Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-01-14

from each other by shallow inlets and unapPfoaena0e ron ,e SO
excepting in craft DRAWING onlv a few feet OF water. VI al natural
harbors. as tbev se rnaaa TO- modern commerce, there are none. OF
arthclal harbors capable OF receiving a st@"ei u an IA 800
tonnage there is one-the GovernmentbwIt haroor OF Coio oprms
Inlet at Cape May. For the purposes Oh n go Ill
harbor facilities of Cape May Counys outside Waterfront are H.
They may be dismissed with the simple "e"e It'd '' ~
not exist.
The Inside" waterfront of Cape May County is known locally
as the bay shore.
1t consists Of a stretch of coastline, extending from the Maurice
RIver, which separates Cumberland from APE wa GUM - N'p
May Point-a distance of about twenJioor miles.
At the mouth of Dennis Greek and extending into the Bay tor a
although former1v deem enough to float vessels of considerable size. A
shipbuilding industry of no mean proportions founshed at n time On
Dennis Creek. three masted schooners Of 1900 tons burden having
been launched there in the memory Of people u middle age.
Off Dias Greek, just south Of the line OF Cape May Court House.
there is eight feet OF water within one5hat mile Of shore.
Opposite Pierces Point, north o cape May ron" ad ohenal
mile from shore, there is eleven feet 81 water
From this point south the depth Of water gradually increases
nearer and nearer the shore, until twelve eet Oh water IS snow one,
quarter of a mile off Coxal Creek, Town Bank II new England
Creek and twenty-seven feet less than 500 yards from the Life Saving
Station.
The chart. further. shows the presence OF the Bay Shore Channel
as If is called which cuts in close to Cape May Point and runs parallel
to the shore line, northwardly to a spot opposite Green Creek. The
soundings in this channel indicate from nineteen to twenty-seVen 1eet
The chart proves conclusively that there is ample depth of water
(27 feet), sufficient to float a large ocean-going steamer close to tn
shore at Cape May Point, and that this depth is maintained north
wardly at a slightly increasing distance from shore until at a spot
three and one-haf miles north of Cape May Point opposite Coxal
Greek the 23-foot depth is one-half mile from shore.
Finally. as is well known, there is IN excellent Ship Channel from
the ocean, connecting with the Bay Shore Channel, giving access for
deep draueht vessels from the open sea to the Bay Shore waterfront.
An inspection OF the shore line Of the region delneated by the
photographic office chart proves it to be most interesting-a series
OF sandy beaches washed by the waters OF Delaware Bay, ridged for
the most part with sand dunes covered with cedars, bushes and coarse
wire grass, which, at Town Bank, becomes bluffs OF gravel hty feet
high, commanding a magnificent view of Delaware Bay and the mouth
of the Delaware River. At this spot the beach also exists at the foot
of the bluffs from the summit, of which no land is visible, the Bay
being about forty miles wide here.
The Bay Shore line is indented with numerous creeks as one goes
north, each of which has its local name, the most important Of which
are: New England Creek, Coxall Creek, Fishing Creek, Dias Creek,
Goshen Greek and Dennis Creek. The only cape on the Bay Shore is
Pierces Point-not a very marked projection.
IDEAL INDUSTRIAL PLANT SITES
There is no locality on the Atlantic seaboard outside of New York
and New England more advantageously situated than the Bay Shore
of Cape May County.
For the establishment Of great manufacturing enterprises,
especially those requiring the handling Of vast quantities of raw
materials, which should be brough in by water, the Bay Shore is most
srategically located.
Here steel-making and its attendant industries could be and will
be carried on under extremely favorable conditions.
In the fabrication of steel there are required three kinds of raw
material all heavy communication ore, limestone and coke.
On the Bay Shore of Cape May County these products can be
assembled and handled most economically-the iron ore from Cuba,
Chile, Sweden, Spain and Russia; the coal and coke from Norfolk,
the Schuy1ki1 and the Lehigh; and the limestone from the same Or
even more adjacent sources of supply. If American ores be needed,
they could be brought down from the lake region across New York
and New Jersey by barges of 1900 tons capacity upon the completion
of the New York and New Jersey Barge Canals.
The finished products-ppe, plates, shapes, bars, rails, etc, could
be shipped in turn, by water, to the markets of the world.
If railroad shipments are required for inbound or outbound
freight, there are two trunk lines Of railroad, the Reading and the
Pennsylvania, traversing the County from north to south-to Cape
May City, in fact.
Access to Philadelphia may be had in one hundred minutes by fast
express service, while New York can be reached in three hours or less.
There r over sixty trains daily both ways in summer on the two
roads.
Delaware Bay region and the lower Delaware River littora1 lie in the
character of its water-front-deep water near a high, dry, shore line,
together with proximity to the sea and ample supplementary shipping
facilities by rail.
These conditions cannot be duplicated OF either hank IF III Dal,-