February 4, 1830--Delaware-Raritan Canal Incorporated

A canal across central Jersey was an inevitable phenomenon.  William Penn, back in the 1670's, thought of the idea first.  He sent out surveyors to explore the possibility of constructing a canal across the Jerseys, from the Delaware River to New York Bay--in other words, find an easier avenue of commerce between New York and Philadelphia.  It took a long time for Penn's idea to become a reality--February 4, 1830, to be exact.  That is when the State of New Jersey granted a charter to the Delaware & Raritan Canal and Banking Company  to construct an artificial waterway between the Delaware River and the Raritan River.  The stage was set for a canal route that would cut through old South Brunswick and skirt by the staid village of Kingston.  The canal was to become an integral extension of the South Brunswick transportation system--but only for ten decades.  Also in 1830, a charter was granted to the Camden & Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company to construct a line in direct competition with the canal.  Soon thereafter, the railroad started winning out as there new major form of transportation across New Jersey.  By mid-November of 1830, construction of the canal began.  Steady progress was made along several sections, including the ones around Kingston.  In the summer of 1832, the first major setback occurred when many laborers, most of them Irish immigrants, succumbed to an outbreak of Asiatic cholera.  In the fall of 1833, the canal was opened from Trenton to Kingston.  The entire length was opened by May of 1834.  Canal traffic thrived until the early 1870's when the Pennsylvania Railroad expanded to a four-line track.  As railroad profits increased, canal profits decreased.  After 1900, the canal system was operating at a loss.  Yacht passage kept the canal going in the 1920's, but by 1932 the canal had to close and ceased to function as a transportation link.  William Penn's idea proved to be a good one--but delayed too long and doomed when it finally started.  The problem was not location, location, location.  The problem was luck and timing.  The railroad proved to be a better idea.