Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-08-04
WORK ON The
HARBOR HERE
Col. LiVermOre's Report Shows
What Has Been Done in
Raritan Bay.

81
I'll Colonel w. r. Livermore, of the
: engineer corps of the United States
z army, with headquarters in New
York, has just submitted to the chief
sof engineers his annual report of the
2 work done during the past year upon,
! and present condition of, the rivers
; and harbors in northern New Jersey.
zColonel Livermore's report is in part
as follows:
Improvement of Matawan Creek
: Work on the project for the %expendi-
ture of an allotment of $4,000 from
the consolidated appropriation of
. March 8, 1905. providing for dredg-
. ing, restoration and maintenance of
3 the channel, was completed March
: 81 last. Dredging was done near
the Pennsylvania Clay Company's
: docks, and at a point opposite the
3 mouth of Oyster creek, while the bar
~obstructing the channel at the mouth
, of Matawan creek was removed.
: Much trouble was experienced,
] through 10 fault of the contractor,
I because of the slumping into the
dredged area of the west bank, re-
. quiring redredging near the clay COM
pany's dock for $50 feet and fifteen
, to twenty-five feet wide to a depth of
four to five feet, and for the full
width of the creek for 200 feet in an
other place. About two-thirds of the
] work proposed has been completed.
Since 1881 there has been $51,120
appropriated for this project, of
which amount $315.61 was actually
returned to the treasury.
improvement of Keyport Harbor-l
This project provided for the expendi-
ture of an allotment of $4,000 during
the past year, which work was COM
pleted May IL last. The total area of
channel restored under contract was
1850 feet long and about fifty feet
wide, extending from Keyport
wharves to the vicinity of. the old
New York and Freehold railroad
dock. The depth removed was from
eight to twelve feet at mean low wat
err. About three-fourths of the work
proposed under the present project
has been completed. The project has
had total appropriations since 1882
of $60,475.
Improvement of Cheesequake
Creek-Nothing has been done on
this improvement since 1886, until
it was allotted $1,000 from the con
solidated appropriation of 1905. That
appropriation has been used during
the "a in restoring the channel of
the creek for a length of 1900 feet,
with a width of fifty feet and a depth
of five to six feet from a point nea
the highway bridge to the four foot
channel at Raritan bay. At the re-
quest of interested parties for a con-
tinuation of the work to the five-foot
curve in Raritan bay, the secretary
of war allotted another 81 900 from
the emergency fund, and this is to
be used to continue the restoration
of the channel. About four-ninths
of the work proposed on this i'm
provement has been completed. This
project has had in all since 1880 a
total appropriation of $4,000.
Colonel Livermore submits in this
connection the following extract from
a letter from Captain J. B. Collins, of
Keansburg:
Since ~Cheesequake creek was first
the neighborhood has doubled, and
since the freight line which l oper-
ate was started it's freights have in
creased over 200 per cent. This re-
suit was directly due to the improve
ment of the channel, and notwith-
standing the fact that there are a few
shoal spots in the creek which make
it necessary for the boat to run with
the tide. If these places were dug
out the boat could go in and out at
any time of the day, and this, of
course, would mean increased
freights and better facilities for ship
ping.
The principal benefit SO far from
the work done this year comes from
the fact that If the work had not
been done l would have had to aban-
don the route and The farmers and
other shippers would have lost a
cheap and convenient way to market
their produce and obtain their goods
and merchandise from the city.
In addition to the foregoing facts,
want to mention thai there is a
movement on foot to make a ship
ping point at Morgan for freight
from points not now reached. This
will somewhat increase the freights
of the boats running in and out of
the creek, and will be directly due
to the improvements made.