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Sarco, Crystal Lake, Blue Lake, Heritage - Manchester NJ


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Sarco, Crystal Lake, Blue Lake, Heritage is a shore accessible fresh water dive site, located at Rt. 70, Manchester, NJ 08759. The maximum depth is 26-30ft/8-9m.

I’m posting this for information only in case you have heard about this and think you have discovered a secret dive spot.

This is posted private property despite all of the YouTube footage youtube.com/watch?v=d7_S4GZljXg&feature=related of ATV’s running around the lakes and woods and the only ones diving here legally are NJ State Troopers and a recovery team that found a girl who drowned here. Cars reported stolen in an insurance scam were dumped in the lakes so video cameras were installed and Manchester Police patrol the area both with cars, SUV’s and ATV’s and write tickets for trespassing.

Its 7000 acres located between Lakehurst and Whiting in Manchester New Jersey. In 1973, a company named Asarco (locals call the land Sarco, probably because that’s what the sign on Rt. 70 said) operated the site for dredging, some say to 60’ and processing sand deposits to extract heavy minerals. In 1990, The site was closed due to the findings of Monazite-Ce, which is radioactive to some extent.

There has been talk for 30 years of making this park land/open space and that might open it to diving. A builder wanted to develop the area but homes can’t be built around the lake because Asarco dredged down into the water table and any lawn fertilizers would end up in our wells.

In the wake of the drowning of a 17-year-old Manchester Township High School student, the township is increasing patrols and will be handing out summonses for trespassing at the Heritage Minerals site to anyone caught at the site, the mayor said.

Manchester Mayor Kenneth T. Palmer said random patrols at the former mining site, off Routes 37 and 70, were increased over the July Fourth weekend and police issued “multiple” trespassing citations on multiple days, he said in a news release.

“We will implement a strict ‘no warning’ policy,” Palmer said. “Our goal is to keep people out of the Heritage Minerals Tract for their own safety.”

There is a railroad running thru the site that will be reopened soon, they have been repairing tracks, grade crossings and installing crossing gates between this site and another quarry owned by the same owner on Pasadena road in Whiting. I’m not sure if this means the Sarco site is reopening or the talk of a scenic railroad line is going to happen.

dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/ButlerNJarea/message/28740?var=1

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