George Brinton McClellan

“ Not withstanding the large proportion of Quakers among its early inhabitants, New Jersey never failed to furnish its just quota of men and money for the various American wars waged in the 18th century, and its contingent bore a most honourable part in the chief military events of that period. For the campaigns of 1711, 1739, 1746, 1747, and 1748 the province supplied a battalion of 500 men. ”

“ In southern New Jersey there are no rocky eminences or elevations worthy of the name of mountains. Its rounded hills are all earthy, and the results of denudation or erosion; the most elevated—the Navesink highlands—are about 400 feet high.
The southern half of the State is a great plain, sloping gently from its centre towards the Atlantic and the Delaware, and has been eroded in the Drift period. [1] It contains tracts of gravelly loam largely used for market gardens and vineyards. Extensive tidal marshes border the Atlantic and Delaware Bay, to the extent of nearly 300,000 acres. ”

“ The ridges of the Appalachian chain in New Jersey may be grouped in two main ranges—the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains and the Highland range. The first of these is an almost unbroken ridge from the New York State line to the Delaware Water Gap, and is the highest ground in the State, being at the Water Gap 1479 feet above the sea, and at High Point, near the New York line, 1800 feet high. Its level crest is clothed with forests, but the slopes are to a great extent cultivated. ”

“ A normal school has been in successful operation at Trenton for several years, and has nearly 250 pupils. The college of New Jersey at Princeton, and its sister theological seminary, although not State institutions, occupy places in the very front rank of American schools of learning. Finance.—The only State debt is that known as the war debt, amounting at present to less than $1,700,000, and paid off at the rate of $100,000 per annum. ”

“ On the whole the early intercourse between the whites and Indians was peaceful, but there were occasional collisions, some of a serious nature, too often brought about by the rapacity and bad faith of the whites. As a rule the title to the Indian lands was purchased, and after the province fell into the hands of the English the general policy pursued was one of humanity and good faith. At the time of the English accession it is estimated that the Indians in New Jersey numbered about 2000. ”

“ In the whisky insurrection of 1794 the State furnished more than 2000 militia, who under Governor Howell formed part of the army in Pennsylvania. In the war of 1812 it furnished nearly 7000 militia, and in the Mexican war three companies of regular infantry and a battalion of volunteers. At the breaking out of the civil war of 1861 the number of men in the State available for military duty was 98,806; and during that war New Jersey organized and maintained 37 regiments of infantry, 3 regiments of cavalry, and 5 batteries. ”

“ In some of the sparsely settled counties the inferior courts are presided over by justices of the supreme court; in the other counties one of the three judges is a law judge and presides. The court of pardon consists of the governor, the chancellor, and the six lay judges of the court of errors; a majority of this court, of whom the governor must be one, can remit fines and forfeitures, and grant pardons, after conviction in all cases except impeachments. ”

“ Commerce and Industry.—Although only the thirty-fifth among the thirty-eight States in area, it is the nineteenth in population, the eighth in the value of property, and twenty-fifth in value of agricultural products, the sixth in manufacturing and mechanical industries, while in some industries, as silk, pottery, and glass, it far exceeds any other State. ”

“ State Institutions.—There are two lunatic asylums, one near Trenton containing more than 600 patients, the other near Morristown capable of accommodating 800; the latter is probably unsurpassed by any similar institution; there are also seven county asylums containing 746 patients. An institution for the deaf and dumb, to contain 125 pupils, has been recently established at Trenton; the blind and feeble-minded are placed in suitable establishments in neighbouring States. The home for disabled soldiers, at Newark, accommodates nearly 400 men. ”

“ The Azoic rocks occur mainly in the Highland range, and here consist chiefly of syenitic gneiss and white crystalline limestone, the former greatly predominating. This limestone is found chiefly on the north-west border of the gneiss, interstratified with and conformable to it. Magnetic iron ore abounds here, and occurs in beds or veins interposed between the strata of the gneiss. New mines are constantly being discovered, and the supply seems inexhaustible. ”

“ Water lime and Lower Helderberg limestone, which produce the Rosendale cements, are found in quantity along the north-west foot of the Kittatinny. Red sandstones and shales underlie the region immediately south-east of the Highland range, extending from the Hudson to the Delaware. They are in regular layers, dipping gently to the north-west, and form an excellent building material. Copper occurs in this formation, and was worked at an early period. ”

“ The public schools are mainly supported by a State tax of 4 for each child between five and eighteen years of age, amounting in 1882 to $1,322,740, supplemented by an annual appropriation of $100,000 from the school fund, which latter now amounts to more than $3,375,000, and is rapidly increasing. ”

“ The Highland range, on the other hand, consists of a number of detached ridges, the highest of which is 1488 feet above the sea. These vary greatly in their surfaces; many admit of cultivation to the summit, while others are so covered with loose stones or bare rock that cultivation is impossible. The mineral wealth of the range is considerable. ”

“ The entire sea-coast is rapidly becoming a continuous line of summer resorts, among which may be enumerated Long Branch, Sea Bright, Spring Lake, and Asbury Park in the northern portion, Atlantic City in the centre, and Cape May in the south. ”

“ They were described at the time as “the likeliest well-set men who ever entered upon a campaign.” When the French war of 1754 broke out Jersey again furnished a battalion of 500 men; of these one half were captured by Montcalm at Oswego, after a gallant resistance, and the remainder at the surrender of Fort William Henry. ”

“ It has 1869 miles of railways, or 1 mile to every 4.25 square miles of area, exceeded in this by only one State. The average value of farming lands is considerably above that of any other State. In 1880 the total number of farms was 34,307, averaging 85 acres, or a total of 2,929,773 acres of farm lands, of which 24.4 per cent, were unimproved. ”