Boonton Falls - Waterfalls on Waymarking.com

In Colonial times, iron was discovered in Morris County just west of here. Many iron mines opened up in the area. There were furnaces and forges throughout the region that processed the iron using charcoal derived from the vast forests that were everywhere. The original village of "Boonetown" or "Booneton", was located about 1-1/2 miles to the east of the current Boonton and was named in honor of the Colonial Governor, Thomas Boone, in the year 1761. It was started with an iron forge but was later enlarged to include a rolling and slitting mill -- the first in the county. The town was a leader in the iron industry and made many of the iron products and weapons used by the Revolutionary Army. Axes, kettles, horseshoes, tires, cups, rods and sheet-iron were among the items supplied. The industrial might of Booneton was certainly a factor in Washington's defeat of the British.

Later, in the Nineteenth-century, Morris County continued to be an industrial powerhouse fueled by the iron industry and the Morris Canal. The canal, an engineering masterpiece , wandered through the county on its way from Phillipsburg, Pa to Jersey City. Completed in 1831, it ran through Denville, north along what is now Old Boonton Road, turned right at Powerville, went through the current Boonton, and then turned north toward Montville and beyond.

Unfortunately, the town of Booneton was not on the canal. It was one mile east. Then a group of New York investors opened the "New Jersey Iron Company." Set along a steep gorge of the Rockaway River right on the canal, the factory took advantage of the water power of the mighty river. Machinery and families of ironworkers were imported from England, and with the erection of the mills, a new town, called "Booneton Falls," began to appear on the rugged hillside overlooking the river where the current Boonton now stands.

Morris County lost much of its industry when the railroads came, supplanting the canal, and when a better grade of iron was discovered in Minnesota. The New Jersey Iron Company closed in 1876. The canal and the Morris County iron mines hung on a while longer but ceased operation in the early 1900s. The original old village of Booneton was abandoned when the Jersey City Reservoir was constructed in 1903. It's location is now under water. The closing of the iron company was an economic disaster for the town of Booneton Falls. At some point in the late Nineteenth century, its name changed to "Boonton." The town, although lovely and delightful, has never regained the economic might that it once had.

But the Falls is still there for all of us to enjoy.

Type: Horsetail Watercourse: Rockaway River Waterfall Height: 15 Seasonality: Perennial Viewpoint: Middle Path Up and Down: Full Walk Behind: Not at all Parking Coordinates: Not Listed Seasons of Best Flow: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   05/10/2012 79scouts visited it 01/06/2011 accbd visited it

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