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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Canals:
The Delaware and Raritan Canal, extending from New Brunswick to
Bordentown, was in its heyday one of the three most important canals in
the United States. Chartered in 1830, it began inauspiciously, for in the
same year the legislature permitted the Camden and Amboy Railroad to
parallel it from South Amboy to Bordentown. To avoid being overcome
by the railroad, the canal owners joined their stock with the Camden and
Amboy but maintained separate operation. The combination thus obtained
a monopoly on traffic between New York and Philadelphia, all passengers
being allotted to the railroad and all freight to the canal.
The Delaware and Raritan's prosperity rested largely on coal from the
Schuylkill Navigation System, the first link in the transport of coal from
the Schuylkill section to the sea. But association with the Schuylkill later
proved disastrous, for floods, mismanagement, and railroad competition
after the Civil War crippled its trade. In 1871 the Pennsylvania Railroad
leased the Camden and Amboy and with it the ailing canal. The new
owner refused to permit coal from the Schuylkill mines, now controlled
by the rival Reading line, to pass through. This loss of 1,000,000 tons of
freight a year eliminated the Delaware and Raritan as an important waterway. It limped along doing a little business, until recently, when the Pennsylvania surrendered the title to the State. At present the Federal and
State Governments are considering a plan to build a ship canal through
the same territory.
Increased activity in the northwestern mining district and the
south central agricultural area led to the construction of two canals to hasten
shipments and enlarge the State's share of the Pennsylvania trade. The
Morris Canal, chartered in 1824, passed through the iron-mining and industrial district from Jersey City to Phillipsburg, connecting the Delaware
and Lehigh Rivers with the Passaic and the sea at Newark Bay. It was
completed in 1831 at a cost of $2,850,000, but never realized the hopes
of its backers. Hampered by a channel that was never large enough to
handle the heavy traffic, it paid so poorly that in 10 years it was closed.
Reopened in 1841, it closed again, and later was leased in perpetuity to
the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Recently both the railroad and the canal
owners surrendered their rights to the State, but kept the Jersey City
terminal of "the ditch." In Newark the city has constructed a subway for
trolley lines in the canal bed.
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