USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 30
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In 1830 the matter was taken up by individuals, and a charter was granted, incorporating the Delaware and Raritan Canal, in a private company instead of the State, as at first contemplated. James Parker and James Neilson, of Middlesex; John Potter, of Somerset ; William Halsted, of Hunterdon ; and Garret D. Wall, of Burlington, were the commissioners to receive · sub- scriptions to the capital stock, which was to be one million dollars divided in shares of one hundred dollars each.
This act required that the number of shares which was necessary to make " the incorporation of said company" [five thousand] should be paid in, in one year from the time of open- ing the books of subscription, otherwise all the subscriptions under it should be null and void, and the commissioners, after deducting thereout their expenses, should return the residue of the money paid in, to the respective subscribers or their repre- sentatives, in proportion to the sums paid by them.
They were empowered to make " a canal or artificial naviga- tion from the waters of the Delaware River to the waters of the Raritan River, and to improve the navigation of said rivers respectively, as they may from time to time become necessary, below where the said canal shall empty into the said rivers respectively ; which canal shall be at least fifty feet wide at the water line, and the water therein be at least five feet deep
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throughout; and the said company are hereby empowered to supply the said canal with water from the River Delaware, by constructing a feeder, so constructed as to form a navigable canal, not less than thirty feet wide and four feet deep, to con- duct the water from any part of the river Delaware.
"It shall be the duty of the company to construct and keep in repair good and sufficient bridges or passages over the said canal and feeder, where any public or other roads shall cross the same, so that the passage of carriages, horses, and cattle on said roads shall not be prevented thereby ; and also where the said canal or feeder shall intersect the farm or lands of any individual, to provide and keep in repair a suitable bridge or bridges, as aforesaid, so that the owner or owners and others may pass the same."
Power was given the stockholders to increase the capital stock to a sum not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, by an increase of the number of shares, if they found it necessary so to do, in order to carry into full effect the objects of the act.
. The canal and feeder were to be commenced within two years after the passage of the act, and completed within eight years ; otherwise the act should be void.
At the expiration of thirty years from the time of completion of the canal and feeder, the Legislature may cause an appraise- ment of the same, to be made by six persons, three appointed by the Governor, and three appointed by the company, to report to the next Legislature, within one year from the time of their appointment, their appraisement in no case to exceed the first costs of said canal and feeder ; and the privilege was extended to the State for the space of ten years to. purchase the works at the appraisement. The company was to pay the State the sum of eight cents for each and every passenger, and the sum of eight cents for each and every ton of merchandise so transported thereon, except the articles of coal, lumber, lime, wood, ashes, and similar low-priced articles, for which two cents per ton were to be paid.
They have had forty-seven amendments to their charter ; the most important were those of 1831, consolidating them with the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company, and in 1854, when
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their charter was extended to the year 1888, in lieu of their sur- rendering at that time to the State their monopoly privileges.
It was this consolidation in 1831, that enabled these compa- nies to construct their great lines across the State .*
The bill incorporating the Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company was passed on the same day as that of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, February 4th, 1830, and with similar restrictions, and was the first railroad that went into' operation in our State.
The New Jersey Railroad procured a charter in 1815, but did not go into operation. In 1832 the New Jersey Railroad and
* Under subsequent acts these companies united with the New Jersey Rail- road and Transportation Company, and obtained control of several other lines. They own the following: Philadelphia and Trenton (Kensington to Trenton. Delaware Branch), 26.6 miles long ; Trenton to Jersey City, 57.1 ; Jamesburg to Monmouth Junction, 5.5; Camden to Amboy, 61.2; Bordentown to Tren- ton, 6.1 ; Monmouth Junction to Kingston, 4; and branches, 4.5 ; total length, 165. They have a controlling interest in the Rocky Hill to Kingston, 2.5 miles long; Burlington to Mount Holly, 7.1 ; Mount Holly to Camden, 16.5; Pemberton to Mount Holly, 5.9; Vincentown Branch, 3; West Jersey to Bridgeton, 37, and from Millville to Glassboro', 22; Cape May and Millville, 44; Salem Branch, 17; Freehold and Jamesburg, 11.5; Millstone, 6.6; Perth Amboy and Woodbridge, 6.4; Belvidere Delaware, 68.7; Flemington Branch, 11.4; total 259.6; and they lease the Pemberton and Hightstown, and con- necting roads, 31.3.
In 1871 they leased the United Roads and Canal to the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company, at an annual rental of ten per centum upon their capital stock, free of all tax, for the period of nine hundred and ninety-nine years.
The cost of the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal. Company's works, including branches, steamboats, other equipments, real estate, etc. (including additional construction expenses incurred by Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany), is $34,671,920.45.
The capital stock is $19,890,400. The funded debts are $21,037,212.75. Of this amount $4,143,310 is due to foreign countries. The receipts of the railroads were in 1876, from all sources, $10,941,581.31, and working ex- penses, $6,226,810.39. Net earnings, $4,714,770.92. Of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, the total earnings were $882,551.78; working expenses, $523,306.02; net earnings, $359,245.75. Total net earnings of railroads and canal, $5,074,016.68.
These United Companies control 65 miles of canal, and 456 miles of rail- road.
-
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Transportation Company was chartered, and the road was built.
The persons authorized to receive subscriptions to the Camden and Amboy Road were: Samuel G. Wright, of Monmouth ; James Cook, of Middlesex; Abraham Brown, of Burlington ; Jeremiah H. Sloan, of Gloucester ; and Henry Freas, of Salem. The capital stock to be one million dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each, and the books were to be opened within six months from the passage of the act, and when five thousand shares had been subscribed the company was then considered organized.
They were given power to increase the capital stock to any sum not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, by issuing additional stock. At the expiration of thirty years from the completion of the road, the State could purchase the same under the saine conditions as the Delaware and Raritan Canal.
In 1831 the Legislature gave the company power to transfer one thousand shares of stock to the State, and the same year the consolidation act with the canal was passed.
It was the duties paid by these companies that built our State Prison and Lunatic Asylums, of which structures our State may well feel proud; also our beautiful State House, which a late writer in Massachusetts observes, "is not surpassed by any in the United States;" and in fact the means for all our internal improvements, as well as a large amount towards the support of our magnificent system of public schools, is derived from this source, thereby saving our citizens from an enormous yearly tax, which must have accrued through our extensive internal improvements, did we not have some other means of meeting the expenditures.
The United Railroads and Canal Companies paid the State in taxes for the year 1876, $298, 128.96.
A train first passed over the entire length of the road in 1833. The line from New Brunswick to Jersey City, of the New Jersey Road, was completed in 1836, thereby making a continuous line between the two great cities of New York and Philadelphia; the Belvidere Delaware Road was finished as far as Lambertville in 1851, and to Easton in 1854, and completed to Belvidere in
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1856, and subsequently to Manunkachunk; the Central of New Jersey was completed in 1852; the Morris and Essex, in 1853; the Camden and Atlantic, in 1854; the West Jersey, in 1857 to Woodbury, and in 1861 to Bridgeton ; the Millville and Glassboro, in 1861 ; and the Northern New Jersey in 1864.
There are one thousand eight hundred and twenty miles of railways in our State, constructed and equipped at a cost of $235,339,286.28.
The New Jersey Railroad was first chartered in 1815, but the present New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company, was chartered in 1832, and extends from Jersey City to New Bruns- wick, a distance of thirty-two miles. The amount of capital stock paid in is $7,295,200. Its cost and equipments, includ- ing property, was $9,458,328.05.
The Morris and Essex Road was chartered in 1835, and runs from Hoboken to Phillipsburg, a distance of eighty-five miles. The cost of this road, including all expenses, was $27,888,476.74.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey was chartered in 1849, and runs from Jersey City to Phillipsburg seventy-five miles. The cost of the construction of this road was $20.077,208. II.
The Raritan and Delaware Bay Road was chartered in 1854, name changed to New Jersey Southern in 1870, and runs from Sandy Hook to Toms River, forty-nine miles, and cost six mil- lion dollars.
The Belvidere Delaware Road was chartered in 1836, and cost, including equipment, $4,242,862.68. It runs from Trenton to Manunkachunk, sixty-eight miles.
The Camden and Atlantic Road was chartered in 1852, and runs from Cooper's Point to Atlantic City, a distance of fifty- nine miles. Cost of road and equipment, $1,980, 745.94.
The Warren Road was chartered in 1851, and runs from Del- aware to Changewater, a distance of sixteen miles. Cost of road, including lands for right of way, depot buildings, tunnels, bridges, trestle-work, coal-shutes, docks and basins on the Mor- ris Canal, etc., $3, 113, 148.91.
The West Jersey Road was chartered in 1853, and with its Millville and Glassboro' branches, cost $1,924,697.41. It runs
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from Camden to Cape May City, a distance of eighty-one miles.
The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company was chartered under the general railroad law of April 2d, 1873. Cost of road and equipments, $2,906,330.13. It runs from Trenton to Bound Brook, a distance of twenty-seven miles, at which place it connects with the Central Railroad.
There are forty-seven railroads in the State that cost less than a million of dollars, the highest being the High Bridge Railroad, the cost of which, for road and equipments, was $985,024.66; and the lowest, the Vincentown Branch of the Burlington County Railroad, costing $43, 256.61.
Our Legislature, between the years 1815 and 1871, granted charters for two hundred and eighty-three railroads, only fifty- five of which have been built. All roads are required now to organize under the general railroad law, no further special char- ters being granted.
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
1664-1875.
New Jersey the market garden for New York and Philadelphia- Slavery unpopular in New Jersey-Ship-building, saw, and grist- mills-Paper mills and steel works-Printing-Manufactories -Mineral products-Mining-Marl-beds.
T HE position of New Jersey, between two great cities-New York and Philadelphia-and the adaptability of its soil and climate to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, have induced many of its citizens to engage in that business ; so that the State has been named " The Market Garden of New York and Phila- delphia." Within the past few years numerous settlements have been formed, wherein the families devote their efforts chiefly to the growing of small fruits, which are shipped to the city mar- kets. Hammonton, in Atlantic County, is the centre of one of the most prosperous fruit-growing communities in the State ; Vineland, in Cumberland County, is another. This village was founded in 1861. The inhabitants are largely engaged in the cultivation of small fruits, from the sale of which they derive their principal revenue. Egg Harbor City, in Atlantic County, is another ; and there are numerous other new and growing set- tlements in our State.
The sea-coast of this State has, within a few years, become favorite places of resort during the summer months. Cape May has long been a popular watering-place during the summer sea- son. The Camden and Atlantic Railroad was completed in 1854, and soon thereafter large hotels were erected at its ter- minus for the accommodation of guests, and since that time many people have annually spent the summer at Atlantic City. At Long Branch and Deal Beach the soil is said to be the only fertile territory immediately on the coast from Maine to Georgia. Long Branch has recently become a village of vast hotels, which are occupied by persons who leave the great cities during the
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summer season to enjoy the fine sea air and bathing. There are also a large number of superb cottages located there, occupied by private families during the summer, who wish to avoid the inconveniences of hotel life at the fashionable watering-places. Many families from the cities of New York, Philadelphia, and other places occupy cottages there.
Ocean Grove, Asbury Park, and Ocean Beach are also in the vicinity of Long Branch. These were started for the accom- modation of persons of moderate means, who desired a quiet summer residence, and to avoid the expensive watering-places on our coast. In these places no liquors are allowed to be sold, and the police regulations are such that no such thing as rowdy- ism can exist ; and, although they are frequented by persons from all parts of the country, one feels as safe as though domi- ciled at home. In the former place several camp-meetings are held during the summer season ; and, although it was started as a Methodist settlement, yet it is patronized by Christians of all denominations.
Slavery was introduced into New Jersey at the foundation of the Province ; but it was never popular with our people. In the counties of Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May, there were comparatively few slaves. These counties were inhabited by Quakers, who early declared them- selves opposed to this institution. The traffic between this and other States was prohibited in 1798. In 1804 an act was passed for the gradual abolition of slavery, which provided that all children born in the State after that date should be free. In 1800 the number of slaves was 12,422 ; under the operation of the emancipation act this number rapidly diminished. In 1810 it was 10,851 ; in 1830, 2254 ; and in 1860 it was reduced to 18 ..
The northern part of the State is crossed by a series of ridges of the Appalachian chain, and is therefore mountainous. The central part is hilly, and the southern half is level and sandy.
On the borders of the ocean and on the Delaware Bay, there is a strip of land, from one to five miles in width, that is on a level with the high-water line. This is called the tide-marshes. It is covered with grass, but beneath the tough sod there is a deposit of soft mud, which in some places is thirty feet deep.
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The pioneers in New Jersey at a very early day gave their attention to ship-building and to the erection of saw and grist mills to supply their pressing wants. Ship-building began in 1683. In 1694 an Act of Assembly for the encouragement of ship-building provided that no timber should be exported except to Great Britain. A town lot in Amboy was granted to Miles Foster by the proprietors, as a reward for having built the first sloop at that place. The ship-yards at Salem and Burlington were early noted for the number and quality of the vessels built at them.
The first saw-mill of which any record is found was erected at Woodbridge, in 1682; another was built in the same year. In May, 1683, Governor Rudyard wrote from Amboy: "There are five or six mills going up here this spring." Saw and grist- mills were erected at Little Egg Harbor by Edward Andress in 1704, and others, in 1758, at Pemberton, on the north branch . of the Rancocas. In 1680 Mahlon Stacy built a flour mill on the Assanpink Creek in Trenton. At that time there were but two mills in West Jersey, one at Crosswicks and the other at Trenton. This mill of Stacy's was built of hewn logs, and was but one and a half stories high, with gable facing the street. About ten years after, in 1690, Major William Trent purchased · it, tore down the old mill, and rebuilt it of blue sandstone, two stories high. This mill was afterwards converted into a cotton factory by Gideon H. Wells. It remained in the same condi- tion in which it was erected by Mr. Trent until it was carried away by a flood in the Assanpink in 1843. In 1798 there were in New Jersey nearly five hundred saw-mills. Woodbridge also claims the first corn mill in the State. It was built in 1670 by Jonathan Dunham, who agreed with the town to furnish "two good stones of at least five foot diameter." The owner received grants of land as an encouragement, and was allowed a toll of one-sixteenth. Other mills were built in 1705, 1709, and 1710. Newark appointed Robert Treat and Richard Harrison, in 1668, "to erect a grist-mill on the brook at the north end of the town," and two of the six days of the week were made grinding days. In 1682 a mill was built at Hoboken by resi- dents of New York. A water-wheel mill was built near Rancocas
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Creek, West Jersey, by Thomas Olive, in 1680. In 1690 John Townsend built a mill ten miles below Little Egg Harbor. A patent for an improvement in grist-mills, by the use of hori- zontal wheels, was granted in 1791 to Mr. Macomb. Stacy Potts, a grandson of Mahlon Stacy, built his steel works in Trenton, in 1776.
The second paper-mill in the country (the first being at Roxboro, Pennsylvania), was built at Elizabeth previous to 1728. It was owned by Samuel Bradford, the Government Printer for New Jersey and New York, and who lived there for some time. In 1769 there were forty paper mills in this State and the adjoining States of Pennsylvania and Delaware, manu- facturing to the amount of £100,000 value annually. Several manufactories of paper-hangings were established in New Jersey, Boston, and Philadelphia, prior to 1787, and shortly after the establishment of the Patent Office, patents for improvements in these goods were taken out by J. Condict and Charles Kinsey of this State.
Daniel W. Coxe built a stone paper-mill on the north bank of the Assanpink, where it empties into the Delaware at Trenton, in 1756. It was afterwards owned by George Henry and Isaac Barnes, and used as a manufactory of linseed oil, and also for grinding paints. The east end of it was afterwards converted into a saw-mill, and owned by George Dill and Samuel Wright. .. Printing in New Jersey was transiently done by Samuel Keimer, who transported a press from Philadelphia to Burling- ton to do the printing for a lot of New Jersey paper money. James Parker, a native of Woodbridge, was the first resident printer. He established a press at that town in 1751. The next year he published a folio edition of the laws of the Province. In 1765 he removed his press to Burlington, but returned to Woodbridge after printing "Smith's History of New Jersey." He published the New American Magazine, monthly for twenty-seven months. This was the first periodical issued in New Jersey. The first newspaper published in the Province was the New Jersey Gazette, issued at Burlington, by Isaac Collins. This was a weekly paper, nine by fourteen inches in size, about one-half the size of our present dailies.
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The subscription price was twenty-six shillings per annum. Advertisements were inserted at seven shillings and six-pence for the first week, and two shillings and six-pence for every additional week.
The first advertisement in this paper was a proclamation issued by Governor Livingston, dated Princeton, November 25th, 1777, and signed by his initials, W. L. It is as follows :
"To the printer of the New Jersey Gazette .- Sir: Being informed that numbers of people, under various pretences, are passing from the State of New Jersey into the City of Philadel- phia, and returning back into New Jersey, without the permis- sion required by law for going into the enemy's lines, to prevent such delinquents from pleading ignorance whenever they may be apprehended, I would acquaint them, thro' the channel of your paper, that by an act of this State, it is felony, without benefit of clergy, in a man; and in a woman, three hundred pounds fine, or one year's imprisonment; and that government is determined to be vigilant in causing such offenders to be apprehended and brought to condign punishment."
On the 4th of March, 1778, the publication office was removed to Trenton. In 1780 Isaac Collins advertises as just published, and to be sold wholesale and retail, at the printing-office, a neat edition of the New Testament, printed from good type, and on good paper; and in 1791 he issued from his printing-office, corner of State and Greene streets, Trenton, a large quarto Bible, of nine hundred and eighty-four pages, uniform with the Oxford edition of the Holy Scriptures, to which was added an index, concordance, scripture measures, weights, and coins. The price of the book was four Spanish dollars; one dollar to be paid at the time of subscribing, and the remainder on de- livery of the book. Three thousand copies were published.
On the 27th of November, 1786, in consequence of the high price of paper and the want of patronage, the paper was dis- continued.
The New Jersey Journal was first published in 1779, at Chatham, in Morris County. It was removed to Elizabeth in 1786. On the 5th of May, 1787, nearly six months after the New Jersey Gazette had suspended, The Federal Post, or
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Trenton Weekly Mercury, was started. This paper was ten by sixteen inches, published by Frederick C. Quequelle and George M. Wilson, at four-pence each. In the Mercury, advertisements were inserted on the most reasonable terms, and subscriptions received at twelve shillings per annum. October 3d, 1788, on account of the scarcity of demy printing paper, the publishers were under the necessity of altering the size of their paper. It was then reduced to nine by fifteen inches, and issued twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, at two dollars per annum, and delivered to subscribers in the country free of expense, once a week, one-half of the above sum to be paid at the time of sub- scribing, and the other half at the end of six months. This was the first semi-weekly paper published in the State. On the 21st of October it ceased to be a semi-weekly and was published weekly.
On the 5th of March, 1791, George Sherman and John Mer- shon published a weekly paper called the New Jersey Gazette, and January 3d, 1797, it was purchased by Mathias Day, and the name changed to State Gazette and New Jersey Advertiser. July 9th, 1798, it was purchased by Gershom Craft and William Black, and the name again changed to Federalist and New Jersey Gazette, and on the 11th of May, 1802, the name was again changed to Trenton Federalist, and on the 4th of July, 1829, it was again changed to New Jersey State Gasette, and in 1857 it was changed to Daily State Gazette and Republican, its present name.
The Quarterly Theological and Religious Depository was commenced at Burlington, in 1813. The Biblical Repertory and Theological Review, was first issued at Princeton, in 1825 .*
* There are now in the State one hundred and twenty publishing houses, issuing altogether one hundred and fifty-three publications. Of these twenty- five are daily (two of them issued only in July and August of each year), one hundred and eighteen weekly, one semi-weekly, and thirteen monthly. Ten dailies and thirty-eight weeklies are Republican in politics ; seven dailies and thirty-five weeklies are Democratic; three dailies and forty-six weeklies Independent or Neutral; two monthlies are Literary; one Religious, and two devoted to business matters. There are two daily, one tri-weekly, one semi-weekly, and ten weekly papers printed in the German language; all others are English. They are located as follows : Atlantic County, eight;
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As early as the year 1683 the size and quality of brick made in the Province were regulated by act of Assembly, and thus the stability of many of the early buildings was secured. The first record of a brick structure is the Friends' meeting-house at Salem, in 1700, at a cost of four hundred and fifteen pounds thirteen shillings. Whether the bricks were imported or of home manufacture is not known. In 1713 a large dwelling was built at Haddonfield of brick imported from England; and in 1721 a brick Episcopal church was erected at Salem. Freestone was first quarried at Newark in 1721. The Friends' meeting- house in Trenton was built by Simon Plasket in 1739, of brick, and is now in a good state of preservation, having been recently repairedi. In 1740 Thomas Tindall, grandfather of the author of this work, built a brick house in Trenton, two stories high, placing his initials, T. T., 1740, in the gable of the house front- ing on Hanover street.
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