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TOPOGRAPHY
CAMDEN COUNTY has a front on the Delaware River of ten miles, and extends southeasterly about thirty miles to the line of Atlantic County. Timber Creek, from the river, bounds it on the southwest to the head of the south branch of that stream, and by a short land line to the head of Four-Mile Branch, and down the whole length of that stream to Great Egg Harbor River and thence down that river to the Atlantic County line. On the northeast Pensaukin Creek from the river bounds the county to the source of the south branch, and by a line across the country to near the head of Mullica River, or a branch thereof, known as Atco Atco, and thence down the stream to where Atlantic County makes a corner near Atsion.
The streams running out of the hills are rapid, yet the volume of water has been materially diminished by the gradual removal of the timber from the upland and swamps. The effect of the tides from the Delaware River in these streams is felt for ten or twelve miles inland, although its flow is hindered by mill-dams in many places. The land in parts is hilly and rolling, but no part is so flat or level but that it can be readily drained. The highest point, as appears by the gradients of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad, is near Berlin, and shows an elevation of one hundred and ninety-six feet above low tide-water at Camden. There is a gradual rise from the river southeasterly until it reaches the highest point at or near Berlin, and all the streams running northwesterly to the river find their sources in that region. The same features exist on the southeasterly slope, and the streams that drain their waters into the Atlantic Ocean, originate near the same place, thus making the region about that town the water-shed for a large extent of country. It may therefore be seen that the springs of water that come to the surface near Berlin find their way to the Delaware River by Timber Creek, Coopers Creek, Pensaukin Creek and Rancocas Creek on the western slope of the county, while the sources of Great Egg Harbor River and of Mullica River and their tributaries, which drain the eastern slope and empty into the Atlantic Ocean, may be found near the same place.
Timber Creek is navigable for vessels of light draught to Chews Landing, about ten miles from its mouth, and Cooper Creek to Coles Landing, about the same distance. Pensaukin Creek is available for the same purpose to the dam at the junction of the north and south branches of that stream. Along both sides of these water-courses are extensive tracts of low, marshy land, upon which the tide leaves a fertile alluvion deposit, and which, when banked and drained, makes valuable meadow, while towards the heads of the streams good water-powers have been made and used for milling and manufacturing purposes. Black, yellow and green marl is found in the belt that crosses the county in a northeasterly direction, and for building purposes a red sandstone is found in many localities, generally in thin layers near the surfaces, but occasionally in thick, compact bodies. Loam suitable for moulding purposes is found in some & the hills along the streams and clays for brick-making and pottery crop out in various places.
BOTANY
To outline the flora of so small a section of country as is usually embraced within county lines would ordinarily furnish but little matter of interest, and where an exception to this general rule is known it becomes not only proper, but very desirable, to have it so appear, in order to obtain the most complete local history that can be prepared. That this exception is realized in Camden County is made abundantly manifest.
It is well known that the State of New Jersey, with its surface of seven thousand five hundred and seventy-six square miles, furnishes greater opportunities for the study of a varied flora than almost any other State or district of similar size in the whole United States. The more elevated or mountainous section in the north gives a somewhat subalpine flora; the southern counties receive, by the washing of the waves from the shores of the Southern States, and by the birds in their migratory flights northward, the seeds of many strictly southern plants; the eastern section supports the usual marine flora, and the western the usual fresh-water flora, while a section of the interior of the more southern counties give us what is elsewhere known as the "pine barrens of New Jersey," furnishing a peculiar vegetation, one unlike that of any other State of our Union.
O.R. Willis, in his "Catalogue of Plants growing without Cultivation in the State of New Jersey," says of these floral features, "The difference of elevation from the south towards the north gives a wide range of temperature, so that while in the northern boundaries of the State plants are found common to New England, the southern and coast regions yield the vegetation of Eastern Virginia.
"The whole western border is washed in the Delaware River, fed by tributaries from Pennsylvania and New York, bringing to its banks the seeds of a vast territory north and west of it. Its eastern shores are washed by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, wafting the seeds of many lands to the alluvial plains which skirt its eastern boundaries. Its varied soil is another remarkable feature of this State: limestone in the north, accompanied by iron and peat, marl, alluvial, arenaceous and clay deposits; with red shales and heavy loam, impregnated with iron, in the middle; while in the south and east loose sands, peat and sphagnous bogs and green sand deposits alternate with patches of loam, in which clay more or less predominates. The wonderful variety of soil, the differences of elevation and the wide range of temperature combine to give rise to one of the most varied and remarkable floras of the Western Continent. The cedar swamps, with which the pine regions are besprinkled, are the homes of the most beautiful and remarkable individuals of the flora of the temperate zones. There the pogonia, the habenaria, the orchis, the arethusa, the calopogon and the sarracenia flourish; while the forests of the north and middle are adorned with the liriodendron, the magnolia, the ilex, the kalmia and the rhododendron."
Among those who early gave attention to botanical investigation in this district, or who became quite familiar with its flora, may be found the names of Bartram, Collins, Kalm, Michaux, Schweinitz, Barton, Pursh, Nuttall, Durand and others, many collections of New Jersey plants being scattered through the herbaria of Europe as well as of America. The conditions they found have, in the lapse of many years, been very much changed. The marshy ground along the Delaware River just south of Camden, and running back into the country for some distance, was a noted place to visit in those early botanical days, many of the rarer plants of this section being found therein, some decidedly of a southern range, and which of late years have not been met with at all. Near Haddonfield is another locality, where recently has been collected a species not heretofore known to occur north of Virginia. The townships of Waterford and Winslow extend into the "pine barren" region, above referred to, where the rare and beautiful plants which characterize its flora may be found. On the banks of Little Timber Creek may, in sheltered places, still be found plants of a more northern habitat, and this is, perhaps, the only place south of Trenton where they occur. An enumeration of these species would greatly interest persons scientifically inclined, and there are many such devotees among us, but it would be too voluminous to be inserted here; suffice it to say that many of these plants, which are to be found described in the various text-books of botany, are yet quite local. This section has been so thoroughly explored that very few species new to science have been detected within the past thirty-five years.
Of introduced plants, those whose home is in other parts of the world, Camden County has more than a full share, owing to circumstances which are not likely to affect any other county in the State. Isaac C. Martindale, of Camden, who is probably better acquainted with the flora of this section of New Jersey, and the localities where its rare plants may be found, than almost any other person now living, and who has of late years given special study to the introduction of foreign species and the geographical distribution of plants, says that the past twenty-live years has given a large influx of these. Nearly as far back as 1860 the late Charles F. Parker, of Camden, and himself, while botanizing on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, detected a number of European plants growing on heaps of ballast that had been unloaded from vessels, most of which were not enumerated in the text-books of North American botany, and as a new field for investigation was thus opened, the whole of the Delaware River front, both in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was carefully examined during the succeeding years, and the character and habits of the plants studied, it was found that many of the species of European origin were evidently from the middle section of the continent, and a close investigation developed the fact that large quantities of coal oil were being shipped from Philadelphia to the seaport towns of Germany and those along the Mediterranean Sea; so large a trade had sprung up in this enterprise within a few years that many sailing-vessels were engaged in its transportation. Many cargoes of coal oil were thus shipped, and if no freight could be obtained for a return, the vessels came back in ballast, which was largely unloaded in the southern part of the city of Camden, where scores of acres of low, marshy land existed. This ballast material of course contained many seeds of plants, which in due season vegetated, and thus furnished, as it were, a new link in Flora's chain on American soil. Occasional vessel-loads of ballast came from other parts of the world - some from Africa, Eastern Asia, South America and the West Indies. A few California plants have also in this way been brought to our doors.
It is well known that during the War of the Rebellion many vessels were engaged in carrying supplies to ports on the South Atlantic seaboard and to the Gulf States. As no return cargo could be obtained, vast quantities of ballast were used. Much of this in time reached here also, and in consequence a large number of strictly southern plants were introduced. Partial lists of these have from time to time appeared in the scientific periodicals of the country, and Mr. Martindale, we learn, is at present engaged in the preparation of a complete history of this department of his favorite study.
Of the foreign plants thus introduced, numbering perhaps hundreds of species, many never appeared but once, others maintained a foothold for a few years and then disappeared, whilst a large number of species have been found year after year, showing that while an unusual combination of circumstances may have led to their introduction, they have nevertheless come to stay, often rooting out the native plants and absolutely taking possession of the soil, in fair illustration of the old story of the survival of the fittest in the race for existence. The introduced element being more vigorous, obtained the mastery, and the native was obliged to yield possession, an exact repetition of the history of the settlement of the country by the European nations, where the foreigners held possession and the native American Indian, proving to be the weaker vessel, has been gradually pushed farther and farther inland.
The greater part of the soil of Camden County being easily cultivated, the trees have been largely removed; hence the acreage of forest has become very small and little of especial character in this line now exists that requires mention at our hands. The original timber has all been cut off and now but few trees of large or unusual size remain. The wooded sections of the most eastern townships have for years furnished very largely the supply of charcoal for the Philadelphia markets. Immense numbers of hoop-poles were also shipped to those engaged in the West India sugar and molasses trade. The white cedar swamps have also furnished thousands of cedar rails annually for shipment to other sections, but the great demand for these articles has nearly exhausted the supply and these branches of industry are almost destroyed.
SOURCE: Page(s) 1-4, History of Camden County, New Jersey, by George R. Prowell, L.J. Richards & Co. 1886
Published 2007 by the Camden County Genealogy Project