Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-20

JtiSeys iiI6 hdChdW MINI INdllIOhu diiQ
the Lehigh Valley Railroad of New
~Jersey--have each Il carrying capacity
OF not less than ten million tons an
nnually. So low have frelghts fallen
that the tolls on the Canal will scarce
ly pay the wag OF boatmen necessary
tn conduct the boats through the Canal.
! The Governors Commission in their re-.
port of 1906 (p. 36)) stated that the
method of canal transportation. while
ingenious and unique and in its time
useful, is at present obsolete and I'M
profitable. Apparently the Canal can
not be operated either by the Com
pany itself or by its Lessee or by the
State without a large annual loss"
DESCRIPTION OF THE CANAL.
The Canal from ~Phillipsburg TO Jer-
sey City has a length of about one
hundred and two miles and, including
the navigable feeder from Mountain
| View to Pompton, an aggregate length
OF LOG. SO miles. 1t passes from Phillips
burg through Stanhope. Hopatcong,
Dover, Boonton, Paterson, Bloomfield
n Newark to Jersey city. The
waters feeding 1t on the west or Dele
ware side OF the divide come from the
Musconetcong River and it's tributaries
and It's source. Lake Hopatcong. Lake
Hopatcong. being at the summit, also
feeds some waters eastward therefrom
TO the Canal. The easterly or Hudson
River side of the Canal is fed also from
the Rockaway River at Boonton and
the PoInpton River at Mountain View.
The chief reservoir for the western
part of the Canal is Lake Hopatcong,
n that for the eastern part of the
Canal is Greenwood Lake. Both of
these lakes are expressly mentioned In
the charter and supplements thereto,
and the Company is given express au-
thorlty to impound and use their
waters. The State OF New York by
! Act 1855 also gave the Canal Company
express authority to use the waters OF
Greenwood Lake so far as they lay in
the state OF New York, on the making
OF compensation TO the owners of the
land flooded.
Under these powers the Canal Com
pany acquired a considerable amount
of and at the outlet of Lake Hopat-
cong, constructed a dam eleven feet
high, thereby flooding forty-fve acres
OF its own land and 415 acres Of the
lands OF Riparian owners, acquiring
this latter right through condemns-
ton. At the outlet of Greenwood
Lake. the Company acquired 66S acres
of land, built a dam 16 feet high, which
flooded Its own land and the lands OF
others to h extent of about 800 ceres,
greatly enlarging Greenwood Lake,
From Lake Hopatcong water is drawn
to the extent necessary to keep up thu
Canal, the draught usually being from
four-to seven feet in the summer, and
the water passing down through 8
feeder q mile long to the summit leve
Of the Canal. From Greenwood Lake
water is drawn in like ann to about
the same extent. II passes down the
WanaQue River and Pompton feeder
to Mountain View, where It enters the
Canal. Formerly, boats coming into
the Canal at Ph~illlpsburg came across
the Delaware River and could pass III
the Lehigh River by the Canal and
slack water navigation therein pro-
vided by the State of Pennsylvania,
but floods destroyed the dams and the
Canal along the Lehigh River, and
that connection has been entirely cut
off for some years,
STATE GRANTS TO THE CANAL
COMPANY.
BY the Act of 1928 the Legislature au-
thorized the Company to continue the
Canal ITO the waters of the Hudson
River at or near the City of Jersey"
The City of Jersey was then what was
called the Town of Jersey, and chiefly
owned by the Associates of the Jersey
Company which the Legislature had
incorporated in 1904 and who had laid
out old Powles Hook into lots ana
streets and had taken in a considerable
portion of the Communipaw Bay In
their map. To them the State had
granted CP. l.. 1904, p. 36D the privilege
of erecting or building docks, wharves,
and piers IN Hudson's River and the
bays thereof so far as necessary for
the improvement Of their property Or
the benefit of commerce.. and to appro-
pirate the anne to their W use. From
them the Canal Company bought by
Warranty Deeds tracts of land in Com
munipaw Bay reaching out to the Hud-
son River front. whereon they con
structed the Canal basin now com
monty called the "Old Basin" which
remain practically as IL was con-
strueted seventy-flve years ago. II is a
plot of about -four hundred feet wide
on the Hudson River front and about
thirteen hundred feet long. II is the
terminus of the Canal.
In 1867 Up. L. p. 251) the State grant
ed to the Canal Company what Is
known as the big Basin Immediately
to the south Of the Old Basin. being a
tract of $50 feet wide on the Hudson
| River with n depth Of 1865 feet extend
ing back to washington street. The
width was reduced by the terms of the
grant to $40 feet, the requirement being
that q passageway through the grant
from east to west should always be
kept open at least $50 feet wide This
grant provided for a rental of 2 $4,000 q
year to be paid to the State, which at
! n time might be committed on a
seven per cent. basis or making n
payment of 1851. ZAP. This was an enor-
nous rental, by far the highest price
ever inserted in any grant made by
the State up TO that time. The Canal
| Company practically made no use Of
this land, but paid the rent thereon
until 1871, after which the Lessee, the
Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. paid
the rent. This rent was TO continue
during the continuance of the charter
of the Morris Canal Company. after
which the lands granted, with the i'm
provements thereon, should evert to
the state on the same terms provided
in the original charter.
In 1859 the General Riparian Act was
49,