The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-06-05

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| Germs fell to the bottom and aeratior
was constantly in operation. This led tc
a learned discourse on bacteria, bacilli
cocci and other small but highly import
ant members of Dame Natures family.
| Attention WAS then redirected to the
| dam, Mr.. Kennedy telling the party that
| just as soon as the pending trouble was
removed down from the quarries would
come the stone, and he had men ready
| to lay anywhere from 500 to 1000 yards
of masonry per day. Carriages then took
the visitors around the reservoir, as far
as the back DAM They were much sur
prised at the work of clearing done and
the immense sheet of water which the
area would ultimately put at the disposal
of Jersey City. There are few build
ings to be removed the poorhouse farm
and private houses, but that is matter
of a few months work. Each carriage
had one of the company's representatives
in it for the purpose of answering ques-
tions, and their time was fully occupied.
Never was such an inquisitive body OF
men, each of whom had a note of inter-
rogation in each eye and one on each
button of his coat. That's what they
were there for, to obtain information,
and they got it. Not a thing escaped
them, and no wonder the poor engineers
sweated at every pore under the search
ing examination.
If the visitors were surprised at the
work at the dam they were astonished at
the sight which met them as they en-
tered the rocky amphitheatre, where
huge blocks of stone are now being
10 ha liob+ of Sod
and fitted for the construction of the
dam. A locomotive and two not very
elegantly upholstered but very commodi-
Gus and airy observation cars carried the
party to the quarries. There were tons
and tons of rubble and ashlar dressed
rock all ready to be lowered on fat
cars and sent down the line to the dam,
where the big derricks will lower them
to their final destination. A large force
Of men were preparing for blasting and
others were loading loose rock into
scoops and then slung into the capacieus
maws of the crushers to come out in rat
tling showers of fine stone used in vari-
Gus ways. Dodging derrick chains and
passing cars over rocks and up tortuous
paths the visitors were led to the sum-
nit of the mountain whence could
be obtained the panorama of the new
water works. Here, after regaining their
wind, the party was photographed, and
during the operation a little mild fun
took place.
Good place to hold Board of Trade
meetings; you would always have a
quorum, Mr.. Mount" said one.
Eyes, and plenty of wind,'' added Mr..
Voorhees,.
1.-The Board of Trade too often sits on
this Mount" retorted the president amid
much laughter.
''Come, Mr.. President, unroll that map
and give US sermon on the Mount.
Don't think he knows the four beati-
tudes. Do you Mr.. Kennedy?" asked Mr..
Dear.
THE first is modification of the con-
tract" replied Mr.. Flynn's representative,
and a burst of laughter followed when
Mr.. Dear quietly added: "Yes, and the
second, third and fourth are the same"
Scrambling down the mountain to where
the special train was waiting the visi-
tors returned to the companies Offices
and thence drove to Boonton, where
dinner was ready. The bucolics of that
place having become so accustomed to
water inspecting parties that the arrival
created only mild excitement, one
jokel explaining to his friend at the door
of the hotel that it was a bunch of
politicians from Jersey City" After din
ner a visit was paid to a point this side
of Powerville for the purpose of studying
one phase of the Morris Canal question.
The canal, as most people know, follows
the Rockaway River from Dover down to
Boonton, where it leaves the river which
plunges down a rocky ravine to the south.
About nine miles west of Dover Mr.
Harrison explains, at the highest point
in the canal between the Hudson and the
Delaware, is Lake Hopatcong, made and
owned by the Canal Company. This lake
is naturally tributary to the Delaware
River. From this lake, the only source,
Is taken the water which keeps the
canal full fl the nine miles to Dover,
and then this water mixes with the
Rockaway River, the canal and river com
ing together at Dover. From Dover to
Boonten, ten miles. the canal is operated
by the mingled waters, and at Boonton
the canal retains enough of these mingled
waters to keep it full to the next feeder
at Pompton, about seven miles.
Long before the canal was opened the
water of the Rockaway had been used to
turn wheels at Old Boonton and other
places, and as tributary of the Pas
sale had become servient to the water
power plant at Paterson of the Society
for Establishing Useful Manufactures,
chartered at the beginning of the last
century. The whole flow of the Rocka-
way River was as much the property of
these mill owners as the land upon which
their mills stood.
'.This mingling of their water property
with the waters brought from Hopatcong
by the canal, was jealousy watched by
them for fear that some portion of it
might be carried away at Boonton, and
many times the charge was made, in the
courts of this State, that the Morris Canal
Company were not too particular about
restoring to the Rockaway, at Boonton,
the waters it had rightfully used in the
operation of its canal through the valley
above. Each time the answer of the
Morris Canal Company, supported by af-
fidavits, was that it diverted no more
water at Boonton than it put in at Dover
from Hopatcong. The last of these suits
was in 1873 They all failed because it
was shown to the satisfaction of the
courts that this answer was the truth
This is the state of the law and the
decisions today, and was the condition
at the time Mr.. Flynn made his bid.
Thus it will be seen that Mr.. Flynn's
Ia