Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-07-14
A Sketch Of Peril Amboys Industries and Views IN the Factory Dst+

and made up into trains to be taken t.
the mines to be loaded again.
Loaded cars are switched to thu
lower yard from the upper, onto n o
the docks. If for A dock, the line O
cars is sent down any one of its twelve
tracks. An engine dragging a ran
car with devices for projecting arms
is run on a parallel track. AT a sig
nal the engine and ram start forward
gain momentum enough to push the
car downward on its backward trip
The arm of the ram is extended out
to reach and hold the first a which
is pushed violently down the track tc
the scales, weighed in transit and SEM
to the chutes, where the car is unload
ed of its contents.
In the early history of the road
horses were used for the handling Of
loaded and light cars on top of the
docks, in the process of shipment. II
was in 1881 when engines and rams
replaced horses for this work.
The uninitiated who see the long
cars loaded with coal drilling Oh the
tressles above the State street bridge,
can gain very little idea of the bust
ness interests and Importance of the
Lehigh Valleys work in Perth Am
boy. Yet the Lehigh Valley has one
of the best coal shipping ports in the
United States and shipped over its
Perth Amboy docks during the year of
1000, two and one half millions tons
of coal.
As most of the coal shipped here
is anthracite, the strike among the
miners in Pennsylvania was felt sever
ly and the shipment of coal greatly
reduced. Since then, however, the
shipment has reached and passed its
former figures.
While the Lehigh Valley was said
to have come to Perth Amboy, in
reality, at that time, it was far north
Of the city. The tracks were laid
through a woods and it was a wild
and u~nfrequented territory where the
docks are now located. State street,
as has been said, then being 4 country
road, was the only near of communi-
cation between the docks and the city
and when the docks began work, Civ
ing employment to hundreds of men,
outside capital came in and new bust
ness houses we're established. These
merchants chose State street for a
location so as to catch this army OF
men as they passed back and forth.
The Danes were quick to take adj
vantage of this boom and several of
our citizens. who are o well-to-do
can date their small fortues back to
the humble little store in State street.
Not only did State street begin to
develop, but the coming of the LIE
high Valley was the beginning of that
thickly populated section now known
as North Amboy, comprising all Of
the sixth ward. Men brought here
by the Lehigh Valley, we're accom-.
panied by their families. Many object
ed to walking SO far to town, and as
the woods was cleared away, they be,
gan building homes near the tracks
AS the settlement increased, there
was a demand for stores and it was
not long before that section was al
most a little town of itself, In fact
today, to visit North Amboy and wall
up Hall ovenue, which is the bushes.
center of the district, one is impressed
with the extent of trade there carried
on independent of the larger merchan
tile houses down town. State stree
is no longer a country road and Nortl
Amboy has ceased to be a settlemen
by itself. The thoroughfare is nov
one of the main arteries of a thriving
city and is built up solid with factories
!, stores and dwellings, far beyond tn
Lehigh Valley tracks and now th,
!, population is crowding on towar'
) Woodbridge Creek, the northern limit
of the city. The start for all this is
5 however, traced directly to tn
coming of the. Lehigh Valley.
/ After the Lehigh Valley Railroa'
) had shown the way the attention O
manufacturers was turned in this di
|, rection. The excellent harbor wa