vived by the Erie Railroad Company, who have run the ferry ever since. The Twenty-third street branch of this ferry was established in May, 1868.
In 1822 a Brooklyn ferry boat was run between Jersey City and Long Island City. This boat, however, was only used for the accommodation of people attending the races which were being held at the Union Race Course at Long Island. It only made four trips a day and was discontinued when the races were over. The first permanent ferry between Jersey City and Brooklyn was started when the Brooklyn Annex was put in operation on August 12th, 1877. On December 7, 1897, this ferry was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad, by whom it has been operated ever since.
On December 1, 1891, the Pennsylvania Railroad opened a ferry from the foot of Morgan street, Jersey City to Thirteenth street, New York. This was used principally for wagon traffic, and was discontinued May 1, 1900.
Considering the long time the Jersey City ferries have been in operation and the enormous number of passengers that have been carried during that period there have been remarkably few accidents. Soon after the steam ferry was started, the boiler of one of the boats, the "New Jersey" exploded while she was lying in the slip. This occurred shortly after the boat was built, and two of the persons who happened to be on board were killed.
On October 31, 1899, the ferry boat "Chicago," of the Cortlandt street line, was run into by the steamer "City of Augusta" and sunk. The accident occurred about one o'clock in the morning. There were over one hundred passengers on board, but only two lives were lost.
At the present time there are eight ferry lines connecting Jersey City with New York. These are the Erie Railroad ferries, running from the foot of Pavonia avenue and landing at Chambers street and West 23rd street, New York City; the Pennsylvania system, leaving from Exchange Place and landing at Cortlandt street, Desbrosses street, and West 23rd street, New York, and the Annex to the foot of Fulton street, Brooklyn; the New Jersey Central ferries, running from the railroad terminal at Communipaw, with landings at Liberty street and West 23rd street. All these lines are equipped with first class boats and maintain excellent service day and night.
On the 25th of February, 1908, the first tunnel under the Hudson was completed and opened to the public. This was the consumation of one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times and marked the beginning of a new era in the history of transportation between Jersey City and New York.
The art of tunnelling has been known to man from the earliest times and doubtless originated from the caves and other natural underground passages which were used for shelter by prehistoric man. In Egypt long tunnels have been found which were cut through solid rock thousands of years ago, serving as passages to the tombs of
