NYCkayaker Kayakers June 23rd Afternoon-Morris Canal

Sun Jun 3 20:19:13 EDT 2007

For those of us who didn't know there even existed a
canal in Jersey City (Thanks Sandy!) Here's a little
something I found as well as a map attachment. Hoping
to make it there June 23rd. 
Will / NJ
QCC 700 Rocket 

Link:
http://www.geocities.com/canalmapman.geo/walk.htm

Contains this info:

The Morris Canal in Jersey City

--This is an introduction to a guidebook, to be
published soon, including a walking tour guide.

JERSEY CITY 

by Ronald L. Rice

The opening of the Morris Canal through Jersey City in
1836 presaged an industrial and commercial boom that
was to hoist Jersey City into national prominence as a
manufacturing and transportation center. Today few
traces of the canal exist in Jersey City. The
experience of the canal is no longer that of walking
along abandoned towpaths; yet the experience is real
and meaningful, albeit subtle. This pamphlet may
assist anyone interested in Jersey City to trace the
canal throughout its 8-mile circuitous path through
the city.

This guide is about the Morris Canal in Jersey City.
It is intended for Jersey City buffs who have a
general interest in the canal and for canal buffs who,
to date, may have been intimidated by the urban
character of Jersey City. The 15-mile tour (almost
double the actual canal route) can be driven in less
than one hour, but four hours or more are required to
truly savor the experience. A shortened version can
safely be covered on foot by a good hiker in the same
four hours, provided you have a car waiting at the
other end. 

The original canal was constructed from 1825 to 1831,
a few years earlier than the Jersey City extension.
The initial construction brought canal boats from
Phillipsburg to Newark, using the fresh waters of Lake
Hopatcong to feed the locks and power the inclined
planes. By contrast, the 12-mile extension through
Jersey City, Kearny and the eastern section of Newark
ran at sea level and was filled with salt water. The
section through Jersey City was equipped with tide
locks at both ends. These admitted water at high tide
and prevented it from flowing out at low tide. 

The tidewater extension was constructed in sandy soils
that were less stable and required greater
maintenance. Its water source proved inadequate and
was later supplemented by tides, and still later by
steam and electric pumps that added more water from
the Hackensack River. 

The remains of Lock 21 East and its pumping station
can be found on the banks of the Hackensack River just
south of Communipaw Avenue (Route 1-9); the remains of
Lock 22 East on the Hudson River have been completely
covered by Dudley Street just north of the Portside
apartment complex. The canal that ran between the
locks saw its last mule-drawn boat around 1912 per
some accounts, and was closed and drained in 1924.
Much earlier it had been defeated by competition from
the railroads. Now the railroads are suffering with
competition from highways and airplanes. 

As constructed, the canal ran close to or along the
shores of the Hudson River (really Upper New York Bay)
from Turnpike Interchange 14B to the Bayonne border
and the shores of Newark Bay from the Bayonne border
to Communipaw Avenue. The marshes on both sides of
Jersey City have been filled in and the canal site
today is nowhere near the present shores except at its
two termini. Furthermore, Bayonne did not even exist
as a municipality when the canal was constructed.
Bayonne's border was later determined by the location
of the canal and was sited adjacent to but immediately
south of the canal. In addition, the lands south of a
line from Interchange 14B on the east to Culver
Avenue. on the west, representing most of the canal
route through today's Jersey City, were actually
constructed through the former Bergen Township. The
Township of Greenville later separated from Bergen
and, in 1873, was joined to Jersey City, long after
the canal was constructed. 

The canal's eastern terminal was located on the shores
of the Hudson River at the northwest corner of the
Morris Canal Little Basin near the intersection of
Washington and Dudley streets (mile 0.0). From this
point it proceeded west 1.6 miles - parallel to and a
short distance south of Grand Street. It then turned
to the southwest running parallel to and south of
Garfield Avenue., made a 120 degree turn to the north
in the vicinity of Interchange 14A of the NJ Turnpike,
ran along the Bayonne/Jersey City border and the edge
of Country Village, and continued along the east side
of NJ 440 until just before Communipaw Avenue, where
it turned west and crossed the Hackensack River. 

The strange V-shaped configuration of the canal was
mandated by the hills of the southern extension of the
Palisade Ridge ( Bergen Hill) and the limited
construction methods available when the canal was
designed. It seems that there was a Canal policy that
once elevation was obtained, one should never go back
down in elevation. The Canal came down in steps from
Lake Hopatcong to Jersey City and never went back up.
The engineering timidity here is in stark contrast to
the construction boldness to the west where the canal
climbed over 900 feet. However, inspection of
topographic maps reveals that virtually all of the
Jersey City section of the canal was constructed
through lands with an elevation of 10 feet or less
above sea level. The deepest cut was through the
20-foot hills next to Currie's Woods. The Palisade
Ridge elevation is 50 feet or more across virtually
all of Jersey City to the north of the canal and a
considerable portion of Bayonne to the south. 

The hard rock under the Palisade Ridge through Jersey
City can be observed by driving on the covered roadway
just west of the Holland Tunnel. The cut reveals that
the rock extends virtually to the surface.

The cliffs of the ridge can be easily observed as far
south as Bayview Avenue. near Interchange 14B of the
Turnpike.

The canal builders took advantage of the natural gap
in the ridge running between today's Bayonne and
Jersey City. This gap later became the target of the
railroad line that ran across Newark Bay. After the
canal was closed, local merchants envisioned a ship
canal through the gap, connecting Newark and New York
Bays. These hopes were thwarted some forty years later
when the State of New Jersey ran the Newark Bay
Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike directly through
the gap. Indeed, most people today are unaware that
the gap even exits.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A large, detailed map of the area can be ordered.
Please note, the map is in GIF format and is 119K in
size. This map link does not work as well as I'd like
yet. Please send me a note if you know a better way to
display large detailed maps on the web. Special thanks
to Gary Kleinedler and members of the CSNJ Map and
Guide Committee. Map 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information, e-mail : Ronald Rice, Map
Archivist, Canal Society of New Jersey 

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