Nescochague berry feeder canal

Kevinhooa

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Mar 12, 2008
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Hammonton, NJ.
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So this has been on the to-do list for quite a long time now, and another thanks to pinelandspaddler for the info back in 2008. The ultimate goal of this trip was to not only follow the canal, but to hopefully find some of the Batsto glassworks ruins that were dumped into the creek to help divert the water.

Starting where the canal exits the woods at Richards Ave, I made my way across the huge flowing puddle and paralleled the canal with the small path that runs north.

The ditch works runs through 4 swamps total, and looked like it picked up water and sent it north at the top end, and south at the end by the fields and bogs. Neat to see it's still carrying water after all of these years. About 3/4 of the trip was on the path/road. The rest was a mix of deer runs and canal "infrastructure" The swear vine grows heavy through some of the swamps here.

Upon reaching the end, I found what I was looking for. A grass and vine covered skinny island extending out across the creek to the other side. The Beavers helped out a little in the crossing too thankfully. Buried under the overgrowth was a ton of old ironstone, brick pieces, and some of the same glittery stone found at other local area glassworks.

Interesting to note here, there was a set of what looked like cranberry bog dykes very close to the creek. And there was quite a lot of coyote evidence throughout the trip. My dog actually didn't have that hard of a time navigating through the swamps like I did as it looked like there were well worn runs around that kept the vines off of him.

It had to be a lot of work to create all of this. I really give the folks credit who cleared the way through the vines, roots and muck to make it all possible. I forgot the mileage of the total works from when I measured it before, but I want to say under 2 miles. I'm sure that some of the other folks here could provide some much better insight to the build details and the court case that ensued with the Pleasant / Nescochage Mills Co. if needed.

Happy trails.
 

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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
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Pestletown, N.J.
Great report !
We visited the dam site many years ago with Ben Ruset and exlpored other legs of the canal on a later hike.
It was an amazing feat to dig that canal and who knew it would be the basis for early riparian law ?
 
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Kevinhooa

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An interesting area for sure. Had to be quite a project and impressive how well it's held up after all these years.

Good bits of information in that thread Guy. The puddles you encountered near West Mill were mainly why I chose the route that I did on the West side of Nesco Creek. Following the canal was fun too. There was a lot of hunting evidence back there including a collapsed blind pictured below and it looks like this area is not only accessed from the dirt roads to the homes by Richards Ave, but also from the west from a farm. Lots of 4-wheeler tracks and even a small bridge over the canal in 1 spot. I did find one active looking stand in a tree as well.

The depth of the canal throughout most of it's length seemed pretty even at about 16-20" deep with some flowing sections around 2-6". The 3 easternmost swamps had a little bit deeper water, but not by a whole lot it seemed.
 

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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
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Pestletown, N.J.
The area where you photographed the boards was privately owned until not too long ago. I believe it was acquired by NJ around the same time that Ace Campground was acquired. The piece with the boards over the canal was huge and was owned by guys that hunted it. They had large shooting shacks in the trees as well as on the ground.

The area was taken out of the "brown and down" Deer Management Zone 25 a few years back and was incorporated into Zone 26 which has helped the deer herd somewhat.
 
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Kevinhooa

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Mar 12, 2008
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Hammonton, NJ.
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The area where you photographed the boards was privately owned until not too long ago. I believe it was acquired by NJ around the same time that Ace Campground was acquired. The piece with the boards over the canal was huge and was owned by guys that hunted it. They had large shooting shacks in the trees as well as on the ground.

The area was taken out of the "brown and down" Deer Management Zone 25 a few years back and was incorporated into Zone 26 which has helped the deer herd somewhat.

Thanks for the additional info. I saw a bit of deer sign as well, especially in the more concentrated areas of the swamps that had a bit of sand. Although more rare for Jersey, I always picture a huge monster buck walking out in front of me when I come across the fresh big tracks in the sand in these remote areas. I don't hunt anymore like I used to, but the sightings are always still appreciated.
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
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Pestletown, N.J.
That is a great article Guy. I remember it well.

The field inspection of the dam many years ago with members of this site was an eye opener for me. If I came across that dam or the ditch while walking through that woods, I would have never known the historic importance of it without the background information provided here.

Thank you again for providing this venue Ben.
 

Teegate

Administrator
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Sep 17, 2002
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It would be interesting to know if the glassworks that Richards dumped into the Nescochague was the Batsto Glass Works.


IMG_2894a.jpg
 
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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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It is interesting to note that at the time I was involved with this project a contractor who was working on an old house stumbled on documents concerning this and they made their way to me. They really helped me with a few portions of that article.
 
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