The marsh
is about half a mile wide, and something like a mile and a half long,
extending southward into Jersey City. The surface is a network of matted
vegetation and roots perhaps five feet deep, and under that lies a mass
of blue clay or river silt 100 feet or more in depth. The original
tidal flow over these marsh lands has been obstructed by viaducts for
railroads and streets, leaving only two natural outlets, a sluice way at
Fifteenth street on the north, and on the south a basin constructed by
the D. L. & W. R. R., 100 feet wide, and 2,300 feet long. The average
level of the marsh land is three feet above mean low water and a foot
and a half below mean high water. In the part built upon the streets are
but two feet above mean high water.
During long easterly and northerly storms, especially at times of high
spring tides, the level of the water in the Hudson is often such as to
cover the meadows even at low tide; and on several occasions the water
at high tide has been 41/2 feet above the level of the meadows, and a foot
or more above the established grade of the streets.
The problem is to drain these marsh lands so as to make them properly
habitable and to protect them from invasion by high tides and storm
waters.
The first drainage map of the district was made about fifteen years ago;
since then over $100,000 have been expended on tidal sewers and other
devices, and several acts have been passed by the New Jersey Legislature
in furtherance of the work.
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