counties on the Atlantic seaboard. This industry declined for a time, partly on account of the pollution of the streams by sewage and the refuse of manufacturing establishments, but laws have been enacted for its protection and development. Clams are gathered from Perth Amboy to the upper Delaware Bay; the most important fisheries being at Keyport, Port Monmouth and Belford. In 1909 the State Bureau of Shell Fisheries estimated the annual value of shell fisheries in the state at nearly $6,000,000, of which $500,000 was the value of clams. Monmouth, Ocean and Cape May counties furnish large quantities of menhaden, which are utilized for oil and fertilizer. This industry in 1904 yielded fertilizer valued at $154,360 and oil valued at $33,110.
Transportation.—In 1905, with a total railway mileage of 2274·40, New Jersey possessed an average of 30·22 m. of railway for each 100 sq. m. of territory, an average higher than that of any other American state; in 1909, according to the State Railroad Commissioners, the mileage was 2354·63 (including additional tracks, sidings, &c., 5471·38 m.). Owing to its geographical position the state is crossed by all roads reaching New York City from the S. and W., and all those reaching Philadelphia from the N. and E. The eastern terminals of the southern and western lines running from New York City are situated on the western shore of the Hudson river, in Weehawken, Hoboken or Jersey City; whence passengers and freight are carried by ferry to New York. Jersey City and Hoboken are also connected with New York by tunnels under the Hudson river. Among these lines are the Erie system, extending W. from Jersey City via Buffalo; the New York, Susquehanna & Western (subsidiary to the Erie), from Jersey City to Wilkes-Barré, Pennsylvania; the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, from Hoboken to Buffalo; the Lehigh Valley, from Jersey City to Buffalo; the Pennsylvania, from Jersey City to the S. and W.[1]; the New York, Ontario & Western (controlled by the New York, New Haven & Hartford), from Weehawken to Oswego; the West Shore (leased by the New York Central), from Weehawken to Buffalo; and the Central railway of New Jersey (controlled by the Philadelphia & Reading), with numerous short lines from Jersey City to the S. and W. These roads also operate numerous branch lines and control other short lines built independently. Among the latter class are the Atlantic City railway (controlled by the Philadelphia & Reading) from Philadelphia to various coast resorts in southern New Jersey; and the West Jersey & Seashore (controlled by the Pennsylvania), from Philadelphia to Atlantic City and Cape May. The railways operating independently of the great “trunk” systems are few and unimportant. The excellence of the waggon roads of the state is largely due to the plentiful supply of trap rock in New Jersey.
Of New Jersey’s 487 m. of boundary, 319 m. are touched by waters navigable for boats of varying draft. There is tidal water on the E. and S., and also on the W. as far N. as Trenton. The lower Hudson is navigable for the largest ocean-going steamers. From Bergen Point to Perth Amboy, W. of Staten Island, lie the narrow channels of the Kill van Kull and Arthur Kill, with a minimum depth of 9 or 10 ft. at low water. Raritan Bay, to the S., is navigable only for small vessels. There are no good harbours on the Atlantic coast. The lower Delaware is navigable for ocean steamships as far N. as Camden (opposite Philadelphia), and for small vessels as far as Trenton, which is the head of navigation. The only deep water terminals of the state are Jersey City and Hoboken. Among the rivers the Raritan is navigable to New Brunswick, the Hackensack for small boats for 20 m. above its mouth, the Rahway as far as Rahway, the Great Egg Harbor river as far as May’s Landing, the Mullica for 20 m. above its mouth, and the Elizabeth river as far as Elizabeth, In 1907 an inland waterway from Cape May to Bay Head was planned: the length of this channel, through and between coastal sounds from the southernmost part of the state to the northern end of Barnegat Bay in the N.E. part of Ocean county, was to be about 116·6 m., and the channel was to be 6 ft. deep and 100 ft. wide. The Delaware and Raritan canal[2] was long a very important artificial waterway. Its main channel (opened for traffic in 1838) extends from Bordentown, Burlington county, on the Delaware to New Brunswick, on the Raritan, 44 m. by the canal route, and thus carries the waters of the Delaware river entirely across the state, discharging them into the Raritan at New Brunswick. It is 40 ft. wide at the bottom, 80 ft. at the top and 9 ft. deep; it has a navigable feeder (30 ft. wide at the bottom and 60 ft. wide at the top, with a depth of 9 ft.), which is 22 m. long, extending from the Delaware at Bull’s Head to Trenton. The canal passes through Trenton (the highest point—56·3 ft. above mean tide), Kingston, Griggston, Weston and Bound Brook, and has one lock (or more) at each of these places. It is used chiefly for the transportation of Pennsylvania coal to New York, and is controlled by the Pennsylvania railway. The total cost up to 1906 was $5,113,749. The Morris Canal,[3] opened in 1836, is 50 ft. wide at the surface, 30 ft. wide at the bottom and 5 ft. deep, and (excluding 4·1 m. of feeders) 102·38 m. long, beginning at Jersey City and passing through Newark, Bloomfield, Paterson, Little Falls, Boonton, Rockaway, Dover, Port Oram, Lake Hopatcong, Hackettstown and Washington to Phillipsburg on the Delaware; it is practically in two sections, one east and the other west of Lake Hopatcong (Sussex and Morris counties; about 928 ft. above sea-level; 9 m. long from N.E. to S.W.; maximum width, 1 m.), which is a reservoir and feeder for the canal’s eastern and western branches, and which was enlarged considerably when the canal was built. There is another feeder, the Pompton, 3·6 m. long, in Passaic county. The canal crosses the Passaic and Pompton rivers on aqueducts. The Canal (the Morris Canal Banking Company) was leased in April 1871 to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company for 999 years. It is no longer of commercial importance as a waterway. At Phillipsburg it connects with an important coal carrying canal (lying almost entirely in Pennsylvania), the property of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. (leased to the Central Railroad of New Jersey), which follows the Lehigh river to Coalport (Carbon county, Pennsylvania), penetrating the coal regions of Pennsylvania.
Population.—The population of the state in 1880 was 1,131,116; in 1890, 1,444,933; in 1900, 1,883,669 (431,884 foreign-born, and 69,844 negroes); in 1905 (state census) 2,144,134; in 1910, 2,537,167. Of the native-born white population in 1900, 556,294 were of foreign parentage, and 825,973 were of native parentage. Among the various elements comprising the foreign-born population were 119,598 Germans; 94,844 Irish; 45,428 English; 41,865 Italians; 19,745 Russians; 14,913 Hungarians; 14,728 Austrians; 14,357 Poles; 14,211 Scotch; and 10,261 Dutch. In 1800 barely 2% of the population was urban; in 1900 80% of the inhabitants either lived in cities or were in daily communication with Philadelphia or New York. The rural population is practically stationary. The chief cities in 1910 were Newark (pop. 347,469), Jersey City (267,779), Paterson (125,600), Trenton (96,815), Camden (94,538) and Hoboken (70,324). Owing to its milder climate and its larger number of cities New Jersey has a negro population somewhat larger than that of the states of the same latitude farther west. The rate of increase of this element, which is greatest in the cities, is about the same as that for the white inhabitants. Since 1881 colonies of Hebrews have been established in the southern part of the state, among them being Alliance (1881), Rosenhayn (1882), Carmel (1883), and, most noted of all, Woodbine, which owes its origin to the liberality of Baron de Hirsch, and contains the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural and Industrial School. As regards church affiliation, in 1906 Roman Catholics were the most numerous, with 441,432 members out of a total of 857,548 communicants of all denominations; there were 122,511 Methodists, 79,912 Presbyterians, 65,248 Baptists, 53,921 Protestant Episcopalians, 32,290 members of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America, and 24,147 Lutherans.
- ↑ The Pennsylvania railway has constructed tunnels under the Hudson river, and has erected a large terminal station on Manhattan Island.
- ↑ In William Winterbotham’s An Historical, Geographical, Commercial and Philosophical View of the American United States, &c. (London, 1795) there was a discussion of the feasibility of a canal between the Delaware and the Raritan. In 1804 a company was chartered to build such a canal; in 1816 a route was surveyed; in 1823 a commission was appointed which recommended a route and suggested that the state take part in building the canal; in December 1826 a canal company was incorporated with a monopoly of canal and railway privileges within 10 m. of any part of the canal authorized, but Pennsylvania refused permission to use the waters of the Delaware, and the charter lapsed; in 1830 the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company was incorporated by an act which forbade the construction of any other canal within 5 m. of the proposed route of the Delaware and Raritan, and which reserved to the state the right to buy the waterway 30 years (changed in 1831 to 50 years) after its completion. Lieutenant (afterwards Commodore) Robert F. Stockton (1795–1866), president of the Company, contributed greatly to its financial success. In 1831 it was combined with the Camden & Amboy railway.
- ↑ The Morris Canal & Banking Company was chartered in 1824 to build the Morris Canal, which never proved a financial success, partly because of the competition of the Delaware Raritan, which soon commanded the coal trade, and partly because of physical and mechanical defects. It was exempted from all taxation by the state, which reserved the right to buy it, at a fair price, in 1923 or, without making any payment, to succeed to the actual ownership in 1973 upon the expiration of the charter. The idea of utilizing the waters of Lake Hopatcong was that of George P. MacCulloch of Morristown. A peculiar feature of the canal was a system of inclined planes or railways on which there were cradles, carrying the canal boat up (or down) the incline; these were devised by Professor James Renwick (1818–1895) of Columbia College; 12 of them in the eastern division raised boats altogether about 720 ft., and 11 of them in the western division lowered the boats about 690 ft.—the remainder of the grade was overcome by locks.
