By David Wheeler  
  
    All thy wat’ry face
    Reflected with a purer grace
    Thy many turnings through the trees
    Thy bitter journey to the seas
    Thou Queen of Rivers, Raritan!

English poet John Davis wrote his tribute to the longest river solely in New Jersey back in 1806, long before the Raritan River became one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. The stretch from Bridgewater down to the Raritan’s mouth at Sayreville and Perth Amboy was dubbed the “Chemical Belt,” serving as a thoroughfare for chemical plants, landfill dumpers, the United States Army’s Raritan Arsenal, and coal barges shipping Pennsyvania’s coal to New York City through the Delaware & Raritan Canal.

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