Essay and photos by Joe Mish

A thin round object, consistent with the appearance of a large coin protruded out of the eroded river bank. Closer inspection revealed light blue specs, suggesting copper content. It sure looked and felt like an old coin, its face severely eroded with traces of letters or numbers left to the imagination. Eventually the discovery was tentatively identified as a British half pence, from the mid eighteenth century. Its condition made it practically worthless, except for its historic value as a link to the past life of the river and its surrounding land.

That coin was a reminder of generations past and what their view of the river may have been. Each iteration was defined by the evolving cultural perspective each generation owned. Looking through time at any given layer begs a comparison to current views, and the realization that today’s view is dynamic and changing before our eyes. Though a period may be categorically defined, the transition is the real story, as it gives insight to the collective response under different economic and social pressures.

Each layer of time uncovered, is incomplete without considering the impact of the preceding layer until we arrive at the time the river itself was formed post glacial retreat. As the land sought equilibrium though violent undulations, it changed the gradient of the river’s path and adjusted its character. Critically important were the soil conditions created, which set the stage for a succession of thriving biological communities.

Amazingly, an early life form was discovered near Neshanic Station, where an unrecognized dinosaur tail bone was found and used as a doorstop. Stegomus arcuatus jerseyensis, was a large armored reptile with an alligator-like body, long stout legs, and an opossum-shaped head. Obviously, flora, fauna, climate, which favored this creature went through a series of changes, which no longer supported its existence.

There are ‘moments’ of stability as far as climate, flora, fauna, and associated life forms, and within each seemingly static pause, a culturally driven perspective is applied.

In the days before mills and their dams were built, migratory fisheries were of critical economic importance to those who lived along the river. When the first mill dam was built on the lower Raritan, thus blocking the fish migrations, the upstream residents burned down the mill.

Damming previously unimpeded rivers with grist and textile mills presented an economic opportunity for some, and ended a legacy lifestyle for others. This is an ongoing pattern of change along our rivers.

In the seventeenth century, 1682, Somerset county had placed a bounty on wolves and fox. It is hard to imagine the environment required to sustain a population of wolves in central NJ. Fox were always present, and now coyotes have moved in. Biologists believed the appearance of coyotes was favored by the vast agricultural community and would disappear when the farms were sold off. That conclusion proved to be invalid as the adaptability of coyotes to the changing environment was grossly underestimated.

When the economy shifted from reliance on the rivers, they were still of value to livestock and dairy farmers, providing water for the herds. In one generation, environmental regulations put many farms out of business by restricting the handling of manure and prohibiting cattle from entering streams. Some days the local dairy herd provided a slalom course for my canoe as I wove my way through the herd, brisket deep in the cool water of the South Branch. Today, no cows can be found in or near the river, just remnants of barbed wire fencing embedded deep within the rings of scarred trees once used as fence posts.

Today’s river is centered on recreation as well as providing potable water, serving sewerage treatment plants, and continuing its ancient legacy as a receptacle for refuse. Organizations such as the Central Jersey Stream Team and Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership do their best to gather public support to keep our rivers clean and monitor emerging and legacy pollutants. Looking clean does not equate to the absence of pollutants. Consult the fish consumption warning in your state!

Statements from a Rutgers University president in the 1930s proclaiming the need to clear up the polluted river, have a hollow ring, as 75 years later the same refrain is heard about the same river. Generational priorities change the focus, while looking through the same glass. Industry and profits are replaced with real estate and profits, each contributing different pollutants, many of which live beyond the lifespan of their source.

The high population density in New Jersey stresses the environment and alters the standing cultural view of open space and rivers. The eventual compromise serves as the engine of change.

There is a tenant of wildlife biology referred to as, ‘carrying capacity’, where the local environment can only support a calculated number of a given species before it collapses. Theory exempts humans from this rule based on the belief humans are independence of nature, intelligent and have the technology to overcome nature; a flawed assumption which has often lead to environmental disaster.

Theories aside, peeling back the layers of past perspectives, creates a map for the future, displaying pitfalls, successes, and the realization that science is only true for a moment.

John C. Van Dyke’s words in 1915, preserved in his diary “Notes on a Family” is a valuable Perspective from another time on the that river you see today:

But the river was not always so commonplace. There was a time, and not 300 years ago, when it was unique and thought a wild, wild strea,. no one had been to its head; no one knew how far it travelled. It was then a deeper stream with its waters undimmed by surface drainage from farms. there were no farms. The small open spaces on the meadows were planted with Indian maize; but all the rest of the land was forest. Huge pines grew along the shale cliffs; oak and chestnut and hickory grew in the uplands. There were no towns or bridges or railways or wagon roads. Indian trails ran across the land from river to river, Indian tepees were pitched under the great trees in the meadows, and Indian canoes glanced along the surface of the River. The white man had not yet come, the land was unflayed, the forest and streams were in their pristine beauty. And then……

Author Joe Mish has been running wild in New Jersey since childhood when he found ways to escape his mother’s watchful eyes. He continues to trek the swamps, rivers and thickets seeking to share, with the residents and visitors, all of the state’s natural beauty hidden within full view. To read more of his writing and view more of his gorgeous photographs visit Winter Bear Rising, his wordpress blog. Joe’s series “Nature on the Raritan, Hidden in Plain View” runs monthly as part of the LRWP “Voices of the Watershed” series. Writing and photos used with permission from the author.