USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 27
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 27
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 27
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The New Jersey Southern Railroad was chartered in 1867, and completed to Vineland in 1872. It ex- tends from Bay Side, on the Delaware River, across Cumberland County, through Bridgeton and Vine- . land, and northward to New York City. It has re- cently passed under the control of the Reading Rail- road Company.
The Cumberland and Maurice River Railroad was first the Bridgeton and Port Norris Railroad, and was chartered by an act of the Legislature, in 1866. It- termini were indieated in its original title. It was completed about 1875, and was afterward sold under foreclosure of a mortgage, and was reorganized under its present name. The transportation of oysters over this road constitutes the largest item in its business. From eight to fifteen car-loads are carried over it daily.
The West Jersey and Atlantic City Railroad, from Newfield, on the Millville and Glassboro Road, to Atlantic City, was put in operation in 1881. All these, except the Delaware River. the Southern New periods varying from thirty to fifty years from the . Jersey, and the Cumberland and Maurice River Rail- roads, have come to be controlled and operated by the roads and property by the payment to the companies ' Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and under the ex- of the amount of the appraisement in each case. cellent management of this, as well as of the Reading An act was passed in 1868, the preamble of which set forth that company, the wants of the public are consulted and supplied.
CHAPTER XXII.
GEOLOGY OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY.1
Ix the study of the geology of Southern New Jer- sey it is thought best to lay down some of the prin- ciples of the science that the general reader may understand the statements made, and also to satisfy him that the assertions are made from what is believed to be the latest scientific explanation of the formation of our planet.
The weight of evidence is in favor of the theory that there was a time in the early history of our globe when its constituents were in a gaseous state in space, and were kept so by being at a high temperature, -. supposed to be 2000° Cent. That at this time the cooling process began. "Professor Helmholtz has eal- culated, from the rate of cooling of lavas, that the
1 By J. Down Heritage, M.D.
--
99
GENERAL HISTORY.
earth, in passing from 2000° (760° Fahr.) to 200° Cent. (760), must have taken three hundred and fifty mil- tions of years." ( Dana's Manual of Geology, p. 147.) " But the temperature when the Archaan, or first period of the world's history, ended was probably not over 38° Cent. (100° F.), to reach which many scores of millions of years must have been passed."
This cooling process was carried on until the various elements of the globe, through chemical agency, crys- tallized into a crust on the surface and the various rocks were formed, while the internal molten condition of the globe was kept up, and through the agency of the internal heat from gaseous expansion the various elevations of the earth's surface were brought abont, and volcanoes were formed as outlets or vents for the pent-up fires in the centre of the earth.
In the cretaceous period the region of a large part of the Rocky Mountains, and of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific borders of the continent, were beneath the sea, but mostly near its surface; the marine life of the sea contributed to the forming of cretaceous beds. Now, the marine beds, filled with cretaceous fossils, are at a height of ten to eleven thousand feet in the | Rocky Mountain region, at a maximum height on the Pacific border of ouly five thousand feet, in Alabama of seven to eight hundred feet, and in New Jersey not over four hundred feet. (Dana's Manual of Geology, p. 783.)
Through a succession of ages, the length of which it is impossible to conjecture, the surface of the globe was cooled, until, from the inclination of the axis of the globe to the sun or other canses, there became what is denominated a glacial period, or one of intense cold. :
These successive ages are the periods of geological time. They are given by Dana as follows :
I. ARCH.EAN TIME :
1. The Azoie age.
2. Eozoic, -- a long period without life, except in the last of the period there appears algæ, or sea-weed.
II. PALEOZOIC TIME :
1. Age of invertebrates.
2. Age of fishes.
3. Age of coal plants.
III. MESOZOIC TIME: Age of reptiles.
IV. CENOZOIC TIME:
1. Age of mammals, tertiary.
2. Age of man, quaternary.
were in a condition of eternal frost, and glaciers oc- cupied much of the territory. It is conjectured by scientists to have been elevated since that age. The coast-line of New Jersey was then from Raritan Bay, near New York City, across the State to Trenton, and thence down the east shore of the Delaware River to Penn's Grove on the Jersey shore. The line of coast from Trenton across the State to Raritan Bay is marked by a line of hills composed of what is known as " drift," being the gravel, boulders, and other indestructible débris of the glaciers at that time occupying the northern part of the State.
The evidences of glacial action are found to a limited extent in our State, but are very marked in the more indestructible roeks in the New England States and New York, where are found smooth grooves ent and polished in the granite walls of the mountains : all these scratches having one general direction, being southward to southeastward in New England ; southwestward in Western New York (see Dana's Manual of Geology, page 531), as follows :
"TABLE OF DILUVIAL SCRATCHES ON THE TRAP-ROCKS.
Localities.
Direction.
Palisade Mt., near summit, past of Inglewood ..
S. 402 E.
' S. E. of Englewood, on Palisade Avenue.
S. 35° E.
= S. E. of English Neighborhoud.
8. 20º F.
road between Fort Lee and Fort Lee Station .. 8.30° E.
41 near Guttunburg Brewery
S. 20º E.
44 top of buff north of Fort Lee .. 8. 20° E.
Rock aver Bergen Tunnel ... S. 20º E. Bergen Neck, shore of Newark Bay. ..
S. W. S. E
Southwest of Paterson, south bank of Morris Canal S. TUO WY.
$ 75° E.
First Mountain, west slope, south of Paterson. 48 near the Noteil. 8. 75º F.
near Mewellen Park .. S. 50° W .?
West of Paterson, on the road to Little Falls, south bank of Pas-uc .. 8. 60° W. Second Mt , west slope, near the line between Passaic and E-ex Counting ...
8. 40° E. Second Mt., west slope, north of Mt. Pleasant turupike. ... S. W.
.. " Mt. Pleasant turnpike ... S. W.
Half mile east of Pompton Furnace, north of the Paterson road ...
5. 15° W.
Near the site of old furnace, Pompton Furnace. Hook Mountain, rond cros-ing to Be overtown ..
S. 10° W.
44 near Beavertown ..
S HOW.
south of the peat-works.
S. CUº W.
44
44 West slope ..
S 65° W
.. near south end of the mountain .... S.55° W." -(Cook's Geology of New Jersey, page 225.)
Other evidence is that of immense boulders along this coast-line, weighing hundreds of tons of rock, which has no representation in our State. In some instances it is possible to conjecture fairly, accurately, the mountain from which this boulder was torn farther to the north, and masses of native copper oceur in the drift of Connecticut and New Jersey that were taken from veins nearly north of the places where they ocenr. ( Dana's Manual, page 529.)
The whole of Southern New Jersey was at that The geological formation of Southern New Jersey , time undoubtedly under water, and from this coast- is of the cretaceons and tertiary formation of the ! line-from Trenton to Raritan Bay-the descent into Cenozoic age, or most recent in the world's history.
the Atlantic was probably much more abrupt than at present, as "off the coast of New Jersey for a distance of eighty miles there is a depth of only six hundred
We will now return to the glacial period, at which time, in the history of Southern New Jersey, the month of the Delaware River was at Trenton; : feet at the present time, and from this line the ocean at that time the weight of evidence goes to prove basin dips off at a steep angle" ( Dana'- Manual, page 11; ; whereas the dip -- inclination or descent-of the various strata of clay, marls, etc., underlying the that the upper portion of the State, or Northera New Jersey, also New York, and the New England States,
S. 25° W.
1
100
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER, SALEM, AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES.
southern part of the State, is about thirty feet to the mile, southeasterly direction. (Professor Cook's Geol- ogy of New Jersey, page 245.) From this statement the ocean-floor at the time of the commencement of the deposit of clay upon it at Egg Harbor Bay ( which lies at nearly right angles to Trenton to the drift across the State) would be one thousand six hundred and eighty feet. Therefore the dip or descent was nearly three times as great then as in the present de- scent of the ocean-floor off the Jersey coast for eighty miles. Upon this ocean-floor was spread through the ages a deposit or stratum (like a huge blanket) of plastic clay varying in thickness or depth at different places, but estimated by Professor Cook to be two hundred and ten feet in thickness (Geology of New Jersey, page 246), and is believed to have been formed from disintegration of gneiss rock.
The outerop of this clay-bed. two hundred and ten feet thick, is found on the shore of Raritan Bay, a little south of Cheesequakes Creek (of Congressional fame), crossing the State and ontcropping at various places until it nearly reaches the Delaware River at Bordentown. It follows about a mile east of the river, and reaches its bank at Gloucester City, coming to the surface at various places, -- Woodbury Creek, a mile from its month, Mantua Creek, near Pauls- boro, Raccoon Creek, a mile above Bridgeport, thence in the same direction to the Delaware, near Penn's Grove. (Cook.)
These clays are known as fire-clay, potter's-clay. and lignite, and are a source of much commercial valne for purposes of manufacture where -uch crude materials are to be used for any purpose. This stratum of clay undoubtedly underlies the whole of Southern New Jersey, though it is probable its greatest thick- ness was along the original coast-line.
The organic remains found in this clay are those of the fresh-water mussel and some other fresh-water shells, trunks and branche, of trees, in one place twenty-five feet in thickness, and a stratum of " four feet of elayey sand containing leaf impressions; and from the leaves fonnd, from the bark, and from the rings of annual growth, the evidence is conclusive that the age of broad-leaved plants was then begun." (Cook.)
We have now laid the foundation, or shown how nature has done it, of the southern part of the State, and before proceeding to explain the deposit of the remaining strata will state that undoubtedly through the ages, at uncertain periods of time, there has been a gradual elevation of the surface of the globe in this particular locality, and during the Champlain period there was unquestionably an elevation from some cause -- probably those mentioned as usually causing such phenomena,-the internal heat of the globe and gaseous expansion resulting therefrom-of Southern New Jersey.
This hypothesis being correct, then commenced the deposit of clay, nearly two hundred and seventy-seven
feet in thickness. Our theory of upheaval of the earth's surface being correct ( and we have shown from the highest authority that there are evidences of marine life in mountains fifteen thousand feet high ), it is safe to conjecture that at this period of the world's his- tory a more rapid process of elevation began in Southern New Jersey; besides, other climatic and dis- integrating changes took place,-changes of direction of the Gulf Stream,-which deposited on the ocean- floor this deposit of elay marl two hundred and ser- enty-seven feet in thickness, the outerop of which i- shown between Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays on the northeast, following the southeast line of the outerop of the plastic elays to Bordentown, on the Delaware. and thence in a nearly direct line down the east shore of the Delaware River to a point near and below Penn's Grove.
When these elay marls are exposed they show crusts of a reddish material; below the surface it is dark-colored clay mixed with grains of green sand.
This formation is dug for fertilizing purposes at various points, but is not of sufficiently rich material to make it a valuable acquisition to the farmer except it is of very convenient access.
Shells are found in this formation, but not in such quantities a- are seen in the marl-beds.
The gradual upheaval of the State continuing, there was another deposit, known as the lower marl-bed, thirty feet in thickness; red sand, one hundred feet ; middle marl-bed, forty five feet ; yellow sand, forty- three; upper mar/-bed, thirty-seven feet. The total thickness of the foregoing deposit since the glacial period being seven hundred and forty-two feet. (Cook.)
The plan followed by Professor Cook, the State geologist, has been to give a chapter (v.) on " Marl- Beds," which we will quote :
"The series of strata comprised under this name include those beds of green sand which have obtained so high a reputation, under the name of marl. The district in which they have their outerop is widely known as the marl region, and occupies a strip of country from six to fitteen miles wide, and stretches from the ocean below Sandy Hook to Salem, on the Delaware. The soil over this district is more or less sandy, remarkably free from stones and boulders" (though there are scattered through the distriet quar- ries of a conglomerate stone, which is evidently of recent formation, and is used for building purposes), : "and in most parts in a high state of cultivation and very productive. When exposed in natural or artifi- cial sections several well-marked beds and layers can be characterized.
"These several beds having a strike of south 55º west and a dip to the southeast of twenty to thirty- three per mile, having their outeroppings in the order of their occurrence ; that which is lowest appearing farther to the northwest, and that which is higher in the series farther to the southeast. A line marked ' Register line,' known as the 'strike,' is drawn across
101
GENERAL HISTORY.
the State, which shows all parts of the lower marl- as a fertilizer, and along the line through the State extensive operations are carried on in digging and furnishing it for local use and sending it to di-tant States. There are many localities which owe their prosperity and fertility almost entirely to marl. bed, which outerop at the level of tide-water. This line touches the lower marl-bed at tide-water on Sandy Hook Bay, opposite Red Bank, near the mouth of Hop Creek, at Mount Holly, Clement's Bridge, Mantua, and above Sculltown, at Marshallville, Salem The surface formation of this part of the State is such as would naturally occur as the water of the ocean was draining away, there being a water-shed County, and St. George's, Delaware. The distance from St. George's to Sandy Hook Bay is one hundred and six miles, and finding the marl at intermediate . which drains towards the Atlantic Ocean and another points on the same level, and in the same line, proves that there is no important change of direction in the
in which the streams run into the Delaware River, and there being no rocky formation, the beds of strike for the whole distance. The true bearing of streams in both instances having undoubtedly been this line is south 55° west. It is evident from an in- | formed where least resistance was found to the pas- sage of water. The southern banks of streams usually presenting bluff's of larger or smaller magnitude, while the northern banks usually slope much more gently down to the water's edge.
spection of the map that the belt of country in which this formation lies narrows towards the southwest, and the strike of the white clay as taken at tide-water between Bordentown and Cheesequakes is south 52° west, and that of the middle marl-bed, between Par- ker's Creek, near Eatontown, and Salem, is south 55° west. Many verifieations of these bearings have been made upon shorter lines, and they have been uniformly found to agree. Those parts of the various outerop- 1 pings which are thirty feet above tide appear a mile northwest of this ' Register line.' Those which are sixty feet above, two miles northwest, and so on."
In an article of this length it is impossible to go minutely into the chemical composition of these various strata, which through the ages have at each upheaval of South Jersey been spread upon the ocean- floor, but I think the following table, as compiled by Professor Cook, will be sufficient for the purpose of the general reader :
" Divisions.
Subdivisions.
Fire-clays.
Plastic clay ..
-
Potter's clay. Lignite.
Clay maris.
( Clayey green sand. Laminated sands.
Lower mari-bed ..
Sand marl. 1 Bine shell marl.
(Marl and clay.
Red sand.
Red sand.
Indurated green earth.
Middle mail-bed
Chocolate mail. Green tnarl. Shell layers.
Yellow limestone and limesand.
Yellow sand.
Yellow sand.
Green marl.
t'pper mari-bed
Ash miarl. Blue mari.
"The above is a table of the divisions of the ereta- ceous formation in the order of their occurrence, be- ginning with the lowest."
We have now gone over the geological formation of Southern New Jersey in a very brief manner in conse- quenee of being limited in amount of > pace. It only elay occur it may be used in the manufacture of brick, pottery, etc., and therefore has a commercial value. In the outerop of the marl it is very extensively used |
CHAPTER XXIII.
METEOROLOGY OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY.1
THIS is a subject which, directly or indirectly, in- terests all classes. Commerce, agriculture, and sani- tary science especially are largely benefited by every advance in the science of meteorology.
In considering the elements of New Jersey weather it is not atmospheric phenomena alone that require attention, but the ocean and bay, on the east and south, furnish important data.
While prosecuting the coast survey investigations, Lieut. Bache discovered that the great Gulf Stream, in performing its sinuous journey northward and east- ward, often makes a deflection of thirty to one hun- dred miles to the westward, and thus our Jersey shores, with our extensive hummocks and vast inland plateaus, receive the warmth which the southern breezes earry from this immense reservoir of the sun's treasured-up forces.
By reason of the proximity of South Jersey to the bay and ocean, with its favoring winds, the warmth of the ocean current, the wonderful sanitary condi- tions of its climate, this whole region is much more favorably situated for agriculture and fruit growing than any similar amount of territory in the interior of the country in same latitude.
The water, by virtue of its inherent properties, modifies both extremes of temperature, making the summer less fervid and the winter less rigorous than continental regions in the same latitude, as may be seen from the following illustration which physical science affords: Different substances, subjected to the same degree of heat, do not attain the same tem- heated are called their specific heat.
1 By J. Ingram, M.D, Vineland.
remains to say that wherever these outeroppings of . perature. Their differing capacities for becoming
Dark micaceons clay.
102
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER, SALEM, AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES.
Comparing equal weights of water and air together, the specific heat of water is four times as great as air, and hence an ounce of water losing one degree of heat would raise four ounees of air one degree; but as water is about 814 times heavier than air, an ounce of water losing one degree of heat would raise 814 X 4 = 3256 ounces of air one degree. Consider, then, the influence that the constantly recurring thousands and millions of tons of water must exert on the atmosphere of our elimate, as it wends its way north and east or west, laden with the untold millions of degrees of heat that the sun is and has for cen- turies unnumbered been pouring into the tropical ocean.
This shows the immense advantage that this locality possesses over interior districts remote from the genial and equalizing influences of ocean and bay.
J. S. Lippincott, of Haddonfield, N. J., has pointed out in a masterly manner the great benefits to fruit culture arising from proximity to lakes and other bodies of water, as Kelly's Island in Lake Erie in the growth and perfection of the grape, the advantages of Seneca, Cayuga. Champlain, and other lakes on grapes and erops in general, by their storing up great quantities of the sun's heat in summer, and slowly parting with the same in winter, thus modifying the rigors of winter, and preserving vegetation that would otherwise yield to chilling blasts and frosts.
The conditions thus specified tend largely to com- pensate for any protracted drought to which the region may be subjected, and also to explain why the soil responds so promptly and satisfactorily to the hoe and cultivator of the farmer. The loose, calcareous soil absorbs with wonderful avidity the moisture which the atmosphere brings from the ocean, and thus ac- quires what other regions only obtain from frequent and heavy rains. The experienced farmer well knows that the untilled field is very unproductive, because the surface soil become, baked by the sun, and is thus made incapable of absorbing the moisture that is so bountifully supplied from the adjacent oceau and bay.
The elements of the climatic conditions will next demand attention. Under this head we will consider the subjects of wind, rain, frost, snow, etc. And while we cannot minutely specify the exact details of each section of the area under consideration, yet we can give the outlines of such commanding points as will satisfy all inquiring minds of the general drift of the weather phenomena of South Jersey.
A line from Philadelphia to Cape May is the eastern boundary, while the Delaware Bay and River consti- tute the limits of the territory on the south, west, and north. Geographically the northern and southern points are one degree of latitude apart, while the ex- treme width is about half a degree of longitude, or from Cedar Lake Station, on the New Jersey Southern Railroad, to Penn's Neck, on the Delaware River.
cause of its close proximity to the territory under consideration, it is deemed advisable to use its records. Care has been taken to take averages of long seric- of years where possible.
The first topie we shall con-ider is that of wind. The observations were recorded three times daily, and are unquestionably reliable.
N. N. F.
E. S. F.
W. N. W
Philadelphia ....
100 156
50
59
49
S. W. 247 323 72
271
63
270
Cape May ..... .. 116
147
111
235
These records show the variability of the air eur- rents in the territory named. Philadelphia is marked by southwest, west, and northwest winds, and hence the drying nature of the air as well as the general healthfulness of the city and vicinity. Vineland presents the remarkable feature of a large percentage of northeast, southeast, and south winds, or what may be termed sea breezes, as they all come from quarters partaking of that element, and hence they bring a hygrometric atmosphere that largely compensates for any lack of rain in the growing season.
One marked feature of the Cape May winds is that the aggregate of northeast, east, southeast, and south winds blowing off' the ocean constitute more than all the other winds, and thus carry inland the warm vapors of the Gulf Stream, which modify the climatic conditions of all South Jersey, Delaware, and the adjacent territory.
That it is a fact that easterly and southerly winds do add largely to the hygrometric conditions of this region, is shown from the circumstance of the large proportion of rain coming from those directions.
The citation of one year may be taken as a type of all others on this point. During 1870, at Vineland, the amount of rain was 49.343 inches, and of this amount the northeast brought 14.271 inches, east 2.862 inches, southeast 16.81 inches, south 1.975 inches, southwest 11.025 inches, northwest 2.4 inches. This shows that northeast, east, southeast, and south winds brought eleven-sixteenths of the whole, leav- ing only five-sixteenths for all other points. This shows which are the moist and which are the dry winds, and the reasons for this distinction are so ob- vious as not to require stating.
The next topic requiring attention is that of the temperature of South Jersey. A general view of this matter may be obtained from the following table, which takes in the northern, middle, and southern regions of the area named :
Spring Summer Autumn Winter Year Max
Min.
Philadelphia ....
49.74
74 10
54.20
32 67
52 68
3
Newheld ....
4- 49
74.37
1 54.41
$3.09
52 04
Vineland.
4.73
74 52
53.81
32.44
52 42
100
10
Greenwich
51.10
73.70
: 55.50
33.30
: 53.80
...
" ape May ..
50,16
72.90
50 23
32.70%
53.76
00
1
Philadelphia being a well-known point, and its By the above tables it appears that during the weather observations recognized everywhere, and be- spring and antumn months at Greenwich, on the
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