1829 – A letter from New Jersey Senator Mahlon Dickerson explaining his fear that opponents will likely thwart the building of the Delaware & Raritan Canal

Washington DC, 1829. Unbound. Very good. This free-franked stampless letter signed by Senator Mahlon Dickerson measures 15.5” x 9.75” unfolded. It is datelined “Washington 12th Feby. 1829” and was sent to James Parker, the Collector of the Port of New Jersey at Perth Amboy. It bears a circular Washington City postmark dated the same day. In nice shape.

The letter reads in part:

“The Legislature of New Jersey are about to pass if they have not already passed an act for making the Delaware & Raritan Canal to be suspended . . . until Congress shall subscribe 500,000 Dols for that purpose. . .. I wrote to the Governor the passage of this bill might be considered as an indefinite postponement of the whole concern. It will be years before we can obtain a subscription to the amount under current circumstances. . ..

“I will use my utmost endeavors to accomplish the wish of the Legislature on this subject – but I consider the passage of the bill as reported a serious misfortune to the state. . ..”

. The intended purpose of the canal was to provide expedited shipping through New Jersey between New York City and Philadelphia, specifically for the transportation of eastern Pennsylvania anthracite coal. Many miles and hundreds of hours would be cut from the existing route from the Pennsylvania coal region down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up the occasionally treacherous Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.

The route was strongly opposed by politically powerful riverbank property owners, especially those who owned mills, who feared increased river traffic would impede their livelihood. Surprisingly, after years of opposition, the legislature granted a charter to the canal a year later; however, most of its funding was required to come from private sources. Just when it appeared all private sources had dried up, Robert F. Stockton pledged his immense family fortune as collateral and work began in earnest. The canal was almost entirely dug by Irish immigrants using hand tools. It wasn’t completed in 1834, at a cost of nearly $3 million (about $90 million in today’s dollars). Its heaviest use occurred between 1850 and 1870 when Pennsylvania coal fueled America’s industrial revolution.

[For more information, see "The Delaware & Raritan Canal: The Past, The Present and the Promise" at The College of New Jersey website.]

A unique firsthand account of some of the politics related to the building of the canal, made all the more interesting by the senatorial autograph of Mahlon Dickerson who also served as a New Jersey Governor, the Secretary of the Navy, and a United States District Court Judge. At the time of listing, nothing similar is for sale in the trade, the Rare Book Hub shows nothing similar has appeared at auction, and OCLC shows no records of similar institutional holdings.

.