The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-11-21
Works Commissioners In
spect Reclamation Of
ROsS'S Meadow Land.
FAVOR EARLY PURCHASE
Location Mere Speculation, De-
clares Eggers, Who Thinks
Newark Might Well Afford
to Buy Before Prices, Low
Now, Begin to Jump.

Taking a launch at the Eureka Yacht
Works and a number Of engineers went
down the Passaic River to Bound
Creek, separating Essex and Union
counties, and for a couple of hours IN
spected the work of retaining the
meadows, which P. Sanford Ross has
been carrying on for a couple of years.
Adjacent to this tract of land owned
by Mr.. Ross and running for a width of
1000 feet from the water back about
a mile to the Newark and Elizabeth
Branch of the Central Railroad, lies
the meadow site most favored by the
board as that which should be secured
for the city dock purposes contemplate
ed in the Lane dock bill, sanction of
which by popular vote election day, al
lows the city $1,000, 900 for new docks.
After the trip the commissioners
were pretty we'll convinced that 1t will
be feasible for the city to acquire
tensive LAND holdings. in this section for
Improvement in much the same man
ner that the Ross property Is now
being improved. They pointed out that
by such a course a two-fold benefit
would accrue. The land development,
it was argued. would attract factory
interests, and would also, by reason of
the dock work to be undertaken, prove
a lucrative business venture for the
municipality. A further statement than
this zone of the commissioners cared
to make, except to lay emphasis on the
assertion that they have not yet de-
cided on a plan of procedure under
their newly acquired power.
1T will probably be a year at least"
Commissioner Augustus F. Eggers
said, before the work is commenced,
and at this time it is mere guesswork
to say where the docks will be located
or what lands will be purchased in con-
nection with the work. Our trip was
for the sole purpose of looking the
ground over, so the commissioners may
have a better idea of h project. The
work Mr.. Ross is doing suggests 1t
would be practical for the board. in
building docks. to acquire a good deal
of land which might be reclaimed with
soil taken up in dredging"
That the commissioners are well i'm
pressed with this phase of the pro-
jected improvement was apparent from
conversation during the inspection.
They grew enthusiastic about the pros
poets for moneymaking in undertaking
a meadow fill.
why" said one of the commission
ers, there is the railroad on one hand
and the bay on the other with a mile of
level land between them. With the CO.
operation of the government in dredg-
ing out the channel and the proper ia
cilities for spreading the river bottom
over the meadows, the best sort of fac
tory sites can be secured at a cost that
is low compared with what they would
bring in the market. / understand that
this Ross tract with the fill will not
cost over 500. 900. and it will sell for
$1,000,000."
In filing in the Ross tract a gang of
about fifty men have been engaged for
two years. Dredges dump the I'LL In
Bound Creek, where it is again picked
up and carried off by donkey engines.
Men can be employed at the work for
all but three months of the year. L..
II Ross. a son Of P. Sanford Ross,
who took the board out to the works
in a launch, said that but one difficulty
had been met in making the fill, and
that was not serious. In the spring
several acres, over which sand had
been spread to the depth of five feet
sank SO that the top was but a foot
above tide water. The engineers ex-
planned this was because the meadow
crust had broken. The bottom, how
ever, is sound now, and no further
trouble is anticipated in completing the
project. Meadow land in this vicinity,
it is said by real estate dealers, can
now be acquired at prices ranging from
$50 to $3.50 per acre.