‘Ghost bridge’ submerged for more than a century in North Jersey is exposed

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‘Ghost bridge’ submerged for more than a century in North Jersey is exposed

A drawdown at the Oak Ridge Reservoir in West Milford is providing a rare peek into New Jersey’s past.

Likely submerged for most of its existence, the stone bridge now exposed along with the reservoir’s bare floor provides the only hint of a village that vanished over a century ago. It isn’t a ghost story but a reminder of pressing needs at the turn of the 20th century.

In the late 1800s, Newark was desperate for clean water. Industrial pollution had ruined its original source: the Passaic River. The problem led officials to consider building a pipeline 25.3 miles northwest to the Pequannock River. There, amid a rural land dotted with iron mines and forges, they could strategically place dams to create a chain of reservoirs linked by the Pequannock River: Clinton Falls, Oak Ridge and Macopin.

While the old Oak Ridge Reservoir bridge can still be seen today, most of the road that once cut through the reservoir floor no longer exists. The road was replaced by those around the reservoir in the early 1890s, the Jersey City News reported in 1890.

The most controversial of the original three, Oak Ridge, required the sacrifice of a small village.

The East Jersey Water Company, which oversaw the project to create the Newark Watershed, had to acquire the land in order to flood it. That demanded purchasing homes, barns and fields from reluctant residents, namely Horace Chamberlain, the Passaic Daily News reported in July 1889. A former state legislator, Chamberlain had amassed a large estate in the area that included a 400-acre farm, said 1914’s “A History of Morris County.”

Company officials also had to buy water rights from factories along the Pequannock and its feeders, including Dunker Pond and Echo Lake.

The view from the top of the stone bridge at Oak Ridge Reservoir shows the Pequannock River flowing through a flood plain created along in the early 1890s to provide Newark with fresh drinking water.

By the end of 1891, however, Chamberlain was *****, the factory owners were compensated and the homes that once formed the village were auctioned off. Houses sold for as little as $20. The highest bid was $200 for Lewis Thompson’s country home, the Passaic Daily News reported in April 1891.

The homes in Oak Ridge and in nearby Wallace’s Corners were linked by the bridge to Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike, a toll road built between 1806 and 1814 that facilitated trade and travel across New Jersey’s Highlands. The turnpike’s role in the region’s growth was vital, linking small towns to larger markets. Some suspect the bridge was built along with the turnpike, but its age is unknown.

Motorists risk their safety on the side of Route 23 south in West Milford to catch a glimpse of the old stone bridge exposed by low water levels at the Oak Ridge Reservoir.

Carefully crafted from stone blocks, the bridge spans three arches and sticks up about 20 feet above the slow trickle of the Pequannock River. The region has been dealing with severe drought, going more than a month with no measurable rainfall. Oak Ridge’s main job is to keep the modern queen of the Newark Watershed reservoirs, Charlotteburg, topped off.

Charlotteburg was the last of the system’s reservoirs to be built, with the work done between 1958 and 1960. It increased the total storage capacity of the reservoirs to roughly 14.4 billion gallons, state records show.

The three original reservoirs were completed by May 1892. Two other reservoirs were added in the middle part of the decade, as the three-reservoir system ultimately did not produce as much water as expected, local newspaper reports said.

The old stone bridge at Oak Ridge Reservoir shows itself during unusually low water levels.

In order for the company to make good on its 50 million-gallon-per-day contract with Newark by the 1900 deadline, suggestions arose to build another reservoir a half-mile below the Oak Ridge dam, The Jersey City News reported in June 1892.

Instead, the company began buying land in Sussex County in preparation for the Canistear Reservoir’s creation. At that time, a single ******* stood in what was then mostly ******* forest, The Jersey City News reported when work wrapped up on Canistear in November 1896. Echo Lake, once considered an alternative reservoir site amid Chamberlain’s protests, was added to the system shortly after, the Passaic Daily News reported.

The bridge at Oak Ridge Reservoir is near the intersection of Route 23 and Reservoir Road. But caution is advised: The best way to view this relic is not by stopping on the highway, but by finding a safe vantage point nearby. Also, be warned: The property is part of the Newark Watershed, which requires permits to access it for hiking, boating, fishing and other recreational pursuits.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com:

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