The Newtown Pentacle

From Queens Borough, New York City, 1910-1920; the borough of homes and industry, a descriptive and illustrated book setting forth its wonderful growth and development in commerce, industry and homes during the past ten years … a prediction of even greater growth during the next ten years … and a statement of its many advantages, attractions and possibilities as a section wherein to live, to work and to succeed (1920)

Published in 1920, by the New York, L. I. Star Pub. Co.

Found at archive.org, download the 33 megabyte pdf scan of the book here

NEWTOWN CREEK

Newtown Creek, which is known as the “busiest waterway of its size in the world,” is a tidal arm of the East River, dividing the Boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn for a distance of four miles. It empties into the East River directly opposite 34th Street, Manhattan. The importance of this stream is strikingly shown by comparing its activities with those of the Mississippi River, which from New Orleans to St. Paul is 1,000 miles in length and flows through the heart of a great industrial section. According to recent figures, 5,500,000 tons of freight are carried annually on the upper and lower reaches of this longest river in the world. While for the three years 1915-16-17, the tonnage on the four miles of Newtown Creek averaged 5,620,000 tons. The value of the tonnage on the Mississippi River is approximately $100,000,000 per annum, while on Newtown Creek, it has averaged more than $200,000,000 per annum for the past ten years. The chief commodities transported on this surprising waterway are copper ore and its products, petroleum, lumber, coal, chemicals and building materials.

In 1917, 517,601 tons of copper ore and copper manufactures were transported on Newtown Creek a tonnage valued at $230,000,000, which is an amount greater than the total value of all the manufactured products of either Kansas City, Minneapolis or San Francisco, and greater than the value of exports from Boston or Philadelphia. Huge oil refineries on both sides of the stream ship annually 250,000,0000 gallons of petroleum. There is still room for growth both in the commerce on the stream and the manufacturing plants which now line its borders. There are large undeveloped tracts in Queens adjoining this stream such as the Degnon Terminal with huge industrial plants that have been erected during the past seven years, and where many more will be erected during the coming ten years. One of the largest undeveloped tracts of land at the head of the stream is the 150 acre tract of the Palmer Waterfront Land and Improvement Company, in the Maspeth section, which is served by rail as well as water, and on which several large manufacturing plants have been located within the past few years. The character of tonnage on this waterway can best be shown by the following table for one recent year,

1917 : Article Estimated Value Net Tons

1. General Merchandise
   $8,734,301     or     132,602 VNT
2. Coal and other fuel and cord wood
   $4,337,378     or     1,373,035 VNT
3. Lumber, railroad ties and piles
   $6,940,388     or     443,027 VNT
4. Steel and products
   $1,254,557     or     32,369 VNT
5. Copper ore and products
   $180,275,507     or     413,837 VNT
6. Petroleum $15,744,584     or     868,464 VNT
7. Brick, (building and fire) $722,197     or     242,734 VNT
8. Crushed stone
   $130,041     or     155,309 VNT
9. Gravel and sand
   $450,198     or     656,908 VNT
10. Cement, lime, etc
    $1,855,511     or     306,519 VNT
11. Paving blocks
    $32,275     or     31,164 VNT
12. Plaster, whiting, sulphur, chalk, etc
    $506,505     or     58,262 VNT
13. Fertilizer and steam bone
    $632,702     or     88,109 VNT
14. Ice
    $141,279     or     47,093 VNT
15. Ashes, cinders and slag
    $85,670     or     100,890 VNT
16. Molasses
    $528,000     or     48,768 VNT
17. All other materials
    $490,916     or     155,404 VNT
18. TOTAL . . . $226,862,015 or
    5,154,500 VNT

The Federal Government is now starting dredging operations which will provide for a channel varying from 250 to 125 feet in width, and 20 to 18 feet in depth, at mean low water, from the East River to the head of navigation in the creek. The mean range of tide is 4^ feet. More than 1,475,000 cubic yards will be dredged from the channel. The appropriation of $510,000 for this work, included in the Rivers and Harbors Bill of 1919, was secured through the joint efforts of the Queensboro Chamber of Commerce and Congressman Charles Pope Caldwell. The tonnage and value for the 10 years 1908 to 1918 inclusive is given in the following table :

Year Tonnage Value

• 1908- 4,181,528     or     $229,994,000 
• 1909- 5,113,628     or     $253,003,000 
• 1910- 3,861,852     or     $139,378,000 
• 1911- 5,435,016     or     $191,747,000 
• 1912- 4,921,843     or     $225,416,000 
• 1913- 5,141,516     or     $226,962,000 
• 1914- 4,445,556     or     $147,739,000 
• 1915- 5,756,102     or     $147,086,000 
• 1916- 5,915,150     or     $201,581,000 
• 1917- 5,215,820     or     $294,701,000 
• 1918- 4,369,136     or     $322,960,000 
• TOTAL . . . .
  ‘ 54,337,197     or     $2,380,567,000 
• AVERAGE PER YEAR. . .
  5,433,719     or     $238,056,700

Some further idea of the immense commerce of this waterway can be obtained from the figures compiled by the Department of Plant and Structures of New York City, which show that during the year 1918, 59,389 boats passed through the Vernon Avenue Bridge, 56,735 passed through the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, 27,000 through the Meeker Street Bridge and 5,007 through the Grand Street Bridge. Steamers schooners and unrigged vessels are the principal freight carriers. Their drafts range from 5^ to 20 feet; 2 to 19 feet; 2 to 18 feet respectively. Some steamers of still larger draft lighter in their cargoes.

Among the larger plants on the Queens shore of Newtown Creek are the National Sugar Refining Company, Nichols Copper Company, National Enameling and Stamping Company, General Chemical Company, Standard Oil Refineries. American Agricultural Chemical Company, and the Wrigley Chewing Gum Company.

DUTCH KILLS CREEK During 1914 bulkhead lines were established by the United States Govern- ment for Dutch Kills Creek, a tributary of Newtown Creek, thus putting this stream under the jurisdiction of the War Department. The bulkhead lines as approved on October 29, 1914, give a width varying from 200 feet at its junction with Newtown Creek to 150 feet at the head of the stream, and include a large basin in the Degnon Terminal where car floats can be docked. The widths of the channel to be dredged under the appropriation of $510,000 mentioned previously, range from 160 feet at Newtown Creek to 75 feet at the turning basin. The Long Island Railroad plans to establish at this point a large wholesale public market, estimated to cost nearly $5,000,000.

Among the larger industrial plants in the Degnon Terminal served by this stream are : Loose Wiles Biscuit Company, American Ever Ready Works, White Motor Company, Sawyer Biscuit Company, Defender Manufacturing Company, Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, Marcus Ward, Brett Lithograph Company, Waldes, Inc., Norma Company of America, Manhattan-Rome Company, American Chicle Co. and The Palmolive Co.

Know this spot?

Long Island City -photo by Mitch Waxman 

It’s a backroad, by LIC standards.

It’s 51st Avenue and what would be 21st street, and it smells heavily from the garbage bins of a commercial fish butcher just up the block on the corner of 23rd street. During the festering heat of the late summer in New York, crossing the street- if not avoiding the block all together- is advisable. Across the street are fallow lots of illegally dumped industrial garbage and the Crows picking it over. 

Crows are metal collectors, usually immigrants who have a tradition of “ship-breaking” or “shanty towns” in their country of origin. They see value in what others see as trash.

Metal buyers in Long Island City and especially Greenpoint and East Williamsburg pay, by the pound, for the collected materials. If copper wire is found, the collector is expected to burn off the insulation, despite the toxicity of doing so. Its not the buyers problem, he just wants the commodity. Want to see it in action- hang out on the corner of Greenpoint avenue and Moultrie St. in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This is recycling. 

Pretty darn close to 51st Avenue and what would be 21st street- It’s the Circus Train!!! -photo by Mitch Waxman 

In 1908, a fire at the nearby Blanchard Building- which housed the works of J.F. Blanchard, makers of fireproof doors and shutters- was started by an inferno at the Pratt & Lambert varnish works next door. The fire soon began to spread and a great crowd watched as groups of firemen tried to battle the out of control blaze. The great fear was that the nearby Columbia Paper Bag company would be set alight, which would provide ample fuel for an inferno that might spread beyond Borden Avenue and to the shores of the Newtown Creek. 

nytimes archive article here:

“LONG ISLAND CITY FIRE A SIGHT FOR THOUSANDS; A Varnish Plant and Door Factory Are Destroyed. MANY TRAINS ARE HELD UP Poor Water Supply Responsible for $300,000 Loss, Says Croker — Fireman Badly Hurt.“

There is a Blanchard Building on the site today, and it does seem quite fireproof, although Blanchard is long gone. J.F. Blanchard eventually merged with the John W. Rapp company and became the United States Metal Products Company.

View the  Blanchard Building in a google map, clicking streetview- from the LIE- its the large structure with the two billboards. 

Blanchard manufactured hollow, sheet-metal, fireproof doors. Their Type A and Type B were endorsed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters in Chicago. Installation of thee doors would reduce fire insurance costs by a significant margin. A major influence on the bottom line here in the dense agglutination of industry here on the Newtown Creek.

Down under the Long Island Expressway- DULIE -photo by Mitch Waxman 

51st avenue dead ends at the Long Island Railroad tracks, and what would be 21st street is a pedestrian rail bridge (which Forgotten-Ny once christened “the 21st street Bridge“) that goes over the train tracks and under the Highway, which channels the constant stream of vehicular traffic (some 83,900 cars and trucks a day) flowing east out of the toll plaza at the Midtown Tunnel to the highways threading out through Queens and ultimately to Long Island. 

note- this bridge has a lamppost which was one of the ones tagged with “occult” grafiti, as discussed in an earlier post.

LIRR crosses Borden Avenue -photo by Mitch Waxman

Nearby, the 800 pound gorilla crosses Borden Avenue at grade (street level). One of the few places in New York City that the Long Island Rail Road still does so.

These tracks lead between the Hunters Point Avenue station and the Long Island City station, and up until the 1950’s such grade crossings were a constant nuisance and mortal threat to the citizens of Long Island City- here in the Newtown Pentacle.

Statue of Liberty at Dusk -Photo by Mitch Waxman

In the first part of this post: The hired Circleline company’s Zephyr Catamaran departed Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport, passed the Brooklyn Piers and moved south in the Buttermilk Channel between Brooklyn & Governors Island, passing Atlantic Basin. We went further south and nosed into Erie Basin, crossed Upper New York Harbor, passing numerous moored barges and tugs to the entrance to the Kill Van Kull, passing tanker terminals, tug yards, and a large ship repair facility with floating drydocks. We proceeded  westerly and passed under the Bayonne Bridge, turning north to enter Newark Bay.

This amazing experience is being offered by the Working Harbor Committee. These esteemed maritime enthusiasts will be hosting 3 more of these narrated excursions over the course of this summer of 2009. (some of the copy above paraphrased from the Working Harbor Committee website)

Bayonne Bridge, New Jersey side -Photo by Mitch Waxman

Newark Bay is a tidal back bay formed by the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, and part of New York Harbor. Its waters are a poisonous stew of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, copper, PCB’s, PAH’s, Pesticides, VOC’s, and Dioxin. Fishing is limited by law and common sense, and the harvesting or consumption of Crab or Lobster from these waters is prohibited by State and Federal authorities. 

In 1958, a spectacular train crash happened at Newark Bay- when a passenger railroad ran a “stop” signal causing a derailment. The derailed train SLID OFF of the since demolished Newark Bay Lift Bridge and into the water. The first two cars of the train sunk immediately, killing 43. The third car hung over the edge before it too fell into the bay. 

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal -Photo by Mitch Waxman

Natural wetlands until as late as the 20th century, the City of Newark began to dredge the shipping channel in 1914 that would eventually be widened and deepened into the modern Port of Newark. 15th busiest cargo port on Earth, and largest on the eastern seaboard of the United States- the combined “Port Newark” and “Elizabeth Marine Terminal” operation is controlled by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. 

Ships loading at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal -Photo by Mitch Waxman

A container port, the cyclopean scale of the machinery found in this place was both notable and mind boggling. How the arts of man have progressed. This particular container ship is the Ever Reward, run by a global outfit based out of Taiwan called Evergreen Marine Corp. Evergreen got into some trouble, back in 2005, and got hit with $25 million in fines.

from the United States Department of Justice:

“Charges include making false statements, obstruction of Coast Guard inspections, failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book, and one negligent violation of the Clean Water Act relating to the discharge in the Columbia River.  Following the guilty pleas, U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr. ordered the company to pay $25 million to be divided equally among the five judicial districts involved”

The Ever Reward seems to have had a troubled life, as just two years earlier- in 2003, the International Longshoreman’s Association shut down all Evergreen operations here at the Maher Terminal in the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal. The strike also spread to other ports.

The Ever Reward is an astounding 294,13 meters long, which can move at 23.5 knots (that’s around 28 miles an hour) when fully loaded- was built in 1994 at Mitsubishi Kobe, in Japan- and is owned by Greencompass Marine S.A. (Evergreen), Panama, and is a Panamanian flagged ship.

Ship loading, Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal -Photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s the CSCL Jakarta, a relatively small and slow cargo ship built in 2001 at Stocznia Gdynia, Poland– in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Notice the smaller scale of the Container Cranes on this side of the dock. It’s operated by China Shipping Container Lines Co.,Ltd, a company founded in 1997 in Shanghai, in the People’s Republic of China. Jakarta is one of the 152 vessels maintained as part of their active fleet.

Cranes at work, Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal -Photo by Mitch Waxman

As we continued along, the sense shattering size of the place struck again and again. The cargo containers- familiar gypsy’s that wander through city street and country lane- being stacked like so many children’s blocks by a gulliverian mantis.

The world’s largest manufacturer of these WHEELED and DRIVEABLE machines, which may move about on the pier to the obtain the most advantageous spots for loading and unloading, is in China. It is the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company,  which is a subsidiary of the China Communications Construction Company,which is the largest government owned corporation in the People’s Republic of China.

note, editorializing…

The P.R.C. is the world’s worst and most repressive government and there’s absolutely nothing that anyone who doesn’t live there can do about it. But…

(I’m warning you, there is brutal disturbing stuff you will see if you click the next 3 links, but this is who we are doing business with) 

go to google images and type in “chinese executions”

-estimates (according to Amnesty International) are that 7,500 people a year go out this way.

That’s all I have to say, except that to me- those pics look a lot like this. Peace at any price, indeed. 

Cargo ship Sunset, Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal -Photo by Mitch Waxman

Capacity of Container Ships is measured in TEU, or  twenty-foot equivalent unit. The largest containers can weigh as much as 67,200 pounds- which is apparently reckoned as 2.65 TEU. An intermodal (rail/truck/ship) steel box that conforms to size and weight restraints, the shipping container is a byproduct of the Korean War (in which the People’s Republic of China participated). The United States Army developed a shipping system called CONEX to speed the delivery of supplies to the incalculably distant Port of Pusan.

Maher terminal dock, Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal – Van -Photo by Mitch Waxman

The motto on this van says: Safety is a standard… not an option.  There were lots of guys buzzing around in these seemingly tiny trucks. Again, the incredible breath taking scale of the place emerges. How many millions of hours of labor are represented in these photos?

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal Straddle Carrier -Photo by Mitch Waxman

The large container cranes, whose self actuating wheels can be seen in the shot below, are skyscraper sized machines. The “smaller” orange machine is a straddle carrier. This particular model seems to be the Kalmar ESC 350 front cabin twinlift, which would give it a lift capacity of 2.65 TEU. Capable of stacking shipping containers up to 4 units high, they can move up to 30 kph (which is just under 19 mph) while loaded with a full shipping container.

Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal Straddle Carrier -Photo by Mitch Waxman

Container Cranes, Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal -Photo by Mitch Waxman

The equinox not withstanding, it was getting late, and the Zephyr had to return to its berth at South Street Seaport. We bid our hosts adieu, and wished them all the luck that their titanic endeavors will undoubtedly bring. This enormous facility, of which we visited the tiniest fraction, is less than 20 miles from Times Square.

The tug Margaret Moran -Photo by Mitch Waxman

As the Zephyr moved back toward the Kill Van Kull, the frenetic movements of channel traffic continues. Seemingly having someplace to get to quickly, the Margaret Moran came zipping past. Operated by Moran Towing Corp., the Margaret Moran is a 149 ton, 3,300 horsepower twin screw tugboat built in 1979 at the McDermott Shipyard in Amelia, LA. It participated in the evacuation of the World Trade Center site.  Here’s a neat shot of the MM assisting the Queen Mary 2 into port.

Bayonne Bridge, Staten Island side -Photo by Mitch Waxman

I didn’t make a big deal of the Bayonne Bridge on the way into Newark Bay because the sun wasn’t with me from that angle. The fourth largest steel arch bridge on Earth with a height of 150 feet over the water, it connects Bayonne, New Jersey’s Chemical Coastline with Staten Island. It’s primary mission is to allow vehicular traffic access to Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel.

Bayonne Bridge -Photo by Mitch Waxman

The Bayonne Bridge was designed by a man who helped design the Hell Gate rail bridge on the East river- and was principal designer for the Verrazano bridge over the Narrows, The George Washingston Bridge over the Hudson River, the Bronx Whitestone Bridge over the East River, the Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River. He was brought in to simplify the design of mighty Triborough– which is actually a bridge and highway complex spanning multiple waterways and islands. A swede, Othmar Amman worked for Gustavus Lindenthal (designer of the the Queensboro and Hell Gate Bridges), and took over as head bridge engineer at the New York Port Authority in 1925. He also directed the planning and construction of the the Lincoln Tunnel.

He was Robert Moses’s “guy”.

Kill Van Kull traffic jam -Photo by Mitch Waxman

Lucky for us, a traffic jam was forming up behind a couple of large ships- which by necessity had to move extra slow in the narrow channel. This was lucky, because the Zephyr was running late, and the failing light coupled with a swiftly moving catamaran would soon render photography a futile pursuit. Slowing down to a crawl as we commuted from New Jersey to Manhattan felt oddly familiar, but it allowed for longer exposures. Directly in front of us was the Tug Joan Turecamo. A 192 ton barge mover born in 1981, it was built at the Matton Shipyards here in New York State.

Chemical Coast -Photo by Mitch Waxman

You had to know there was no way that Standard Oil would’nt involved.

The Chemical Coast is a section of New Jersey that faces Staten Island that contains an unusual concentration of petrochemical refineries and storage plants, amongst other heavy industries.Railroad workers gave the name to the place as early as 1926, by which time Standard Oil had already burrowed its way into the mud. John D. Rockefeller  bought a large patch of land here, on which he built the Bayway Refinery in 1907. The Standard subsidiary in this part of New Jersey is the company that would one day be Exxon.

The Tug Buchanan 1 -Photo by Mitch Waxman

As we were exiting the Arthur Kill, the tug Buchanan 1  came shooting past. Just like me, it was built in 1967 and weighs 191 tons. Home sweet hell looms on the horizon, its spires scraping sky.

Chemical Coast Moran Tugs, Kill Van Kull -Photo by Mitch Waxman

From left- the tug Linda Moran (a brand spanking new, 2008 vintage, 5,100 horsepower articulated Tug built by Washburn & Doughty in Maine), the barge Houston (a 118,000 barrel articulated fuel barge), and the tug Kimberly Turecamo ( a 3,000 horsepower tug which was involved in the accidental grounding of the Container Ship New Delhi Express in the Kill Van Kull back in 2005).

Statue of Liberty sunset-Photo by Mitch Waxman

Lower Manhattan at Dusk from East River -Photo by Mitch Waxman

The Zephyr showed its speed and power after we cleared the Kill Van Kull, and the Captain gunned it back to Manhattan. He offered us ample time at Liberty Island, but the one rule in a busy harbor is sticking to your schedule. Very nice experience over all, and there was a free drink!