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LIBRARY '*'
BUREAU OF RAILWAY ECONOMICP,,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
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Trenton, Tehruarp- -1 Ofy; ~tS69.
Sir :
The Joint Board of Directors of the United Canal
and Railroad Companies have instructed me to send to each director an abstract of a communication
made to the Board on the 8th inst., respecting the proposed new terminus at Jersey City, with such other
information as may be useful in deciding what present action should be taken on that subject. The
Board will meet to consider it on the 23d instant. -
The Companies have purchased for such terminus 70 acres of land below high water, in Harsimus
Cove, between South Second and South Seventh Streets, in Jersey City, fronting 3,300 feet on Hudson River,
and extending inland from the bulk-head line nearly (at one point quite) half a mile, with a right to extend
piers 500 feet into the river, outside of the bulk-head line.
To reach this property will require a branch railroad 6,000 feet (1£ miles) in length, having a grade of
20 feet to the mile, leaving the present main line in Bergen Cut at the Summit Street iron bridge.
The first quarter of a mile of this will be a rock-cut through the eastern part of the Bergen Ridge. Three-
quarters of a mile will be a brick-arched viaduct, 27 feet wide, parallel to, and fifty feet south of, South Third
Street, carrying a double-track railroad over all the streets. If necessary hereafter, the viaduct can be widened
for more tracks.
With the amount of trafiic expected over this road, it would be impossible to cross the streets on a level,
without such obstruction as would not be tolerated. Even if tolerated, the cost of guarding and the damages
from accident would be very great. Already the annual cost of attendance at street crossings on the present
line is more than the interest on the difference between carrying the new line over the streets, and crossing on
their level. As the law provides that no streets shall be laid out on the property to be used for our terminus,
our works will be in the midst of a large city, without interference, almost without contact.
In constructing this viaduct, as in all other works, it is proposed to avoid all^ expense not necessary for
safety and efficiency, such as for ornament, or for any unnecessary or merely theoretical perfection. That is,
the best engineering, which answers the purpose, with the least expense.
In preparing the Cove property for use, it is proposed to construct three ship canals or basins—the south
basin 250 feet from the southerly line of our property, (that is, from the middle of South Seventh Street,) 180
feet wide, extending inland from the bulk-head line 1,200 feet; the middle basin 300 feet from the southerly
one, 180 feet wide, extending inland 1,500 feet; the northerly basin 320 feet from the middle one, 140 feet
wide, half on our property, and half on that of the Long Dock or Erie Company, extending inland 1,900 feet.
The Erie Company have informally agreed to this arrangement.
Opposite the middle of the solid block, between the south and middle basins, will be a pier 200 feet wide,
500 feet long, with two tracks through the middle; on each side broad platforms for transhipment of freight—
all shedded over. Opposite the middle of the upper solid blocks, a pier of the same length, 220 feet wide, with
four or six tracks through the middle, and a car ferry slip and bridge at the outer end, for ferrying cars to
New York. On each side will be a platform and shed for transhipment.
Water berths, for lighters, barges, steamers, coasters or other vessels, are thus left on each side of each
pier, 50 feet wide, clear of the entrances to the basins.
Through the middle of the solid block, between the south and middle basins, will be five tracks, and
between the middle and north basins seven tracks; two more than the other on account of the car ferry.
A space 120 feet wide is left along each side of each basin for storehouses when wanted; and till then for
sheds and spaces for piling up property awaiting distribution. Experience will hereafter determine how much
space should be covered rvith storehouses, and how much left open.
It is proposed to make the storehouses, elevators, &c., when built, in ranges 100 feet wide, along the sides
of the basins, 15 feet from the face; each store 300 feet square; the lower floors being kept open from end to
end of each range, for carts, as on the piers in New York; and used for spreading, inspecting, sorting, handling
and temporarily piling goods; the floors above-to be used for storing. Such a warehouse would cost, at
present prices, $70,000. ■ ■
The easterly part of the property, next South Seventh Street, should be reserved for passenger business,
to be used whenever it becomes necessary to establish another ferry. The south-western corner is the proper
place for the engine-house and machine shops.
All the rest of the grounds will be wanted for standing room for trains, piling room, &c.
It may be best to make the inland ends of the basins narrower, or make some other minor modifications.
Should the Erie Company change their minds about the basin in common, a change of arrangement, but not
of principle, will become necessary.
Cars containing property carried for transporters having their own wharves in New York, or going to or
from the Company's wharves there, or market wharves, will be placed on or taken from car-floats at the ferry
slip in the upper pier, towed across the river, and there unloaded and reloaded—in the same way that for some
years past we have ferried the cars across the Delaware and loaded and unloaded them at Philadelphia.
Property to be sent immediately to points reached by water, or viae versa, can be passed betweon cars
and lighters, or other vessels, on the piers. The great breadth of the platforms there will give convenient
room for sorting and allowing lots to accumulate, till they can be taken away to best advantage.
Property to be stored in the warehouses, or piled up, to remain on the grounds till wanted, or handled by
parties having their own wharves on the basins, or carted to or from this station, will be passed to and from
the cars standing on the warehouse tracks or other inland tracks.
This plan aims to accommodate each kind of the carrying business—to bring all the different operations
into the closest possible proximity, and yet without interference, and to economize room, which will, one day,
be very valuable.
This plan, when carried out, will bring railroad, shipping, storage and drayage facilities into contact, as
they are nowhere else about New York waters. Two dollars per ton will be saved on goods brought by rail,
stored, and shipped from here, instead of being ferried and carted to some storehouse in New York or
Brooklyn, and afterwards carted back to some wharf for shipment, even if the storeroom could bo had in New
York for all the freight that will soon come.
The execution of some parts of this project may be remote. But the plan has been formed to meet the
future condition of thing3 so far as foreseen, and elaborated as if the whole was to be executed immediately.
Whatever we do, should be in part execution of the ultimate plan. But we should go on with it no faster than
our necessities from time to time require.
The cost of the Cove property has been, in round numbers, as follows:—
Consideration of the former riparian owners, not quite . . ... . $450,000
Award to the State of New Jersey, for its right, $500,000; less share the Long Bock Company, (former tenants in common
with us in a larger tract, of which this is part,) should pay, as required by contract of partition, a little over $130,000, leaves 370,000
$820,000
The cost of the right of way for the branoh railroad, the purchase for which ha3 boon ordcrod, and of proporty that should be
bought with it, is estimated by our real ostate expert at 650,000
$1,470,000
Or nearly a million and a half of dollars.
Of the property ordered to be purchased for and with the right of way, more than half in value will be
left, when the road is built, for otber use, rent or sale. It, as well as other property adjoining, will doubtless
be appropriated to purposes auxiliary to the railroad. Purchases amounting to $380,000 have already been
made. The improved portions of this are rented for upwards of $20,000 per annum.
The improvement proposed is capable of assuming very various dimensions, and of expanding as the
requirements of traffic from time to time increase. It will probably be executed in the successive stages
described and estimated below.
Double-track branch railroad, described above, and the cove wharfed and filled in, south and west of south
basin, ready for freight business along 1,200 feet of basin front:—
Branch Railroad, $350,000
Wharfing and Filling, 300,000
Terminal Tracks, Freight Sheds, part of Engine-House, <fcc., 100,000
$750,000
Wharfing and filling solid block between south and middle basin; completing the filling west and north,
west of it; building pier opposite and preparing for large increase of freight traffic :—
Wharfing and Pilling, $600,000
Pier and Sheds, 200,000
Terminal Tracks, Enginc-Housc, Sheds, Ac., 100,000
$900,000
Wharfing and filling upper solid blocks; completing all the filling; building upper pier; widening viaduct;
making another track as far west as Newark Avenue, for east-hound freight trains waiting for berths, preparatory
to a still greater increase of freight traffic:—
Wharfing and Filling, $600,000
Upper Pier and Sheds, 200,000
Another Elevated Track and widening Viaduct, 70,000
Increase of Terminal Tracks, Sheds, Engine-House, Ao-, 110,000
$980,000
Passenger accommodations at the south-east corner of the property; elevated passenger tracks across
the property, under which the ground may be used for thoroughfare and other purposes; and another elevated
track as far as Newark Avenue, over a surface track. The details of the passenger station and the position of
the ferry will depend upon arrangements that may or may not be made with the owners of the adjacent
property:—
Elevated Passenger Tracks and Standing Room, $200,000
Passenger Station, Ac., 100,000
Elevated Siding to Newark Avcnuo, if required, ' 100,000
$400,000
The passenger business, if brought here, can be temporarily carried on tracks on the surface at a
comparatively small expense. These elevated tracks may not be required for many years.
The proposed order of making these improvements, except the first, may be varied. The necessity of
making the later expenditures can only arise from a great increase of profitable business. As a commercial
depot, however, success would be hastened by early preparations on a large scale.
RECAPITULATION.
Expenditure aa above. Totals.
Purchases of property made or ordered, $1,470,000 $1,470,000
Railroad to and improvement of southern part of Cove, 750,000 2,220,000
Improvement of middle and western part of Cove, 900,000 3,120,000
Improvement of northern part of Cove, 980,000 4,100,000
Passenger accommodations, 400,000 4,500,000
To this must be added interest accruing till the work begins to be used.
These expenditures may be classified as follows :—
Real Estate,
Double-track Railroad elevated over streets, ....
Two Elevated Sidings and one on the surface,
Elevated Passenger Road and Standing Tracks over property,
Wharfing and Filling the Cove,
Piers, with Sheds, Ac.,
Engine-House, Shop, Terminal Tracks, Sheds, Ac.,
Passenger Station,
$1,470,000
350,000
170,000
200,000
1,500,000
400,000
310,000
100,000
$4,500,000
The cost of property still to be purchased may be more than the estimate, by extravagant awards, or less,
by our being able to get the remaining right of way, with less outside property.
In estimating the cost of wharfing and filling the cove, I have made large allowances for the uncertainties
of such work; so that my estimate is larger than that of any of the engineers called upon for estimates during
the various controversies about the property.
The warehouses, by whomsoever built or used, should form part of the general plan, and be subject to
regulations established by the Company. Except, possibly, a few at first, to demonstrate the value, they
should doubtless be built and used by other parties, for the following reasons:—
1. They will still give conveniences of the utmost value to the traffic of the railroad, and the Company
will reap the advantages arising from the union of shipping, lightering, railroad storage, and cartage facilities,
as they exist, perhaps, nowhere else in the shape of heavy ground-rents and wharf-rents.
2. It saves a very large increase of our liabilities.
3. If steamship companies and connecting railroad companies own such storehouses; it insures us their
business. .
4. Individuals owning such storehouses will use their enterprise and influenoe in securing traffic for our
road. Their interest will be with us instead of against us.
The Company went into this project because it was necessary to have extensive accommodations somewhere
for the large amount of freight business offering or in prospect. Pier No. 1, in New York, our present freight
terminus, already had a business approaching its economical capacity. Sufficient room for a heavy freight
traffic could not be had in convenient form in New York at all, nor in any form, except at enormous cost.
Our property near Jersey City ferry, very valuable for other purposes, is not favorably situated for freight
business—intersected by streets and accessible only by crossing streets on the level. Its capacity, however,
improved, will soon be filled.
Experience had forced upon our attention the great expense and inconvenience of carrying goods,
requiring quick dispatch, by way of Amboy; transhipment and change in the mode of transportation being
necessary at the middle of the route. Such goods may, to a limited extent, be carried over the present route
through Jersey City, when the discrimination in tax against that route shall be removed, and the cars ferried
across the river; but the increased interruption of the streets by any great increase of freight trains would not
be tolerated. Heavy freight for the southern part of the city of New York, when time can be allowed for
cheap transfer at Amboy, can always be carried advantageously that way.
The Ilarsimus property opposite the centre of business in New York, free from streets, approached
without interfering with streets, capable of being put into the best form for railroad purposes, and for bringing
all the operations connected with the moving freight into contact, more accessible from our line than any other
unoccupied site on the river, and notwithstanding the very large award in favor of the State, not excessively
high priced, was selected as the best, and, all things considered, the cheapest that could be had. If we had
not secured it when we did, it would have fallen into other, perhaps hostile, hands.
The Companies might have confined themselves, as heretofore, mainly to a passenger business, and refused
to take freight beyond their present terminal accommodations; but our geographical position does not permit
such a policy. The long lines of railroads converging to Baltimore and to Philadelphia, as well as those great
cities themselves, and the central and southern parts of New Jersey, will have an outlet to New York over the
ground we occupy, for an immense freight traffic. If we do not take it, somebody else will, and over a road
alongside of ours; and if they do, they will also take a share of our present business.
We have the railroads and eouueotions necessary for this immense freight traffic. We can produce
additional rolling-stock whenever required. The only difficulty (after the Legislature modifies, the almost
prohibitory transit duty) is, when we roach the Hudson River with such a traffic, we have nowhere to put it.
The prosperity of the Companies depends upon having such a place somewhere.
All the other Companies whose roads terminate on the west bank of the Hudson, opposite the city, havo
secured a large amount of land,—some much larger than ours, but none so well situated. Our seventy acres is
not an excessive amount. Our torminus is not of a hundred miles of railroad, but of thousands, reaching to
the Gulf of Mexico and to the Pacific Ocean.
The New York Central Company paid a million of dollars for four acres for a terminus in New York.
It would not be fair that our road—a hundred miles long—should furnish terminal facilities gratis to
connecting roads a thousand miles long. Fortunately in this case, the property will, as is believed, when fully
occupied, yield per se an income sufficient to pay the interest on the cost of the whole improvement, in tho
6hape of rents, wharfage, storage, &c.
Terminal facilities, to a great extent, control routes. For example, tobacco seeks the Erie Railroad,
rather than ours, because the tobacco warehouse is at the Erie terminus, and it costs a dollar a ton or more to
cart the tobacco from Pier No. 1 to that warehouse. Live stock from the West, via Pittsburg, goes by the
New Jersey Central instead of our road, because the stockyard is at Communipaw. Coarse freight will go by
a route at whose terminus it can be left till final distribution. Unfortunately, examples in connection with
our route, of loss of business and profit from want of terminal facilities, are abundant. When the Ilarsimus
improvement is made, the scale will be turned the other way. Our facilities, as proposed, will be better than
other roads can now get.
The saving to the customer by the union of railroad, storage, shipping and other facilities, will inure to
the benefit of the Company, by justifying higher freights, increasing tonnage, and yielding rent or storage. It
will also make it the interest of connecting roads to stay with us, because we can give them the best
accommodations. It will also discourage the construction of competing roads. It is infinitely better and
cheaper than any legislative monopoly, even if that were desirable or possible.
All other things being equal, a warehouse, near a railroad station, must be more valuable than anywhere
else. So of a ship's berth; and so the railroad, the warehouse and the wharf, when together, mutually add to
each other's value. The lower part of New York has so little room for storehouses, that they are seeking tho
opposite shores of the waters that environ the city—frequently at far less desirable points than Harsimus
would be even without the railroad, and very much less than Harsimus with the railroad.
The immediate question which the Board propose to consider, is, whether they will go on now with the
part of the improvement first above described,—that is, reclaiming the south side of the Cove, and making the
railroad to it at an expense of $750,000,—or whether the proper time has not yet come.
In favor of going on now, are these considerations:—
To get the work ready for use will take two years. By that time our present freight capacity will be
more than full, and this work, if ready, will save expensive preparation elsewhere.
It will liberate valuable property elsewhere.
It will diminish expenses, and increase business and help rates.
The sooner the property is developed, the sooner it will become profitable, and answer all the other
purposes intended.
The considerations against going on now, are, the financial one, and the possible reduction in prices of
labor and materials hereafter.
Annexed is a sketch of the Cove property and the proposed improvements, and another showing the route
of the branch railroad.
All which is respectfully submitted.
ASHBEL WELCH,
General President of the "United Companies.
AJnk i
a/'
HARSIMLS PROPERTY
and proposed
IMPROVEMENTS
Scale 100 feel loan inch.
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