History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 54

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 54
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 54

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END OF ESSEX COUNTY.

Daniel Hilde

HISTORY

HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

CHAPTER 1.

Location-Geographical-Topographical-Ge I gical-Water Supply for Domestic Inc.

IItosox Coryry, so named in commemoration of Henry Hudson, who discovered and explored the North or Hudson River in 1609, is located on the eastern side of the State of New Jersey, opposite Manhattan Island, or New York City. It is bounded on the east by Hudson River and New York Bay ; on the south by the " Kill Von Kuhl," which sepa- rates this county from Staten Island, New York ; on the west by Newark Bay and Passaic River ; and on the north by Bergen County, of which Hudson was a part until its organization into a separate munici- pality, in 18-10.

Its area is the smallest in the State, embracing only 43.83 square miles, while its population is second, Essex being the largest, and contained in 1880 a population of 187,950.

The topography of the county is made up of but two textures, marsh and a rocky ridge. The range of trap rock forming Bergen Hill begins at Bergen Point, the southern extremity of the county, and pursues a northerly direction through the county, and as far north in New York as Haverstraw. Through this length the outerop is unbroken. On the northwest border of the county is quite an eleva- tion, as well as two rocky knobs that rise above the marsh. Nearly half the county, or 20.15 square miles, is covered by tide marsh, across which are built the several railroads mentioned in this work. From the summit of First Mountain the county has the appearance of a vast plain or prairie.

Geological Formation-TRAP Rock.1-The range

of trap forming Bergen Hill and Palisade Mountain can be traced from Bergen Point to the State line, and beyond that to Haverstraw, in New York. Its length from the Kill Von Kull, at Bergen Point, to the ter- minus, at Ladentown, is forty-eight miles, of which twenty-right are in New Jersey. Throughout this length the outerop is unbroken, and varies in breadth from one-half to one and a half miles, being most contracted at Bergen Neck, near Bergen Point. At the latter place the rock is but a few feet above mean tide-water mark.

The eastern boundary or line of trap outerop is sharply defined, and easily and accurately located. Beginning at Bergen Point, the line follows the border of the upland and marsh near the C'entral Railroad to Centreville ; thence, skirting the shore, it runs near the line of the Morris Canal, cast of New York Bay Cemetery, and continuing at the foot of the rocky bluff, pursues a northeast course west of Jersey City and Hoboken, after which it heuds slightly to tho east and below Wechawken, at the coal-yards, strikes the shore of the Hudson River. From this point on the boundary may be said to follow the river to the State line. Wherever the rocks are not covered by fallen debris from the bluffs the sandstone is seen underlying the trap, generally quite near the base of the mountain, although in places it is found high up in the bank,-e. g. Bull's Ferry, also at Closter Land- ing.

The western boundary of the Bergen Hill and Pali- sade Mountain trap is much more indistinct than that on the east side. As the sandstone appears at a few points only on this slope, or ut the foot of the range, the line of actual outerop of the trap is as- sumed as the division line of the two rocks. Begin- ning at Bergen Point, this has a remarkably straight course, coinciding nearly with the Newark Bay shore

891

I Cook's Geology, INGS and JAN2.

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

anl th meadow margin to English Neighborhood, and then following at the foot of the slope to the State line The fou dation of the light-house in the Kill, at the mouth of Newark Bay, is said to be trap. Thence to the Central Railroad bridge no rock is seen in situ along the bay shore. From this point to the. Morris Caual the trap rock is almost continuous in the form of low polished " roches moutonners " at the water's edge and along the margin of the marsh. U'r -sing the canal, it then runs east of it, along the Bergen Hill slope and east of the drift-knolls, to the New Jersey Railroad, at West End Station. From this point the line continues its north-northeast course across the New York and Eric Railroad at the west end of Bergen tunnel, and near the wagon-road east of the Northern Railroad to New Durham. Here it is deflected to the east, and passing east of the vil- lage, it again comes to the meadows and follows their rastern border to English Neighborhood. At the former village sand-knolls cover up the rocks, and the most westerly outerop of trap is at least a quarter of a mile from the village. North of New Durham the trap is frequently seen on the hill-side, and the wagon-road is approximately the limit of that rock, except for half a mile between the corner of the road to Guttenburg and the English Neighborhood Sta- tion. llere the trap crops out in the crest of a sort of subordinate ridge west of the road. This little ridge has a very smooth and regular slope towards the salt meadow. It may be a separate outerop, with sandstone in its east face and in the depression be- tween it and the main Palisade range. North of English Neighborhood it crosses the Fort Lee and Leonia road, runs east of Floraville, and so on to the State line. Along nearly the whole length of the western boundary drift-hills border the trap, and in places rest upon it. The rock of this trap range is remarkably uniform in character, very hard, deep bluish in color, and breaks under the hammer equally well in all directions, making a desirable paving- stone.

This range is remarkable for its uniformity of lope on the west, as well as its Palisades on the east, and the westward slope corresponds nearly with the dip of the sandstone. The quarrying from Jersey City to Guttenburg has altered the face of the cliff some- what, and farther north the talus has been bared of its timber and loose stones for dock-filling, etc. Originally this sloping surface was a mass of huge rocks confusedly tumbled upon one another. The sandstone appears at many points at the base of the Palisades from Hoboken to the State line. The trap roek is seen in contact with it and overlaying it. It can be seen finely exposed with the sandstone at Weehawken and on the boulevard to West Ho- boken, at the eastern entrance to the tunnel of the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad at Bull's Ferry, etc. In Bergen Hill the trap rock appears in two ranges, separated by a belt of sand-

stone. The Bergen cut exposed this intervening sandstone by uncovering the dritt which concealed the outerop. The sandstone is exposed in Bayonne City and near the Morris Canal, on Forty-fourth Street, between the two lines of trap rock. Elsewhere the range is apparently all of trap rock, excepting the comparatively small and isolated outerops of sand- stone which lie on its western feet. Of these outerops, that of Homestead Station is remarkable for its alter- ation, or induration, the rock being very hard and jasper-like in appearance. At the western entrance to the tunnel of the New York, West Shore, and Buf- falo Railroadl the sandstone is cut into for a distance of several hundred yards. The rock is gray, and some of it is very friable and crumbling. At Bel- mont the cut of the New York, West Shore and Buf- falo Railroad afford- a good section of a short sand- stone ridge, which conforms in direction to the trend of the Palisades, and ends at Fairview. Trap roek has been employed in building in Jersey City with very fair success. St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, in South Jersey City, is built of it, with gran- ite trimmings. The stone is very dark-colored, and was quarried only a few rods from the site of the church. Hudson County court-house is also of trap rock. Trap roek is largely used in walls and founda- tions on Bergen Hill and in that vicinity.

BIG ENAKE AND LITTLE SNAKE HILLS.1-These companion hills are two isolated outerops of trap rock in the Hackensack meadows. They are promi- nent features in the landscape and familiar to all travelers on the several railway lines which converge as they eross the meadows towards Jersey City. Big Snake Hill is properly the southwest end of the Secaucus upland. although separated from it by a narrow strip of meadow land. Its greatest diameter is from northeast to southwest, about half a mile. The southern and western sides are abrupt, almost precipitons ; that to the north is gentle. The height above tide-level is two hundred and three fect. Red sandstone and indurated shales make up the lower third of the northern and western slopes. The rock at the base is red sandstone. It is succeeded by a grayish-colored, indurated rock, which, in turn, is eapped by the trap rock. At the south side of the hill the cut on the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway exposes a mottled, shaly rock, whose dip is towards the northwest. The dip of the shale north of the hill at Secauens Station is also towards the northwest.

Little Snake Hill is one-quarter of a mile cast- southeast from Big Snake llill. It is much smaller than the latter, and is seventy-six feet high. It is eireular, and its sides are precipitous except on the south, which is very steep. The greatest diameter is three hundred and sixty feet, and the only rock exposed is trap.

1 Fromi Anuval Roport of the State Govlogist, 1882.

893

LOCATION, GEOGRAPHICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL, ET(

Both of these hills are outbursts of trap rock through the shale, rising abruptly above the general level, and apparently not connected with any other elevation or outerop of this rock. From their height. and hapes, it would seem as it these onthows had not followed the stratifications of the shale, but had broken across the strata irregularly and accumu- Jated in these two localities, unless we may suppose that the erosion bas here been so excessive as to leave them. But from their circular and chipsoidal shapes, it is not likely that there has been any erosion to that extent.

PAVING BLOCKS ROAD MATERIAL ..! - Trap rock continues to be aparried at many places in Essex and Hudson Counties for road material, paving blocks, etc., and occasionally for building purposes.

Palisade Mountain trap rock is quarried at a large number of localities, principally about Guttenberg, Weehawken, West New York, and along as far south as Montgomery Avenue, Jersey t'ity. Cuttings for streets and railroads also furnish material which is used for roads, streets and railroad ballasting. The trap rock quarries are generally small affairs, and quarry. It is common for the men to lease the prop- erties and sell the stone to a contractor or dealer. When in blocks they are in two sizes; the larger are known as " specification blocks," and are four inches by eight to ten inches on the head and seven to eight inches deep ; the "square blocks" are five to six

gangs of from two to live men work together in a Railroad, shows the rock mainly to be a fine-grained and rather argillaceous rock, and not adapted to make a good building stone. An opening has been made, within three or four years, cast of Arlington, in the bluff of Richard Westlake, and a grayish, coarse-grained sandstone exposed. The opening is one hundred feet long and thirty feet deep, and of this depth about inches square and six or seven inches deep. The eighteen feet is fair buikling stone. This stone is used in Arlington for foundations and cellar walls.

much greater use of the former size has caused the business to increase very much within a few years, and nearly all the blocks now made are of the larger size. They bring thirty dollars per thousand, while the square blocks sell at twenty dollars. In Issl the product of the quarries at Bergen Hill and Palisade Mountain was estimated by Michael Shannon, a con- tractor and dealer in Jersey City, to be four millions of specification blocks and one million square blocks, at a total value of one hundred and forty thousand dollars.

There are three principal grades of rocks,-the fine- grained, quarried at Mount Pleasant, a rocky hill north of the Pennsylvania Railroad ; the light gray variety, quarried north of the Pennsylvania Railroad line, or Bergen cut ; and third, the dark-colored variety, from near Weehawken and West New York. All of these varieties are hard, but they split readily into blocks, and in some cases there is but little waste. The larger-sized blocks are more ditheult and expen- sive to get, and splitting them out is attended with more waste, but all the clippings can be utilized in Telford road construction.

A large amount of this stone is used in ballasting the tracks of nearly or quite all the railroads run- ning out of Jersey City. The case with which it is

cracked, and its toughness and indestructibleny, adapt it admirably for such use, and the convenience of get- ting it adds to the economy of its use for making an enduring, solid and dry road-bed At New Durham, Abram W. Duryea has a quarry and a cracker, and furnishes stone for Telferd roads in the upper part of Hudson County Trap rock is also quarried quite extensively on the western side of Snake Hill, in Hudson County, and used for various purposes.

ARLINGTON QUARRIES. Quarries for supplying building stone, to meet occasional local demanda, have been opened at several places along the western foot of the Palisades, in Hudson County. The sand- stome underlying the trap rock here is generally too coarse-grained and too crumbling to be of much value as a building stone. It can be seen at Weehawken and near New Durham, The New York, Lake On- tario and Western Railroad has cut into a very pretty, light-colored sandstone, which is promising in appear- auce, and conveniently located for transportation. The belt of sandstone in Hudson County has not produced any quarries of extent, and the long eut at Arlington, on the New York and Greenwood Lake

Marshes-Old Road-Nurseries .- In speaking of the tides and their effects upon low lands, Mr. Cook said, in his report of 1ssl : " If the salt and other tide marshes are examined, other evidence is found which tends to show that the level of high-water is above where it used to be. In many places dead trees Hre to be seen standing in the shallow parts of the marshes. This is specially the case along the back or westerly side of the beaches, where the sand comes very gradually down to the marsh, and cedar trees grow on it. Many of these can be found dead and still standing, and with the beginnings of salt grass growing around them. And along the edge of the upland, but in the marsh, stumps of trees can be seen projecting above the surface of the meadow, and when these are examined, it is found that their roots are still, in many cases, quite sound and firmly imbedded in the solid ground, where there is every appearance of their having grown, except that they are below the meadow surface, which is at high-water mark. Such stumps and roots are found in almost every ditch which is dug in the salt meadows near the upland. Travelers going out from New York, in crossing the marshes between Bergen Hill and New- ark or Paterson, can see from the car-windows any number of such stumps still standing.

" As salt marshes are at the level of high-water, aud

1 From Professor George Il ''ook's Goological Report for 1x81.

S94

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

storm-tides cover the whole of them, it will readily be perceived that these trees, the remnants of which are all that now remain, could never have grown there when the ground was overflowed by the tides or by salt water. In some places this effect of the tide is explained by assuming that alterations in the coast and various inlets have given freer access for the incoming tide, and that it rises higher than it formerly did on this account. But the change is so general, and so much alike in all places, that the explanation offered does not apply well to all the cases. The changes which have taken place between the marshes and the upland are not observed to be gradual and uniform in their advances; they take place more in the mauner which some of our geologists have desig- nated as catastrophism than in that which they have called uniformitarianism. Some violent storm, with favorable wind, occurs at the time of spring tides, and carries the sea-water higher and farther inland than it has been known to go before, and farther than it may again be observed to go for a generation after- wards. But it destroys any vegetation which is not natural to salt water, and it is observed that the original growth, especially that of wood, does not »pring up again, but the lower portions of the land remain a permanent gain to the marshes.

" The old road from Newark to New York was down Ferry Street and the Neck to near the present plank- road bridge, and so across the Passaic, the marsh and the Hackensack, on to Bergen Hill and Powles Hook Ferry. About the beginning of the present century a new road was built, going out of Newark from Bridge Street, crossing the Passaie there, and directly on from there, across the East Newark upland and the marsh and swamp, straight towards the Hackensack and Bergen Hill. A considerable portion of this road was built through a thick and growing cedar swamp, as I was informed by one who had frequently traveled over the road. This swamp became the re- sort of tramps and, it was said, of thieves and robbers, so that it was dangerous for single passengers to go through. On this account it is said to have been set on fire and burned.

" No trees have grown on the marshes since that time, though the stumps and many trunks of trees still remain. Some thirty years ago a nursery of trees was begun on this marsh, but the tides came so high on it that the young trees soon became diseased, and the project was abandoned. And it was common w see much of the surface of the marsh covered with tide-water until it was banked in and protected from the tides. Now, though it is below the level of high water, shrubs and trees again begin to grow on it, and no doubt will continue to thrive, unless the dike sur- rounding it should be broken so as to let in the tide- water."

Artesian or Bored Wells in Hudson County.1 --

At various places in the State a number of deep wells have been bored, with the hope of reaching water which would rise to the surface and flow over, form- ing true artesian wells. Very few have been success- ful in that respcet, but a large number have been bored in which the water has risen nearly to the sur- face, and which has yielded a very satisfactory sup- ply. Public attention is strongly and favorably drawn to them, and the following classified account of them in Hudson County is herewith given :

At Mattheessen & Wiecher's sugar refinery, on the south side of the Morris Canal, in Jersey City, a boring was begun in 1867, and discontinued in 1872, at a total depth of one thousand feet, inclusive of twenty feet of surface earth, the diameter of which, in the upper one hundred and eighty feet of the rock, was eight inches, and in the lower eight hundred feet, four inches. The rocks penetrated are chiefly gneiss and quartz, with white sandstone and thin bands of slate occurring below eight hundred feet. Several veins of water were met with between six hundred and nine hundred feet, of which the most important were at a depth of seven hundred and twenty feet. The yield was found to be fifty gallons per minute, when tested by pumping, the level in the well being twelve feet below tide, and the temperature of the water 52° Fahr. The brackish quality of the water, however, prevented its use, and the well is now closed.

A well bored at the Central Stock-Yards, and some five hundred feet back from the shore line of the Hudson River, passed through seventy feet of mud and earth, full of boulders, then through red sand rock to a depth of two hundred and fifteen feet, where a miea rock (gneiss) was struck, and the boring continued to a depth of four hundred and fifty-five fect. The water obtained was brackish. The well is tubed with an eight-inch pipe down to the rock, and from that down the bore is six and a half inches.

In the marsh and near the south end of Grand Street, Hoboken, a boring was made in 1828, which is mentioned in Mather's "Geology of New York" as four hundred feet in depth, reaching rock at forty feet, and has penetrated serpentine, sandstone and supposed white marble. This boring probably did not strike water, and the work was abandoned. Mr. Theodore Van Tassell recollects having seen the boring apparatus remaining in position for many years later.

A boring of small diameter was made about 1842 by Andrew Clerke in the marsh at the corner of Mont- gomery and Henderson Streets, in Jersey City. Here the red sandstone was met with fifteen feet below the surface, and was penetrated to the depth of two hun- (red feet, when a stratuin of very hard rock, whitish n appearance, was encountered, and the work aban- doned. A liberal supply of clear, bright water, but strongly impregnated with magnesia and common

1 From Couk's Geological Report of 1882.

895

LOCATION, GEOGRAPHICAL, TOPOGRAPHICAL, ETC.

salt, was found at the depth of one hundred and fifty feet, which overflowed the surface.

At Cox's brewery, on Grove Street, between Seventh and Eighth Streets, in Jersey City, the underlying is covered by about seventy feet of boulder clay and earth. A small boring of one hundred feet in depth was first made nearly thirty years ago, and was enlarged to five inches in diameter, and carried down to a depth of four hundred feet in 1872-73. Small veins of water were met with in the rock at all depths. The water, though, is so hard as to form a heavy senle in a steam-boiler, but was of satisfactory quality for brewing purposes, and its temperature was 54 Fahr.

The well easily afforded three hundred barrels of water per day, the water rising in the excavated well to the level of the tide, thence passing away through the earth to the street sewers. The boring intersected a number of seams in the sandstone which contained fine earthy matter and limited the capacity of the well to deliver clear water.

At Limbech & Betz's brewery, on Ninth, between Grove and Henderson Streets, in Jersey City, and eight hundred feet northeast of Cox's brewery, the sandstone is covered by forty feet of boulder clay, with thirty feet of surface sand. A boring eight inches in diameter was made here in 1875, penetrating the red sandstone rock seven hundred and seventy-six feet and six inches to reach water, which was found in the bottom in a stratum of white or light-colored stone. At its completion the well, when tested by pumping, yiekled thirty-three gallons per minute con- tinuously for twenty-four hours. The water is sutli- ciently soft and sweet for brewing, but is ordinarily used only for eoofing purposes, its temperature being 523° Fahr. The well affords one thousand barrels of water per day without difficulty, the level of the well being ten feet below tide, or twenty-five feet below the surface of the ground.

Borings made to rock at Pavonia Ferry, distant, viz., two thousand three hundred feet, two thousand eight hundred and fifty feet and three thousand three hundred feet nearly east from the last, came upon serpentine at sixty-three feet, one hundred and twenty feet and one hundred and seventy-nine feet below tide, respectively.

At the Palisade brewery, at the summit of the muin ridge of Bergen Hill, and corner of Hudson Avenue and Weehawken Street, in the town of I'nion, a boring seven inches in diameter was carried down. in 1877-78, through trap, to a depth of two hundred and ninety-seven feet from the surface, water being found in quantity, increasing with the progress of the work. The well is pumped from the bottom, and yields two hundred and fifty barrels of pure soft water per day, of a temperature of 51º Fahr. When not pumped it discharges a much smaller quantity, at a level of one hundred and sixty-one feet above tide- level, into the bottom of an excavated well. twenty-

eight feet under ground, and twelve feet below the surface of the rock.

In the marshes west of Hackensack River are a number of wells which have been bored through allu- vium and boulder clay. Four of them were sunk in 1871, and derive their supply from a sheet of water- bearing gravel, at a depth of nearly two hundred feet, the water rising to the surface and Howing off in moderate quantity. The water, while it is palata- ble, has a noticeable taste, said to be of sulphur. These wells are on the line of the Newark plank, road. An equal number of wells are to be found on the line of the old Newark turnpike; these, however, are not in use, and their origin is unknown.

At the secaneus Iron-Works a well was bored to the depth of six hundred feet. The strata passed through, as reported by I. l'. Pardee, superintendent, were : from the surface to the shale rock, Is feet ; red shale, to 370 feet ; shaly sandstone, to 395 feet; red shaly sandstone, from 400 to 600 feet. The quantity of water was largest at two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet down. The water yiekled on evapora- tion 6>.64 grains of solid matter to the gallon. It probably gets a little salt water in it from the Hacken- sack River, near which it is bored. The diameter of the bore is six inches, and yields a steady supply of eight gallons of water per minute.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 54

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830