Who done it and why?

pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
Take a look at this patch of woods in between the Parkway and the Mighty Mullica:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.545113030372896&lng=-74.47484850883484&z=18&type=h&gpx=

This area was all marsh in 1951, but by 1956 it was filled in. But for what purpose? This happened around the time the Parkway was being constructed, but is there a connection? Notice that a berm was built up around the area. The same thing was done immediately to the East:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.5497748545264&lng=-74.46840584278107&z=18&type=h&gpx=

Does anyone have any idea why all of this was done?
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
Allow me to continue talking to myself. :)

I'm thinking that the marsh was filled in order to expand these nearby hunting grounds:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.54387616731348&lng=-74.48235332965851&z=18&type=h&gpx=

Seems like that would be a rather expensive project, filling in all those wetlands. Perhaps there was an excess of sand mined from the nearby borrow pits for construction of the Parkway and Fish and Game thought to utilize it? Just thinking out loud. Maybe I can find out from them.
 
GermanG

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,143
479
Little Egg Harbor
I would go with your guess regarding it being related to construction of the Parkway, or else the result of dumping of spoils from a nearby dredging project. I can’t imagine why Fish & Game would have done it. Waterfowl hunting is the most popular activity in this area and something like this would have a negative effect on waterfowl, rather than enhancing the habitat.
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
German,

Good point about the waterfowl habitat.

I hadn't thought of dredge spoils. But that doesn't seem to explain the berms:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.548248524227596&lng=-74.48000907897949&z=19&type=h&gpx=

If it was related to the construction of the Parkway, what might of been the purpose?

I also noticed that this channel was dug out around the same time that the marsh was enclosed in a berm and partially filled in:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.54697655666334&lng=-74.4703397154808&z=20&type=h&gpx=

The stream that used to be immediately to the east of the channel has since filled in because of this. I'm wondering if the filling in of the stream was an inadvertent or a planned consequence of digging the new channel. Perhaps this was done to prevent erosion from undermining the Parkway exit (the circle)?

Also, German, do you know the purpose of these circular features?

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.548025156001664&lng=-74.4726088643074&z=21&type=h&gpx=
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
TeeGate said:
Gabe,

You need to use Bing. You can clearly see it is just vegetation. Bing may clear up more of your questions, but then again it may bring more :)

Spin the photo around and you can see the view more clearly.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qk...44408&dir=352.4727749478632&sty=b&FORM=LMLTCC


The ATV's have hit some of that area hard.

Guy
Click to expand...

Guy, I am aware that it is vegetation. Poor word choice on my part. I suppose "vegetable structures" would have been a better choice. ( : In any case, I just figured out the answer to my question. If you look at the 1970 aerial you will notice that these evenly-spaced white circles appear on the marsh. They weren't there in 1963. They are man-made mini islands. But still, for what purpose? Nesting??

And yeah, I noticed the ATV tracks going through the marsh to the river. Pretty F'd up.
 
46er

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
There is no doubt.... messages to space voyageurs, NJ marsh figures. An offshoot to crop circles :)

5641666733_7278a0b609_z.jpg
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
TeeGate said:
Have you been here??

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qk...4108&dir=174.07190271896738&sty=b&FORM=LMLTCC

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qk...2884&dir=169.91659094666466&sty=b&FORM=LMLTCC

Guy
Click to expand...

I have been meaning to go to Sooy's Landing, but have not gotten around to it. Kevinhooa has a photo gallery for Sooy's Landing here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinhooa/sets/72157604056095975/

Naturally, I'm interested in knowing the history of this landing. If anyone has any info, I'd appreciate it.

As for those borrow pits, no I haven't been there.
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
Sooy's Landing

I just did a little search on google books and found this entry from the Acts of the Sixty-Sixth General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (1841) :
An Act to authorize the erection of a Dam across Sooys Creek, in the township of Galloway, in the county of Atlantic.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That it shall and may be lawful to erect a Dam across Sooy's Creek in the township of Galloway, and county of Atlantic, about a half a mile above its mouth, at the Second Reach above Sooys Landing.
Click to expand...

So the Landing was there in 1841, but where exactly was this dam? What part of the river is considered the Second Reach?
 
woodjin

woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,342
328
Near Mt. Misery
pinelandpaddler said:
Take a look at this patch of woods in between the Parkway and the Mighty Mullica:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.545113030372896&lng=-74.47484850883484&z=18&type=h&gpx=

This area was all marsh in 1951, but by 1956 it was filled in. But for what purpose? This happened around the time the Parkway was being constructed, but is there a connection? Notice that a berm was built up around the area. The same thing was done immediately to the East:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.5497748545264&lng=-74.46840584278107&z=18&type=h&gpx=

Does anyone have any idea why all of this was done?
Click to expand...

I tried to get in there a few years back to see what it was all about. Kind of a little hideaway for dirt riders along the GSP. I never made it in, I think there were some pretty imposing signs saying to stay out.

Aside from driving throught the marsh land, this is probably not so sensitive to ATV activity.

Jeff
 
Jerseyman

Jerseyman

Piney
Sep 10, 2003
1,379
432
West New Jersey
www.jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com
pinelandpaddler said:
I just did a little search on google books and found this entry from the Acts of the Sixty-Sixth General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (1841) :

An Act to authorize the erection of a Dam across Sooys Creek, in the township of Galloway, in the county of Atlantic.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That it shall and may be lawful to erect a Dam across Sooy's Creek in the township of Galloway, and county of Atlantic, about a half a mile above its mouth, at the Second Reach above Sooys Landing.

So the Landing was there in 1841, but where exactly was this dam? What part of the river is considered the Second Reach?
Click to expand...

Gabe:

From some preliminary research conducted here in my library, it appears Sooy’s Landing predates the American War for Independence. Adonijah Peacock surveyed 265 acres to Joseph Sooy and Daniel Morss on 8 April 1766 with the following metes and bounds:

Beginning at a Sassafras and Runs (1) S6E 12.5 chains to a post (2) N21E 18 chains to a post (3) N22E 8 chains to a small maple (4) N18W 17 chaines to a pine (5) N58E 10 chains to a stone in the marsh (6) N 15 chains to Beaver Run or Hughes Creek then down the same (7) N30E 26 chaines to the mouth then down Little Egg Harbour River (8)S60E 13.26 chains and (9) S10E 11 chains to Sooy’s Creek then up the same the four following courses (10) S2E 13.5 chains (11) S19W 10.5 chains (12) S 15.5 chains to a pond then (13) S15W 60 chaines to a pine corner in the branch then (14) N52E 28 chains and 86 links to the beginning within said bounds and lines 265 acres strict measure.

The Gloucester County Loan Office mortgage register contains this entry:

Joseph Sooy Jr. of Galloway Twp., £50 for one moiety of 248 acres in the same place “by a small Branch” and on Beaver Run or Haver’s Creek where it empties into LIttle Egg Harbour River, and Sooy’s Creek at Sooy’s Landing (mortgage discharged December 1798 per ledger).

A reach is how far you can sail up a watercourse in a single tack. In very general terms, it is what, today, constitutes a range, which is a straight course on a river between two given points.

The question to be asked is whether the dam was to serve as an water impoundment for milling operations or whether those who sought permission to construct this dam on navigable waters would use it to prevent tidal flow from moving any farther up the creek for meadow farming purposes. I suspect the latter.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
Jerseyman,

Thank you for the feedback!

You wrote:
The question to be asked is whether the dam was to serve as an water impoundment for milling operations or whether those who sought permission to construct this dam on navigable waters would use it to prevent tidal flow from moving any farther up the creek for meadow farming purposes. I suspect the latter.
Click to expand...

Very interesting. I think Section Two confirms your suspicion:

Sec. 2. And be it enacted. That the owners and possessors of marsh meadow and swamp lying upon said Creek, or above said intended dam, shall erect a dam sufficient to keep out the tide, and lay a sluice or sluices sufficient to drain said marsh, and shall at times keep and maintain the same.
Click to expand...

What would they have farmed?
 
Jerseyman

Jerseyman

Piney
Sep 10, 2003
1,379
432
West New Jersey
www.jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com
pinelandpaddler said:
Jerseyman,

Thank you for the feedback!

You wrote:


Very interesting. I think Section Two confirms your suspicion:



What would they have farmed?
Click to expand...

Gabe:

I should have taken the time to read the act in the 1841 pamphlet laws. That would have answered my questions without the need to state them!

Since alluvial deposits represent some of the richest soils found, those who sought to restrain the tidal flow could have planted any number of crops there. They could also use the ground to graze cattle. You may want to examine a copy of Kimberly R. Sebold’s From Marsh to Farm: The Landscape Transformation of Coastal New Jersey, published by the National Park Service in 1992 as part of New Jersey’s Coastal Heritage Trail project. There is quite a bit of good material in this work about banked meadow farming.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
pinelandpaddler

pinelandpaddler

Piney
Apr 6, 2004
3,620
564
Galloway
Jerseyman said:
Gabe:

I should have taken the time to read the act in the 1841 pamphlet laws. That would have answered my questions without the need to state them!

Since alluvial deposits represent some of the richest soils found, those who sought to restrain the tidal flow could have planted any number of crops there. They could also use the ground to graze cattle. You may want to examine a copy of Kimberly R. Sebold’s From Marsh to Farm: The Landscape Transformation of Coastal New Jersey, published by the National Park Service in 1992 as part of New Jersey’s Coastal Heritage Trail project. There is quite a bit of good material in this work about banked meadow farming.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
Click to expand...

Will do, Jerseyman! Thanks again, my friend.
 
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