Morgan, New Jersey

The T. A. Gillespie Loading Company Power House as of July 3, 1918.

While on a trip visiting Mom in Morgan back in 2005, I took a side trip to the place where my childhood friend Rick’s family kept their boat. When we were teenagers, we used to water ski on Cheesequake Creek and in Raritan Bay.  One time one of our high school gym teachers, who we called “Meatball”, came along with us. That was a good trip and he was actually a pretty good water skier. Other times when we went in the bay we would stop right over the place where the sewage pipe emptied out into the bay much to the distaste of the person skiing who then sank into it.  

Not knowing anything, and I mean anything, about the history of Cheesequake Creek at the time, I always wondered about all the pier pilings we saw on it while water skiing. It seemed that something big used to be there. During my 2005 visit to Brown’s Boat Yard, where Rick’s boat was (and still is) moored, I noted an old brick building and wondered if that had anything to do with the old munitions factory which people would mention on occasion.  It looked like it was from the early 20^th century and was previously part of a larger structure so I took a photo of it.  On one side of the building, the unevenness of the brick endings looked like there used to be a longer brick wall.   

In the early summer of 2009, my Jesse Selover Elementary School Phys Ed teacher, Mr. Baumann, was kind enough to provide me with some US Army Corps of Engineers diagrams showing where the buildings of the expansive T. A. Gillespie Loading Company were originally located.  I have to say that this was an amazing thing to finally see since no one had ever seemed to have any idea of the plant’s layout or even exactly where it was located.  I analyzed these diagrams for hours.  Upon close examination of the diagrams, I noticed that the Power House and wharf were located where Brown’s Boat Yard has been since 1952. It occurred to me that perhaps the building I saw in 2005 might actually indeed have had something to do with the Power House.    

Later that summer, I went back to look at the old brick building and saw that it had in the mean time had an extremely well done make over. My school buddy Ken and I walked around the building and examined the remains of the near by brick walls which appeared to be the walls of a prior larger building. We both concluded that this probably was actually the remains of the Power House. We were pleased to discover that it was composed of bricks from the Sayre & Fisher Brick Company previously located a few miles away in the northern part of Sayreville and once the largest brick manufacturer in the world.  

Well at long last I located a photo, dated July 3, 1918, of a mostly and then recently constructed Power House.  It also showed the elevated Pumping Tank in the background. If you compare the 1918 photo to the 2005 photo of the brick building at Brown’s Boat Yard, you will see that indeed that brick building was part of the T. A. Gillespie Loading Company’s Power House building.  Some think this is the sole remaining structure from the T. A. Gillespie Loading Company.  I have suspicions that there are a few other buildings which remain in plain view.  That topic will be covered in a future posting.   

Diagram of the Portion of the T. A. Gillespie Loading Company Located Nearest to Cheesequake Creek. Source: US Army Corps of Engineers.

The Power House is located on the right side of the diagram above the arrow marked “J-22”. It is the rectangle with the big “X”.  On the lower right is Cheesequake Creek and the wide gray segment in the bottom left corner is where the Garden State Parkway is today.  This portion of the facility was known as Plant 47 and contained the Power House, the wharf on Cheesequake Creek, buildings making up some of the production lines for the loading of explosives into 75mm artillery shells (featured in the May 2009 postings), railroad tracks connecting the facility, and the elevated Pumping Tank.  I don’t yet have specifics on which portions of the facility utilized the Pumping Tank, i.e., whether it was used to supply water for steam or if it supplied water for the shell loading production lines. Hopefully that will be determined in the near future.  Today, of course, the Pumping House and wharf area are occupied by Brown’s Boat Yard.  Where the diagram shows buildings named with the prefix “4-1-“ is today a relatively new neighborhood located in the area to the east of the Garden State Parkway and circled by Gondek Drive. I remain very amused at one of the names of the streets which intersects Gondek Drive.  How do you pronounce “Wlodarczyk”? It is so much easier now to get to Brown’s Boat yard since there are paved streets.  When we went water skiing as kids, it was a hilly, long and dusty dirt road between Ernston Road and Brown’s Boat Yard.

A Full Grown Adult Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) in Raritan Bay Waterfront Park!

I ran into this critter while wandering in the Raritan Bay Waterfront Park in May of 2007. S/he was coming in from the bay via a little stream which cut across the shoreline and meandered into the cat tails. I have to say that I was delighted to see this ancient looking creature which I just learned is named Chelydra serpentina. It meant the bay was still alive – despite man kinds best efforts at totally ruining it – and it reminded me of many summers ago when one of the neighborhood kids brought one home one day. Being they are Snapping Turtles, you are best served to keep away from those jaws less you end up with one less digit. The claws on their powerful legs are also something to be wary of. On that summer day years ago, I saw it demonstrate just how far back its head could jut out. How the nameless neighborhood kid got it back to wherever it came from, I don’t think I ever knew. I just recall it was very big and looked very strong and a bit put out – so to speak. To quote a recent day phrase, which shouldn’t be necessary, please don’t try this at home! 

You will note the starry type of eyes these turtles have and the B-2 Bomber airplane type of pattern at the posterior end of their upper shell. Makes you kind of wonder if that zig zag pattern is only there for defensive reasons or if there is also some other reason? 

What was really cool that spring day in 2007 when I saw the Snapping Turtle was when the turtle coming in via the stream went past a Horse Shoe Crab (see posting from June 12, 2010) going out in the opposite direction.  

You could tell they were in the United States and not in Britain as they both stayed on their respective right sides of the road!

Horseshoe Crab in Morgan, NJ

It being June, it must be Horseshoe Crab time in Morgan.  As a kid, these critters would just freak me out.  The barnacles! That long tail which looked so menacing – I always pictured it going through someone’s foot.  Near the shore, you would on occasion see a tail pop up above the surface as a herd of them would come in. When they were upside down, the crawly legs and pincers along with what I now know to be the “Book Gills” were just bizarre and freakish. Forget about going into the water!       

Probably eight or so years ago, my family and I were at Sea World in San Diego at the Star Fish pools when I looked over in a nearby pool and saw something totally unexpected – Horseshoe Crabs.  Wow, that was fantastic and an opportunity to revisit these creatures I knew as a kid. As an adult, they are more fascinating than menacing.  Now, with the wonder of the Internet (some web sites are listed at the end of this posting), everyone is able to easily learn about these amazing creatures.  They play such an important role in keeping Raritan Bay “alive” – despite the toll caused by man’s by-products over the last 150+ years.  For example, their eggs are a source of food for birds. Being there is now a medical use for their blood, they have climbed up some on the importance level in society so now there are conservation efforts under way. Too bad that is what it takes to get people more aware of their importance.       

Here are some of the things I learned from the various web sites:       

• The Latin name assigned by the usual pin heads is: Limulus polyphemus
• It isn’t a crab.  It is more closely related to spiders and scorpions (the explanations given are not very thorough).
• It is one of the oldest remaining species at over 200 million years old. Some sites say 300 million.  Ahh, what’s a 100 million anyway?
• They have two compound eyes (each containing hundreds of lenses) which are on the top of their exoskeleton and seven simple eyes (photo sensitive) scattered around their bodies
• Their mouth is on the bottom and their legs help move food into it.
• Their blood is blue.

Upside Down Horseshoe Crab – Please Flip it Over!

If I were to ever again live in Morgan, there would be a number of things I would do (or at least tell myself I would do).  Firstly, during Horseshoe Crab season, I would walk the beaches and flip over any Horseshoe Crabs who were unfortunate enough to have landed upside down.  I did this last summer for a number of them and like to feel I made a little difference in this big world. Note that even when they are upside down, completely dry and appear dead, quite often if you nudge them, their creepy crawlies start moving.  So flip ‘em over, point them to the bay and they’ll be on their way (on their way to the bay).  The second thing I tell myself I would do would be to put a big set of tires on a trash can and on weekends use it to pick up all the junk which continuously washes up; bits of broken bottles or cans, car parts, plastic parts, who knows what. My sister Linda stepped on a broken light bulb years ago and needed stitches. Amazingly last summer I found a fully intact brick on Morgan Beach from Sayre & Fisher – which was located up the Raritan River in Sayreville and went out of business in 1970.       

If Morgan was to ever have a community mascot, serious consideration should be given to the Horseshoe Crab!  I bet no one has the Horseshoe Crab as their mascot!       

A Flipped Back Over Horseshoe Crab Heads Back to the Bay but Look at All the Junk on the Shore! Please Help Clean It Up!

Some web sites:       

• Video from the PBS series, Nature about the Horseshoe Crab and the Red Knot bird.
• The always amazing Wikipedia.
• Another person from New Jersey who appreciates the critters as an adult.
• Rhode Island Sea Grant does research on issues affecting coastal resources.
• Oracle Foundation’s ThinkQuest.
• Mid-Atlantic Sea Grant and NOAA.
• Horseshoe Crab Anatomy.
• Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine.
• A Horseshoe Crab research project.