Bool’s Island Formed Natural Opening for Waterway;
Early Engineers Found;
Cholera Took Heavy Toll Among Workers
Entirely Abandoned, A Sorry Spectacle
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, NJ,
published in the Hunterdon County Democrat, June 8, 1933
The project of connecting the Delaware River with the Raritan by means of a canal caught the imagination of engineers and business men quite early.
The occupations included in the tax lists gives us a window into life in the mid 19th-century. It is just as interesting to see what occupations were not listed as which ones were. I have not yet found a complete list of all occupations to be taxed, but the Revenue Act of 1864 lists these principal occupations in this order:
Great Catches of Shad in the Delaware River Were Common
Heavy Snow of 1874
by Egbert T. Bush, Stockton, NJ, April 24, 1930
Note: These observations by Mr. Bush on the blizzard of 1874 seemed especially appropriate for this time of year.
