USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 43
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Monmouth county had 37.20 miles completed. In the year noted, but 4.71 miles had been built-a piece of road leading out of Lakewood. But the county had devoted its energies and means to buying up the toll pikes. Twenty miles were thus acquired which had been toll roads for more than thirty years, involving an outlay of $40,000, entirely independent of State aid. In 1901 there were 17.45 miles of road in course of construction.
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
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EGG HARBOR AND GREEN BANK ROAD, BEFORE IMPROVEMENT.
EGG HARBOR AND GREEN BANK ROAD, AFTER IMPROVEMENT.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
In Ocean county no roads had been completed, and ten miles were in course of construction.
Atlantic county, with thirty miles of gravel roads and three miles of stone roads built by State aid, with the thriving and rapidly growing cities of Hammonton, Egg Harbor and Atlantic City within her borders, does not hesitate to build each year, with incomparable gravel, long stretches of beautiful roads through her pine districts, connecting all the important towns within and without her borders, causing many settlements to follow in their wake. Nineteen miles are now in course of construction.
It was not .until in 1901 that Cape May, the last county before New Jersey merges her borders into the bay and ocean, inaugurated a system of road improvement by beginning the construction of a beautiful boulevard of gravel, twelve miles long, from the famous seaside resort of Cape May to Cape May Court House, and 1.80 miles of an avenue through the south- ern section of rapidly growing Ocean City.
Cumberland, one of the last counties to apply for State aid, came for- ward last year as a candidate for ten miles of improved roads through the whole length of Landis township, to and by the thriving cities of Vineland and Millville, making another link in the through line between Camden and Cape May.
The important matter of material and cost is worthy of consideration. Trap rock seems to be regarded as first in order of durability, and this material is altogether used in Middlesex county, where it is particularly plentiful. In Monmouth county there is one stone road (between Keyport and the Middlesex county line), and the others are of gravel. The latter are equal to any in the State. Gravel is also the material used in the remain- ing counties on the seaboard-Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May, in all of which it is of the most superior quality for road making.
The average cost of road per mile in the State at large is about $3.750. In the interior counties, where stone is used, the cost is as high as $5.350 in some instances. In the coast counties where the elements have been doing during countless ages what cannot be done by stone crushers, it is much less. Monmouth county, where, out of four roads considered, one was of stone and three were of gravel, the cost was upwards of $2,700 per mile. In Ocean county, where the material was gravel, the cost was something less than $1,900 per mile. In Atlantic county, where the material was also gravel, the cost was about $1,000 per mile, and in Cape May county, where the material was the same, but where nature had already practically made the roads, the cost was about $300 a mile.
The law limits the road expenditures in any one year to an amount that would be one-fourth of one per cent. (.25 on $100) of the ratables.
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But few counties, if any, have expended up to the limit. Taking a farmer whose assessed valuation is $4,000, the building of nearly seven miles of permanent road would have increased his tax just about $4.52 and that $4.52 would represent a permanent improvement. This is an inside esti- mate, but in no instance would the tax exceed eight dollars on a valuation of $4,000.
That the results justify the outlay appears evident in view of the fact that while in the State 665 miles of road have already been built, appro- priations have been asked for 491.73 miles additional, and that the coun- ties now having the largest mileage of improved roads are asking for the largest additional construction. In 1902, IC9 miles of road were to be put in course of construction, at a cost of $450,000, and one-third of this would consume the State appropriation of $150,000 for that year.
It is true that what are known as the really rural counties are not so enterprising in this respect as are those in which are the large manufactur- ing industries, or those on the coast whose prosperity depends so much on presenting every possible advantage to attract the summer visitor. Of these rural counties it has been said "They have a large area, with a rela- tively small population. They are away from the immediate influence of the large cities. There is small prospect of growth in population, and therefore they cannot hope to enjoy the luxuries that are perfectly feasible for counties more favorably located."
These arguments have some force, but it is more apparent than real. In no State in the Union can road improvement add so largely to the pop- ulation as in New Jersey, for the largest part of its territory is situated within short distances of the greatest cities in the Union. The State, in all parts, has frequent and rapid communication with them by steam roads, while trolley lines are projected and built in all directions. This is highly conductive to a yet greater development of its manufacturing interests, and this tends to angment the demand upon the agricultural and gaiden- ing regions for food supplies, which can in no way so enhance the fortunes of their owners as by adding to their facilities for marketing their prod- ucts. Many experiments have been made in Monmouth and other counties to determine the amount of tractive force required to move a vehicle along level roads of varying degrees of hardness and smoothness, and constructed of different materials. A summary of these experiments prove that the amount of force a horse will have to exert in pulling a load of one ton of two thousand pounds is from forty to fifty-eight pounds over a macadam road, and as much as one hundred and twenty-five to two hundred and sixty-eight pounds over a dirt road.
There is also a moral side to this question, as affecting social and
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educational interests. Road improvement tends to make the rural districts -the most enjoyable spot on earth for a home, and in which to rear a family-more pleasant and more profitable to live in. Their people would be enabled to comfortably reach the town, not only to market, but to attend church, and to enjoy the advantages of the library, the lecture and the concert. Thus making rural domestic life more charming, we would be spared that large exodus of old families that has worked so woeful a tran- sition in many parts of the country, and more particularly in New England. Then we shall have really founded, as we should, homes in which, our de- scendants will delight to dwell, and which they will cherish as does the English manorial gentleman his old ancestral home with its fragrant memor- ies and its inspiring traditions.
CANALS.
In 1804 a canal project was set afloat, with the intention of establish- ing direct water communication between New York and Philadelphia, but the New Jersey and Pennsylvania authorities were unable to come to an agreement, and the charter lapsed. In 1830 the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company was chartered, and a canal was completed in 1834, at a cost of $2,830,000. The canal touched New Brunswick, Somerville and Bound Brook. It is worthy of notice that the steam propeller "Hercules" passed up the canal to New Brunswick, and this vessel was the first of its class to enter an American canal. The "Hercules" was of iron, built at Glasgow, Scotland, on the order of Governor Stockton. She was little larger than an ordinary tug-boat of the present time, and her crew of nine men were regarded as daring, if not foolhardy, in crossing the ocean in so insignificant a vessel.
In 1824 the Morris Canal and Banking Company secured a charter to build a canal from the Delaware River near Easton to Newark, and in 1828 an extension to the Hudson River was authorized. The route was from Jersey City to Phillipsburg, a distance of one hundred and one miles. The State of New Jersey holds the option of buying the canal in the year 1923. Failing in this, the charter of the company will expire in 1973. and the canal will revert to the State.
THE BEGINNING OF RAILROADS.
Meanwhile, antedating canal traffic, and even the building of plank roads, the railroad had been projected. On February 8, 1815, occurred the ratification of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great
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Britain, making the end of a two years' war. Two days prior thereto, the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, without a dissenting voice, granted a charter of incorporation to a company authorized to "erect" a railroad from the Delaware River, near Trenton, to the River Raritan, at or near New Brunswick, and this is notable as being the first railroad charter granted in the United States. The inception of the project was in the brain of that accomplished mechanic and eminent scientist, John Stevens.
The charter possesses a peculiar interest, for in it lay the germ of all which has entered into similar instruments since that time. The plan of organization, as to stockholders and directors (commissioners) was identi- cal with that of to-day. The limitation of land for trackage was fixed at four rods in width, which was relatively more liberal than is deemed necessary at the present time. The road was to be made of either iron or wood "for the running of the wheels," but it was provided that the "middle path" of the road was to be of some hard substance, stone, gravel or wood, and these provisions would lead to the inference that steam power was not immediately contemplated-that animals should be utilized in the drawing of "the wagons or carriages employed on the road." Yet it is also to be inferred that Stevens had in view the substitution of steam power as soon as the experiments in which he was engaged should justify its employment. In one way, the charter more carefully guarded the rights of individuals than is possible under the existent broad construction of the right of emi- nent domain, for the road could not be laid out through any burying ground, place of public worship, dwelling nor outbuilding, of the value of three hundred dollars, without consent of the owner. The charter also laid the foundation for the railroad commission, of recent growth but now exist- ing in nearly every State, in its provision for the appointment by the Gov- ernor of three individuals to fix charges for the transportation of passen- gers and of all descriptions of merchandise. The road thus chartered was not built, but the project was soon to lead to mighty undertakings.
Railroad building projects lay dormant for many years. In the mean- time the Union line of wagons and stage coaches between New York and Philadelphia had developed a trade which taxed its resources and rendered it arrogant in its dealings. Competition and swifter service were demanded, and the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company came into being. An or- ganization was effected April 28, 1830, a road was built, and the first steam locomotive engine in New Jersey made a trial trip at Bordentown, November 12, 1831. The engine, the "John Bull," weighed but ten tons, and the tender was a flat-car bearing a whiskey barrel to serve as a water tank. Two four-wheeled coaches were attached, and a short journey was
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made. Among the invited passengers of distinction was Madame Murat, a lady of Bordentown, wife of Prince Murat, and a marital niece of Na- poleon Bonaparte.
In 1831, February 9, a charter was granted to the Elizabethtown & Somerville Railroad Company, and the road was completed in 1833, when certain branches were authorized.
The New Jersey Railroad Company was chartered March 7, 1832, despite the strenuous opposition of the Camden & Amboy Railway Com- pany. Horse cars were operated between Newark and New York until December 3, 1835, when the first steam engine, the "Newark," came into the town for which it was named. A month later the road was completed to New Brunswick, and January 2, 1836, a train of thirteen cars reached the town, drawn by the engine "New Brunswick." It was a gala occasion, and the passengers bore banners inscribed with the names of the counties and towns along the line of the road.
In 1838 a railroad was completed between Bordentown and Trenton, and the following year it was completed to New Brunswick, practically fol- lowing the route of the original road projected in 1815.
The Monmouth County Agricultural Railroad Company, incorporated. April-5, 1867, was authorized to build a road from Freehold by way of Matawan to Keyport. In 1875, when two-thirds of the work had been cone, the bridges had been built, and nearly all the cross-ties were on the ground, the company bankrupted and its affairs were placed in the hands of a receiver who sold the road to James P. Lowrey, who resuscitated the enterprise under the name of the Freehold & New York Railroad. Build- ing was recommenced May 25, 1877, and on the second day of July trains were put on the road between Freehold and the Junction at Matawan. Work on the remainder of the route was not resumed until 1879, and the road was completed in August, 1880. It is now operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
The first railroad constructed within the county of Monmouth was that connecting Freehold and Jamesburg, the latter being the nearest point of connection with the old Camden & Amboy Railroad. In 1845 a stage line was opened between the two villages, and so great a traffic was developed that a railroad appeared to be feasible, and measures were taken looking to incorporation. An act of incorporation was put on passage in the New Jersey legislature, but was defeated, January 2, 1849, by a vote of twenty- eight to twenty-seven. February 21 following, the same bill, under the management of Hon. John A. Morford, then Senator from Monmouth county, was passed in the senate without an opposing vote, but it was defeated in the house of assembly, March I, some of the Monmouth county
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members and all of those from Middlesex county voting against it. The opposition was ostensibly because of antagonism to the Camden & Amboy Railroad, but in large measure it was due to the objection of the people of Hightstown, who desired the road to terminate at that point.
The people of Freehold were greatly incensed at the defeat of the act of incorporation, and at an indignation meeting a committee of citizens was appointed to visit Trenton and endeavor to influence the legislature to reconsider the bill. This delegation was composed of the leading business men of the village and wealthy farmers from the central portion of the county, and almost equalled in numbers the legislators themselves. Large delegations from Hightstown and Middletown Point were also present, and through their objections the bill of incorporation was again defeated.
A further attempt in 1851 was successful, and March 21 a bill was passed for the incorporation of the Freehold & Jamesburg Agricultural Rail- road Company. By May 26 the commissioners had received building sub- scriptions to the amount of $30,000, and $10,000 more was secured some- what later. This seemed to be the limit of the capability of the projectors of the road, and they applied to the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company, which pledged the needed assistance in the event of necessary legislation being procured. In 1852 the legislature gave the necessary authority, and June 29, 1852, the stockholders met in Jamesburg and elected a board of directors, which organized by choosing William A. Davis as president, and John P. Stockton as secretary and treasurer, and William Cook as chief engineer. The preliminary survey was begun September 8, 1851, grading began October 19, and track laying commenced April 4, 1853, beginning at Jamesburg. June 16 the first locomotive engine put in operation in Mon- mouth county was placed on the track ; July 5 a train of passenger cars ran to within three miles of Freehold, and on July 18 regular passenger service was established between the termini of the road, eleven and one-half miles apart. The first rolling stock was provided by the Camden & Amboy Rail- road Company, and February 12, 1855, the building company purchased an engine and three coaches. The cost of the road was $220,666, and $90,000 of this amount was represented by a debt over and above the amount of stock subscription payments. The Squankum Railroad & Marl Company was incorporated March 22, 1866, and a road was built from Freehold to Farmingdale. The Farmingdale & Squan Village Railroad Company was incorporated April 3, 1867, and built a road to Squan Village, thus com- pleting a line of railroad from Jamesburg to the sea coast. April 24, 1879. the three companies named were merged into one bearing the name of the parent corporation, the Freehold & Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad Com-
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pany. The consolidated lines are now operated by the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company.
The Long Branch & Sea-Shore Railroad Company was incorporated under an act of the legislature, March 20, 1863, with a capital stock of $300,000, which might be increased to $800,000. The road was to be con- structed from a point on Sandy Hook, at or near the Horse Shoe, running through Long Branch to Toms River and thence to Tuckerton. At Sandy Hook the track was located two miles north of the southern boundary line of the seven-mile purchase made by the federal government for military purposes, and the War Department removed the rails, rendering the road 11seless for connection with New York. In this extremity, Hon. William A. Newell, at the time a member of congress from New Jersey, presented the matter to President Lincoln, who endorsed upon a coast survey chart of Sandy Hook Point the following autographic permit, followed by his sig- nature: "Permission is hereby given to the Long Branch & Sea-Shore Railroad Company to build a track on the government land covered with the dotted lines upon this map, unless revoked by congress or otherwise." This. was June 19, 1864, and the season was then too far advanced to re- store the road and reap any profit during the summer months. In April following, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the permission which he had given was revoked by Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. The road was subsequently completed, and in 1870 it was consolidated with the New Jersey Southern Railroad, and the road was extended to the Mana- squan river, and afterward to Pemberton. The southern extension of the iine is operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. For many years connection with New York was made from the northern terminus at Sandy Hook by a line of palatial steamers, but much of the passenger traffic was directed to the all-rail route from Long Branch when the New York & Long Branch Railroad was completed.
The New York & Long Branch Railroad Company was incorporated April 8, 1868, and a road was constructed from South Amboy to Long Branch, by way of Matawan and Red Bank. In 1869 the road was extended northward to Elizabethport.
The earliest railroad built on the New Jersey coast proper was that be- tween Manchester and the south side of Toms River, about the year 1840, by the senior William Torrey. It was of primitive construction, made of longitudinal wood bearers faced with strap iron, and was only designed for use in transporting charcoal from the kiln to the stream, there to be loaded upon vesseis. An attempt was made to use a locomotive engine, then a great novelty, but the light strap iron curled up and broke from its fasten-
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ings under the great weight of the machine, and this experiment was aban -- doned, and the cars were drawn by mules.
Until well into the fifties, Toms River was the most important point on the southern New Jersey coast in a commercial way. Shipbuilding there was then at its height, and all points of trade and enterprise then open were readily reached by water. Sea traffic, however, came to be too cir- cuitous and dilatory for mails and commercial communication with New York, and private expresses were established by way of Manahawkin to Freehold, from which point there was a ready outlet to New York. In December, 1853, a stage line carrying mail and passengers was established between Toms River and Freehold, making daily trips, and a connecting stage line made tri-weekly trips to Tuckerton.
In 1856, at the end of a bitter contest with the Camden & Amboy Rail- road Company, which antagonized every proposed line which it looked upon as at all inimical to its own interests, leading business men secured from the legislature a charter for the Raritan & Delaware Bay Railroad Com- pany. The road was soon put in course of construction, and in 1860 it was completed to Tuckerton. For some years past it has been operated as the New Jersey Southern Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
The Camden & Atlantic Railroad (now a portion of the Phila- delphia & Reading system) grew out of the effort of Samuel Richards, a glass manufacturer, who sought at once a sea outlet for his product from the vicinity of Philadelphia, and to bring sand from the shore to his fac- tories. . Atlantic City had its founding in the building of this road, the construction of which was begun in 1852.
The work was not accomplished without arduous labor, and there were serious misgiving's as to the practicability of the enterprise. Many questioned if the soft meadows would sustain the great weight of track and loaded trains. In April of 1854, a fearful storm raged for a week, annihilating many miles of graded roadbed, and scattering ties and work- ing implements for miles along the coast. This was the same storm in which was wrecked the steamer "Powhatan," at Long Beach, resulting in the loss of more than three hundred human lives. To many the raven- like croaking of the doubters-"never more"-seemed to find verification in the disaster, but the road-builders speedily repaired the damages, and on July Ist of the same year. the pioneer excursion train entered the embryo city. It was drawn by an engine bearing a local name-the "Atsion" -- and it comprised nine cars bearing six hundred people who were stock- holders, merchants and public men of Philadelphia, Camden and New York. A banquet was spread in the new United States Hotel, where spirited addresses were made in which the proud future of Atlantic City
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was glowingly portrayed, but fervor and imagination fell far short of de- picting what the place really came to in subsequent years. This event was splendidly celebrated a quarter-century later by the surviving actors in that initial sceene. The cost of building this road was $1,274,030, and the enterprise was carried forward to success upon an original capital stock of about one-fourth this amount.
In 1876 Samuel Richards and others withdrew from the Camden & Atlantic Railroad and organized a company for the construction and equipment of a narrow guage railroad from Atlantic City to Camden, a distance of fifty-four miles. The population of Atlantic City was then about three thousand. Work was begun in March, 1877, and in ninety days the road was completed. Across the meadow's the cross ties were laid on timbers to serve as a foundation until gravel could be filled in. On July 7th the first trial trip was made by a train from Camden, which carried the directors and officers of the company and a number of invited guests. The original intention was to make it of extreme narrow gauge (three feet ), but this was changed to three and one-half feet. The original estimated cost was $700,000, this including the equipment-and all was provided within these figures. In 1878 the road passed into the hands of a receiver, and in 1883 it was purchased by the Philadelphia & Read- ing Railroad Company, which changed the road to standard gauge and laid a second track.
In 1880 the West Jersey & Atlantic Railroad Company was organized, General William J. Sewell being the moving spirit in the enterprise. A line of thirty-four and one-half miiles was built between Atlantic City and Newfield, on the Cape May line, and traffic was opened June 16, 1880. The company was inconvenienced for want of suitable terminal facilities at Atlantic City, but finally succeeded in securing necessary privileges on Atlantic Avenue, together with street car rights. In 1897 the West Jersey road and certain branches of the Pennsylvania system in South Jersey were reorganized under the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad Company ..
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