Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-02-24
NAVIGATION ON
PASSA|C RIVER
CLOSED BY ICE
Rivermen Declare Conditions
Are the Worst in Past
Fourteen Years.
FROZEN FROM SHORE TO
SHORE IN MANY PLACES
Fleet Commanders Assert Ef-
fort TO Break Channel Would
Be Dangerous.

Thick ice in Newark Bay practi-
cally tied up navigation on the Pas
sale river today. In many parts of
the upper river the ice extends the
whole way across the stream, all
though in the centre it is not more
than an inch thick. A few boats
passed up and down the upper
stream. but no captains dared to
enter the river from the bay or to
make their way into the bay from
the river.
Old riverInen say the conditions at
the Passaic mouth are worse than at
any other time in the last thirteen or
fourteen years. Commanders of the
fleets OF big manufacturing firms in
this city, which do much of their
shipping by water, adiVesd the main
ofilces today to make arrangements
to send goods that must be put out
emmediately. by rail. Unless the
weather moderates Unexpectedly, the
rivermen said, it will be impossible
TO take their boats in or out of the
Passaic river for two or three days.
Near the shores the ice is several
inches thick, and in places where the
few boats that piled the river today
Viz if1h III Ntih up tHt liiili ltG III
river venturesome person probably
could walk across the, river. All
along the bank of the stream, where
the Commercial docks lie, boats are
tied up. Commanders of these said
today they probably could take their
craft up and down the river at slow
speed. but would not venture to steer
for the bay There are open spaces
in the ice ali along the river as far
as heavy navigation usually pene-
trates, but where traffic, even with
an open river, is slack the ice ex-
tends from shore to shore.
= In the offices of p. Ballantine &
Sons, brewers, it was said today the
captains of their boats will not at
tempt river trips until the ice has
been broken up in the bay. None of
the boats were on the river yesterday, Z,
1t was said, and the commanders of
the craft reported today that it was
out of the question TO dare the
clogged stream for two or three days.
In the offices of Listers Agricultural
Works II was said the boats of the
concern are. all out in the bay. and
indications we're they probably would
not make river trip for day or
two.
Tie Newark Express and Trans
pfi totiOh sOiiptifiJ tteu a iftBIb nope
fuI outlook. Two of its boats were
plying the river yesterday, an official
of the company said. and indications
were that. attempts would be made to
carry on business as usual.
4 1t was said al the Butterworth-Jud-
son Company that. since that firm
does little shipping by water, the ice
in the river and bay had hampered
it little. officials of the company,
whose plant is near the bay, said,
however, that conditions appeared to
be worse than in many years.
AT Peter Kroll's boathouse, at the
foot of Chester avenue, the river was
practically frozen across. There one
with sufficient daring might have
rneyed across the river on foot.
although nobody attempted the trip.
Several persons, however, tested the
strength of the ice near the shore and
found 1t sufficient to bear their weight
for fifty feet or so.
Practically the same conditions OBJ
tanned at the Newark boathouse at
the Central railroad bridge. The
river was frozen solid there.