course about mile
and half below that course to Old Boom
ton, where it branches out into broad
will be built and the water for Jersey City
will enter the steel conduit which conveys
it to this city Thus the first glimpse one
gets of the Rockaway at Boonton is
most pleasant one, which does not leave
you as you follow it to it's sources. True,
as you pass through the towns of Boon
ton and Dover and the river becomes still
and placid, its waters discolored with the
refuse of the towns and the factories on
its banks, that impression is somewhat
marred. But according to the contract
this is all to be taken care of by sewers.
At Upper Dover the river and the Morris
Canal come together and the water is re-
markably clear. This is due to the fact
that the canal gets its water at this point
from Lake Hopatcong, which is part OF
the system from which the water to be
furnished by the Flynn contract will be
taken. Almost every one in this state
knows what the water of Lake Hopatcong
is OF the purest and most wholesome
and to be had in abundance all the year
round, the municipality is indeed fortu-
nate which can draw its water supply
from that source. Nestled among the hills
OF North Jersey. draining an area OF
mountainous country, it has no equal as
a water supply and in itself is valuable
acquisition. But this is not the only body
of pure and wholesome mountain water
which is included in Mr.. Flynn's system.
That section of New Jersey is rough,
hilly and rocky. 1t is in fact so rocky
and hily that it could never be cleared
and cultivated with any profit. Neither
can it ever be cleared for grazing pur-
poses and from all present indications will
remain wild though picturesque wilder
ness. deserted both by man and beast.
Wandering through this wood entangled
waste you every now and then suddenly
come out into some clearing which seems
to have been scooped out of the hills to
make a place for the picturesque little
lake which nestles there what astonishes
one who sees these lakes for the first time,
especially if he comes from Jersey City,
is the pureness and sweetness of the
water You can step down to the edge
of any of these little lakes, take cup
and dipping up the water drink It and
on any of these bodies Of water when
thirsty, simply dip their cups in the lake
wherever they happen to be. The largest
of the lakes are Longwood Valley, Green
Pond, Denmarks Lake, Split Rock Lake,
Dixons Pond and Shongum Lake. Be
sides this there are innumerable small
streams of pure mountain water which
finally find their way into the Rockaway
River in the 1221a miles of shed which it
drains.
Every element which goes to purify
water is to be found in this shed. The
streams which, together with the numer-
Gus springs, feed these natural reservoirs,
flow over rocks in the sunlight and are
mostly shallow thus conforming to the
conditions which, it is said, purify water.
There is no exaggeration in saying the
city could not have obtained better
source of supply in this State