The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1901-03-08
FOR Pure WATER.
Jersey City's Interest In the
Abandonment Of Nor
ris Canal.
Mr.. EDWARDS'S ARGUMENT
Senate Committee Gives a
Hearing On the Mea-
sure.
[special to ..The jersey cIty News"


TRENTON, March $, ls0l.-Senator
Hudspeth's bill providing for the aoan-
donment of the Morris Canal was the
subject of a protraoted hearing before
the Committee on Corporations OF the
Senate yesterday afternoon. The prin-
oipal speakers were former Senator Will
lam d. Edwards, representing the jersey
City Water Supply Company, and Will
lam H. Corbin, who appeared for the
Morris Canal and Banking Company ana
the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company,
which is the lessee Several of the SEN
ators and others in the Senate chamber
took part in the discussion. Both Mr.
Edwards and Mr.. Corbin advanced strong
arguments in favor of the passage OF
the bill. and at the conclusion of the
hearing Senator Stokes, the chairman OIL
the committee. announced that further
hearing would be given next Wednesday.
IJpon the opening of the hearing Sem
atoy Stokes invited some one favoring the
measure to open the argument, and Sen
ator Edwards took the floor. He began
bv stating that he appeared principally
on behalf of the Jersey City Water sup
plv Company" He then recited the con-
tract that company had with Jersey City.
sew City with that contract that the peo-
nla hava voted overwhelmingly to buy
the supply, and they propose to pay W.
100000 for 1t.
1--WE nnd it will be advisable for US to
,at rid of the Morris Canal. The way the
canal figures is this. 1t runs across the
state from Philnpsburg to Jersey City.
The total capacity of any boat on the
vafr AfU
viii see it is rather small affair 1t Is
RIM an a series of levels, the high point
being Lake Hopatceng. The canal from
tho lake tn the city Of Dover, is fed by
the waters of Lake Hopatcong. When It
refs To Dover. the river and the canal
become one, and thereafter the waters Oh
Ial.a Honatcong flow into Rooksway riv-
err. from which the Jersey City water
s,,nnlv is to be taken. The canal leaves
the river again at Powerville and flows
INTO the river at Boonton The result is
that at Boonton we will take up some OF
the water running from the canal. we
want to get rid of this canal water II we
can Then. again. there will always be
friction between the canal people and the
water company, on the ground of draw
ing water from the river. The rights be-
tween the two companies have been well
defined by agreement, but we fear that
the enforcement of that agreement VIII
lead to endless litigation.
Il knew that a bill for the purpose Of
permitting the company to abandon the
canal was introduced in the Legislature of
1858 and passed both Houses, and so
went to the canal company, in whom l
have absolutely no interest, personal or
m
you to abandon this canal and will give
YOU something for your water rights If
we could remove the canal and secure its
water rights we would have for Jersey
city not a supply of seventy million gal
Ions but of one hundred million gallons
In other words, gentlemen, we could
give to Jersey City, through the medium
of this bill, a water plant costing for the
extra millions plus the cost OF plpe-lne'
less than s400, 900. The average consump-
ton in Jersey City is increasing over loo,-
oo0 900 gallons year. We believe it is a
great deal better for them to make an
ample arrangement now than to be IN the
position of the city of Newark and nave
a water supply absolutely limited to hfty
million gallons day. When made the
proposition to the canal company the an
swer was, If you will get the necessary
legislation we will do as you wish Jer-
sew city desires that. I expected the Cor
poration Counsel Of Jersey City, Congress-
man McDermott, here to show you the
Importance of this. He will probably come
later. if you desire. Besides the desire
for the water supply, the people OF Jer-
sew City are anxious to get RID OF lnls
nuisance that the canal creates cross
the canal four or five times day and
have not in four or FIVE years seen a sim
m,e boat pass through it. 1 don't believe
. boat a week goes through the canal
Mr.. Corbin, in opening his address, said
the Morris Canal and Banking Company
and the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com
many were in an unfortunate position, as
their true relation to the pending bill had
been misunderstood. 1t was the lnten-
tien of the companies to simply abandon
the canal, If the bill passed. Then he
proceeded to give a history of the canal,
furnishing the members of the commits
tee with printed statements for pur-
poses of reference.
.sThe Morris Canal was chartered in
1924" he said, ''for the building of wa
ter-way from the Delaware river to the
Passaic river at Newark. year or two
later supplement was passed tor tne
avtension of the canal to the waters of
the Hudson river at Jersey City. It was
subsequently enlarged to permit the tram
sporting of larger boats. Under these
charters the canal was constructed for a
length of 1O2 miles. The course of the
canal is necessarily very crooked, and 1t is
upwards of twenty miles longer than the
Lehigh Valley Railroad, which runs be-
tween the same points and is not OF it
self any too straight. The chief duty OF
the canal in the early days was the tran
sportation of coal. Then another impor-
tant duty was added, namely. the carry
ing of iron ore. The traffic greatly IN
creased until it reached the summit in
1871, when it carried 1000 tons, of which
one half was coal.
ssIn that very year, the Morris Canal q
Banking Company and the Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company came to this Legisia-
ture and asked that the canal company
be allowed to lease the property to the
railroad, and the lease was made. From
that day to this the traffic has steadily
sarunk until the miscellaneous tratric
from the people along the canal was but
six thousand tons last year. Moreover,
The price or carrying has fallen just one
half. The total traffic on the canal last