Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-03-06
CANAL MOVE
IS EXPLAINED
Delaware and Raritan Water
way Not Regarded as Good
Project As Other Plan

In all of the discussion relative to
the building of the proposed ship
canal across New Jersey from Nor
gans to Bordentown it is evident
dent that many persons are not in
formed regarding the situation, par
ticularly when they seem to imagine
that it would be better to have such
a waterways constructed over the
route of the present Delaware Il
Raritan Canal. Engineers who have
made a survey of this route report
that it is not a good proposition
from an engineering standpoint.
Those who favor the present route
for a ship canal fail to remember
that the Delaware & Raritan Canal
passes through the city of Trenton,
and therefore intersects many of the
principal streets of the community
as well as crossing the liue of g
eral railroads there. 1t would be i'm
possible to build a ship canal
through Trenton except at a tremen-
dous cost. The present canal passes
the main line of the Pennsylvania
Railroad by an overhead viaduct.
Figure the cost of such an under
taking for a ship canal.
Again, the flood conditions of the
Raritan river are. known to many
persons, and engineers declare this
too would be another objection to
a ship canal along the present route.
There is enough trouble in the Della
ware Sc Raritan, Canal at the time
of some of the big freshets, and with
= larger waterway it would be worse
In some manner, exactly how is
not known, the impression got out
in some quarters that it would cost
S425, 000, 900 to construct a ship
canal across New Jersey. This is
nearly twenty times the actual esti-
mate of competent engineers. One
of the best known men in the canal
building business, Colonel Brown,
who is now building a section of the
Chesapeake canal, stated before the
New Jersey legislature recently that
he estimated such a waterway could
be built or dug for approximately
$40, 000, 900. In brief, with improved
methods and a lower cost for operat-
ing a plant, the cost is about what
it was estimated it would cost before
h ewar.
Some short-sighted individuals
seem to think thai a ship canal
would be of little benefit to New
Brunswick. Once a cargo of freight
is loaded on a vessel the difference in
transporting it ten to fifteen miles is
of little moment. The building of a
ship canal across the state would az
ford an outlet for water freight to
the south and to Philadelphia. In
al probability it would be of a class
that would not go through the Della
ware land Raritan canal.
AS a matter of fact since the canal
f3 As miles in length to ~BordentoWn,
the distance from New Brunswick
through the proposed ship canal
would be less than the trip owe the
Delaware and Raritan canal because
the ship canal will be only SO miles
from Morgan to Bordentown. There
fore, II argument regarding the
distance to be traversed from New
Brunswick to Philadelphia via the
proposed ship canal is without force.
At the present time a boat with
more than 8 feet draft cannot &C
through the Delaware & Raritan
canal to Trenton or Philadelphia but
must go down the Jersey coast,
around Cape May and then up the
Delaware river. The ship canal
would lessen the distance from New
York to Philadelphia 1877 miles.
IL-liIC OpSloNINS ~ lliS pb4iNAIiS VI
The ship canal along the line of the
present Delaware and Raritan canal
10 Trenton could be overcome by the
engineers, it is estimated that SUCH a
waterway would cost at least from
s125, 600, 900 to $3.50, 100000, and
then would have less advantages
than the proposed ship canal.
All the State of New Jersey has
been asked to do by the federal gov
eminent is to provide the right of
way across the state. This, it is I'M
derstood, will cost not more than
81, 600, 900. The transfer of the
$S75,000 to be received from the
abandonment of the Morris canal
would, it is believed, be sufficient to
meet the cost of acquiring the right
of way.-Therefore, men interested
IN deep water development r hope
full that the legislature may act fav-
orably upon the bill introduced by
Assemblyman H. G.. Hoffman, of
South Amboy, since it's adoption will
mean two years to the proposed ship
canal.