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diff --git a/17823.txt b/17823.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cda4abd --- /dev/null +++ b/17823.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10246 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hudson, by Wallace Bruce + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Hudson + Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention + +Author: Wallace Bruce + +Release Date: February 22, 2006 [EBook #17823] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUDSON *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Each page of this book contained, as a footer, a +stanza of poetry, or a prose quotation, which, although pertinent to +the text, were not part of it. + +I have retained these, moving them to a suitable location between +paragraphs, and enclosing them in short markers: * * * ....* * *. Any +poetry not enclosed within short * * * markers is an integral part of +the text. + +The list of typos and corrections is at the end of the book.] + + * * * * * + + + + + + + THE HUDSON + + Three Centuries of + History, Romance and Invention + + + + BY WALLACE BRUCE + + + + + Centennial Edition + + + + + Published by + BRYANT UNION COMPANY + NEW YORK + + + +COPYRIGHT 1907 BY WALLACE BRUCE + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CENTENNIAL GREETING. + PAGE + +HISTORY, ROMANCE AND INVENTION 9-39 + An Open Book 10 + The Hudson and the Rhine 11 + The Half Moon 12 + Its Discovery 15 + First Description 16 + Names of the Hudson 18 + Hills and Mountains 19 + Sources of the Hudson 19 + First Settlement 20 + The West India Company 21 + Original Manors and Patents 23 + The Dutch and the English 24 + New Amsterdam 25 + New York 26 + Sons of Liberty 28 + Greater New York 30 + Hudson River Steamboats 31 + Day Line Steamers 34 + The Old Reaches 38 + Five Divisions of the Hudson 39 + + +NEW YORK TO ALBANY. + +DESBROSSES STREET PIER TO FORTY-SECOND STREET 41-43 + Historic River Front 41 + A Great Panorama 41 + Statue of Liberty--Stevens Castle 42 + +FORTY-SECOND TO ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH 43-48 + Weehawken, Hamilton and Burr 43 + Riverside Drive and Park 45 + Columbia University 46 + General Grant's Tomb 46 + +ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH ST. TO YONKERS 49-50 + Washington Heights 49 + The Palisades 52 + Island of Manhattan 56 + Spuyten Duyvel Creek 57 + Yonkers 58 + +YONKERS TO WEST POINT 59-96 + Hastings and Dobbs Ferry 60 + Tappan Zee and Piermont 61 + Irvington and "Sunnyside" 62 + Washington Irving 63 + The Headless Horseman 66 + Tarrytown and Tappan 67 + Sleepy Hollow 70 + Nyack 72 + Ossining 73 + Croton River and Reservoir 74 + Haverstraw 75 + Stony Point 77 + Peekskill 79 + Story of Captain Kidd 80 + The Highlands 81 + Dunderberg 82 + Anthony's Nose 83 + Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery 84 + Beverley House 87 + Arnold's Flight 88 + Buttermilk Falls 91 + West Point Military Academy 92 + Plateau Buildings and Memorials 93-94 + Fort Putnam 95 + +WEST POINT TO NEWBURGH 97-103 + Northern Gate of Highlands 98 + "Undercliff" 99 + Storm King 100 + Cornwall and "Idlewild" 102 + +NEWBURGH TO POUGHKEEPSIE 104-128 + Washington's Headquarters 104 + Refusing the Crown 105 + Suffering of Soldiers 106 + Cessation of Hostilities 107 + Marquis de Lafayette 109 + Centennial Celebration 110 + Fishkill 113 + Duyvel's Dans Kammer 118 + "Locust Grove" 119 + The Storm Ship 120 + Poughkeepsie 121 + +POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON 129-146 + Hyde Park 130 + Mount Hymettus 130 + Rhinecliff 135 + City of Kingston 136 + The Senate House 138 + The Southern Catskills 142 + +KINGSTON TO CATSKILL 147-168 + Montgomery Place 147 + Story of Steam Navigation 149 + Robert Fulton 151 + The "Clermont" 152 + Tivoli 154 + Saugerties 156 + The Livingston Country 157 + The "Shad Industry" 158 + Germantown 160 + Man in the Mountain 161 + New York City Water Supply 162 + The Clover Reach 163 + Catskill 164 + Otis Elevating Railway 165 + +CATSKILL TO HUDSON 169-172 + Hudson 169 + Columbia Springs 170 + Claverack and Hillsdale 171 + +HUDSON TO ALBANY 173-185 + Athens 173 + The Ice Industry 173 + Anthony Van Corlear 176 + The Mahican Tribe 177 + The Mahicans, Delawares and Iroquois 178 + The Old Van Rensselaer House 180 + Albany 181 + + +THE UPPER HUDSON. + +ALBANY TO SARATOGA 186-191 + Saratoga 187 + Historic Saratoga 189 + Mount McGregor 190 + +SARATOGA TO THE ADIRONDACKS 191-201 + Saratoga to Lake George 192 + +LAKE GEORGE TO THE ADIRONDACKS 197-201 + Ticonderoga 198 + Bluff Point 199 + Plattsburgh and the Saranacs 201 + +SOURCE OF THE HUDSON 202-210 + The Tahawas Club 202 + The Upper Ausable 203 + Haystack and Camp Colden 204 + The Deserted Village 205 + Indian Pass 206 + Tahawas 210 + +GEOLOGY, TIDES AND CONDENSED POINTS 211-224 + Geological Formation 211-215 + The Hudson Tide 215 + Condensed Points--New York to Albany 216-224 + + +[Illustration: ROBERT FULTON'S "CLERMONT" 1807] + + + + +1907--1909 + +_CENTENNIAL GREETING_ + + +_Hendrick Hudson and Robert Fulton are closely associated in the +history of our river, and more particularly at this time, as the dates +of their achievements unite the centennial of the first successful +steamer in 1807, with the tri-centennial of the discovery of the river +in 1609. In fact, these three centuries of navigation, with rapidly +increasing development in later years, might be graphically +condensed--_ + +"_Half Moon_," _1609_; "_Clermont_," _1807_; + +"_Hendrick Hudson_," _1906_. + +_Singularly enough the discovery of Hendrick Hudson, and the invention +of Robert Fulton are also similar in having many adverse claimants who +forget the difference between attempt and accomplishment._ + +_Everyone knows that Verrazano entered the Narrows and harbor of +our river in 1524, and sailed far enough to see the outline of the +Palisades; that Gomez visited its mouth in 1525; Cabot still earlier +in 1498; and various Norsemen, named and nameless, for several +centuries before them, coasted along the shore and indenture of the +"River of the Manhattoes," but failed to acquire or transmit any +knowledge of the river's real course or character, and it was left for +Hendrick Hudson to be its first voyager and thereby to have and to +hold against all comers the glory of discovery._ + + * * * + + A century vast of Hudson-fame + Which Irving's fancy seals; + Whose ripples murmur Morse's name + And flash to Fulton's wheels. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +_So Robert Fulton had several predecessors in the idea of applying +steam to navigation--John Fitch in 1785, William Symington in 1788 and +many others who likewise_ coasted along the shore and indenture of a +great idea, _marked by continual failure and final abandonment. It was +reserved for Fulton to complete and stamp upon his labor the seal of +service and success, and to stand, therefore, its accepted inventor._ + +_In addition to the invention of Fulton who has contributed so much +to the business and brotherhood of mankind, the telegraph of Morse +occupies a prominent page of our Hudson history, and it is said that +Morse left unfinished a novel, the incidents of which were associated +with the Highlands, in order to work out his idea which gave the +Hudson a grander chapter._ + +_Fulton's and Morse's inventions are also happily associated in this, +that the steamboat was necessary before the Atlantic cable, born of +Morse's invention, could be laid, and, singularly enough, the laying +of the cable, largely promoted by Hudson River genius and capital, +by Field, Cooper, Morse and others on August 5, 1857, marks the very +middle of the centennial which we are now observing._ + + * * * + + A cycle grand with wonders fraught + That triumph over time and space; + In woven steel its dreams are wrought, + The nations whisper face to face. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: _Hendrick Hudson's "Half Moon_."] + + + + +THE HUDSON + + +Among all the rivers of the world the Hudson is acknowledged queen, +decked with romance, jewelled with poetry, clad with history, and +crowned with beauty. More than this, the Hudson is a noble threshold +to a great continent and New York Bay a fitting portal. The traveler +who enters the Narrows for the first time is impressed with wonder, +and the charm abides even with those who pass daily to and fro amid +her beauties. No other river approaches the Hudson in varied grandeur +and sublimity, and no other city has so grand and commodious a harbor +as New York. It has been the privilege of the writer of this handbook +to see again and again most of the streams of the old world "renowned +in song and story," to behold sunrise on the Bay of Naples and sunset +at the Golden Gate of San Francisco, but the spell of the Hudson +remains unbroken, and the bright bay at her mouth reflects the +noontide without a rival. To pass a day in her company, rich with +the story and glory of three hundred years, is worth a trip across a +continent, and it is no wonder that the European traveler says again +and again: "to see the Hudson alone, is worth a voyage across the +Atlantic." + + * * * + + A very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to see! + + _Hendrick Hudson_ + + * * * + +How like a great volume of history romance and poetry seem her bright +illumined pages with the broad river lying as a crystal book-mark +between her open leaves! And how real this idea becomes to the Day +Line tourist, with the record of Washington and Hamilton for its +opening sentence, as he leaves the Up-Town landing, and catches +messages from Fort Washington and Fort Lee. What Indian legends +cluster about the brow of Indian Head blending with the love story of +Mary Phillipse at the Manor House of Yonkers. How Irving's vision of +Katrina and Sleepy Hollow become woven with the courage of Paulding +and the capture of Andre at Tarrytown. How the Southern Portal of the +Highlands stands sentineled by Stony Point, a humble crag converted by +the courage of Anthony Wayne into a mountain peak of Liberty. + +How North and South Beacon again summon the Hudson yeomen from harvest +fields to the defense of country, while Fort Putnam, still eloquent in +her ruins, looks down upon the best drilled boys in the world at West +Point. Further on Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston shake fraternal +hands in the abiding trinity of Washington, Hamilton and Clinton, +while northward rise the Ontioras where Rip Van Winkle slept, and woke +to wonder at the happenings of twenty years. + +What stories of silent valleys told by murmuring streams from the +Berkshire Hills and far away fields where Stark and Ethan Allen +triumphed. What tales of Cooper, where the Mohawk entwines her fingers +with those of the Susquehanna, and poems of Longfellow, Bryant and +Holmes, of Dwight, of Halleck and of Drake; ay, and of Yankee +Doodle too, written at the Old Van Rensselaer House almost within a +pebble-throw of the steamer as it approaches Albany. What a wonderful +book of history and beauty, all to be read in one day's journey! + + * * * + + Roll on! Roll on! + Thou river of the North! Tell thou to all + The isles, tell thou to all the Continents + The grandeur of my land. + + _William Wallace._ + + * * * + +The Hudson has often been styled "The Rhine of America." There is, +however, little of similarity and much of contrast. The Rhine from +Dusseldorf to Manheim is only twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet +in breadth. The Hudson from New York to Albany averages more than five +thousand feet from bank to bank. At Tappan Zee the Hudson is ten times +as wide as the Rhine at any point above Cologne. At Bonn the Rhine is +barely one-third of a mile, whereas the Hudson at Haverstraw Bay is +over four miles in width. The average breadth of the Hudson from New +York to Poughkeepsie is almost eight thousand feet. + +The mountains of the Rhine also lack the imposing character of +the Highlands. The far-famed Drachenfels, the Landskron, and the +Stenzleburg are only seven hundred and fifty feet above the river; +the Alteberg eight hundred, the Rosenau nine hundred, and the great +Oelberg thirteen hundred and sixty-two. According to the latest United +States Geological Survey the entire group of mountains at the northern +gate of the Highlands is from fourteen hundred to sixteen hundred and +twenty-five feet in height, not to speak of the Catskills from three +thousand to almost four thousand feet in altitude. + +It is not the fault of the Rhine with its nine hundred miles of +rapid flow that it looks tame compared with the Hudson. Even the +Mississippi, draining a valley three thousand miles in extent, looks +insignificant at St. Louis or New Orleans contrasted with the Hudson +at Tarrytown. The Hudson is in fact a vast estuary of the sea; the +tide rises two feet at Albany and six inches at Troy. A professor of +the Berlin University says: "You lack our castles but the Hudson is +infinitely grander." Thackeray, in "The Virginians," gives the Hudson +the verdict of beauty; and George William Curtis, comparing the Hudson +with the rivers of the Old World, has gracefully said: "The Danube +has in part glimpses of such grandeur, the Elbe has sometimes such +delicately penciled effects, but no European river is so lordly in its +bearing, none flows in such state to the sea." + + * * * + + I have been up and down the Hudson by water. The entire river is + pretty, but the glory of the Hudson is at West Point. + + _Anthony Trollope._ + + * * * + +Baedeker, a high and just authority, in his recent Guide to the United +States says: "The Hudson has sometimes been called the American Rhine, +but that title perhaps does injustice to both rivers. The Hudson, +through a great part of its extent, is three or four times as wide +as the Rhine, and its scenery is grander and more inspiring; while, +though it lacks the ruined castles and ancient towns of the German +river, it is by no means devoid of historical associations of a more +recent character. The vine-clad slopes of the Rhine have, too, no +ineffective substitute in the brilliant autumn coloring of the +timbered hillsides of the Hudson." + + * * * + + A stately stream around which as around + The German Rhine hover mystic shapes + + _Richard Burton_ + + * * * + +What must have been the sensation of those early voyagers, coasting a +new continent, as they halted at the noble gateway of the river and +gazed northward along the green fringed Palisades; or of Hendrick +Hudson, who first traversed its waters from Manhattan to the Mohawk, +as he looked up from the chubby bow of his "Half Moon" at the massive +columnar formation of the Palisades or at the great mountains of the +Highlands; what dreams of success, apparently within reach, were his, +when night came down in those deep forest solitudes under the shadowy +base of Old Cro' Nest and Klinkerberg Mountain, where his little craft +seemed a lone cradle of civilization; and then, when at last, with +immediate purpose foiled, he turned his boat southward, having +discovered, but without knowing it, something infinitely more valuable +to future history than his long-sought "Northwestern Passage to +China," how he must have gazed with blended wonder and awe at the +distant Catskills as their sharp lines came out, as we have seen +them many a September morning, bold and clear along the horizon, and +learned in gentle reveries the poetic meaning of the blue _Ontioras_ +or "Mountains of the Sky." How fondly he must have gazed on the +picturesque hills above Apokeepsing and listened to the murmuring +music of Winnikee Creek, when the air was clear as crystal and the +banks seemed to be brought nearer, perfectly reflected in the glassy +surface, while here and there his eye wandered over grassy uplands, +and rested on hills of maize in shock, looking for all the world like +mimic encampments of Indian wigwams! Then as October came with tints +which no European eye had ever seen, and sprinkled the hill-tops +with gold and russet, he must indeed have felt that he was living an +enchanted life, or journeying in a fairy land! + +How graphically the poet Willis has put the picture in musical prose: +"Fancy the bold Englishman, as the Dutch called Hendrick Hudson, +steering his little yacht the 'Haalve Maan,' for the first time +through the Highlands. Imagine his anxiety for the channel forgotten, +as he gazed up at the towering rocks, and round the green shores, and +onward past point and opening bend, miles away into the heart of the +country; yet with no lessening of the glorious stream before him and +no decrease of promise in the bold and luxuriant shores. Picture him +lying at anchor below Newburgh with the dark pass of the Wey-Gat +frowning behind him, the lofty and blue Catskills beyond, and the +hillsides around covered with lords of the soil exhibiting only less +wonder than friendliness." + +If Willis forgot the season of the year and left out the landscape +glow which the voyager saw, Talmage completed the picture in a rainbow +paragraph of color: "Along our river and up and down the sides of the +great hills there was an indescribable mingling of gold, and orange +and crimson and saffron, now sobering into drab and maroon, now +flaring up into solferino and scarlet. Here and there the trees looked +as if their tips had blossomed into fire. In the morning light the +forests seemed as if they had been transfigured and in the evening +hours they looked as if the sunset had burst and dropped upon the +leaves. It seemed as if the sea of divine glory had dashed its surf to +the top of the crags and it had come dripping down to the lowest leaf +and deepest cavern." + + * * * + + So fair yon haven clasped its isles, in such a sunset gleam, + When Hendrick and his sea-worn tars first sounded up the stream. + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +On such a day in 1883 it was the privilege of the writer to stand +before 150,000 people at Newburgh on the occasion of the Centennial +Celebration of the Disbanding of the Army under Washington, and, in +his poem entitled "The Long Drama," to portray the great mountain +background bounding the southern horizon with autumnal splendor: + + October lifts with colors bright + Her mountain canvas to the sky, + The crimson trees aglow with light + Unto our banners wave reply. + + Like Horeb's bush the leaves repeat + From lips of flame with glory crowned:-- + "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, + The place they trod is holy ground." + +Such was the vision Hendrick Hudson must have had in those far-off +September and October days, and such the picture which visitors still +compass long distances to behold. + +"It is a far cry to Loch Awe" says an old Scottish proverb, and it +is a long step from the sleepy rail of the "Half Moon" to the +roomy-decked floating palaces--the "Hendrick Hudson," the "New York" +and the "Albany." Before beginning our journey let us, therefore, +bridge the distance with a few intermediate facts, from 1609, relating +to the discovery of the river, its early settlement, its old reaches +and other points essential to the fullest enjoyment of our trip, which +in sailor-parlance might be styled "a gang-plank of history," reaching +as it does from the old-time yacht to the modern steamer, and spanning +three hundred years. + + * * * + + The prow of the "Half-Moon" has left a broadening wake whose + ripples have written an indelible history, not only along the + Hudson's shores, but have left their imprint on kingdoms over the + sea. + + _William Wait._ + + * * * + +=Its Discovery.=--In the year 1524, thirty-two years after the +discovery of America, the navigator Verrazano, a French officer, +anchored off the island of Manhattan and proceeded a short distance up +the river. The following year, Gomez, a Portuguese in the employ of +Spain, coasted along the continent and entered the Narrows. Several +sea-rovers also visited our noble bay about 1598, but it was reserved +for Hendrick Hudson, with a mixed crew of eighteen or twenty men in +the "Half Moon," to explore the river from Sandy Hook to Albany, and +carry back to Europe a description of its beauty. He had previously +made two fruitless voyages for the Muscovy Company--an English +corporation--in quest of a passage to China, _via_ the North Pole and +Nova Zembla. + +In the autumn of 1608 he was called to Amsterdam, and sailed from +Texel, April 5, 1609, in the service of the Dutch East India Company. +Reaching Greenland he coasted southward, arriving at Cape Cod August +6th, Chesapeake Bay August 28th, and then sailed north to Sandy Hook. +He entered the Bay of New York September the 3d, passed through the +Narrows, and anchored in what is now called Newark Bay; on the 12th +resumed his voyage, and, drifting with the tide, remained over night +on the 13th about three miles above the northern end of Manhattan +Island; on the 14th sailed through what is now known as Tappan Zee and +Haverstraw Bay, entered the Highlands and anchored for the night near +the present dock of West Point. On the morning of the 15th beheld +Newburgh Bay, reached Catskill on the 16th, Athens on the 17th, +Castleton and Albany on the 18th, and sent out an exploring boat as +far as Waterford. He became thoroughly satisfied that this route did +not lead to China--a conclusion in harmony with that of Champlain, +who, the same summer, had been making his way south, through Lake +Champlain and Lake George, in quest of the South Sea. + + * * * + + O mighty river of the North! Thy lips meet ocean here, and in deep + joy he lifts his great white brow, and gives his stormy voice a + milder tone. + + _William Wallace_ + + * * * + +There is something humorous in the idea of these old mariners +attempting to sail through a continent 3,000 miles wide, seamed with +mountain chains from 2,000 to 15,000 feet in height. Hudson's return +voyage began September 23d. He anchored again in Newburgh Bay the +25th, arrived at Stony Point October 1st, reached Sandy Hook the 4th, +and returned to Europe. + +=First Description of the Hudson.=--The official record of the voyage +was kept by Robert Juet, mate of the "Half Moon," and his journal +abounds with graphic and pleasing incidents as to the people and their +customs. At the Narrows the Indians visited the vessel, "clothed in +mantles of feathers and robes of fur, the women clothed in hemp; red +copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper, they did wear about +their necks." At Yonkers they came on board in great numbers. Two were +detained and dressed in red coats, but they sprang overboard and swam +away. At Catskill they found "a very loving people, and very old men. +They brought to the ship Indian corn, pumpkins and tobaccos." Near +Schodack the "Master's mate went on land with an old savage, governor +of the country, who carried him to his house and made him good +cheere." "I sailed to the shore," he writes, "in one of their canoes, +with an old man, who was chief of a tribe, consisting of forty men and +seventeen women. These I saw there in a house well constructed of oak +bark, and circular in shape, so that it has the appearance of being +built with an arched roof. It contained a large quantity of corn and +beans of last year's growth, and there lay near the house, for the +purpose of drying, enough to load three ships, besides what was +growing in the fields. On our coming to the house two mats were spread +out to sit upon, and some food was immediately served in well-made +wooden bowls." + +"Two men were also dispatched at once, with bows and arrows in quest +of game, who soon brought in a pair of pigeons, which they had shot. +They likewise killed a fat dog, (probably a black bear), and skinned +it in great haste, with shells which they had got out of the water." + + * * * + + Down whose waterways the wings of poetry and romance like magic + sails bear the awakened souls of men. + + _Richard Burton._ + + * * * + +The well-known hospitality of the Hudson River valley has, therefore, +"high antiquity" in this record of the garrulous writer. At Albany the +Indians flocked to the vessel, and Hudson determined to try the chiefs +to see "whether they had any treachery in them." "So they took them +down into the cabin, and gave them so much wine and _aqua vitae_ that +they were all merry. In the end one of them was drunk, and they could +not tell how to take it." The old chief, who took the _aqua vitae_, +was so grateful when he awoke the next day, that he showed them all +the country, and gave them venison. + +Passing down through the Highlands the "Half Moon" was becalmed near +Stony Point and the "people of the Mountains" came on board and +marvelled at the ship and its equipment. One canoe kept hanging under +the stern and an Indian pilfered a pillow and two shirts from the +cabin windows. The mate shot him in the breast and killed him. A boat +was lowered to recover the articles "when one of them in the water +seized hold of it to overthrow it, but the cook seized a sword and cut +off one of his hands and he was drowned." At the head of Manhattan +Island the vessel was again attacked. Arrows were shot and two more +Indians were killed, then the attack was renewed and two more were +slain. + +It might also be stated that soon after the arrival of Hendrick Hudson +at the mouth of the river one of the English soldiers, John Coleman, +was killed by an arrow shot in the throat. "He was buried," according +to Ruttenber, "upon the adjacent beach, the first European victim of +an Indian weapon on the Mahicanituk. Coleman's point is the monument +to this occurrence." + +The "Half Moon" never returned and it will be remembered that Hudson +never again saw the river that he discovered. He was to leave his name +however as a monument to further adventure and hardihood in Hudson's +Bay, where he was cruelly set adrift by a mutinous crew in a little +boat to perish in the midsummer of 1611. + + * * * + + The sea just peering the headlands through + Where the sky is lost in deeper blue. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +=Names of the Hudson.=--The Iroquois called the river the "Cohatatea." +The Mahicans and Lenapes the "Mahicanituk," or "the ever-flowing +waters." Verrazano in 1524 styled it Rio de Montaigne. Gomez in 1525 +Rio San Antonio. Hudson styled it the "Manhattes" from the tribe at +its mouth. The Dutch named it the "Mauritius," in 1611, in honor of +Prince Maurice of Nassau, and afterwards "the Great River." It has +also been referred to as the "Shatemuck" in verse. It was called +"Hudson's River" not by the Dutch, as generally stated, but by the +English, as Hudson was an Englishman, although he sailed from a Dutch +port, with a Dutch crew, and a Dutch vessel. It was also called the +"North River," to distinguish it from the Delaware, the South River. +It is still frequently so styled, and the East River almost "boxes the +compass" as applied to Long Island Sound. + +=Height of Hills and Mountains.=--It is interesting to hear the +opinions of different people journeying up and down the Hudson as to +the height of mountains along the river. The Palisades are almost +always under-estimated, probably on account of their distance from +the steamer. It is only when we consider the size of a house at their +base, or the mast of a sloop anchored near the shore, that we can +fairly judge of their magnitude. Various guides, put together in a day +or a month, by writers who have made a single journey, or by persons +who have never consulted an authority, have gone on multiplying +blunder upon blunder, but the United States Geological Survey +furnishes reliable information. According to their maps the Palisades +are from 300 to 500 feet in height, the Highlands from 785 to 1625, +and the Catskills from 3000 to 3885 feet. + + * * * + + Beneath the cliffs the river steals + In darksome eddies to the shore, + But midway every sail reveals + Reflected on its crystal floor. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + + + THE PALISADES. + + At Fort Lee 300 feet. + Opposite Mt. St. Vincent 400 " + Opposite Hastings 500 " + + + THE HIGHLANDS. + + Sugar Loaf 785 feet. + Dunderberg 865 " + Anthony's Nose 900 " + Storm King 1368 " + Old Cro' Nest 1405 " + Bull Hill 1425 " + South Beacon 1625 " + + + THE CATSKILLS. + + North Mountain 3000 feet. + Plaaterkill 3135 " + Outlook 3150 " + Stoppel Point 3426 " + Round Top 3470 " + High Peak 3660 " + Sugar Loaf 3782 " + Plateau 3855 " + +=Sources of the Hudson.=--The Hudson rises in the Adirondacks, and +is formed by two short branches. The northern branch (17 miles in +length), has its source in Indian Pass, at the base of Mount McIntyre; +the eastern branch, in a little lake poetically called the "Tear of +the Clouds," 4,321 feet above the sea under the summit of Tahawus, +the noblest mountain of the Adirondacks, 5,344 feet in height. About +thirty miles below the junction it takes the waters of Boreas River, +and in the southern part of Warren County, nine miles east of Lake +George, the tribute of the Schroon. About fifteen miles north of +Saratoga it receives the waters of the Sacandaga, then the streams of +the Battenkill and the Walloomsac; and a short distance above Troy its +largest tributary, the Mohawk. The tide rises six inches at Troy and +two feet at Albany, and from Troy to New York, a distance of one +hundred and fifty miles, the river is navigable by large steamboats. + + * * * + + Of grottoes in the far dim woods, + Of pools moss-rimmed and deep, + From whose embrace the little rills + In daring venture creep. + + _E.A. Lente._ + + * * * + +The principal streams which flow into the Hudson between Albany and +New York are the Norman's Kill, on west bank, two miles south of +Albany; the Mourdener's Kill, at Castleton, eight miles below Albany, +on the east bank; Coxsackie Creek, on west bank, seventeen miles below +Albany; Kinderhook Creek, six miles north of Hudson; Catskill Creek, +six miles south of Hudson; Roeliffe Jansen's Creek, on east bank, +seven miles south of Hudson; the Esopus Creek, which empties at +Saugerties; the Rondout Creek, at Rondout; the Wappingers, at New +Hamburgh; the Fishkill, at Matteawan, opposite Newburgh; the Peekskill +Creek, and Croton River. The course of the river is nearly north and +south, and drains a comparatively narrow valley. + +It is emphatically the "River of the Mountains," as it rises in the +Adirondacks, flows seaward east of the Helderbergs, the Catskills, the +Shawangunks, through twenty miles of the Highlands and along the base +of the Palisades. More than any other river it preserves the character +of its origin, and the following apostrophe from the writer's poem, +"The Hudson," condenses its continuous "mountain-and-lake-like" +quality: + + O Hudson, mountain-born and free, + Thy youth a deep impression takes, + For, mountain-guarded to the sea, + Thy course is but a chain of lakes. + +=The First Settlement of the Hudson.=--In 1610 a Dutch ship visited +Manhattan to trade with the Indians and was soon followed by others +on like enterprise. In 1613 Adrian Block came with a few comrades and +remained the winter. In 1614 the merchants of North Holland organized +a company and obtained from the States General a charter to trade in +the New Netherlands, and soon after a colony built a few houses and +a fort near the Battery. The entire island was purchased from the +Indians in 1624 for the sum of sixty guilders or about twenty-four +dollars. A fort was built at Albany in 1623 and known as Fort Aurania +or Fort Orange. From Wassenaer's "Historie van Europa," 1621-1632, as +translated in the 3d volume of the Documentary History of New York, a +castle--Fort Nassau--was built in 1624, on an island on the north side +of the River Montagne, now called Mauritius. "But as the natives there +were somewhat discontented, and not easily managed, the projectors +abandoned it, intending now to plant a colony among the Maikans +(Mahicans), a nation lying twenty-five miles (American measure +seventy-five miles) on both sides of the river, upwards." In another +document we learn that "The West India Company being chartered, a +vessel of 130 lasts, called the 'New Netherland' (whereof Cornelius +Jacobs, of Hoorn, was skipper), with thirty families, mostly Walloons, +was equipped in the spring of 1623." + + * * * + + Where Manhattan reigned of old + Long before the age of gold + In the fair encircled isle + Formed for beauty's warmest smile. + + _William Crow_ + + * * * + +In the beginning of May they entered the Hudson, found a "Frenchman" +lying in the mouth of the river, who would erect the arms of the King +of France there, but the Hollanders would not permit him, opposing it +by commission from the Lord's States General and the Directors of the +West India Company, and "in order not to be frustrated therein, they +convoyed the Frenchman out of the rivers." This having been done, they +sailed up the Maikans, 140 miles, near which they built and completed +a fort, named "Orange," with four bastions, on an island, by them +called "Castle Island." This was probably the island below Castleton, +now known as Baern Island, where the first white child was born on the +Hudson. + +In another volume we read that "a colony was planted in 1625 on +the Manhetes Island, where a fort was staked out by Master Kryn +Fredericke, an engineer. The counting-house is kept in a stone +building thatched with reed; the other houses are of the bark of +trees. There are thirty ordinary houses on the east side of the river, +which runs nearly north and south." This is the description of New +York City when Charles the First was King. + + * * * + + Behold the natural advantages of our State; the situation + of our principal seaport; the facility that the + Sound affords for an intercourse with the East, and the + noble Hudson which bears upon its bosom the wealth + of the remotest part of the State. + + _Robert R. Livingston._ + + * * * + + +[Illustration: OLOFFE VAN KORTLANDT'S DREAM.] + +Moreover, we should not forget that Communipaw outranks New York in +antiquity, and, according to Knickerbocker, whose quiet humor is +always read and re-read with pleasure, might justly be considered the +Mother Colony. For lo! the sage Oloffe Van Kortlandt dreamed a dream, +and the good St. Nicholas came riding over the tops of the trees, +and descended upon the island of Manhattan and sat himself down +and smoked, "and the smoke ascended in the sky, and formed a cloud +overhead; and Oloffe bethought him, and he hastened and climbed up to +the top of one of the tallest trees, and saw that the smoke spread +over a great extent of country; and, as he considered it more +attentively, he fancied that the great volume assumed a variety of +marvelous forms, where, in dim obscurity, he saw shadowed out palaces +and domes and lofty spires, all of which lasted but a moment, and then +passed away." So New York, like Alba Longa and Rome, and other cities +of antiquity, was under the immediate care of its tutelar saint. Its +destiny was foreshadowed, for now the palaces and domes and lofty +spires are real and genuine, and something more than dreams are made +of. + + * * * + + Below the cliffs Manhattan's spires + Glint back the sunset's latest beam; + The bay is flecked with twinkling fires; + Or is it but "Van Kortlandt's dream?" + + _Wallace Bruce_ + + * * * + +=The Original Manors and Patents.=--According to a map of the Province +of New York, published in 1779, the Phillipsburg Patent embraced a +large part of Westchester County. North of this was the Manor of +Cortland, reaching from Tarrytown to Anthony's Nose. Above this +was the Phillipse Patent, reaching to the mouth of Fishkill Creek, +embracing Putnam County. Between Fishkill Creek and the Wappingers +Creek was the Rombout Patent. The Schuyler Patent embraced a few +square miles in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie. Above this was the +purchase of Falconer & Company, and east of this tract what was known +as the Great Nine Partners. Above the Falconer Purchase was the Henry +Beekman Patent, reaching to Esopus Island, and east of this the Little +Nine Partners. Above the Beekman Patent was the Schuyler Patent. Then +the Manor of Livingston, reaching from Rhinebeck to Catskill Station, +opposite Catskill. Above this Rensselaerwick, reaching north to a +point opposite Coeymans. The Manor of Rensselaer extended on both +sides of the river to a line running nearly east and west, just above +Troy. North and west of this Manor was the County of Albany, since +divided into Rensselaer, Saratoga, Washington, Schoharie, Greene and +Albany. The Rensselaer Manor was the only one that reached across the +river. The west bank of the Hudson, below the Rensselaer Manor, is +simply indicated on this map of 1779 as Ulster and Orange Counties. + +=New Amsterdam.=--For about fifty years after the Dutch Settlement the +island of Manhattan was known as New Amsterdam. Washington Irving, in +his Knickerbocker History, has surrounded it with a loving halo and +thereby given to the early records of New York the most picturesque +background of any State in the Union. + + * * * + + The city bright below, and far away + Sparkling in golden light his own romantic Bay. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +Among other playful allusions to the Indian names he takes the word +Manna-hatta of Robert Juet to mean "the island of manna," or in other +words a land flowing with milk and honey. He refers humorously to the +Yankees as "an ingenious people who out-bargain them in the market, +out-speculate them on the exchange, out-top them in fortune, and run +up mushroom palaces so high that the tallest Dutch family mansion has +not wind enough left for its weather-cock." + +What would the old burgomaster think now of the mounting palaces of +trade, stately apartments, and the piled up stories of commercial +buildings? In fact the highest structure Washington Irving ever saw in +New York was a nine-story sugar refinery. With elevators running two +hundred feet a minute, there seems no limit to these modern mammoths. + +=The Dutch and the English.=--From the very beginning there was a +quiet jealousy between the Dutch Settlement on the Hudson and the +English Settlers in Massachusetts. To quote from an old English +history, "it was the original purpose of the Pilgrims to locate near +Nova Scotia, but, upon better consideration, they decided to seat +themselves more to the southward on the bank of Hudson's River which +falls into the sea at New York." + +To this end "they contracted with some merchants who were willing +to be adventurers with them in their intended settlement and were +proprietors of the country, but the contract bore too heavy upon them, +and made them the more easy in their disappointment. Their agents in +England hired the Mayflower, and, after a stormy voyage, 'fell in with +Cape Cod on the 9th of November. Here they refreshed themselves about +half a day and then tacked about to the southward for Hudson's River.' + +"Encountering a storm they became entangled in dangerous shoals and +breakers and were driven back again to the Cape." Thus Plymouth became +the first English settlement of New England. Another historian says +that it was their purpose "to settle on the Connecticut Coast near +Fairfield County, lying between the Connecticut and Hudson's River." + + * * * + + Before his sight + Flowed the fair river free and bright, + The rising mist and Isles of Bay, + Before him in their glory lay. + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +From the very first the Dutch occupation was considered by the English +as illegal. It was undoubtedly part of the country the coasts of which +were first viewed by Sebastian Cabot, who sailed with five English +ships from Bristol in May, 1498, and as such was afterwards included +in the original province of Virginia. It was also within the limits of +the country granted by King James to the Western Company, but, before +it could be settled, the Dutch occupancy took place, and, in the +interest of peace, a license was granted by King James. + +The Dutch thus made their settlement before the Puritans were planted +in New England, and from their first coming, "being seated in Islands +and at the mouth of a good river their plantations were in a thriving +condition, and they begun, in Holland, to promise themselves vast +things from their new colony." + +Sir Samuel Argal in 1617 or 1618, on his way from Virginia to New +Scotland, insulted the Dutch and destroyed their plantations. "To +guard against further molestations they secured a License from +King James to build Cottages and to plant for traffic as well as +subsistence, pretending it was only for the conveniency of their ships +touching there for fresh water and fresh provisions in their voyage +to Brazil; but they little by little extended their limits every way, +built Towns, fortified them and became a flourishing colony." + +"In an island called Manhattan, at the mouth of Hudson's River, they +built a City which they called New Amsterdam, and the river was called +by them the Great River. The bay to the east of it had the name of +Nassau given to it. About one hundred and fifty miles up the River +they built a Fort which they called Orange Fort and from thence drove +a profitable trade with the Indians who came overland as far as from +Quebec to deal with them." + +The Dutch Colonies were therefore in a very thriving condition when +they were attacked by the English. The justice of this war has been +freely criticised even by English writers, "because troops were sent +to attack New Amsterdam before the Colony had any notice of the war." + + * * * + + On his view + Ocean, and earth, and heaven burst before him, + Clouds slumbering at his feet and the clear blue + Of summer's sky in beauty bending o'er him. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +The "Encyclopaedia Britannica" thus briefly puts the history of those +far-off days when New York was a town of about 1500 inhabitants: "The +English Government was hostile to any other occupation of the New +World than its own. In 1621 James I. claimed sovereignty over New +Netherland by right of 'occupancy.' In 1632 Charles I. reasserted the +English title of 'first discovery, occupation and possession.' In 1654 +Cromwell ordered an expedition for its conquest and the New England +Colonies had engaged their support. The treaty with Holland arrested +their operations and recognized the title of the Dutch. In 1664 +Charles the Second resolved upon a conquest of New Netherland. The +immediate excuse was the loss to the revenue of the English Colonies +by the smuggling practices of their Dutch neighbors. A patent was +granted to the Duke of York giving to him all the lands and rivers +from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of +Delaware Bay." + +"On the 29th of August an English Squadron under the direction of Col. +Richard Nicolls, the Duke's Deputy Governor, appeared off the Narrows, +and on Sept. 8th New Amsterdam, defenseless against the force, was +formally surrendered by Stuyvesant. In 1673 (August 7th) war being +declared between England and Holland a Dutch squadron surprised New +York, captured the City and restored the Dutch authority, and the +names of New Netherland and New Amsterdam. But in July, 1674, a treaty +of peace restored New York to English rule. A new patent was issued to +the Duke of York, and Major Edmund Andros was appointed Governor." + +=New York.=--On the 10th of November, 1674, the Province of New +Netherland was surrendered to Governor Major Edmund Andros on behalf +of his Britannic Majesty. The letter sent by Governor Andros to the +Dutch Governor is interesting in this connection: "Being arrived +to this place with orders to receive from you in the behalf of his +Majesty of Great Britain, pursuant to the late articles of peace with +the States Generals of the United Netherlands, the New Netherlands and +Dependencies, now under your command, I have herewith, by Capt. Philip +Carterett and Ens. Caesar Knafton, sent you the respective orders from +the said States General, the States of Zealand and Admirality of +Amsterdam to that effect, and desire you'll please to appoint some +short time for it. Our soldiers having been long aboard, I pray you +answer by these gentlemen, and I shall be ready to serve you in what +may lay in my power. Being from aboard his Majesty's ship, 'The +Diamond,' at anchor near. Your very humble servant. Staten Island this +22d Oct., 1674." After nineteen days' deliberation, which greatly +annoyed Governor Andros, New Amsterdam was transferred from Dutch to +English authority. + + * * * + + All white with sails thy keel-thronged waters flee + Through one rich lapse of plenty to the sea. + + _Knickerbocker Magazine._ + + * * * + +"In 1683 Thomas Dongan succeeded Andros. A general Assembly, the first +under the English rule, met in October, 1683, and adopted a Charter +of Liberties, which was confirmed by the Duke. In August, 1684, a new +covenant was made with the Iroquois, who formally acknowledged the +jurisdiction of Great Britain, but not subjection. By the accession of +the Duke of York to the English throne the Duchy of New York became a +royal province. The Charters of the New England Colonies were revoked, +and together with New York and New Jersey they were consolidated into +the dominion of New England. Dongan was recalled and Sir Edmund Andros +was commissioned Governor General. He assumed his vice regal authority +August 11, 1688. The Assembly which James had abolished in 1686 was +reestablished, and in May declared the rights and privileges of +the people, reaffirming the principles of the repealed Charter of +Liberties of October 30, 1683." + + * * * + + "Queen of all lovely rivers, lustrous queen + Of flowing waters in our sweet new lands, + Rippling through sunlight to the ocean sands." + + _Anonymous._ + + * * * + +From this time on to the Revolution of 1776 there is one continual +struggle between the Royal Governors and the General Assembly. The +Governor General had the power of dissolving the Assembly, but +the Assembly had the power of granting money. British troops were +quartered in New York which increased the irritation. The conquest of +Canada left a heavy burden upon Great Britain, a part of which their +Parliament attempted to shift to the shoulders of the Colonies. + +A general Congress of the Colonies, held in New York in 1765, +protested against the Stamp Act and other oppressive ordinances and +they were in part repealed. + +=A Page of Patriotism.=--During the long political agitation New York, +the most English of the Colonies in her manners and feelings, was in +close harmony with the Whig leaders of England. She firmly adhered to +the principle of the sovereignty of the people which she had inscribed +on her ancient "Charter of Liberties." Although largely dependent upon +commerce she was the first to recommend a non-importation of English +merchandise as a measure of retaliation against Britain, and she was +the first also to invite a general congress of all the Colonies. +On the breaking out of hostilities New York immediately joined the +patriot cause. The English authority was overthrown and the government +passed to a provincial congress. + + * * * + + The union of lakes--the union of lands-- + The union of States none can sever-- + The union of hearts--the union of hands-- + And the Flag of our Union forever. + + _George P. Morris._ + + * * * + +=New York Sons of Liberty.=--In 1767, in the eighth year of the reign +of George III. there was issued a document in straightforward Saxon, +and Sir Henry Moore, Governor-in-Chief over the Province of New York, +offered fifty pounds to discover the author or authors. The paper read +as follows: "Whereas, a glorious stand for Liberty did appear in +the Resentment shown to a Set of Miscreants under the Name of Stamp +Masters, in the year 1765, and it is now feared that a set of Gentry +called Commissioners (I do not mean those lately arrived at Boston), +whose odious Business is of a similar nature, may soon make their +appearance amongst us in order to execute their detestable office: +It is therefore hoped that every votary of that celestial Goddess +Liberty, will hold themselves in readiness to give them a proper +welcome. Rouse, my Countrymen, Rouse! (Signed) _Pro Patria_." + +In December, 1769, a stirring address "To the Betrayed Inhabitants of +the City and County of New York," signed by a Son of Liberty, was +also published, asking the people to do their duty in matters pending +between them and Britain. "Imitate," the writer said, "the noble +examples of the friends of Liberty in England; who, rather than be +enslaved, contend for their rights with king, lords and commons; +and will you suffer your liberties to be torn from you by your +Representatives? tell it not in Boston; publish it not in the streets +of Charles-town. You have means yet left to preserve a unanimity +with the brave Bostonians and Carolinians; and to prevent the +accomplishment of the designs of tyrants." + +Another proclamation, offering a reward of fifty pounds, was +published by the "Honorable Cadwalader Colden, Esquire, His Majesty's +Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New York +and the territories depending thereon in America," with another "God +Save the King" at the end of it. But the people who commenced to write +Liberty with a capital letter and the word "king" in lower case type +were not daunted. Captain Alexander McDougal was arrested as +the supposed author. He was imprisoned eighty-one days. He was +subsequently a member of the Provincial Convention, in 1775 was +appointed Colonel of the first New York Regiment, and in 1777 rose to +the rank of Major-General in the U. S. Army. New York City could well +afford a monument to the Sons of Liberty. She has a right to emphasize +this period of her history, for her citizens passed the first +resolution to import nothing from the mother country, burned ten boxes +of stamps sent from England before any other colony or city had made +even a show of resistance, and when the Declaration was read, pulled +down the leaden statue of George III. from its pedestal in Bowling +Green, and moulded it into Republican bullets. + + * * * + + And not a verdant glade or mountain hoary, + But treasures up within the glorious story. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +In 1699 the population of New York was about 6,000. In 1800, it +reached 60,000; and the growth since that date is almost incredible. +It is amusing to hear elderly people speak of the "outskirts of the +city" lying close to the City Hall, and of the drives _in the country_ +above Canal Street. In the Documentary History of New York, a map of +a section of New York appears as it was in 1793, when the Gail, Work +House, and Bridewell occupied the site of the City Hall, with two +ponds to the north--East Collect Pond and Little Collect Pond,--sixty +feet deep and about a quarter of a mile in diameter, the outlet of +which crossed Broadway at Canal Street and found its way to the +Hudson. + +=Greater New York.=--In 1830, the population of Manhattan was 202,000; +in 1850, 515,000; in 1860, 805,000; in 1870, 942,000; in 1880, +1,250,000; in 1892, 1,801,739; and is now rapidly approaching three +million. Brooklyn, which in 1800 had a population of only 2,000, now +contributes, as the "Borough of Brooklyn," almost two million. So that +Greater New York is the centre of about six million of people within a +radius of fifteen miles including her New Jersey suburbs with almost +five millions under one municipality. + +=Brooklyn.=--In June, 1636, was bought the first land on Long Island; +and in 1667 the Ferry Town, opposite New York, was known by the name +"Breuckelen," signifying "broken land," but the name was not generally +accepted until after the Revolution. Columbia Heights, Prospect Park, +Clinton Avenue, St. Mark's Place and Stuyvesant Heights are among the +favored spots for residence. + + * * * + + Behind us lies the teeming town + With lust of gold grown frantic; + Before us glitters o'er the bay + The peaceable Atlantic. + + _Charles Mackay_ + + * * * + +=Jersey City= occupies the ground once known as Paulus Hook, the farm +of William Kieft, Director General of the Dutch West India Company. +Its water front, from opposite Bartholdi Statue to Hoboken, is +conspicuously marked by Railroad Terminal Piers, Factories, Elevators, +etc. Bergen is the oldest settlement in New Jersey. It was founded in +1616 by Dutch Colonists to the New Netherlands, and received its name +from Bergen in Norway. Jersey City is practically a part of Greater +New York, but state lines make municipal union impossible. + +=Hudson River Steamboats.=--An accurate history of the growth and +development of steam navigation on the Hudson, from the building of +the "Clermont" by Robert Fulton to the building of the superb steamers +of the Hudson River Day Line would form a very interesting book. The +first six years produced six steamers: + + Clermont, built in 1807 160 tons + Car of Neptune, built in 1809 295 " + Hope, built in 1811 280 " + Perseverance, built in 1811 280 " + Paragon, built in 1811 331 " + Richmond, built in 1813 370 " + +It makes one smile to read the newspaper notices of those days. The +time was rather long, and the fare rather high--thirty-six hours to +Albany, fare seven dollars. + + _From the Albany Gazette, September, 1807._ + + "The North River Steamboat will leave Paulus Hook Ferry on Friday + the 4th of September, at 9 in the morning, and arrive at Albany + at 9 in the afternoon on Saturday. Provisions, good berths, and + accommodation are provided. The charge to each passenger is as + follows: + + To Newburg Dols. 3, Time 14 hours. + Poughkeepsie " 4, " 17 " + Esopus " 5, " 20 " + Hudson " 51/2, " 30 " + Albany " 7, " 36 " + + For places apply to Wm. Vandervoort, No. 48 Courtland street, on + the corner of Greenwich street, September 2d, 1807." + + * * * + + The wind blew over the land and the waves + With its salt sea-breath, and a spicy balm, + And it seemed to cool my throbbing brain, + And lend my spirit its gusty calm. + + _Richard Henry Stoddard._ + + * * * + + _Extract from the New York Evening Post, October 2, 1807._ + + Mr. Fulton's new-invented steamboat, which is fitted up in a neat + style for passengers, and is intended to run from New York to + Albany as a packet, left here this morning with ninety passengers, + against a strong head wind. Notwithstanding which, it is judged + that she moved through the waters at the rate of six miles an + hour. + + _Extract from the Albany Gazette, October 5th, 1807._ + + Friday, October 2d, 1807, the steamboat (Clermont) left New York + at ten o'clock a.m., against a stormy tide, very rough water, and + a violent gale from the north. She made a headway beyond the most + sanguine expectations, and without being rocked by the waves. + + Arrived at Albany, October 4th, at 10 o'clock p.m., being detained + by being obliged to come to anchor, owing to a gale and having one + of her paddle wheels torn away by running foul of a sloop. + + * * * + + But see! the broadening river deeper flows, + Its tribute floods intent to reach the sea. + + _Park Benjamin._ + + * * * + +The following was recently recopied in the _Poughkeepsie Eagle_, as an +old time reminiscence: + + =To Poughkeepsie from New York in Seventeen Hours.= + + --The first steamboat on the Hudson River passed Poughkeepsie + August 17th, 1807, and in June, 1808, the owners of the boat + caused the following advertisement to be published in prominent + papers along the river: + + =STEAMBOAT.= + + FOR THE INFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC. + + The Steamboat will leave New York for Albany every Saturday + afternoon exactly at 6 o'clock, and will pass: + + West Point, about 4 o'clock Sunday morning. + Newburgh, 7 o'clock Sunday morning. + Poughkeepsie, 11 o'clock Sunday morning. + Esopus, 2 o'clock in the afternoon. + Red Hook, 4 o'clock in the afternoon. + Catskill, 7 o'clock in the afternoon. + Hudson, 8 o'clock in the evening. + + She will leave Albany for New York every Wednesday morning exactly + at 8 o'clock, and pass: + + Hudson, about 3 in the afternoon. + Esopus, 8 in the evening. + Poughkeepsie, 12 at night. + Newburgh, 4 Thursday morning. + West Point, 7 Thursday morning. + + As the time at which the boat may arrive at the different places + above mentioned may vary an hour, more or less, according to the + advantage or disadvantage of wind and tide, those who wish to + come on board will see the necessity of being on the spot an hour + before the time. Persons wishing to come on board from any other + landing than these here specified can calculate the time the boat + will pass and be ready on her arrival. Innkeepers or boatmen who + bring passengers on board or take them ashore from any part of the + river will be allowed one shilling for each person. + + PRICES OF PASSAGE--FROM NEW YORK. + + To West Point $2 30 + To Newburgh 3 00 + To Poughkeepsie 3 50 + To Esopus 4 00 + To Red Hook 4 50 + To Hudson 5 00 + To Albany 7 00 + + FROM ALBANY. + + To Hudson $2 00 + To Red Hook 3 00 + To Esopus 3 50 + To Poughkeepsie 4 00 + To Newburgh and West Point 4 50 + To New York 7 00 + + All other passengers are to pay at the rate of one dollar for + every twenty miles, and a half dollar for every meal they may eat. + + Children from 1 to 5 years of age to pay one-third price and to + sleep with persons under whose care they are. + + Young persons from 5 to 15 years of age to pay half price, + provided they sleep two in a berth, and the whole price for each + one who requests to occupy a whole berth. + + Servants who pay two-thirds price are entitled to a berth; they + pay half price if they do not have a berth. + + Every person paying full price is allowed sixty pounds of baggage; + if less than full price forty pounds. They are to pay at the rate + of three cents per pound for surplus baggage. Storekeepers who + wish to carry light and valuable merchandise can be accommodated + on paying three cents a pound. + + * * * + + By palace, village, cot, a sweet surprise + At every turn the vision looks upon; + Till to our wondering and uplifted eyes + The Highland rocks and hills in solemn grandeur rise. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +=Day Line Steamers.=--As the cradle of successful steam navigation was +rocked on the Hudson, it is fitting that the Day Line Steamers should +excel all others in beauty, grace and speed. There is no comparison +between these river palaces and the steamboats on the Rhine or any +river in Europe, as to equipment, comfort and rapidity. To make +another reference to the great tourist route of Europe, the distance +from Cologne to Coblenz is 60 miles, the same as from New York to +Newburgh. It takes the Rhine steamers from seven to eight hours (as +will be seen in Baedeker's Guide to that river) going up the stream, +and from four and a half to five hours returning with the current. The +Hudson by Daylight steamers en route to Albany make the run from New +York to Newburgh in three hours; to Poughkeepsie in four hours, making +stops at Yonkers, West Point and Newburgh. Probably no train on the +best equipped railroad in our country reaches its stations with +greater regularity than these steamers make their various landing. +It astonishes a Mississippi or Missouri traveler to see the captain +standing like a train-conductor, with watch in hand, to let off the +gang-plank and pull the bell, at the very moment of the advertised +schedule. + + * * * + + Southward the river gleams--a snowy sail + Now gliding o'er the mirror--now a track + Tossing with foam displaying on its course + The graceful steamer with its flag of smoke. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + +One of the most humorous incidents of the writer's journeying up and +down the Hudson, was the "John-Gilpin-experience" of a western man who +got off at West Point a few years ago. It was at that time the first +landing of the steamer after leaving New York. + +As he was accustomed to the Mississippi style of waiting at the +various towns he thought he would go up and take a look at the "hill." +The boat was off and "so was he"; with wife and children shaking their +hands and handkerchiefs in an excited manner from the gang-plank. Some +one at the stern of the steamer shouted to him to cross the river and +take the train to Poughkeepsie. + +Every one was on the lookout for him at the Poughkeepsie landing, and, +just as the steamer was leaving the dock, he came dashing down Main +street from the railroad station, but too late. Then not only wife +and children but the entire boat saluted him and the crowded +deck blossomed with handkerchiefs. Some one shouted "catch us at +Rhinebeck." After leaving Rhinebeck the train appeared, and on passing +the steamer, a lone handkerchief waved from the rear of the platform. +At Hudson an excited but slightly disorganized gentleman appeared +to the great delight of his family, and every one else, for the +passengers had all taken a lively interest in the chase. "Well," he +says, "I declare, the way this boat lands, and gets off again, beats +anything I ever see, and I have lived on the Mississippi nigh on to a +quarter of a century." + + * * * + + While drinking in the scene, my mind goes back upon + the tide of years, and lo, a vision! On its upward + path the "Half-Moon" glides. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + +=The "Hendrick Hudson."= In these centennial days of discovery +and invention, a description of the steamers will be of interest, +furnished by the Hudson River Day Line. The "Hendrick Hudson" was +built at Newburgh by the Marvel Company, under contract with the W. +& A. Fletcher Company of New York, who built her engines, and under +designs from Frank E. Kirby. Her principal dimensions are: length, 400 +feet; breadth over all, 82 feet; depth of hold, 14 feet 5 inches, and +a draft of 7 feet 6 inches. Her propelling machinery is what is +known as the 3-cylinder compound direct acting engine, and her power +(6,500-horse) is applied through side wheels with feathering buckets, +and steam is supplied from eight boilers. + +Steel has been used in her construction to such an extent that her +hull, her bulk-heads (7 in all), her engine and boiler enclosures, her +kitchen and ventilators, her stanchions, girders, and deck beams, and +in fact the whole essential frame work of the boat is like a great +steel building. Where wood is used it is hard wood, and in finish +probably has no equal in marine work. + +Her scheme of decoration, ventilation and sanitation is as artistic +and scientific as modern methods can produce, and at the same time +her general lay out for practical and comfortable operation is the +evolution of the long number of years in which the Day Line has been +conducting the passenger business. + +A detailed account of this steamer would be a long story, but some of +the salient features are as follows: She carries the largest passenger +license ever issued, namely: for 5,000 people; on her trial trip she +made the fastest record through the water of any inland passenger ship +in this country, namely: 23.1 miles per hour. Her shafts are under the +main deck. Her mural paintings represent prominent features of the +Hudson, which may not be well seen from the steamer. Her equipment far +exceeds the requirements of the Government Inspection Laws. + + * * * + + We hear the murmur of the sea,-- + A monotone of sadness, + But not a whisper of the crowd, + Or echo of its madness. + + _Charles Mackay._ + + * * * + +=The "New York."= The hull of the "New York" was built at Wilmington, +Del., by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., in 1887, and is, with the +exception of the deck-frame, made of iron throughout. During the +winter of 1897 she was lengthened 30 feet, and now measures 341 feet +in length, breadth over all 74 feet, with a tonnage of 1975 gross +tons. The engine was built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co. of New York. +It is a standard American beam engine, with a cylinder 75 inches in +diameter and 12 feet stroke of piston, and develops 3,850 horse power. +Steam steering gear is used. One of the most admirable features of +this queen of river steamers is her "feathering" wheels, the use of +which not only adds materially to her speed but does away with the +jar or tremor common to boats having the ordinary paddle-wheels. The +exterior of the "New York" is, as usual, of pine, painted white and +relieved with tints and gold. The interior is finished in hard-wood +cabinet work, ash being used forward of the shaft on the main deck, +and mahogany aft and in the dining-room. Ash is also used in the grand +saloons on the promenade deck. One feature of these saloons especially +worthy of note, is the number and size of the windows, which are so +numerous as to almost form one continuous window. Seated in one of +these elegant saloons as in a floating palace of glass, the tourist +who prefers to remain inside enjoys equally with those outside the +unrivalled scenery through which the steamer is passing. The private +parlors on the "New York" are provided with bay windows and are +very luxuriantly furnished. In the saloons are paintings by Albert +Bierstadt, J. F. Cropsey, Walter Satterlee and David Johnson. The +dining-room on the "New York" is located on the main deck, aft; a +feature that will commend itself to tourists, since while enjoying +their meals they will not be deprived from viewing the noble scenery +through which the steamer is passing. While the carrying capacity of +the "New York" is 4,500 passengers, license for 2,500 only is applied +for, thus guaranteeing ample room for all and the absence from +crowding which is so essential to comfort. + + * * * + + Thy fate and mine are not repose, + And ere another evening close + Thou to thy tides shall turn again + And I to seek the crowd of men. + + _William Cullen Byrant._ + + * * * + +=The "Albany"= was built by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., of +Wilmington, Del., in 1880. During the winter of 1892, she was +lengthened thirty feet and furnished with modern feathering wheels +in place of the old style radial ones. Her hull is of iron, 325 feet +long, breadth of beam over all 75 feet, and her tonnage is 1,415 gross +tons. Her engine was built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co., of New York, +and develops 3,200 horse power. The stroke is 12 feet, and the +diameter of the cylinder is 73 inches. On her trial trip she ran from +New York to Poughkeepsie, a distance of 75 miles, in three hours and +seven minutes. Steam steering gear is used on the "Albany," thus +insuring ease and precision in handling her. The wood-work on the main +deck and in the upper saloons is all hard wood; mahogany, ash and +maple tastefully carved. Wide, easy staircases lead to the main saloon +and upper decks. Rich Axminster carpets cover the floors, and mahogany +tables and furniture of antique design and elegant finish make up the +appointments of a handsomely furnished drawing room. + + * * * + + Lose not a memory of the glorious scenes, + Mountains and palisades, and leaning rocks. + + _William Wallace._ + + * * * + +=The Old Reaches.=--Early navigators divided the Hudson into fourteen +"reaches" or distances from point to point as seen by one sailing up +or down the river. In the slow days of uncertain sailing vessels these +divisions meant more than in our time of "propelling steam," but they +are still of practical and historic interest. + +The Great Chip Rock Reach extends from above Weehawken about eighteen +miles to the boundary line of New York and New Jersey--(near +Piermont). The Palisades were known by the old Dutch settlers as the +"Great Chip," and so styled in the Bergen Deed of Purchase, viz, the +great chip above Weehawken. The _Tappan_ Reach (on the east side of +which dwelt the Manhattans, and on the west side the Saulrickans and +the Tappans), extends about seven miles to Teller's Point. The +third reach to a narrow point called _Haverstroo_; then comes the +_Seylmaker's_ Reach, then _Crescent_ Reach; next _Hoge's_ Reach, and +then _Vorsen_ Reach, which extends to Klinkersberg, or Storm King, +the northern portal of the Highlands. This is succeeded by _Fisher's_ +Reach where, on the east side once dwelt a race of savages called +Pachami. "This reach," in the language of De Laet, "extends to another +narrow pass, where, on the west, is a point of land which juts out, +covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river, on which another +nation of savages--the Waoranecks--have their abode at a place called +Esopus. Next, another reach, called _Claverack_; then _Backerack;_ +next _Playsier_ Reach, and _Vaste_ Reach, as far as Hinnenhock; then +_Hunter's_ Reach, as far as Kinderhook; and Fisher's Hook, near Shad +Island, over which, on the east side, dwell the Mahicans." If these +reaches seem valueless at present there are + +=Five Divisions of the Hudson=--which possess interest for all, as +they present an analysis easy to be remembered--divisions marked by +something more substantial than sentiment or fancy, expressing five +distinct characteristics:-- + +1. THE PALISADES, an unbroken wall of rock for fifteen +miles--GRANDEUR. + +2. THE TAPPAN ZEE, surrounded by the sloping hills of Nyack, +Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow--REPOSE. + +3. THE HIGHLANDS, where the Hudson for twenty miles plays "hide and +seek" with "hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun"--SUBLIMITY. + +4. THE HILLSIDES for miles above and below Poughkeepsie--THE +PICTURESQUE. + +5. THE CATSKILLS, on the west, throned in queenly dignity--BEAUTY. + + * * * + + On the deck + Stands the bold Hudson, gazing at the sights + Opening successive--point and rock and hill, + Majestic mountain-top, and nestling vale. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + + +=SUGGESTIONS.= + +From the Hurricane Deck of the Hudson River Day Line Steamers can +be seen, on leaving or approaching the Metropolis, one of the most +interesting panoramas in the world--the river life of Manhattan, +the massive structures of Broadway, the great Transatlantic docks, +Recreation Piers, and an ever-changing kaleidoscope of interest. The +view is especially grand on the down trip between the hours of five +and six in the afternoon, as the western sun brings the city in strong +relief against the sky. If tourists wish to fully enjoy this beautiful +view they should remain on the Hurricane Deck until the boat is well +into her Desbrosses Street slip. + +=The Brooklyn Annex.=--The Brooklyn tourist is especially happy in +this delightful preface and addenda to the Hudson River trip. The +effect of morning and evening light in bringing out or in subduing the +sky-line of Manhattan is nowhere seen to greater advantage. In the +morning the buildings from the East River side stand out bold and +clear, when lo! almost instantaneously, on turning the Battery, they +are lessened and subdued. On the return trip in the evening, the +effect is reversed--a study worth the while of the traveler as he +passes to and fro on the commodious "Annex" between Desbrosses +Street Pier and Brooklyn. Surely no other city in the world rises so +beautiful from harbor line or water front as "Greater New York," with +lofty outlines of the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn reminding one +of Scott's tribute to Edinburgh: + + "Piled deep and massy, close and high, + Mine own romantic town!" + + * * * + + Down at the end of the long, dark street, + Years, years ago, + I sat with my sweetheart on the pier, + Watching the river flow. + + _Richard Henry Stoddard._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: STATUE OF LIBERTY] + + + + +=NEW YORK TO ALBANY.= + + +=Desbrosses Street Pier to Forty-Second Street.= + +Our historic journey fittingly begins at Desbrosses Street, for here, +near the old River-front, extending from Desbrosses along Greenwich, +stood the Revolutionary line of breastworks reaching south to the +Grenadier Battery at Franklin Street. Below this were "Jersey," +"McDougall" and "Oyster" batteries and intervening earthworks to Port +George, on the Battery, which stood on the site of old Fort Amsterdam, +carrying us back to Knickerbocker memories of Peter Stuyvesant and +Wowter Van Twiller. The view from the after-deck, before the steamer +leaves the pier, gives scope for the imagination to re-picture the +far-away primitive and heroic days of early New York. + +=Desbrosses Street Pier.=--On leaving the lower landing a charming +view is obtained of New York Harbor, the Narrows, Staten Island, the +Bartholdi Statue of Liberty, and, in clear weather, far away to the +South, the Highlands of Nevisink, the first land to greet the eye +of the ocean voyager. As the steamer swings out into the stream the +tourist is at once face to face with a rapidly changing panorama. +Steamers arriving, with happy faces on their decks, from southern +ports or distant lands; others with waving handkerchiefs bidding +good-bye to friends on crowded docks; swift-shuttled ferry-boats, with +hurrying passengers, supplying their homespun woof to the great warp +of foreign or coastwise commerce; noisy tug-boats, sombre as dray +horses, drawing long lines of canal boats, or proud in the convoy of +some Atlantic greyhound that has not yet slipped its leash; dignified +"Men of War" at anchor, flying the flags of many nations, happy +excursion boats _en route_ to sea-side resorts, scows, picturesque +in their very clumsiness and uncouthness--all unite in a living +kaleidescope of beauty. + + * * * + + Rise, stately symbol! Holding forth + Thy light and hope to all who sit + In chains and darkness! Belt the earth + With watch-fires from thy torch uplit! + + _John Greenleaf Whittier._ + + * * * + +Across the river on the Jersey Shore are seen extensive docks of great +railways, with elevators and stations that seem like "knotted ends" +of vast railway lines, lest they might forsooth, untwist and become +irrecoverably tangled in approaching the Metropolis. Prominent among +these are the _Pennsylvania Railroad_ for the South and West; the +_Erie Railway_, the _Delaware, Lackawanna and Western_, and to the +North above Hoboken the _West Shore_, serving also as starting point +for the _New York, Ontario and Western_. Again the eye returns to +the crowded wharves and warehouses of New York, reaching from Castle +Garden beyond 30th Street, with forest-like masts and funnels of ocean +steamships, and then to prominent buildings mounting higher and higher +year by year along the city horizon, marking the course of Broadway +from the Battery, literally fulfilling the humor of Knickerbocker +in not leaving space for a breath of air for the top of old Trinity +Church spire. + +=Stevens' Castle.=--About midway between Desbrosses Street and 42d +Street Pier will be seen on the Jersey Shore a wooded point with +sightly building, known as Stevens' Castle, home of the late Commodore +Stevens, founder of the Stevens Institute of Technology. Above this +are the Elysian Fields, near the river bank, known in early days as a +quiet resort but now greatly changed in the character of its visitors. +On the left will also be seen the dome and tower of St. Michael's +Monastery, and above this Union Hill. + +=The Trap Rock Ridge=, which begins to show itself above the Elysian +Fields, increases gradually in height to the brow of the Palisades. +West of Bergen Heights and Union Hill flows the Hackensack River +parallel to the Hudson, and at this point only about two miles +distant. + + * * * + + How still with all her towers and domes + The city sleeps on yonder shore,-- + How many thousand happy homes + Yon starless sky is bending o'er. + + _Park Benjamin._ + + * * * + +=Forty-Second Street to One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth.= + +=The 42d Street Pier= is now at hand, convenient of access to +travelers, as the 42d Street car line crosses Manhattan intersecting +every "up and down" surface, subway or elevated road in the City, +as does also the Grand, Vestry and Desbrosses Street at the lower +landing. While passengers are coming aboard we take pleasure in +quoting the following from Baedeker's Guide to the United States: "The +Photo-Panorama of the Hudson, published by the Bryant Union Publishing +Co., New York City (price 50 cents), shows both sides of the river +from New York to Albany, accurately represented from 800 consecutive +photographs. This new and complete object-guide will be of service +to the tourist, and can be had at the steamers' news stands, head of +grand stairway, or it will be sent by publishers, postpaid, on receipt +of price." + +=Weehawken= with its sad story of the duel between Hamilton and Burr +is soon seen upon the west bank. A monument once marked the spot, +erected by the St. Andrews Society of New York City on the ledge of +rock where Hamilton fell early in the morning of the eleventh of July, +1804. The quarrel between this great statesman and his malignant rival +was, perhaps, more personal than political. It is said that Hamilton, +in accordance with the old-time code of honor, accepted the challenge, +but fired into the air, while Burr with fiendish cruelty took +deliberate revenge. Burr was never forgiven by the citizens of New +York and from that hour walked its streets shunned and despised. Among +the many poetic tributes penned at the time to the memory of Hamilton, +perhaps the best was by a poet whose name is now scarcely remembered, +Mr. Robert C. Sands. A fine picture of Hamilton will be found in the +New York Chamber of Commerce where the writer was recently shown the +following concise paragraph from Talleyrand: "The three greatest men +of my time, in my opinion, were Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles James Fox +and Alexander Hamilton and the greatest of the three was Hamilton." + + * * * + + Where round yon capes the banks ascend + Long shall the pilgrim's footsteps bend, + There, mirthful heart shall pause to sigh, + There tears shall dim the patriot's eye. + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +The plain marble slab which stood in the face of the monument is still +preserved by a member of the King family. It is thirty-six inches +long by twenty-six and a half inches wide and bears the following +inscription: "As an expression of their affectionate regard to his +Memory and their deep regret for his loss, the St. Andrew's Society of +the State of New York have erected this Monument." + +Quite a history attaches to this stone (graphically condensed by +an old gardener of the King estate): "It stood in the face of the +monument for sixteen years, and was read by thousands, but by 1820 the +pillar had become an eyesore to the enlightened public sentiment of +the age, and an agitation was begun in the public prints for its +removal. It was not, however, organized effort, but the order of one +man, that at length demolished the pillar. This man was Captain Deas, +a peace-loving gentleman, strongly opposed to duelling and brawls, +and on seeing a party approaching the grounds often interposed and +sometimes succeeded in effecting a reconciliation. He became tired of +seeing the pillar in his daily walks, and, in 1820, ordered his men to +remove it and deposit the slab containing the inscription in one +of the outbuildings of the estate. This was done. But a few months +afterward the slab was stolen, and nothing more was heard of it until +thirteen years later, when Mr. Hugh Maxwell, president of the St. +Andrew's Society, discovered it in a junk shop in New York. He at once +purchased it and presented it to Mr. James G. King, who about this +time came into possession of the Deas property, where it has since +been carefully preserved." + +This mansion of Captain Deas afterward known as the "King House on the +Cliff" was a stately residence where Washington Irving used to come +and dream of his fair Manhattan across the river. It was also the +head-quarters of Lafayette, after the battle of Brandywine. + + * * * + + I was an admirer of General Hamilton, and I sicken + when I think of our political broils, slanders and enmities. + + _Washington Irving._ + + * * * + +The gardener also said: "the river road beneath us is cut directly +through the spot. Originally it was simply a narrow and grassy shelf +close up under the cliffs, six feet wide and eleven paces long. A +great cedar tree stood at one end, and this sandbowlder, which we have +also preserved, was at the other. It was about twenty feet above +the river and was reached by a steep rocky path leading up from the +Hudson, and, as there was then no road or path even along the base +of the cliffs, it could be reached only by boats." The first duel at +Weehawken of which there is any record was in 1799, between Aaron Burr +and John B. Church (Hamilton's brother-in-law). The parties met and +exchanged shots; neither was wounded. The seconds then induced Church +to offer an apology and the affair terminated. The last duel was +fought there September 28, 1845, and ended in a farce, the pistols +being loaded with cork--a fitting termination to a relic of barbarism. + +=Riverside Drive and Park.= Riverside Drive, on the east bank starting +at 72d Street, is pronounced the finest residential avenue in the +world. Distinguished among many noble residences is the home of +Charles M. Schwab at 73d Street, which cost two million dollars; built +on the New York Orphan Asylum plot for which he paid $860,000. + +=The Soldiers and Sailors Monument=, 89th Street, a memorial to the +citizens of New York, who took part in the Civil War, a beautiful work +of art, circular in form, with Corinthian columns, erected by the city +at a cost of a quarter of million of dollars was dedicated May 30, +1902. The corner-stone was laid in 1900 by President Roosevelt, at +that time Governor. The location was well selected, and it presents +one of the most attractive features of the river front. + + * * * + + We celebrate our hundredth year + With thankful hearts and words of praise, + And learn a lasting lesson here + Of trust and hope for coming days. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Columbia University=, on Morningside Heights, has a fine outlook, +crowning a noble site worthy of the old college, whose sons have been +to the fore since the days of the Revolution in promoting the glory +of the state and the nation. President Low has happily styled +"Morningside," which extends from 116th to 120th Streets, "The +Acropolis of the new world." The Library Building which he erected to +his father's memory, is of Greek architecture and cost $1,500,000. It +contains 300,000 volumes and is open night and day to the public. It +also marks the battle ground and American victory of Harlem Heights in +1776. + +=The Cathedral of St. John the Divine= (Protestant Episcopal), now in +process of erection, occupies three blocks from 110th Street to 113th +between Morningside Park and Amsterdam Avenue. The corner stone was +laid in 1892 to be completed about 1940 at a cost of $6,000,000. The +crypt quarried out of the solid rock has been completed and services +are held in it every Sunday. Near at hand will be seen the beautiful +dome of St. Luke's Hospital. + +=Grant's Tomb=, Riverside Drive and 123d Street, has the most +commanding site of the Hudson River front of New York. The bluff rises +130 feet and still retains the name of Claremont. The apex of +the memorial is 280 feet above the river. Ninety thousand people +contributed to the "Grant Monument Association fund" which, with +interest, aggregated $600,000. The corner stone was laid by President +Harrison in 1892 and dedicated April 27, 1897, on the seventy-fifth +anniversary of Grant's birth, with a great military, naval and civil +parade. The occasion was marked by an address of President McKinley +and an oration of Gen. Horace Porter, president of the Grant Monument +Association. + +An attempt to remove Grant's body to Washington was made in Congress +but overwhelmingly defeated. The speech by Congressman Amos Cummings +in the House of Representatives, was a happy condensation of the +facts. He fittingly said: "New York was General Grant's chosen home. +He tried many other places but finally settled there. A house was +given to him here in Washington, but he abandoned it in the most +marked manner to buy one for himself in New York. He was a familiar +form upon her streets. He presided at her public meetings and at all +times took an active interest in her local affairs. He was perfectly +at home there and was charmed with its associations. It was the spot +on earth chosen by himself as the most agreeable to him; he meant to +live and die there. It was his home when he died. He closed his career +without ever once expressing a wish to leave it, but always to remain +in it. + +"Men are usually buried at their homes. Washington was buried there; +Lincoln was buried there; Garibaldi was buried there; Gambetta was +buried there, and Ericsson was buried, not at the Capital of Sweden, +but at his own home. Those who say that New York is backward in giving +for any commendable thing either do not know her or they belie her. +Wherever in the civilized world there has been disaster by fire or +flood, or from earthquake or pestilence, she has been among the +foremost in the field of givers and has remained there when others +have departed. It is a shame to speak of her as parsimonious or as +failing in any benevolent duty. Those who charge her with being +dilatory should remember that haste is not always speed. It took more +than a quarter of a century to erect Bunker Hill Monument; the ladies +of Boston completed it. It took nearly half a century to erect a +monument to George Washington in the City founded by him, named for +him, and by his act made the Capital of the Nation; the Government +completed it. New York has already shown that she will do far better +than this." + +* * * + + His glory as the centuries wide, + His honor bright as sunlit seas, + His lullaby the Hudson tide, + His requiem the whispering breeze. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=The Thirteen Elm Trees=, about ten or fifteen minutes' walk from +General Grant's Tomb, were planted by Alexander Hamilton in his +door-yard, a century ago, to commemorate the thirteen original States. +This property was purchased by the late Hon. Orlando Potter, of New +York, with the following touch of patriotic sentiment: "These +famous trees are located in the northeast corner of One Hundred and +Forty-third street and Convent Avenue; or, on lots fourteen and +fifteen," said the auctioneer to the crowd that gathered at the sale. +"In order that the old property with the trees may be kept unbroken, +should the purchaser desire, we will sell lots 8 to 21 inclusive in +one batch! How much am I offered?" "One hundred thousand dollars," +quietly responded Mr. Potter. A ripple of excitement ran through the +crowd, and the bid was quickly run up to $120,000 by speculators. "One +hundred and twenty-five thousand," said Mr. Potter. Then there were +several thousand dollar bids, and the auctioneer said: "Do I hear +one hundred and thirty?" Mr. Potter nodded. He nodded again at the +"thirty-five" and "forty" and then some one raised him $250. "Five +hundred," remarked Mr. Potter, and the bidding was done. "Sold for +$140,500!" cried the auctioneer. Mr. Potter smiled and drew his check +for the amount. "I can't say what I will do with the property," said +Mr. Potter. "You can rest assured, however, that the trees will not be +cut down." + + * * * + + Rest in peace by stately rivers martyred soldiers of the free, + Rest brave captain, at our threshold, where the Hudson meets the sea. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Edgewater=, opposite Grant's Tomb on the west bank, lies between +Undercliff on the north and Shadyside on the south. The latter place +was made historic by Anthony Wayne's capture of supplies for the +American army in the summer of 1780 which formed the basis of a +satirical poem by Major Andre, entitled ="The Cow Chase."= + +The steamer is now approaching 129th street, and we turn again with +pride to the beautiful tomb of General Grant which fittingly marks one +point of a great triangle of fame--the heroic struggle of the American +soldiers in 1776, the home of Alexander Hamilton, and the burial place +of the greatest soldier of the Civil War. + + * * * + + Woodman, spare that tree! + Touch not a single bough! + In youth it sheltered me, + And I will protect it now. + + _George P. Morris._ + + * * * + +=One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Street to Yonkers.= + +This upper landing of the Hudson River Day Line has a beautiful +location and is a great convenience to the dwellers of northern +Manhattan. On leaving the pier the steel-arched structure of +Riverside Drive is seen on the right. The valley here spanned, in the +neighborhood of 127th Street, was once known as "Marritje Davids' +Fly," and the local name for this part of New York above Claremont +Heights is still known as "Manhattanville." The Convent of the Sacred +Heart is visible among the trees, and + +=Trinity Cemetery's Monuments= soon gleam along the wooded bank. Among +her distinguished dead is the grave of General John A. Dix whose words +rang across the land sixty days before the attack on Fort Sumter: +"If any man attempts to pull down the American flag shoot him on the +spot." The John A. Dix Post of New York comes hither each Decoration +Day and garlands with imposing ceremonies his grave and the graves of +their comrades. + +Near Carmansville was the home of Audubon, the ornithologist, and the +residences above the cemetery are grouped together as Audubon Park. +Near at hand is the New York Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, and +pleasantly located near the shore the River House once known as +West-End Hotel. + +=Washington Heights= rise in a bold bluff above Jeffrey's Hook. After +the withdrawal of the American army from Long Island, it became +apparent to General Washington and Hamilton that New York would have +to be abandoned. General Greene and Congress believed in maintaining +the fort, but future developments showed that Washington was right. +The American troops, so far as clothing or equipment was concerned, +were in a pitiable condition, and the result of the struggle makes one +of the darkest pages of the war. On the 12th of November Washington +started from Stony Point for Fort Lee and arrived the 13th, finding +to his disappointment that General Greene, instead of having made +arrangements for evacuating, was, on the contrary, reinforcing Fort +Washington. The entire defense numbered only about 2000 men, mostly +militia, with hardly a coat, to quote an English writer, "that was not +out at the elbows." "On the night of the 14th thirty flat-bottomed +boats stole quietly up the Hudson, passed the American forts +undiscovered, and made their way through Spuyten Duyvil Creek into +Harlem River. The means were thus provided for crossing that river, +and landing before unprotected parts of the American works." + + * * * + + Faith's pioneers and Freedom's martyrs sleep + Beneath their shade: and under their old boughs + The wise and brave of generations past + Walked every Sabbath to the house of God. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +According to Irving, "On the 15th General Howe sent a summons to +surrender, with a threat of extremities should he have to carry the +place by assault." Magaw, in his reply, intimated a doubt that General +Howe would execute a threat "so unworthy of himself and the British +nation; but give me leave," added he, "to assure his Excellency, that, +actuated by the most glorious cause that mankind ever fought in, I am +determined to defend this post to the very last extremity." + +"Apprised by the colonel of his peril, General Greene sent over +reinforcements, with an exhortation to him to persist in his +defense; and dispatched an express to General Washington, who was at +Hackensack, where the troops from Peekskill were encamped. It was +nightfall when Washington arrived at Fort Lee. Greene and Putnam were +over at the besieged fortress. He threw himself into a boat, and had +partly crossed the river, when he met those Generals returning. They +informed him of the garrison having been reinforced, and assured him +that it was in high spirits, and capable of making a good defense. It +was with difficulty, however, they could prevail on him to return with +them to the Jersey shore, for he was excessively excited." + + * * * + + Hark! Freedom's arms ring far and wide; + Again these forts with beacons gleam; + Loud cannon roar on every side-- + I start, I wake; I did but dream. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +"Early the next morning, Magaw made his dispositions for the expected +attack. His forces, with the recent addition, amounted to nearly three +thousand men. As the fort could not contain above a third of its +defenders, most of them were stationed about the outworks." + +About noon, a heavy cannonade thundered along the rocky hills, and +sharp volleys of musketry, proclaimed that the action was commenced. + +"Washington, surrounded by several of his officers, had been an +anxious spectator of the battle from the opposite side of the Hudson. +Much of it was hidden from him by intervening hills and forest; but +the roar of cannonry from the valley of the Harlem River, the sharp +and incessant reports of rifles, and the smoke rising above the +tree-tops, told him of the spirit with which the assault was received +at various points, and gave him for a time hope that the defense might +be successful. The action about the lines to the south lay open to +him, and could be distinctly seen through a telescope; and nothing +encouraged him more than the gallant style in which Cadwalader with +inferior force maintained his position. When he saw him however, +assailed in flank, the line broken, and his troops, overpowered by +numbers, retreating to the fort, he gave up the game as lost. The +worst sight of all, was to behold his men cut down and bayoneted by +the Hessians while begging quarter. It is said so completely to have +overcome him, that he wept with the tenderness of a child." + +"Seeing the flag go into the fort from Knyphausen's division, and +surmising it to be a summons to surrender, he wrote a note to Magaw, +telling him if he could hold out until evening and the place could +not be maintained, he would endeavor to bring off the garrison in the +night. Capt. Gooch, of Boston, a brave and daring man, offered to be +the bearer of the note. He ran down to the river, jumped into a small +boat, pushed over the river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort +and delivered the message, came out, ran and jumped over the broken +ground, dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck at him with their +pieces and others attempted to thrust him with their bayonets; +escaping through them, he got to his boat and returned to Fort Lee." + + * * * + + Up and down the valley of the Hudson the contending + armies surged like the ebbing and flowing of the tides. + + _William Wait._ + + * * * + +Washington's message arrived too late. "The fort was so crowded by +the garrison and the troops which had retreated into it, that it was +difficult to move about. The enemy, too, were in possession of the +little redoubts around, and could have poured in showers of shells and +ricochet balls that would have made dreadful slaughter." It was no +longer possible for Magaw to get his troops to man the lines; he was +compelled, therefore, to yield himself and his garrison prisoners of +war. The only terms granted them were, that the men should retain +their baggage and the officers their swords. + +=Fort Lee=, directly across the river, had a commanding position, but +was entirely useless to the Revolutionary army after the fall of Fort +Washington. It was therefore immediately abandoned to the British, as +was also Fort Constitution, another redoubt near at hand. + +It will be remembered that the American army after long continued +disaster in and about New York, retreated southward from Fort Lee and +Hackensack to the Delaware, where Washington with a strategic stroke +brought dismay on his enemies and restored confidence to his friends +and the Patriots' Cause. + +=The Palisades, or Great Chip Rock=, as they were known by the old +Dutch settlers, present the same bold front to the river that the +Giant's Causeway does to the ocean. Their height at Fort Lee, where +the bold cliffs first assert themselves, is three hundred feet, and +they extend about seventeen or eighteen miles to the hills of Rockland +County. A stroll along the summit reveals the fact that they are +almost as broken and fantastic in form as the great rocks along the +Elbe in Saxon-Switzerland. + + * * * + + The Palisades in sterner pride + Tower as the gloom steals o'er the tide, + For the great stream a bulwark meet + That laves its rock-encumbered feet. + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +As the basaltic trap-rock is one of the oldest geological formations, +we might still appropriately style the Palisades "a chip of the old +block." They separate the valley of the Hudson from the valley of the +Hackensack. The Hackensack rises in Rockland Lake opposite Sing Sing, +within two or three hundred yards of the Hudson, and the rivers flow +thirty miles side by side. Some geologists think that originally they +were one river, but they are now separated from each other by a wall +more substantial than even the 2,000 mile structure of the "Heathen +Chinee." + +It might also be interesting to note Prof. Newberry's idea that in +pre-glacial times this part of the continent was several hundred feet +higher than at present, and that the Hudson was a very rapid stream +and much larger than now, draining as it did the Great Lakes: that the +St. Lawrence found its way through the Hudson Channel following pretty +nearly the line of the present Mohawk, and the great river emptied +into the Atlantic some 80 miles south of Staten Island. This idea is +confirmed by the soundings of the coast survey which discover the +ancient page of the Hudson as here indicated on the floor of the sea +far out where the ocean is 500 feet in depth. A speculation of what a +voyager a few million years ago would have then seen might, however, +as Hamlet observes, be "to consider somewhat too curiously" for +ordinary up-to-date tourists. But even, granting all this to be true, +the Palisades were already old, thrown up long ages before, between +a rift in the earth's surface, where it cooled in columnar form. +The rocky mould which held it, being of softer material, finally +disintegrated and crumbled away, leaving the cliff with its peculiar +perpendicular formation. + +A recent writer has said: "The Palisades are among the wonders of the +world. Only three other places equal them in importance, but each of +the four is different from the others, and the Palisades are unique. +The Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland, and the cliffs at +Kawaddy in India, are thought by many to have been the result of the +same upheaval of nature as the Palisades; but the Hudson rocks seem +to have preserved their entirety--to have come up in a body, as it +were--while the Giant's Causeway owes its celebrity to the ruined +state in which the Titanic forces of nature have left it. The third +wonder is at Staffa, in Scotland, where the rocks have been thrown +into such a position as to justify the name of Fingal's Cave, which +they bear, and which was bestowed on them in the olden times before +Scottish history began to be written. It is singular how many of the +names which dignify, or designate, favorite spots of the Giant's +Causeway have been duplicated in the Palisades. Among the Hudson rocks +are several 'Lady's Chairs,' 'Lover's Leaps,' 'Devil's Toothpicks,' +'Devil's Pulpits,' and, in many spots on the water's edge, especially +those most openly exposed to the weather, we see exactly the same +conformations which excite admiration and wonder in the Irish rocks." + + * * * + + Where the mighty cliffs look upward in their glory and their glow + I see a wondrous river in its beauty southward flow. + + _Thomas C. Harbaugh._ + + * * * + +Under the base of these cliffs William Cullen Bryant one Sabbath +morning wrote his beautiful lines: + + "Cool shades and dews are round my way, + And silence of the early day; + Mid the dark rocks that watch his bed, + Glitters the mighty Hudson spread, + Unrippled, save by drops that fall + From shrubs that fringe his mountain wall; + And o'er the clear, still water swells + The music of the Sabbath bells. + + All, save this little nook of land, + Circled with trees, on which I stand; + All, save that line of hills which lie + Suspended in the mimic sky-- + Seems a blue void, above, below, + Through which the white clouds come and go; + And from the green world's farthest steep + I gaze into the airy deep." + + * * * + + A mellow sunset was settling upon the hills and + waters and a thousand flashes played over the distant + city as its spires and prominent objects caught its glow. + + _N. P. Willis._ + + * * * + +There are many strange stories connected with the Palisades, and +one narrator says: "remarkable disappearances have occurred in the +vicinity that have never been explained. On a conical-shaped rock near +Clinton Point a young man and a young woman were seen standing some +half a century ago. Several of their friends, who were back some +thirty feet from the face of the cliff, saw them distinctly, and +called out to them not to approach too near the edge. The young couple +laughingly sent some answer back, and a moment later vanished as by +magic. Their friends rushed to the edge of the cliff but saw no trace +of them. They noticed at once that the tide was out, and at the base +three or four boatmen were sauntering about as though nothing had +happened (forgetting even, as Bryant did, that a vertical line from +the top of the cliff on account of the crumbling debris of ages makes +it impossible for even the strongest arm to hurl a stone from the +summit to the margin of the river). A diligent search was instituted. +Friends and boatmen joined in the search, but from that day to this +they have never been heard from, no trace of them has been found, and +the mystery of their disappearance is as complete now as it was five +minutes after they vanished--a more tragical termination than the +story of the old pilot on a Lake George steamer, who, surrounded one +morning by a group of tourist-questioners, pointed to Roger Slide +Mountain, and said: "A couple went up there and never came back +again." "What do you suppose, captain," said a fair-haired, anxious +listener, "ever became of them?" "Can't tell," said the captain, "some +folks said they went down on the other side."" + +The old Palisade Mountain House, a few miles above Fort Lee, had +a commanding location, but was burned in 1884 and never rebuilt. +Pleasant villas are here and there springing up along this rocky +balcony of the lower Hudson, and probably the entire summit will some +day abound in castles and luxuriant homes. It is in fact within the +limit of possibility that this may in the future present the finest +residential street in the world, with a natural macadamized boulevard +midway between the Hudson and the sky. + + * * * + + What love yon cliffs and steeps could tell + If vocal made by Fancy's spell! + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +It grieves one to see the gray rocks torn away for building material, +but, as fast as man destroys, nature kindly heals the wound; or to +keep the Palisade figure more complete, she recaptures the scarred and +broken battlements, unfolding along the steep escarpment her waving +standards of green. It sometimes seems as if one can almost see her +selecting the easiest point of attack, marshalling her forces, running +her parallels with Boadicea-like skill, and carrying her streaming +banners, more real than Macbeth's "Birnam-Wood" to crowning rampart +and lofty parapet. + +The New York side from the Battery to Inwood, the northern end of +Manhattan Island, is already "well peopled." Until recently the land +about Fort Washington has been held in considerable tracts and +the very names of these suburban points suggest altitude and +outlook--Highbridgeville, Fordham Heights, Morris Heights, University +Heights, Kingsbridge Heights, Mount Hope, &c. The growth of the city +all the way to Jerome and Van Cortlandt's Park during the last few +years has been marvelous. It has literally stepped over the Harlem to +find room in the picturesque county of Westchester. + +=The Island of Manhattan.=--As we approach the northern limit of +Manhattan we feel that in the preservation of the beautiful name +"Manhattan," distinctive of New York's chief borough, Irving's dream +has been happily realized. The meaning of this Indian word has been +the subject of much discussion. It is, however, simply the name of a +tribe. As the old historian De Laet says, "On the east side, on the +main land dwell the Manhattoes," and again from the "Documentary +History of New York." "It is so called from the people which inhabited +the main land on the east side of the river." + + * * * + + Pleasant it is to lie amid the grass, + Under these shady locusts half the day, + Watching the ships reflected in the Bay, + Topmast and shroud, as in a wizard's glass. + + _Thomas Bailey Aldrich._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: INDIAN HEAD, PALISADES] + +The word Manhattan signifies also it is said: "The People of the +Islands," and it was evidently used by the Indians as a generic term +designating the inhabitants of the island itself, and also of Long +Island and the Neversink. This is in accordance with the testimony of +Van der Donck. With Irving we all recognize the music and poetry +of the name and are proud that our river of beauty is so happily +heralded. + +=Spuyten Duyvil Creek.=--Above Washington Heights, on the east bank, +the _Spuyten Duyvil_ meets the Hudson. This stream is the northern +boundary of New York Island, and a short distance east of the Hudson +bears the name of Harlem River. Its course is southeast and joins the +East River at Randall's Island, just above Hell Gate. It is a curious +fact that this modest stream should be bounded by such suggestive +appellations as Hell Gate and Spuyten Duyvil. This is the first point +of special legendary interest to one journeying up the Hudson and it +takes its name according to the veracious Knickerbocker, from the +following incident: It seems that the famous Antony Van Corlear was +despatched one evening with an important message up the Hudson. When +he arrived at this creek the wind was high, the elements were in an +uproar, and no boatman at hand. "For a short time," it is said, "he +vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethinking +himself of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his +stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across _en +spijt en Duyvil_ (in spite of the Devil), and daringly plunged into +the stream. Scarce had he buffeted half way over when he was observed +to struggle violently, as if battling with the spirit of the waters. +Instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement +blast--sank forever to the bottom." + + * * * + + O legends full of life and health, + That live when records fail and die, + Ye are the Hudson's richest wealth, + The frondage of her history! + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +The main branch of the Hudson River Railroad, with its station at +Forty-second Street and Fourth Avenue, crosses the Harlem River at +Mott Haven, and, following its northern bank, meets the Hudson at this +point, where the 30th Street branch, following the river, joins the +main line. The steamer now passes Riverdale, with its beautiful +residences and the Convent of Mount St. Vincent, one of the prominent +landmarks of the Hudson, located on grounds bought of Edwin Forrest, +the tragedian, whose "Font Hill Castle" appears in the foreground, and +we come to + +=Yonkers=, on the east bank, seventeen miles from New York, at the +mouth of the Nepperhan. West of the creek is a large rock, called +A-mac-lea-sin, the great stone to which the Indians paid reverence as +an evidence of the permanency and immutability of their deity. The +Mahican Village at the mouth of the creek was called Nappechemak. +European settlements were made as early as 1639, as shown by deeds of +purchase. Here are many important manufacturing industries: carpet, +silk, and hat factories; mowers and reapers, gutta percha, rubber and +pencil companies. Its "Recreation Pavilion" on the pier was a noble +thing for the city to build--costing $50,000. The structure is of +steel and capable of accommodating 5,000 people. + +It is said that Yonkers derived its name from Yonk-herr--the young +heir, or young sir, of the Phillipse manor. Until after the middle +of the seventeenth century the Phillipse family had their principal +residence at Castle Phillipse, Sleepy Hollow, but having purchased +"property to the southward" from Adrian Van der Donck and obtained +from the English king a patent creating the manor of Phillipsburgh, +they moved from their old castle to the new "Manor Hall," which at +this time was probably the finest mansion on the Hudson. This property +was confiscated by act of Legislature in 1779, as Frederick Phillipse, +third lord of the manor, was thought to lean toward royalty, and +sold by the "Commissioners of Forfeiture" in 1785. It was afterwards +purchased by John Jacob Astor, then passed to the Government, was +bought by the village of Yonkers in 1868, and became the City Hall in +1872. The older portion of the house was built in 1682, the present +front in 1745. The woodwork is very interesting, also the ceilings, +the large hall and the wide fire-place. In the room still pointed out +as Washington's, the fire-place retains the old tiles, "illustrating +familiar passages in Bible history," fifty on each side, looking as +clear as if they were made but yesterday. + + * * * + + Once more I walk in the dark old street + Wearily to and fro:-- + But I sit no more on the desolate pier + Watching the river flow. + + _Richard Henry Stoddard._ + + * * * + +Mary Phillipse, belle of the neighborhood, and known in tradition as +Washington's first love, was born in the "Manor House" July 3, 1730. +Washington first met her on a visit to New York in 1756, after his +return from Braddock's campaign, as guest of Beverly Robinson, who had +married her elder sister. + +It has been claimed by some writers that he proposed and was rejected, +but it is doubtful whether he ever was serious in his attentions. +At least there is no evidence that he ever "told his love," and she +finally married Col. Roger Morris, one of Washington's associates on +Braddock's staff. The best part of residential Yonkers lies to the +northward, beautifully embowered in trees as seen from the Hudson. A +line of electric street cars run north along Warburton Avenue. The +street known as Broadway, is a continuation of Broadway, New York. +Many of the river towns still keep this name, probably prophetic as a +part of the great Broadway which may extend some day from the Battery +to Peekskill. + +Almost opposite Yonkers a ravine or sort of step-ladder cleft, now +known as Alpine Gorge, reaches up the precipitous sides of the +Palisades. The landing here was formerly called Closter's, from which +a road zigzags to the top of the cliff and thence to Closter Village. +Here Lord Grey disembarked in October, 1778, and crossed to Hackensack +Valley, "surprising and massacring Col. Bayler's patriots, despite +their surrender and calls for mercy." + +Indian Head (510 feet) about two miles north of Alpine Gorge, is the +highest point of the Palisades. + + * * * + + Eve o'er our path is stealing fast; + Yon quivering splendors are the last; + His latest glories fringe the height + Behind us with their golden light. + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +=Yonkers to West Point= + +Passing Glenwood, now a suburban station of Yonkers, conspicuous from +the Colgate mansion near the river bank, built by a descendant of +the English Colgates who were familiar friends of William Pitt, and +leaders of the Liberal Club in Kent, England, and "Greystone," once +the country residence of the late Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of New +York, and presidential candidate in 1876, we come to + +=Hastings=, where a party of Hessians during the Revolutionary +struggle were surprised and cut to pieces by troops under Colonel +Sheldon. It was here also that Lord Cornwallis embarked for Fort Lee +after the capture of Fort Washington, and here in 1850 Garibaldi, +the liberator of Italy, whose centennial was observed July 4, 1907, +frequently came to spend the Sabbath and visit friends when he was +living at Staten Island. Although there is apparently little to +interest in the village, there are many beautiful residences in the +immediate neighborhood, and the Old Post road for two miles to the +northward furnishes a beautiful walk or driveway, well shaded by old +locust trees. The tract of country from Spuyten Duyvil to Hastings was +called by the Indians Kekesick and reached east as far as the Bronx +River. + +=Dobbs Ferry= is now at hand, named after an old Swedish ferryman. The +village has not only a delightful location but it is also beautiful in +itself. In 1781 it was Washington's headquarters, and the old house, +still standing, is famous as the spot where General Washington and the +Count de Rochambeau planned the campaign against Yorktown; where the +evacuation of New York was arranged by General Clinton and Sir Guy +Carleton the British commander, and where the first salute to the flag +of the United States was fired by a British man-of-war. A deep glen, +known as Paramus, opposite Dobbs Ferry, leads to Tappan and New +Jersey. Cornwallis landed here in 1776. It is now known as Snedden's +Landing. + + * * * + + A lovely country for a summer encampment, breezy + hills commanding wide prospects, shady valleys watered + by bright pastoral streams, the Bronx, the Spraine and + the Neperan. + + _Washington Irving._ + + * * * + +At Dobbs Ferry, June 14, 1894, the base-stone of a memorial shaft was +laid with imposing ceremony by the New York State Society of the Sons +of the American Revolution, which erected the monument. There were one +thousand Grand Army veterans in line, and addresses by distinguished +orators and visitors. The Society and its guests, including members +of the cabinet, officers of the army and navy, and prominent men of +various States, accompanied by full Marine Band of the navy yard, with +a detachment of Naval Reserves, participated in the event. + +Voyagers up the river that day saw the "Miantonomoh" and the +"Lancaster," under the command of Rear-Admiral Gherardi, anchored +mid-stream to take part in the exercises. During the Revolution this +historic house was leased by a Dutch farmer holding under Frederick +Phillipse as landlord. After the war it was purchased by Peter +Livingston and known since as the Livingston House. Arnold and Andre +were to have met here but providentially for the American cause, the +meeting took place at Haverstraw. + +The Indian name of Dobbs Ferry was Wecquaskeck, and it is said by +Ruttenber that the outlines of the old Indian village can still be +traced by numerous shell-beds. It was located at the mouth of Wicker's +Creek which was called by the Indians Wysquaqua. + +=Tappan Zee.=--The steamer is now entering Irving's rich domain, and +Tappan Zee lapping the threshold of "Sunnyside," seems almost a part +of his very dooryard. The river, which has averaged about a mile in +breadth, begins to gradually widen at Hastings, and almost seems like +a gentle, reposeful lake. + +=Piermont=, whose "mile-long-pier," built many years ago by the Erie +Railroad, hardly mars the landscape so great is the majesty of the +river, is seen on the west bank with Tower Hill rising above it from +which four states are seen. The view includes Long Island, the Sound +and the Orange Mountains on the south, with the Catskills to the north +and Berkshires to the northeast. Louis Gaylord Clark, a friend of +Irving, and an early literary associate had a cottage on Piermont +Hills. + + * * * + + We have a charming position for our French encampment + along the Hudson among rocks and under magnificent tulip trees. + + _Count Dumas._ + + * * * + +Turning to the eastern shore, we see "Nuits," the Cottinet residence, +Italian in style, built of Caen stone, "Nevis," home of the late Col. +James Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, the George L. Schuyler +mansion, the late Cyrus W. Field's, and many pleasant places about +Abbotsford, and come to + +=Irvington=, on the east bank, 24 miles from New York, once known as +Dearman's, but changed in compliment to the great writer and lover of +the Hudson, who after a long sojourn in foreign lands, returned to +live by the tranquil waters of Tappan Zee. In a letter to his brother +he refers to Sleepy Hollow as the favorite resort of his boyhood, and +says: "The Hudson is in a manner my first and last love, and after +all my wanderings and seeming infidelities, I return to it with +a heartfelt preference over all the rivers of the world." As at +Stratford-on-Avon every flower is redolent of Shakespeare, and at +Melrose every stone speaks of Walter Scott, so here on every breeze +floats the spirit of Washington Irving. A short walk of half a mile +north from the station brings us to his much-loved + +="Sunnyside."= Irving aptly describes it in one of his stories as +"made up of gable-ends, and full of angles and corners as an old +cocked hat. It is said, in fact, to have been modeled after the hat of +Peter the Headstrong, as the Escurial of Spain was fashioned after the +gridiron of the blessed St. Lawrence." Wolfert's Roost, as it was once +styled (Roost signifying Rest), took its name from Wolfert Acker, a +former owner. It consisted originally of ten acres when purchased by +Irving in 1835, but eight acres were afterwards added. With great +humor Irving put above the porch entrance "George Harvey, Boum'r," +Boumeister being an old Dutch word for architect. A storm-worn +weather-cock, "which once battled with the wind on the top of the +Stadt House of New Amsterdam in the time of Peter Stuyvesant, erects +his crest on the gable, and a gilded horse in full gallop, once the +weather-cock of the great Van der Heyden palace of Albany, glitters in +the sunshine, veering with every breeze, on the peaked turret over the +portal." + + * * * + + Irving chose his residence in the valley, not amid + the mountains; by the fields and meadows of the broad + Tappan Zee, rather than the Highlands; in a congenial + region suited to his temperament. + + _Dr. Bethune._ + + * * * + +About fifty years ago a cutting of Walter Scott's favorite ivy at +Melrose Abbey was transported across the Atlantic, and trained over +the porch of "Sunnyside," by the hand of Mrs. Renwick, daughter of +Rev. Andrew Jeffrey of Lochmaben, known in girlhood as the "Bonnie +Jessie" of Annandale, or the "Blue-eyed Lassie" of Robert Burns:--a +graceful tribute, from the shrine of Waverley to the nest of +Knickerbocker: + + A token of friendship immortal + With Washington Irving returns:-- + Scott's ivy entwined o'er his portal + By the Blue-eyed Lassie of Burns. + +Scott's cordial greeting at Abbotsford, and his persistence in getting +Murray to reconsider the publication of the "Sketch Book," which he +had previously declined, were never forgotten by Irving. It was during +a critical period of his literary career, and the kindness of the +Great Magician, in directing early attention to his genius, is still +cherished by every reader of the "Sketch Book" from Manhattan to +San Francisco. The hearty grasp of the Minstrel at the gateway of +Abbotsford was in reality a warm handshake to a wider brotherhood +beyond the sea. + + * * * + + In purple tints woven together + The Hudson shakes hands with the Tweed, + Commingling with Abbotsford's heather + The clover of Sunnyside's mead. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Washington Irving.=--While he was building "Sunnyside," a letter came +from Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, appointing him minister +to Spain. It was unexpected and unsolicited, and Webster remarked that +day to a friend: "Washington Irving to-day will be the most surprised +man in America." Irving had already shown diplomatic ability in London +in promoting the settlement of the "North Western Boundary," and his +appointment was received with universal favor. Then as now Sunnyside +was already a Mecca for travelers, and, among many well-known to fame, +was a young man, afterwards Napoleon the Third. Referring to his +visit, Irving wrote in 1853: "Napoleon and Eugenie, Emperor and +Empress! The one I have had as a guest at my cottage, the other I have +held as a pet child upon my knee in Granada. The last I saw of Eugenie +Montijo, she was one of the reigning belles of Madrid; now, she is +upon the throne, launched from a returnless shore, upon a dangerous +sea, infamous for its tremendous shipwrecks. Am I to live to see the +catastrophe of her career, and the end of this suddenly conjured up +empire, which seems to be of such stuff as dreams are made of? +I confess my personal acquaintance with the individuals in this +historical romance gives me uncommon interest in it; but I consider +it stamped with danger and instability, and as liable to extravagant +vicissitudes as one of Dumas' novels." A wonderful prophecy completely +fulfilled in the short space of seventeen years. + + * * * + + How many such men as Washington Irving are there + in America. God don't send many such spirits into this + world. + + _Lord Byron._ + + * * * + +The aggregate sale of Irving's works when he received his portfolio +to Spain was already more than half a million copies, with an equal +popularity achieved in Britain. No writer was ever more truly loved +on both sides of the Atlantic, and his name is cherished to-day in +England as fondly as it is in our own country. It has been the good +fortune of the writer to spend many a delightful day in the very +centre of Merrie England, in the quiet town of Stratford-on-Avon, +and feel the gentle companionship of Irving. Of all writers who have +brought to Stratford their heart homage Irving stands the acknowledged +chief. The sitting-room in the "Red Horse Hotel," where he was +disturbed in his midnight reverie, is still called Irving's room, and +the walls are hung with portraits taken at different periods of his +life. Mine host said that visitors from every land were as much +interested in this room as in Shakespeare's birth-place. The remark +may have been intensified to flatter an American visitor, but there +are few names dearer to the Anglo-Saxon race than that on the plain +headstone in the burial-yard of Sleepy Hollow. Sunnyside is scarcely +visible to the Day Line tourist. A little gleam of color here +and there amid the trees, close to the river bank, near a small +boat-house, merely indicates its location; and the traveler by train +has only a hurried glimpse, as it is within one hundred feet of the +New York Central Railroad. Tappan Zee, at this point, is a little more +than two miles wide and over the beautiful expanse Irving has thrown +a wondrous charm. There is, in fact, "magic in the web" of all his +works. A few modern critics, lacking appreciation alike for humor and +genius, may regard his essays as a thing of the past, but as long as +the Mahicanituk, the ever-flowing Hudson, pours its waters to the +sea, as long as Rip Van Winkle sleeps in the blue Catskills, or the +"Headless Horseman" rides at midnight along the Old Post Road _en +route_ for Teller's Point, so long will the writings of Washington +Irving be remembered and cherished. We somehow feel the reality of +every legend he has given us. The spring bubbling up near his cottage +was brought over, as he gravely tells us, in a churn from Holland by +one of the old time settlers, and we are half inclined to believe it; +and no one ever thinks of doubting that the "Flying Dutchman," Mynheer +Van Dam, has been rowing for two hundred years and never made a port. +It is in fact still said by the old inhabitants, that often in the +soft twilight of summer evenings, when the sea is like glass and the +opposite hills throw their shadows across it, that the low vigorous +pull of oars is heard but no boat is seen. + +[Illustration: NORTHERN POINT OF PALISADES] + + * * * + + Here was no castle in the air, but a realized day-dream. + Irving was there, as genial, humorous and imaginative + as if he had never wandered from the primal + haunts of his childhood and his fame. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +According to Irving "Sunnyside" was once the property of old Baltus +Van Tassel, and here lived the fair Katrina, beloved by all the youths +of the neighborhood, but more especially by Ichabod Crane, the country +school-master, and a reckless youth by the name of Van Brunt. Irving +tells us that he thought out the story one morning on London Bridge, +and went home and completed it in thirty-six hours. The character of +Ichabod Crane was a sketch of a young man whom he met at Kinderhook +when writing his Knickerbocker history. It will be remembered that +Ichabod Crane went to a quilting-bee at the home of Mynheer Van +Tassel, and, after the repast, was regaled with various ghost stories +peculiar to the locality. When the "party" was over he lingered for +a time with the fair Katrina, but sallied out soon after with an air +quite desolate and chop-fallen. The night grew darker and darker. He +had never before felt so lonesome and miserable. As he passed the +fatal tree where Arnold was captured, there started up before him the +identical "Headless Horseman" to whom he had been introduced by the +story of Brom Bones. Nay, not entirely headless; for the head which +"should have rested upon his shoulders was carried before him on the +pommel of the saddle. His terror rose to desperation. He rode for +death and life. The strange horseman sped beside him at an equal pace. +He fell into a walk. The strange horseman did the same. He endeavored +to sing a psalm-tune, but his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. +If he could but reach the bridge Ichabod thought he would be safe. +Away then he flew in rapid flight. He reached the bridge, he thundered +over the resounding planks. Then he saw the goblin rising in his +stirrups, and in the very act of launching his head at him. It +encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash. He was tumbled +headlong into the dirt, and the black steed and the spectral rider +passed by like a whirlwind. The next day tracks of horses deeply +dented in the road were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the +bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, +was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a +shattered pumpkin." All honor to him who fills this working-day world +with humor, romance and beauty! + + * * * + + I beg you will have the kindness to let me know when + Mr. Irving takes pen in hand again; for assuredly I + shall expect a very great treat which I may chance never + to hear of but through your kindness. + + _Walter Scott._ + + * * * + + I want to visit Washington Irving, I want to see your + stupendous scenery, I want to go to the grave of + Washington. + + _Lord Byron._ + + * * * + +=Lyndehurst=, Helen M. Gould's residence. A short distance north of +"Sunnyside" is the home of Helen M. Gould, whose modest and liberal +use of wealth in noble charities has endeared her to every American +heart. The place was first known as the Paulding Manor House, where +William Paulding, early mayor of New York, and nephew of one of the +captors of Andre had his country home. It is a beautiful specimen of +old time English architecture, with a suggestion, as some writers have +noted, of Newstead Abbey. This part of the Hudson is particularly rich +in beautiful residences, rising tier upon tier from the river to the +horizon. Albert Bierstadt, the artist, had here a beautiful home, +unfortunately burned many years ago. + +=The Old Post Road= from New York to Albany is in many particulars the +richest and greatest highway of our country. + +=Tappan.=--Almost opposite Irvington about two miles southwest of +Piermont, is old Tappantown, where Major Andre was executed October +2, 1780. The removal of his body from Tappan to Westminster was by a +special British ship, and a singular incident was connected with it. +The roots of a cypress tree were found entwined about his skull and a +scion from the tree was carried to England and planted in the garden +adjoining Windsor Palace. It is a still more curious fact that the +tree beneath which Andre was captured was struck by lightning on the +day of Benedict Arnold's death in London. Further reference will be +made to Andre in our description of Tarrytown, and also of Haverstraw, +where Arnold and Andre met at the house of Joshua Hett Smith. + +=Tarrytown=, 26 miles from New York. It was here on the Old Post Road, +now called Broadway, a little north of the village, that Andre was +captured and Arnold's treachery exposed. A monument erected on the +spot by the people of Westchester County, October 7, 1853, bears the +inscription: + +ON THIS SPOT, THE 23D DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1780, THE SPY, + MAJOR JOHN ANDRE, + Adjutant-General of the British Army, was captured by + JOHN PAULDING, DAVID WILLIAMS, AND ISAAC VAN WART. + ALL NATIVES OF THIS COUNTY. + History has told the rest. + +The following quaint ballad-verses on the young hero give a realistic +touch to one of the most providential occurrences in our history: + + He with a scouting party + Went down to Tarrytown, + Where he met a British officer, + A man of high renown, + Who says unto these gentlemen, + "You're of the British cheer, + I trust that you can tell me + If there's any danger near?" + + Then up stept this young hero, + John Paulding was his name, + "Sir, tell us where you're going + And also whence you came?" + "I bear the British flag, sir; + I've a pass to go this way, + I'm on an expedition, + And have no time to stay." + +Young Paulding, however, thought that he had plenty of time to linger +until he examined his boots, wherein he found the papers, and, when +offered ten guineas by Andre, if he would allow him to pursue his +journey, replied: "If it were ten thousand guineas you could not stir +one step." + +The centennial anniversary of the event was commemorated in 1880 by +placing, through the generosity of John Anderson, on the original +obelisk of 1853, a large statue representing John Paulding as a minute +man. + + * * * + + That overruling Providence which has so often and so + remarkably interposed in our favor, never manifested + itself more conspicuously than in the timely discovery + of Arnold's treachery. + + _George Washington._ + + * * * + +Tarrytown was the very heart of the debatable ground of the Revolution +and many striking incidents mark its early history. In 1777 Vaughan's +troops landed here on their way to attack Fort Montgomery, and here a +party of Americans, under Major Hunt, surprised a number of British +refugees while playing cards at the Van Tassel tavern. The major +completely "turned the cards" upon them by rushing in with brandished +stick, which he brought down with emphasis upon the table, remarking +with genuine American brevity, "Gentlemen, clubs are trumps." Here, +too, according to Irving, arose the two great orders of chivalry, the +"Cow Boys" and "Skinners." The former fought, or rather marauded under +the American, the latter under the British banner; the former were +known as "Highlanders," the latter as the "Lower-Party." In the zeal +of service both were apt to make blunders, and confound the property +of friend and foe. "Neither of them, in the heat and hurry of a foray, +had time to ascertain the politics of a horse or cow which they were +driving off into captivity, nor when they wrung the neck of a rooster +did they trouble their heads whether he crowed for Congress or King +George." + +It was also a genial, reposeful country for the faithful historian, +Diedrich Knickerbocker; and here he picked up many of those legends +which were given by him to the world. One of these was the legend +connected with the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. "A drowsy, +dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very +atmosphere. Some say the place was bewitched by a high German doctor +during the early days of the settlement; others that an old Indian +chief, the wizard of his tribe, held his pow-wows there before +Hendrick Hudson's discovery of the river. The dominant spirit, +however, that haunts this enchanted region, is the apparition of +a figure on horse-back, without a head, said to be the ghost of a +Hessian trooper, and was known at all the country firesides as the +'Headless horseman' of Sleepy Hollow." + + * * * + + O waters of Pocantico! + Wild rivulet of wood and glen! + May thy glad laughter, sweet and low, + Long, long outlive the sighs of men. + + _S. H. Thayer._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: SLEEPY HOLLOW CHURCH.] + +=Sleepy Hollow.=--The Old Dutch Church, the oldest on the Hudson, is +about one-half mile north from Tarrytown. + +It was built by "Frederick Filipse and his wife Katrina Van Cortland +in 1690." The material is partly of stone and partly of brick brought +from Holland. It stands as an appropriate sentinel near the entrance +to the burial-yard where Irving sleeps. After entering the gate our +way leads past the graves of the Ackers, the Van Tassels, and the Van +Warts, with inscriptions and plump Dutch cherubs on every side +that often delighted the heart of Diedrich Knickerbocker. How many +worshippers since that November day in 1859, have come hither with +reverent footsteps to read on the plain slab this simple inscription: +"Washington Irving, born April 3, 1783. Died November 28, 1859," and +recall Longfellow's beautiful lines: + + "Here lies the gentle humorist, who died + In the bright Indian Summer of his fame. + A simple stone, with but a date and name, + Marks his secluded resting place beside + The river that he loved and glorified. + Here in the Autumn of his days he came, + But the dry leaves of life were all aflame + With tints that brightened and were multiplied. + How sweet a life was his, how sweet a death; + Living to wing with mirth the weary hours, + Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer; + Dying to leave a memory like the breath + Of Summers full of sunshine and of showers, + A grief and gladness in the atmosphere." + + * * * + + If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might + steal from the world and its distractions, and dream + quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of + none more promising than this little valley. + + _Washington Irving._ + + * * * + +Sleepy Hollow Church, like Sunnyside, is hidden away from the steamer +tourist by summer foliage. Just before reaching Kingston Point +light-house, a view, looking northeast up the little bay to the right, +will sometimes give the outline of the building. Beyond this a tall +granite shaft, erected by the Delavan family, is generally quite +distinctly seen, and this is near the grave of Irving. A light-house, +built in 1883, marks the point where the Pocantico or Sleepy Hollow +Creek joins the Hudson: + + Pocantico's hushed waters glide + Through Sleepy Hollow's haunted ground, + And whisper to the listening tide + The name carved o'er one lowly mound. + +To one loving our early history and legends there is no spot more +central or delightful than Tarrytown. Irving humorously says that +Tarrytown took its name from husbands tarrying too late at the village +tavern, but its real derivation is Tarwen-Dorp, or Wheat-town. The +name of the old Indian village at this point was Alipconck (the place +of elms). It has often occurred to the writer that, more than any +other river, the Hudson has a distinct personality, and also that +the four main divisions of human life are particularly marked in the +Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Highlands and Tappan Bay: + + The Adirondacks, childhood's glee; + The Catskills, youth with dreams o'ercast; + The Highlands, manhood bold and free; + The Tappan Zee, age come at last. + +This was the spot that Irving loved; we linger by his grave at +Sleepy Hollow with devotion; we sit upon his porch at Sunnyside with +reverence: + + Thrice blest and happy Tappan Zee, + Whose banks along thy glistening tide + Have legend, truth, and poetry + Sweetly expressed in Sunnyside! + + + * * * + + Whose golden fancy wove a spell + As lasting as the scene is fair + And made the mountain stream and dell + His own dream-life forever share. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +=Nyack=, on the west side, 27 miles from New York. The village, +including Upper Nyack, West Nyack and South Nyack, has many fine +suburban homes and lies in a semi-circle of hills which sweep back +from Piermont, meeting the river again at the northern end of Tappan +Zee. Tappan is derived from an Indian tribe of that name, which, being +translated, is said to signify cold water. The bay is ten miles in +length, with an average breadth of about two miles and a half. + +Nyack grows steadily in favor as a place for summer residents. The +hotels, boarding-houses and suburban homes would increase the census +as given to nearly ten thousand people. The _West Shore Railroad_ is +two and a half miles from the Hudson, with (a) station at West Nyack. The +_Northern Railroad of New Jersey_, leased by the _New York, Lake Erie +and Western_ (Chambers Street and 23d Street, New York), passes west +of the Bergen Hills and the Palisades. The Ramapo Mountains, north +of Nyack, were formerly known by ancient mariners as the Hook, or +Point-no-Point. They come down to the river in little headlands, the +points of which disappear as the steamer nears them. (The peak to the +south, known as Hook Mountain, is 730 feet high.) Ball Mountain above +this, and nearer the river, 650 feet. They were sometimes called by +Dutch captains Verditege Hook. + + * * * + + The sails hung idly all night long, + I dreamed a dream of you and me; + 'Twas sweeter than the sweetest song,-- + The dream I dreamed on Tappan Zee. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: STONY POINT] + +Perhaps it took so long to pass these illusive headlands, reaching as +they do eight miles along the western bank, that it naturally seemed a +_very tedious_ point to the old skippers. Midway in this Ramapo Range, +"set in a dimple of the hills," is-- + +=Rockland Lake=, source of the Hackensack River, one hundred and fifty +feet above the Hudson. The "slide way," by which the ice is sent down +to the boats to be loaded, can be seen from the steamer, and the +blocks in motion, as seen by the traveler, resemble little white pigs +running down an inclined plane. As we look at the great ice-houses +to-day, which, like uncouth barns, stand here and there along the +Hudson, it does not seem possible that only a few years ago ice was +decidedly unpopular, and wheeled about New York in a hand-cart. Think +of one hand-cart supplying New York with ice! It was considered +unhealthy, and called forth many learned discussions. + +Returning to the east bank, we see above Tarrytown many superb +residences, notably "Rockwood," the home of William Rockefeller, of +the Standard Oil Company. The estate of General James Watson Webb is +also near at hand. Passing Scarborough Landing, with the Hook Mountain +and Ball Mountains on the left, we see + +=Ossining=, formerly known as Sing Sing, on east bank. The low +buildings, near the river bank, are the State's Prison. They are +constructed of marble, but are not considered palatial by the +prisoners that occupy the cells. It was quarried near by, and the +prisons were built by convicts imported from Auburn in 1826. Saddlery, +furniture, shoes, etc., are manufactured within its walls. There was +an Indian chieftancy here known as the Sintsinks. In a deed to Philip +Phillipse in 1685 a stream is referred to as "Kitchewan called by the +Indians Sink-Sink." The Indian Village was known as Ossining, from +"ossin" a stone and "ing" a place, probably so called from the rocky +and stony character of the river banks. + + * * * + + How many, at this hour, along thy course, + Slumber to thine eternal murmurings + That mingle with the utterance of their dreams. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + +The heights above Tappan Zee at this point are crowned by fine +residences, and the village is one of the pleasantest on the river. +The drives among the hills are delightful and present a wide and +charming outlook. Here also are several flourishing military boarding +schools and a seminary for girls. The old silver and copper mines once +worked here never yielded satisfactory returns for invested capital. +Various industries give active life and prosperity to the town. Just +above Sing Sing + +=Croton River=, known by the Indians as Kitchawonk, joins the +Hudson in a bay crossed by the _New York Central Railroad_ Croton +draw-bridge. East of this point is a water shed having an area of 350 +square miles, which supplies New York with water. The Croton Reservoir +is easily reached by a pleasant carriage drive from Sing Sing, and it +is a singular fact that the pitcher and ice-cooler of New York, or in +other words, Croton Dam and Rockland Lake, should be almost opposite. +About fifty years ago the Croton first made its appearance in New +York, brought in by an aqueduct of solid masonry which follows the +course of the Hudson near the Old Post Road, or at an average distance +of about a mile from the east bank. Here and there its course can be +traced by "white stone ventilating towers" from Sing Sing to High +Bridge, which conveys the aqueduct across the Harlem River. Its +capacity is 100,000,000 gallons per day, which however began to be +inadequate for the city and a new aqueduct was therefore begun in 1884 +and completed in 1890, capable of carrying three times that amount, at +a cost of $25,000,000. The water-shed is well supplied with streams +and lakes. Lake Mahopac, one of its fountains, is one of the most +beautiful sheets of water near the metropolis, and easily accessible +by a pleasant drive from Peekskill, or by the _Harlem Railroad_ from +New York. The old Indian name was Ma-cook-pake, signifying a large +inland lake, or perhaps an island near the shore. The same derivation +is also seen in Copake Lake, Columbia County. On an island of Mahopac +the last great "convention" of the southern tribes of the Hudson was +held. The lake is about 800 feet above tide, and it is pleasant to +know that the bright waters of Mahopac and the clear streams of Putnam +and Westchester are conveyed to New York even as the poetic waters of +Loch Katrine to the city of Glasgow. The Catskill water supply, the +ground of which was broken in 1907, is referred to in our description +of Cold Spring and the Catskills. + + * * * + + Round the aqueducts of story + As the mists of Lethe throng + Croton's waves in all their glory + Troop in melody along. + + _George P. Morris._ + + * * * + +Just above Croton Bay and the _New York Central Railroad_ draw-bridge +will be seen the old Van Cortlandt Manor, where Frederick Phillipse +and Katrina Van Cortlandt were married, as seen by the inscription on +the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. + +=Teller's Point= (sometimes known as Croton or Underhill's Point), +separates Tappan Zee from Haverstraw Bay. It was called by the Indians +"Senasqua." Tradition says that ancient warriors still haunt the +surrounding glens and woods, and the sachems of Teller's Point are +household words in the neighborhood. It is also said that there was +once a great Indian battle here, and perhaps the ghosts of the old +warriors are attracted by the Underhill grapery and the 10,000 gallons +of wine bottled every season. + +It was here the British warship "The Vulture," came with Andre and put +him ashore at the foot of Mount Tor below Haverstraw. + +The river now opens into a beautiful bay, four miles in width,--a bed +large enough to tuck up fifteen River Rhines side by side. This reach +sometimes seems in the bright sunlight like a molten bay of silver, +and the tourist finds relief in adjusting his smoked glasses to temper +the dazzling light. + + * * * + + Beneath these gold and azure skies + The river winds through leafy glades, + Save where, like battlements, arise + The gray and tufted Palisades. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +=Haverstraw=, 37 miles from New York. Haverstraw Bay is sometimes said +to be five miles wide. Its widest point, however, from Croton Landing +to Haverstraw, is, according to United States Geological Survey, +a little over four miles. The principal industry of Haverstraw is +brick-making, and its brick yards reaching north to Grassy Point, are +of materal profit, if not picturesque. The place was called Haverstraw +by the Dutch, perhaps as a place of rye straw, to distinguish it from +Tarrytown, a place of wheat. The Indian name has been lost; but, if +its original derivation is uncertain, it at least calls up the rhyme +of old-time river captains, which Captain Anderson of the "Mary +Powell" told the writer he used to hear frequently when a boy: + + "West Point and Middletown, + Konnosook and Doodletown, + Kakiak and Mamapaw, + Stony Point and Haverstraw." + +Quaint as these names now sound, they all are found on old maps of the +Hudson. + +=High Torn= is the name of the northern point of the Ramapo on the +west bank, south of Haverstraw. According to the Coast Survey, it is +820 feet above tide-water, and the view from the summit is grand and +extensive. The origin of the name is not clear, but it has lately +occurred to the writer, from a re-reading of Scott's "Peveril of the +Peak," that it might have been named from the Torn, a mountain in +Derbyshire, either from its appearance, or by some patriotic settler +from the central water-shed of England. Others say it is the +Devonshire word Tor changed to Torn, evidently derived from the same +source. + + * * * + + Emerging from these confused piles, the river as if + rejoicing at its release from its struggle, expanded into + a wide bay, which was ornamented by a few fertile and + low points that jutted humbly into its broad basin. + + _James Fenimore Cooper._ + + * * * + +=West Shore Railroad.=--The tourist will see at this point, on the +left bank of the river, the tunnel whereby the "West Shore" finds +egress from the mountains. The traveler over this railway, on emerging +from the quiet valley west of the Palisades, comes upon a sudden +vision of beauty unrivaled in any land. The broad river seems like a +great inland lake; and the height of the tunnel above the silver bay +gives to the panoramic landscape a wondrous charm. About a mile from +the river, southwest of Grassy Point, on the farther side of the +winding Minnissickuongo Creek, which finally after long meandering +makes up its mind to glide into Stony Point Bay, will be seen Treason +Hill marked by the Joshua Hett Smith stone house where Arnold and +Andre met. The story of this meeting will be referred to at greater +length in connection with its most dramatic incident at the old +Beverley House in the Highlands. The Hudson here is about two miles +in width and narrows rapidly as we pass Grassy Point on the west bank +with its meadows and brick yards to + +=Stony Point=, where it is scarcely more than half a mile to +Verplank's Point on the eastern bank. This was, therefore, an +important pass during the Revolution. The crossing near at hand was +known as King's Ferry, at and before the days of '76, and was quite an +avenue of travel between the Southern, Middle and Eastern States. The +fort crowning a commanding headland, was captured by the British, June +1, 1779, but it was surprised and recaptured by Anthony Wayne, July +15 of the same year. A centennial was observed at the place July 15, +1879, when the battle was "refought" and the West Point Cadets showed +how they would have done it if they had been on hand a century ago. +Thackeray, in his "Virginians," gives perhaps the most graphic account +of this midnight battle. The present light-house occupies the site of +the old fort, and was built in part of stone taken from its walls. +Upon its capture by the British, Washington, whose headquarters were +at New Windsor, meditated a bold stroke and summoned Anthony Wayne, +more generally known as "Mad Anthony," from his reckless daring, to +undertake its recapture with a force of one thousand picked men. The +lines were formed in two columns about 8 p.m. at "Springsteel's farm." +Each soldier and officer put a piece of white paper in his hat to +distinguish him from the foe. No guns were to be loaded under penalty +of death. General Wayne, at the head of the column, forded the marsh +covered at the time with two feet of water. The other column led by +Butler and Murfree crossed an apology for a bridge. During the advance +both columns were discovered by the British sentinels and the rocky +defense literally blazed with musketry. In stern silence, however, +without faltering, the American columns moved forward, entered the +abatis, until the advance guard under Anthony Wayne was within the +enemy's works. A bullet at this moment struck Wayne in the forehead +grazing his skull. Quickly recovering from the shock, he rose to his +knees, shouted: "Forward, my brave fellows"; then turning to two of +his followers, he asked them to help him into the fort that he might +die, if it were to be so, "in possession of the spot." Both columns +were now at hand and inspired by the brave general, came pouring +in, crying "The fort's our own." The British troops completely +overwhelmed, were fain to surrender and called for mercy. Wayne's +characteristic message to Washington antedates modern telegraphic +brevity:--"Stony Point, 2 o'clock a.m. The American flag waves +here.--Mad Anthony." There were twenty killed and sixty wounded on +each side. Some five hundred of the enemy were captured and about +sixty escaped. "Money rewards and medals were given to Wayne and +the leaders in the assault. The ordinance and stores captured were +appraised at over $180,000 and there was universal rejoicing" +throughout the land. "Stony Point State Park" was dedicated by +appropriate ceremony July 16, 1902. At the close of Governor Odell's +address the flag was raised by William Wayne, a lineal descendant of +the hero, and the cruiser "Olympia" of Manila fame boomed forth her +tribute. Verplank's Point, on the east bank (now full of brick-making +establishments), was the site of Fort Lafayette. It was here that +Baron Steuben drilled the soldiers of the American army. Back from +Green Cove above Verplanck's Point is "Knickerbocker Lake." + + * * * + + The star spangled banner, the flag of the brave, + And the cross of old England in amity wave, + But if ever the nations do battle again + God send us such soldiers as Anthony Wayne. + + _Minna Irving._ + + * * * + + The echoes that so boldly rung + When cannon flashed from steep to steep, + And freedom's airy challenge flung, + In each romantic valley sleep. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +=Tompkin's Cove.=--North of Stony Point we see great quarries of +limestone, the principal industry of the village of Tompkin's Cove. +Gravel is also shipped from this place for Central Park roads and +driveways in New York City. The tourist, looking north from the +forward deck of the steamer, sees no opening in the mountains, and +it is amusing to hear the various conjectures of the passengers; as +usual, the "unexpected" happens. The steamer turns to the left and +sweeps at once into the grand scenery of the Highlands. The straight +forward course, which seems the more natural, would land the steamer +against the _Hudson River Railroad_, crossing the Peekskill River. +It is said that an old skipper, Jans Peek, ran up this stream, years +before the railroad was built, and did not know that he had left the +Hudson, or rather that the Hudson was "left" until he ran aground in +the shoal water of the bay. The next morning he discovered that it was +a goodly land, and the place bears his name unto this day. + + * * * + + The Highlands and the Palisades + Mirror their beauty in the tide, + The history of whose forest shades + A nation reads with conscious pride. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Peekskill=, 40 miles from New York, is a pleasant city on the quiet +bay which deeply indents the eastern bank. The property in this +vicinity was known as Rycks Patent in 1665. In Revolutionary times +Fort Independence stood on the point above, where its ruins are still +seen. The Franciscan Convent Academy of "Our Lady of Angels," guards +the point below. In 1797 Peekskill was the headquarters of old Israel +Putnam, who rivaled "Mad Anthony" in brevity as well as courage. It +will be remembered that Palmer was here captured as a spy. A British +officer wrote a letter asking his reprieve, to which Putnam replied, +"Nathan Palmer was taken as a spy, tried as a spy and will be hanged +as a spy. P. S.--He is hanged." This was the birthplace of Paulding, +one of Andre's captors, and he died here in 1818. He is buried in the +old rural cemetery about two miles and a half from the village, and a +monument has been erected to his memory. Near at hand is the "Wayside +Inn," where Andre once "tarried," also the Hillside Cemetery, where on +June 19, 1898, the 123d anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, a +monument was unveiled to General Pomeroy by the Society of the Sons of +Revolution, New York. The church which Washington attended is in good +preservation. + +Near Peekskill is the old Van Cortlandt house, the residence of +Washington for a short time during the Revolution. East of the village +was the summer home of the great pulpit orator, Henry Ward Beecher. +Peekskill was known by the Indians as Sackhoes in the territory of the +Kitchawongo, which extended from Croton River to Anthony's Nose. + +[Illustration: SOUTHERN GATE OF HIGHLANDS] + +Turning Caldwell's Landing or Jones' Point, formerly known as Kidd's +Point, almost at right angles, the steamer enters the southern gate of +the Highlands. At the water edge will be seen some upright planks or +caissons marking the spot where Kidd's ship was supposed to have been +scuttled. As his history seems to be intimately associated with the +Hudson, we will give it in brief: + +=The Story of Captain Kidd.=--"My name was Captain Kidd as I sailed," +are famous lines of an old ballad which was once familiar to our +grandfathers. The hapless hero of the same was born about the middle +of the seventeenth century, and it is thought, near Greenock, +Scotland. He resided at one time in New York, near the corner of +William and Cedar Streets, and was there married. In April, 1696, he +sailed from England in command of the "Adventure Galley," with full +armament and eighty men. He captured a French ship, and, on arrival at +New York, put up articles for volunteers; remained in New York three +or four months, increasing his crew to one hundred and fifty-five +men, and sailed thence to Madras, thence to Bonavista and St. Jago, +Madagascar, then to Calicut, then to Madagascar again, then sailed and +took the "Quedah Merchant." Kidd kept forty shares of the spoils, and +divided the rest with his crew. He then burned the "Adventure Galley," +went on board the "Quedah Merchant," and steered for the West Indies. +Here he left the "Merchant," with part of his crew, under one Bolton, +as commander. Then manned a sloop, and taking part of his spoils, went +to Boston via Long Island Sound, and is said to have set goods on +shore at different places. In the meantime, in August, 1698, the East +Indian Company informed the Lords Justice that Kidd had committed +several acts of piracy, particularly in seizing a Moor's ship called +the "Quedah Merchant." When Kidd landed at Boston he was therefore +arrested by the Earl of Bellamont, and sent to England for trial, +1699, where he was found guilty and executed. Now it is supposed that +the crew of the "Quedah Merchant," which Kidd left at Hispaniola, +sailed for their homes, as the crew was mostly gathered from the +Highlands and above. It is said that they passed New York in the +night, _en route_ to the manor of Livingston; but encountering a gale +in the Highlands, and thinking they were pursued, ran her near the +shore, now known as Kidd's Point, and here scuttled her, the crew +fleeing to the woods with such treasure as they could carry. Whether +this circumstance was true or not, it was at least a current story in +the neighborhood, and an enterprising individual, about fifty years +ago, _caused an old cannon_ to be "discovered" in the river, and +perpetrated the first "Cardiff Giant Hoax." A New York Stock Company +was organized to prosecute the work. It was said that the ship could +be seen in clear days, with her masts still standing, many fathoms +below the surface. One thing is certain--the company did not see it or +the _treasurer_ either, in whose hands were deposited about $30,000. + + * * * + + Beauty and majesty on either hand + Have shared thy waters with their common realm. + + _Knickerbocker Magazine._ + + * * * + + Their summits are the first to meet + The morning's golden ray, + And last to catch the crimson fires + That warm the dying day. + + _Minna Irving._ + + * * * + +On the west shore rise the rock-beaten crags of-- + +=The Dunderberg=, the dread of the Dutch mariners. This hill, +according to Irving, was peopled with a multitude of imps, too great +for man to number, who wore sugar-loaf hats and short doublets, and +had a picturesque way of "tumbling head over heels in the rack and +mist." They were especially malignant toward all captains who failed +to do them reverence, and brought down frightful squalls on such craft +as failed to drop the peaks of their mainsails to the goblin who +presided over this shadowy republic. It was the dread of the early +navigators--in fact, the Olympus of Dutch mythology. Verditege Hook, +the Dunderberg, and the Overslaugh, were names of terror to even the +bravest skipper. The old burghers of New York never thought of making +their week's voyage to Albany without arranging their wills, and it +created as much commotion in New Amsterdam as a modern expedition to +the north pole. Dunderberg, in most of the Hudson Guides and Maps, is +put down as 1,098 feet, but its actual altitude by the latest United +States Geological Survey is 865 feet. + +The State National Guard Encampment crowns a bluff, formerly known as +Roa Hook, on the east bank, north of Peekskill Bay, a happy location +in the midst of history and beauty. Every regiment in the State +rallies here in turn during the summer months for instruction in the +military art, living in tents and enjoying life in true army style. +Visitors are cordially greeted at proper hours, and the camp is easily +reached by ferry from Peekskill. A ferry also runs from Peekskill to +Dunderberg, affording a hillside outing and a delightful view. It is +expected that a spiral railroad, fourteen miles in length, undertaken +by a recently organized corporation, but abandoned for the present, +will make the spot a great Hudson River resort. The plan also embraces +a palatial hotel on the summit and pleasure grounds upon the point at +its base. Passing Manito Mountain on our right the steamer approaches + +=Anthony's Nose=, a prominent feature of the Hudson. + + * * * + + The waters were hemmed in by abrupt and dark + mountains, but the channel was still broad and smooth + enough for all the steamboats in the Republic to ride + in safety. + + _Harriet Martineau._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: ANTHONY'S NOSE.] + +Strangely enough the altitude of the mountains at the southern portal +of the Highlands has been greatly overrated. The formerly accepted +height of Anthony's Nose has been reduced by the Geological Survey +from 1,228 feet to 900. It has, however, an illustrious christening, +and according to various historians several godfathers. One says +it was named after St. Anthony the Great, the first institutor of +monastic life, born A. D. 251, at Coma, in Heraclea, a town in Upper +Egypt. Irving's humorous account is, however, quite as probable that +it was _derived_ from the nose of Antony Van Corlear, the illustrious +trumpeter of Peter Stuyvesant. "Now thus it happened that bright and +early in the morning the good Antony, having washed his burly visage, +was leaning over the quarter-railing of the galley, contemplating it +in the glassy waves below. Just at this moment the illustrious +sun, breaking in all his splendor from behind a high bluff of the +Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the +refulgent _nose_ of the sounder of brass, the reflection of which +shot straightway down hissing hot into the water, and killed a mighty +sturgeon that was sporting beside the vessel. When this astonishing +miracle was made known to the Governor, and he tasted of the unknown +fish, he marveled exceedingly; and, as a monument thereof, he gave the +name of Anthony's Nose to a stout promontory in the neighborhood, +and it has continued to be called Anthony's Nose ever since." It +was called by the Indians "Kittatenny," a Delaware term, signifying +"endless hills." The stream flowing into the river south of Anthony's +Nose is known as the Brocken Kill, broken into beautiful cascades from +mountain source to mouth. + + * * * + + The beautiful and in some places highly singular + banks of the Hudson rendered a voyage both amusing + and interesting, while the primitive manners of the inhabitants + diverted the gay and idle and pleased + the thoughtful and speculative. + + _Mrs. Grant of Laggan._ + + * * * + +=Iona Island=, formerly a pleasure resort and picnic ground. An +old-time joke of the Hudson was frequently perpetrated on strangers +while passing the island. Some one would innocently observe, "I own +a island on the Hudson." When any one obligingly asked, "Where?" the +reply would be with pointed finger, "Why there." But the United States +Government _owns_ it now against all comers, and its quiet lanes and +picnic abandon have been exchanged for busy machine shops and military +discipline. It is near the west bank, opposite Anthony's Nose. A +short distance from the island, on the main land, was the village or +cross-roads of Doodletown. This reach of the river was formerly known +as The Horse Race, from the rapid flow of the tide when at its height. +The hills on the west bank now recede from the river, forming a +picturesque amphitheatre, bounded on the west by Bear Mountain. An +old road directly in the rear of Iona Island, better known to Anthony +Wayne than to the modern tourist, passes through Doodletown, over +Dunderberg, just west of Tompkin's Cove, to Haverstraw. Here amid +these pleasant foothills Morse laid the scene of a historical romance, +which he however happily abandoned for a wider invention. The world +can get along without the novel, but it would be a trifle slow without +the telegraph. On the west bank, directly opposite the railroad tunnel +which puts a merry "ring" into the tip of Anthony's Nose, is what is +now known as Highland Lake, called by the Indians "Sinnipink," and by +the immediate descendants of our Revolutionary fathers "Hessian +Lake" or "Bloody Pond," from the fact that an American company were +mercilessly slaughtered here by the Hessians, and, after the surrender +of Fort Montgomery, their bodies were thrown into the lake. + + * * * + + Behold again the wildwood shade, + The mountain steep, the checkered glade, + And hoary rocks and bubbling rills, + And pointed waves and distant hills. + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +The capture of Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery was two years before +Mad Anthony's successful assault on Stony Point. Early in the history +of the Revolution, the British Government thought that it would be +possible to cut off the eastern from the middle and southern Colonies +by capturing and garrisoning commanding points along the Hudson and +Lake Champlain. It was therefore decided in London, in the spring of +1777, to have Sir Henry Clinton approach from the south and Burgoyne +from the north. Reinforcements, however, arrived late from England and +it was September before Clinton transported his troops, about 4,000 +in number, in warships and flat-boats up the river. Governor George +Clinton was in charge of Fort Montgomery, and his brother James of +Fort Clinton, while General Putnam, with about 2,000 men, had his +headquarters at Peekskill. In addition to these forts, a chain was +stretched across the Hudson from Anthony's Nose to a point near the +present railroad bridge, to obstruct the British fleet. General +Putnam, however, became convinced that Sir Henry Clinton proposed +to attack Fort Independence. Most of the troops were accordingly +withdrawn from Forts Montgomery and Clinton, when Sir Henry Clinton, +taking advantage of a morning fog, crossed with 2,000 men at King's +Ferry. Guided by a sympathizer of the British cause, who knew the +district, he crossed the Dunderberg Mountain by the road just +indicated. One division of 900 moving on Fort Montgomery, and another +of 1,100 on Fort Clinton. Governor Clinton in the meantime ordered 400 +soldiers to Fort Montgomery, and his reconnoitering party, met by the +Hessians, fell back upon the fort, fighting as it retreated. Governor +Clinton sent to General Putnam for reinforcements, but it is said that +the messenger deserted, so that Putnam literally sat waiting in camp, +unconscious of the enemy's movements. A simultaneous attack was made +at 5 o'clock in the afternoon on both forts. Lossing says: "The +garrisons were composed mostly of untrained militia. They behaved +nobly, and kept up the defense vigorously, against a greatly superior +force of disciplined and veteran soldiers, until twilight, when they +were overpowered, and sought safety in a scattered retreat to the +neighboring mountains. Many escaped, but a considerable number were +slain or made prisoners. The Governor fled across the river in a +boat, and at midnight was with General Putnam at Continental Village, +concerting measures for stopping the invasion. James, forcing his way +to the rear, across the highway bridge, received a bayonet wound in +the thigh, but safely reached his home at New Windsor. A sloop of ten +guns, the frigate "Montgomery"--twenty-four guns--and two row-galleys, +stationed near the boom and chain for their protection, slipped their +cables and attempted to escape, but there was no wind to fill their +sails, and they were burned by the Americans to prevent their falling +into the hands of the enemy. The frigate "Congress," twenty-eight +guns, which had already gone up the river, shared the same fate on the +flats near Fort Constitution, which was abandoned. By the light of the +burning vessels the fugitive garrisons made their way over the rugged +mountains, and a large portion of them joined General Clinton at New +Windsor the next day. They had left many of their brave companions +behind, who, to the number of 250, had been slain or taken prisoners. +The British, too, had parted with many men and brave officers. Among +the latter was Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell. Early in the morning of +the 7th of October, the river obstructions between Fort Montgomery and +Anthony's Nose, which cost the Americans $250,000, were destroyed, and +a light flying squadron, commanded by Sir James Wallace, and bearing a +large number of land troops under General Vaughan, sailed up the river +on a marauding expedition, with instructions from Sir Henry to scatter +desolation in their paths. It was hoped that such an expedition would +draw troops from the Northern army for the protection of the country +below, and thereby assist Burgoyne." + + * * * + + I love thy tempests when the broad-winged blast + Rouses thy billows with his battle call, + When gathering clouds, in phalanx black and vast + Like armed shadows gird thy rocky wall. + + _Knickerbocker Magazine._ + + * * * + +Sir Henry Clinton, who had been advised by General Burgoyne that he +must be relieved by October 12th, sent a messenger announcing his +victory. Another of the many special providences of the American +Revolution now occurs. The messenger blundered into the American camp, +where some soldiers sat in British uniform, and found out too late +that he was among enemies instead of friends. As Irving relates the +incident in his "Life of Washington": + +--"On the 9th (October) two persons coming from Fort Montgomery were +arrested by the guard, and brought for examination. One was much +agitated, and was observed to put something hastily into his mouth +and swallow it. An emetic was administered, and brought up a silver +bullet. Before he could be prevented he swallowed it again. On his +refusing a second emetic, the Governor threatened to have him hanged +and his body opened. This threat was effectual and the bullet was +again 'brought to light.' It was oval in form, and hollow, with a +screw in the centre, and contained a note from Sir Henry Clinton to +Burgoyne, written on a slip of thin paper, and dated October 8th, from +Fort Montgomery: '_Nous y voici_ (here we are), and nothing between +us and Gates. I sincerely hope this little success of ours will +facilitate your operations.' Burgoyne never received it, and +on October 13th, after the battles of Bennington and Saratoga, +surrendered to General Gates. Sir Henry Clinton abandoned the forts on +hearing of his defeat, and returned to New York 'a sadder and wiser +man.'" + + * * * + + Columbia! Columbia! to glory arise, + The queen of the earth and the child of the skies. + + _Timothy Dwight._ + + * * * + + Far up the Hudson's silver flood + I hear the Highlands call + With whispering of leafy boughs + And voice of waterfall. + + _Minna Irving._ + + * * * + +=Beverley House.=--Passing Cohn's Hook, pronounced Connosook, where +Hendrick Hudson anchored on his way up the river September 14, 1609, +we see before us on the right bank a point coming down to the shore +marked by a boat house. This is Beverley Dock, and directly up the +river bank about an eighth of a mile stood the old Beverley House, +where Benedict Arnold had his headquarters when in command of +West Point. The old house, a good specimen of colonial times, was +unfortunately burned in 1892, and with it went the most picturesque +landmark of the most dramatic incident of the Revolution. It will +be remembered that Arnold returned to the Beverley House after his +midnight interview with Andre at Haverstraw, and immediately upon the +capture of Andre the following day, that Colonel Jamison sent a letter +to Arnold, advising him of the fact. It was the morning of September +4th. General Washington was on his way to West Point, coming across +the country from Connecticut. On arriving, however, at the river, +just above the present station of Garrison, he became interested in +examining some defenses, and sent Alexander Hamilton forward to the +Beverley House, saying that he would come later, requesting the +family to proceed with their breakfast and not to await his arrival. +Alexander Hamilton and General Lafayette sat gayly chatting with Mrs. +Arnold and her husband when the letter from Jamison was received. +Arnold glanced at the contents, rose and excused himself from the +table, beckoning to his wife to follow him, bade her good-bye, told +her he was a ruined man and a traitor, kissed his little boy in the +cradle, rode to Beverley Dock, and ordered his men to pull off and +go down the river. The "Vulture," an English man-of-war, was near +Teller's Point, and received a traitor, whose miserable treachery +branded him with eternal infamy on both continents. It is said that +he lived long enough to be hissed in the House of Commons, as he once +took his seat in the gallery, and he died friendless and despised. It +is also said, when Talleyrand arrived in Havre on foot from Paris, in +the darkest hour of the French Revolution, pursued by the bloodhounds +of the reign of terror, and was about to secure a passage to the +United States, he asked the landlord of the hotel whether any +Americans were staying at his house, as he was going across the water, +and would like a letter to a person of influence in the New World. +"There is a gentleman up-stairs from Britain or America," was the +response. He pointed the way, and Talleyrand ascended the stairs. In a +dimly lighted room sat a man of whom the great minister of France was +to ask a favor. He advanced, and poured forth in elegant French and +broken English, "I am a wanderer, and an exile. I am forced to fly to +the New World without a friend or home. You are an American. Give me, +then, I beseech you, a letter of yours, so that I may be able to earn +my bread." The strange gentleman rose. With a look that Talleyrand +never forgot, he retreated toward the door of the next chamber. He +spoke as he retreated, and his voice was full of suffering: "I am the +only man of the New World who can raise his hand to God and say, +'I have not a friend, not one, in America!'" "Who are you?" he +cried--"your name?" "My name is Benedict Arnold!" + + * * * + + Wayne, Putnam, Knox and Heath are there, + Steuben, proud Prussia's honored son; + Brave Lafayette from France the fair, + And chief of all our Washington. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +Andre's fate on the other hand was widely lamented. He was universally +beloved by his comrades and possessed a rich fund of humor which often +bubbled over in verse. It is a strange coincidence that his best +poetic attempt on one of Anthony Wayne's exploits near Fort Lee, +entitled "The Cow Chase," closed with a graphically prophetic verse: + + "And now I've closed my epic strain, + I tremble as I show it, + Lest this same Warrior-Drover Wayne + Should ever catch the poet." + +By a singular coincidence he did: General Wayne was in command of the +Tarrytown and Tappan country where Andre was captured and executed. It +is also said that these lines were published by one of the Tory papers +in New York the very day of Andre's capture. One of the old-time +characters on the Hudson, known as Uncle Richard, has recently thrown +new light on the capture of Andre by claiming, with a touch of genuine +humor, that it was entirely due to the "effects" of cider which had +been freely "dispensed" that day by a certain Mr. Horton, a farmer in +the neighborhood. + + * * * + + In view of all he lost,--his youth, his love, + And possibilities that wait the brave, + Inward and outward bound dim visions move + Like passing sails upon the Hudson's wave. + + _Charlotte Fiske Bates._ + + * * * + +It is impossible even in these later years, not to speak of +twenty-five or fifty years ago, to travel along the shores of +Haverstraw Bay or among the passes of the Highlands, without hearing +some old-time stories about Arnold and Andre, and it would be strange +indeed if a little romance had not here and there become blended with +the real facts. Uncle Richard's account is undoubtedly the best since +the days of Knickerbocker. "Benedict Arnold, you know, had command of +West Point, and he knew that the place was essential to the success of +the Continental cause. He plotted, as everybody knows, to turn it +over to the enemy, and in the correspondence which he carried on with +General Clinton, young Andre, Clinton's aid, did all the writing. +Things were coming to a focus, when a meeting took place between +Arnold and Clinton's representative, Andre, at the house of Joshua +Hett Smith, near Haverstraw. Andre came on the British ship "Vulture," +which he left at Croton Point, in Haverstraw Bay. Well," so runs Uncle +Richard's story, "it took a long time to get matters settled; they +'confabbed' till after daybreak. Then Arnold started back to the post +which he had plotted to surrender. But daylight was no time for Andre +to return to the "Vulture," so he hung round waiting for night. + +"During that day, some men who were working for James Horton, a farmer +on the ridge overlooking the river, who gave his men good rations of +cider, drank a little too much of the hard stuff. They felt good, and +thought it would be a fine joke to load and fire off an old disabled +cannon which lay a mile or so away on the bank. They hauled it to the +point now called Cockroft Point, propped it up, and then the spirit +of fun--and hard cider--prompted them to train the old piece on the +British ship "Vulture," lying at anchor in the Bay. The "Vulture's" +people must have overestimated the source of the fire, for the ship +dropped down the river, and Andre had to abandon the idea of returning +by that means. He crossed the river at King's Ferry, and while on his +way overland was captured at Tarrytown. + +"Of course, the three brave men who refused to be bribed deserve all +the glory they ever had; if it were not for them, who knows but the +revolutionary war would have had a different ending. But they never +would have had a chance to capture Andre if it had not been for James +Horton's men warming up on hard cider. Hard cider broke the plans +of Arnold, it hung Andre, and it saved West Point." A boy misguided +Grouchy _en route_ to Waterloo. On what small hinges turn the +destinies of nations! + + * * * + + A slanting ray lingered on the woody crests of the precipices that + overhung the river, giving greater depth to the dark-gray and + purple of the rocky sides. + + _Washington Irving._ + + * * * + +All the way from Anthony's Nose to Beverley Dock, where we have been +lingering over the story of Andre, we have been literally turning a +kaleidoscope of blended history and beauty, with scarcely time to note +the delightful homes on the west bank, just above Fort Montgomery. +Among them J. Pierpont Morgan's and the Pells', John Bigelow's and +"Benny Havens'," or on the east bank of Hamilton Fish, just above +Beverley Dock, Samuel Sloan and the late William H. Osborn, just north +of Sugar Loaf Mountain; the mountain being so named as it resembles, +to one coming up the river, the old-fashioned conical-shaped +sugar-loaf, which was formerly suspended by a string over the centre +of the hospitable Dutch tables, and swung around to be occasionally +nibbled at, which in good old Knickerbocker days, was thought to be +the best and only orthodox way of sweetening tea. + +=Buttermilk Falls=, so christened by Washington Irving, is a pretty +little cascade on the west bank. Like sparkling wit, it is often dry, +and the tourist is exceptionally fortunate who sees it in full-dress +costume after a heavy shower, when it rushes over the rocks in floods +of snow-white foam. Highland Falls is the name of a small village a +short distance west of the river, on the bluff, but not seen from the +deck of the steamer. + +The large building above the rocky channel is Lady Cliff, the Academy +of Our Lady of Angels, under the Franciscan Sisters at Peekskill, +opened September, 1900. It was originally built for a hotel, and +widely known as Cranston's Hotel and Landing. As the steamer is now +approaching the west bank we see above us the Cullum Memorial Hall, +completed in 1899, a bequest of the late George W. Cullum of the class +of 1833. The still newer structure to the south is the officers' +messroom, crowning the crest above the landing. + + * * * + + Then, as you nearer draw, each wooded height + Puts off the azure hues by distance given! + And slowly breaks upon the enamored sight, + Ravine, crag, field and wood in colors true and bright. + + _Theodore S. Fay._ + + * * * + +=West Point=, taken all in all, is the most beautiful tourist spot on +the Hudson. Excursionists by the Day Boats from New York, returning +by afternoon steamer, have three hours to visit the various places +of history and beauty. To make an easy mathematical formula or +picturesque "rule of three" statement, what Quebec is to the St. +Lawrence, West Point is to the Hudson. If the citadel of Quebec is +more imposing, the view of the Hudson at this place is grander than +that of the St. Lawrence, and the ruins of Fort Putnam are almost as +venerable as the Heights of Abraham. The sensation of the visitor is, +moreover, somewhat the same in both places as to the environment of +law and authority. To get the daily character and quality of West +Point one should spend at least twenty-four hours within its borders, +and a good hotel, the only one on the Government grounds, will be +found central and convenient to everything of interest. The parade and +drills at sunset hour can best be seen in this way. + +=The United States Military Academy.=--Soon after the close of the War +of the Revolution, Washington suggested West Point as the site of a +military academy, and, in 1793, in his annual message, recommended it +to Congress, which in 1794 organized a corps of artillerists to be +here stationed with thirty-two cadets, enlarging the number in 1798 to +fifty-six. In 1808 it was increased to one hundred and fifty-six, and +in 1812 to two hundred and sixty. + +Up to 1812 only 71 cadets had been graduated. The roll of graduates +now numbers about 5,000. + +Each Congressman has the appointment of one cadet, supplemented by +ten appointed by the President of the United States. These cadets are +members of the regular army, subject to its regulations for eight +years, viz: during four years of study and four years after +graduating. The candidates are examined in June, each year, and must +be physically sound as well as mentally qualified. The course is very +thorough, especially in higher mathematics. The cadets go into camp in +July and August, and this is the pleasantest time to visit the point. + + * * * + + Enchanted place, hemmed in by mountain walls, + By bristling guns and Hudson's restful shore. + + _Kenneth Bruce._ + + * * * + +The plans furnished by the architects of the new building will +entirely change the appearance of the river front. The proposed +massive structure crowning the cliff will "out-castle" the most +massive fortifications of the walled cities of Europe. $7,500,000 has +been appropriated to the work by Congress and the next generation will +behold a new West Point. + +In the rebuilding of the Post the Cadet Chapel, the Riding Hall, the +Administration Building and some of the Officers' Quarters will be +removed. Most of the old important buildings, however, will not be +disturbed, and the Chapel will be placed as it were "intact" on +another site. The plan leaves untouched the Cadet Barracks, the Cadet +Mess, the Memorial Hall, the Library and the Officers' Mess. The +tower of the new Post Headquarters will rise high and massive several +stories above the other structures and present in enduring symbol the +republic standing four square and firm throughout the ages. + +In the "West Point Souvenir," prepared by W. H. Tripp, which every +visitor will prize, are many suggestions and descriptions of value. +From many visits and many sources we condense the following brevities: + +=The Cadet Barracks= was built in 1845-51 of native granite. In 1882 +the western wing was extended adding two divisions. + +=The Academy Building= is immediately opposite the Headquarters, of +Massachusetts granite, erected in 1891-95, and cost about $500,000. +It contains recitation and lecture rooms of all departments of +instruction. + +=The Ordnance Museum= contains an interesting and extensive exhibit +of ancient and modern firearms, also many valuable trophies from the +Revolutionary, Mexican, Civil and Spanish wars. + + * * * + + Among the fair and lovely Highlands of the Hudson, shut in by deep + green heights and ruined forts, hemmed in all round with memories + of Washington, there could be no more appropriate ground for the + military school of America. + + _Charles Dickens._ + + * * * + +=The Cadet Chapel=, immediately north of the Administration Building, +was erected in 1834. The chapel contains many valuable trophies of +the Revolutionary and Mexican wars, including three Hessian and two +British flags that were once the property of Washington. The walls +have many memorial tablets and a famous "blank" of Arnold. Here also +are several cannon surrendered at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. + +=The Administration Building= was completed in 1871. + +=The Library= adjoins the Cadet Chapel on the east, built of native +granite in 1841, costing about $15,000. In 1900 the building was +entirely reconstructed of fire-proof material by appropriation of +$80,000. The exterior walls of the original building entered into the +remodeled structure. The Library, founded in 1812, has about 50,000 +volumes. + +=The Gymnasium= adjoins the Barracks on the west, erected of native +granite, costing $90,000. + +=Memorial Hall=, plainly seen from the Hudson, completed in 1899, is +of Ionic architecture. The building cost $268,000, a legacy bequeathed +by Gen. George W. Cullum, built of Milford granite for army trophies +of busts, paintings and memorials. The bronze statute of Gen. John +Sedgwick in the northwest angle of the plain was dedicated in 1868. +The fine cenotaph of Italian marble was erected in 1885. It stands +immediately in front of Memorial Hall. + +=Kosciusko's Monument= was erected in 1828. It stands in the northeast +angle of Fort Clinton. + +=The Chain-Battery= walk runs from Kosciusko's Garden northward to +Light House Point, near which was the battery that defended the chain +across the river in the Revolution. The scene is of great beauty and +has been known for many years by the name of "Flirtation Walk." + + * * * + + Where Kosciusko dreamed and proud scenes bring + To mind the stormy days when Liberty + Was cradled at West Point--the Highlands' key. + + _Kenneth Bruce._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: BATTLE MONUMENT, WEST POINT] + +=The Battle Monument=, on Trophy Point, is the most beautiful on the +reservation--a column of victory in memory of 2,230 officers and +soldiers of the regular army of the United States who were killed or +died of wounds received in the war of the Rebellion. It is a monolith +of polished granite surmounted by a figure of Fame. The shaft is 46 +feet in length, 5 feet in diameter, and said to be the largest piece +of polished stone in the world. The cost of the work was $66,000. The +site was dedicated June 15, 1864. The monument was dedicated in 1897. +The address was by Justice Brewer. + +=Trophy Point=, on the north side of the plain, overlooking the river +and commanding a majestic view of the Hudson and the city of Newburgh, +has been likened by European travelers to a view on Lake Geneva. +Here are the "swivel clevies" and 16 links of the old chain that was +stretched across the river at this point. The whole chain, 1,700 +feet long, weighing 186 tons, was forged at the Sterling Iron Works, +transported to New Windsor and there attached to log booms and floated +down the river to this point. + +=Old Fort Putnam= was erected in 1778 by the 5th Massachusetts +Regiment under the direction of Col. Rufus Putnam. It was originally +constructed of logs and trees with stone walls on two sides to defend +Fort Clinton on the plain below. It was garrisoned by 450 men, and had +14 guns mounted. In 1787 it was dismantled, and the guns sold as +old iron. Its brick arch casements overgrown with moss, vines, and +shrubbery are crumbling away, but are well worth a visit. It is 495 +feet above the Hudson. A winding picturesque carriage road leads up +from the plain, and the pedestrian can reach the summit in 20 minutes. +On clear days the Catskill Mountains are visible. + +=Fort Clinton=, in the northeast angle of the plain, was built in +1778 under the direction of the Polish soldier, Kosciusko. Sea Coast +Battery is located on the north waterfront, Siege Battery on the slope +of the hill below the Battle Monument. Targets for the guns on both +batteries are on the hillside about a mile distant. Battery Knox, +which overlooks the river, was rebuilt in 1874 on the site of an old +revolutionary redoubt. + + * * * + + Bright are the moments link'd with thee, + Boast of a glory-hallowed land! + Hope of the valiant and the free, + Home of our youthful soldier band! + + _Anonymous._ + + * * * + +While Fort Putnam was being built Washington was advised that Dubois's +regiment was unfit to be ordered on duty, there being "not one blanket +in the regiment. Very few have either a shoe or a shirt, and most of +them have neither stockings, breeches, or overalls. Several companies +of inlisted artificers are in the same situation, and unable to work +in the field." + +What privations were here endured to establish our priceless liberty! +It makes better Americans of us all to turn and re-turn the pages of +the real Hudson, the most picturesque volume of the world's history. + +West Point during the Revolution was the Gibraltar of the Hudson +and her forts were regarded almost impregnable. Fort Putnam will be +rebuilt as an enduring monument to the bravery of American soldiers. + +The best way to study West Point, however, is not in voluminous +histories or in the condensed pages of a guide book, but to visit it +and see its real life, to wander amid its old associations, and +ask, when necessary, intelligent questions, which are everywhere +courteously answered. The view north seen in a summer evening, is one +long to be remembered. In such an hour the writer's idea of the Hudson +as an open book with granite pages and crystal book-mark is most +completely realized as indicated in the Highland section of his poem, +"The Hudson": + + On either side these mountain glens + Lie open like a massive book, + Whose words were graved with iron pens, + And lead into the eternal rock: + + Which evermore shall here retain + The annals time cannot erase, + And while these granite leaves remain + This crystal ribbon marks the place. + + * * * + + Under Spring's delicate marshalling every hill of the Highlands + took its own place, and the soft swells of ground stood back the + one from the other in more and more tender coloring. + + _Susan Warner._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: LOOKING NORTH FROM WEST POINT BATTERY] + +=West Point to Newburgh.= + +The steamer passes too near the west bank to give a view of the +magnificent plateau with parade ground and Government buildings, but +on rounding the point a picture of marvelous beauty breaks at once +upon the vision. On the left the massive indented ridge of Old Cro' +Nest and Storm King, and on the right Mount Taurus, or Bull Hill, and +Break Neck, while still further beyond toward the east sweeps the +Fishkill range, sentineled by South Beacon, 1,625 feet in height, from +whose summit midnight gleams aroused the countryside for leagues and +scores of miles during those seven long years when men toiled +and prayed for freedom. Close at hand on the right will be seen +Constitution Island, formerly the home of Miss Susan Warner, who died +in 1885, author of "Queechy" and the "Wide, Wide World." Here the +ruins of the old fort are seen. The place was once called Martalaer's +Rock Island. A chain was stretched across the river at this point to +intercept the passage of boats up the Hudson, but proved ineffectual, +like the one at Anthony's Nose, as the impetus of the boats snapped +them both like cords. + +Some years ago, when the first delegation of Apache Indians was +brought to Washington to sign a treaty of peace, the Indians were +taken for an "outing" up the Hudson, by General O. O. Howard and Dr. +Herman Bendell, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Arizona. It is +said that they noted with cold indifference the palaces along the +river front: "the artistic terraces, the well-kept, sloping lawns, the +clipped hedges and the ivy-grown walls made no impression on them, but +when the magnificent picture of the Hudson above West Point revealed +itself, painted by the rays of the sinking sun, these wild men stood +erect, raised their hands high above their heads and uttered a +monosyllabic expression of delight, which was more expressive than +volumes of words." + + * * * + + The queenly Hudson circling at thy feet + Lingers to sing a song of joy and love, + Pouring her heart in rippling wavelets sweet, + Which sun-kissed glance up to thy throne above. + + _Kenneth Bruce._ + + * * * + +Sir Robert Temple also rises into rapture over the northern gate +of the Highlands. "One of the fairest spectacles to be seen on the +earth's surface; not on any other river or strait--not on Ganges or +Indus, on the Dardanelles or the Bosphorus, on the Danube or the +Rhine, on the Neva or the Nile--have I ever observed so fairy-like a +scene as this on the Hudson. The only water-view to rival it is that +of the Sea of Marmora, opposite Constantinople." + +Most people who visit our river, naturally desire a brilliant sunlit +day for their journey, and with reason, but there are effects, in fog +and rain and driving mist, only surpassed amid the Kyles of Bute, +in Scotland. The traveler is fortunate, who sees the Hudson in many +phases, and under various atmospheric conditions. A midnight view is +peculiarly impressive when the mountain spirits of Rodman Drake answer +to the call of his "Culprit Fay." + + "'Tis the middle watch of a summer night, + The earth is dark but the heavens are bright, + The moon looks down on Old Cro' Nest-- + She mellows the shade on his shaggy breast, + And seems his huge gray form to throw + In a silver cone on the wave below." + +It is said that the "Culprit Fay" was written by Drake in three days, +and grew out of a discussion which took place during a stroll through +this part of the Highlands between Irving, Halleck, Cooper and +himself, as to the filling of a new country with old-time legends. +Drake died in 1820. Halleck's lines to his memory are among the +sweetest in our language. It is said that Halleck, on hearing Drake +read his poem, "The American Flag," sprang to his feet, and in a +semi-poetic transport, concluded the lines with burning words, which +Drake afterwards appended: + + "Forever float that standard sheet, + Where breathes the foe but falls before us, + With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, + And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us." + + * * * + + It floweth deep and strong and wide + This river of romance + Along whose banks on moonlight nights + The Highland fairies dance. + + _E. A. Lente._ + + * * * + +Just opposite Old Cro' Nest is the village of Cold Spring, on the east +bank, which receives its name naturally from a cold spring in the +vicinity; and it is interesting to remember that the famous Parrott +guns were made at this place, and many implements of warfare during +our civil strife. The foundry was started by Gouverneur Kemble in +1828, and brought into wide renown by the inventive genius of Major +Parrott. Cold Spring has a further distinction in having the first +ground broken, about three miles from the river, for the greatest +engineering enterprise of the age--"The Water Supply of the +Catskills," when Mayor McClellan, in June, 1907, began the work with +his silver shovel. A short distance north of the village is + +=Undercliff= (built by John C. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, +but more particularly associated with the memory of the poet, Col. +George P. Morris), lies, in fact, _under the cliff_ and shadow of +Mount Taurus, and has a fine outlook upon the river and surrounding +mountains. Standing on the piazza, we see directly in front of us Old +Cro' Nest, and it was here that the poet wrote: + + "Where Hudson's wave o'er silvery sands + Winds through the hills afar, + _Old Cro' Nest like a monarch stands + Crowned with a single star_." + +Few writers were better known in their own day than the poet of +Undercliff, who wrote "My Mother's Bible," and "Woodman, Spare that +Tree." On one occasion, when Mr. Russell was singing it at Boulogne, +an old gentleman in the audience, moved by the simple and touching +beauty of the lines, + + "Forgive the foolish tear, + But let the old oak stand." + +rose and said: "I beg your pardon, but was the tree really spared?" +"It was," answered Mr. Russell, and the old gentleman resumed his +seat, amid the plaudits of the whole assembly. Truly + + "Its glory and renown + Are spread o'er land and sea." + + * * * + + When freedom from her mountain height + Unfurled her standard to the air, + She tore the azure robe of night + And set the stars of glory there. + + _Joseph Rodman Drake._ + + * * * + +The first European name given to Storm King was Klinkersberg (so +called by Hendrick Hudson, from its glistening and broken rock). It +was styled by the Dutch "Butter Hill," from its shape, and, with +Sugar Loaf on the eastern side below the point, helped to set out the +tea-table for the Dunderberg goblins. It was christened by Willis, +"Storm King," and may well be regarded the El Capitan of the +Highlands. Breakneck is opposite, on the east side, where St. +Anthony's Face was blasted away. In this mountain solitude there was a +shade of reason in giving that solemn countenance of stone the name +of St. Anthony, as a good representative of monastic life; and, by a +quiet sarcasm, the full-length nose below was probably suggested. + +The mountain opposite Cro' Nest is "Bull Hill," or more classically, +"Mt. Taurus." It is said that there was formerly a wild bull in these +mountains, which had failed to win the respect and confidence of the +inhabitants, so the mountaineers organized a hunt and drove him over +the hill, whose name stands a monument to his exit. The point at the +foot of "Mount Taurus" is known as "Little Stony Point." + +The Highlands now trend off to the northeast, and we see North Beacon, +or Grand Sachem Mountain, and Old Beacon about half a mile to the +north. The mountains were relit with beacon-fires in 1883, in honor of +the centennials of Fishkill and Newburgh, and were plainly seen sixty +miles distant. + +This section was known by the Indians as "Wequehache," or, "the Hill +Country," and the entire range was called by the Indians "the endless +hills," a name not inappropriate to this mountain bulwark reaching +from New England to the Carolinas. As pictured in our "Long Drama," +given at the Newburgh centennial of the disbanding of the American +Army, + + That ridge along our eastern coast, + From Carolina to the Sound, + Opposed its front to Britain's host, + And heroes at each pass were found: + + A vast primeval palisade, + With bastions bold and wooded crest, + A bulwark strong by nature made + To guard the valley of the west. + + Along its heights the beacons gleamed, + It formed the nation's battle-line, + Firm as the rocks and cliffs where dreamed + The soldier-seers of Palestine. + +It was also believed by the Indians that, in ancient days, "before the +Hudson poured its waters from the lakes, the Highlands formed one vast +prison, within whose rocky bosom the omnipotent Manitou confined +the rebellious spirits who repined at his control. Here, bound in +adamantine chains, or jammed in rifted pines, or crushed by ponderous +rocks, they groaned for many an age. At length the conquering Hudson, +in its career toward the ocean, burst open their prison-house, rolling +its tide triumphantly through the stupendous ruins." + + * * * + + The Highlands are here moulded in all manner of heights and + hollows; sometimes reaching up abruptly to twelve or fifteen + hundred feet, and again stretching away in long gorges and gentle + declivities. + + _Susan Warner._ + + * * * + +=Pollopel's Island=, east of the steamer's route, was once regarded as +a haunted spot, but its only witches are said to be snakes too lively +to be enchanted. In old times, the "new hands" on the sloops were +unceremoniously dipped at this place, so as to be proof-christened +against the goblins of the Highlands. Here also another useless +"impediment" was put across the Hudson in 1779, a chevaux-de-frise +with iron-pointed spikes thirty feet long, hidden under water, +strongly secured by cribs of stone. This, however, was not broken and +would probably have done effective work if some traitor to the cause +had not guided the British captains through an unprotected passage. +The State at one time contemplated the purchase of this island on +which to erect a statue to Hendrick Hudson. For some reason Governor +Flower vetoed the bill. It is now owned by Mr. Francis Bannerman, +an energetic business man, who perhaps some day may see his way to +promote a monument to Hudson on the splendid pedestal which nature has +already completed. + + * * * + + What sights and sounds at which the world has wondered + Within these wild ravines have had their birth! + Young Freedom's cannon from these glens have thundered + And sent their startling echoes o'er the earth. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +=Cornwall-on-the-Hudson.=--This locality N. P. Willis selected as the +most picturesque point on the Hudson. The village lies in a lovely +valley, which Mr. Beach has styled in his able description, as "an +offshoot of the Ramapo, up which the storm-winds of the ocean drive, +laden with the purest and freshest air." + +=Idlewild.=--Where Willis spent the last years of his life is a +charming spot and rich with poetic memories. E. P. Roe also chose +Cornwall for his home. Lovers of the Hudson are indebted to Edward +Bok for his realistic sketch of an afternoon visit. The "Idlewild" of +to-day is still green to the memory of the poet. Since Willis' death +the place has passed in turn into various hands, until now it belongs +to a wealthy New York lawyer, who has spent thousands of dollars on +the house and grounds. The old house still stands, and here and there +in the grounds remains a suggestion of the time of Willis. The famous +pine-drive leading to the mansion, along which the greatest literary +lights of the Knickerbocker period passed during its palmy days, still +remains intact, the dense growth of the trees only making the road the +more picturesque. The brook, at which Willis often sat, still runs on +through the grounds as of yore. In the house, everything is remodeled +and remodernized. The room from whose windows Willis was wont to look +over the Hudson, and where he did most of his charming writing, is now +a bedchamber, modern in its every appointment, and suggesting its age +only by the high ceiling and curious mantel. Only a few city blocks +from "Idlewild" is the house where lived E. P. Roe, the author of so +many popular novels, as numerous, almost, in number as the several +hundreds of thousands of circulation which they secured. There are +twenty-three acres to it in all, and, save what was occupied by the +house, every inch of ground was utilized by the novelist in his hobby +for fine fruits and rare flowers. Now nothing remains of the beauty +once so characteristic of the place. For four years the grounds have +missed the care of their creator. Where once were the novelist's +celebrated strawberry beds, are now only grass and weeds. Everything +is grown over, only a few trees remaining as evidence that the grounds +were ever known for their cultivated products. A large board sign +announces the fact that the entire place is for sale. + + * * * + + The river narrows at their proud behest + And creeps more darkly as it deeper flows, + And fitful winds swirl through the long defile + Where the great Highlands keep their stern repose. + + _E.A. Lente._ + + * * * + +Cornwall has been for many years a favorite resort of the Hudson +Valley and her roofs shelter in the summer season many thousand +people. The road completed in 1876, from Cornwall to West Point, gives +one a pleasant acquaintance with the wooded Highlands. It passes over +the plateau of Cro' Nest and winds down the Cornwall slope of Storm +King. The tourist who sees Cro' Nest and Storm King only from the +river, has but little idea of their extent. Cro' Nest plateau is about +one thousand feet above the parade ground of West Point, and overlooks +it as a rocky balcony. These mountains, with their wonderful lake +system, are, in fact, the "Central Park" of the Hudson. Within a +radius of ten miles are clustered over forty lakes, and we very much +doubt if one person in a thousand ever heard of them. A convenient +map giving the physical geography of this section would be of great +service to the mountain visitor. The Cornwall pier, built by the _New +York, Ontario and Western Railroad_ in 1892 for coal and freight +purposes, will be seen on our left near the Cornwall dock. This +railroad leaves the _West Shore_ at this point and forms a pleasant +tourist route to the beautiful inland villages and resorts of the +State. + + * * * + + A solitary gleam struck on the base of the Highland peak, and + moved gracefully up its side, until reaching the summit, it stood + for a minute forming a crown of glory to the sombre pile. + + _James Fenimore Cooper._ + + * * * + +=Newburgh to Poughkeepsie.= + +=Newburgh=, 60 miles from New York. Approaching the city of Newburgh, +we see a building of rough stone, one story high, with steep +roof--known as Washington's Headquarters. For several years prior to, +and during the Revolution, this was the home of Jonathan Hasbrouck, +known far and wide for business integrity and loyalty to liberty. This +house was built by him, apparently, in decades; the oldest part, the +northeast corner, in 1750; the southeast corner, in 1760, and the +remaining half in 1770. It fronted west on the king's highway, now +known as Liberty Street, with a garden and family burial plot to the +east, lying between the house and the river. It was restored as nearly +as possible to its original character on its purchase by the State +in 1849, and it is now the treasure-house of many memories, and of +valuable historic relics. A descriptive catalogue, prepared for +the trustees, under act of May 11, 1874, by a patient and careful +historian, =Dr. E. M. Ruttenber=, will be of service to the visitor and +can be obtained on the grounds. The following facts, condensed from +his admirable historical sketch, are of practical interest: + +"=Washington's Headquarters=, or the Hasbrouck house, is situated in +the southeast part of the city, constructed of rough stone, one story +high, fifty-six feet front by forty-six feet in depth, and located on +what was originally Lot No. 2, of the German Patent, with title vested +in Heman (Herman?) Schoneman, a native of the Palatinate of Germany, +who sold, in 1721, to James Alexander, who subsequently sold to +Alexander Colden and Burger Meynders, by whom it was conveyed to +Jonathan Hasbrouck, the grandson of Abraham Hasbrouck, one of the +Huguenot founders of New Paltz. He was a man of marked character; of +fine physique, being six feet and four inches in height; was colonel +of the militia of the district, and in frequent service in guarding +the passes of the Highlands. His occupation was that of a farmer, a +miller, and a merchant. He died in 1780. The first town meeting for +the Precinct of Newburgh was held here on the first Tuesday in April, +1763, when its owner was elected supervisor. Public meetings continued +to be held here for several years. During the early part of the +Revolution, the committee of safety, of the precinct, assembled here; +here military companies were organized, and here the regiment which +Colonel Hasbrouck commanded assembled, to move hence to the defence of +the Highland forts." + + * * * + + Sacred in this mansion hoary, + 'Neath its roof-tree long ago + Dwelt the father of our glory, + He whose name appalled the foe. + + _Mary E. Monell._ + + * * * + +From this brief outline, it will be seen that the building is +singularly associated with the history of the Old as well as of the +New World: with the former through the original grantee of the land, +recalling the wars which devastated the Palatinate and sent its +inhabitants, fugitive and penniless, to other parts of Europe and to +America; through his successor with the Huguenots of France, and, +through the public meetings which assembled here, and especially +through its occupation by Washington, with the struggle for American +independence. + +In the spring of 1782 Washington made this building his headquarters, +and remained here until August 18, 1783, on the morning of which day +he took his departure from Newburgh. At this place he passed through +the most trying period of the Revolution: the year of inactivity on +the part of Congress, of distress throughout the country, and of +complaint and discontent in the army, the latter at one time bordering +on revolt among the officers and soldiers. + +It was at this place, on the 22d day of May, 1782, that Colonel +Nicola, on behalf of himself and others, proposed that Washington +should become king, for the "national advantage," a proposal that was +received by Washington with "surprise and astonishment," "viewed with +abhorrence," and "reprehended with severity." The temptation which was +thus repelled by Washington, had its origin with that portion of the +officers of the army, who while giving their aid heartily to secure +an independent government, nevertheless believed that that government +should be a monarchy. The rejection of the proposition by Washington +was not the only significant result. The rank and file of the army +rose up against it, and around their camp-fires chanted their purpose +in Billings' song, "No King but God!" From that hour a republic became +the only possible form of government for the enfranchised Colonies. + + * * * + + With silvered locks and eyes grown dim, + As victory's sun proclaimed the morn, + He pushed aside the diadem + With stern rebuke and patriot scorn. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +The inattention of Congress to the payment of the army, during the +succeeding winter, gave rise to an equally important episode in the +history of the war. On the 10th of March, 1783, the first of the +famous "Newburgh Letters" was issued, in which, by implication at +least, the army was advised to revolt. The letter was followed by an +anonymous manuscript notice for a public meeting of officers on +the succeeding Tuesday. Washington was equal to the emergency. He +expressed his disapprobation of the whole proceeding, and with great +wisdom, requested the field officers, with one commissioned officer +from each company, to meet on the Saturday preceding the time +appointed by the anonymous notice. He attended this meeting and +delivered before it one of the most touching and effective addresses +on record. When he closed his remarks, the officers unanimously +resolved "to reject with disdain" the infamous proposition contained +in the anonymous address. + +The meeting of officers referred to was held at the New Building or +"Temple" as it was called, in New Windsor, but Washington's address +was written at his headquarters. The "Newburgh Letters," to which it +was a reply, were written by Major John Armstrong, aid-de-camp to +General Gates. The anonymously called meeting was not held. The +motives of its projectors we will not discuss; but its probable +effect, had it been successful, must be considered in connection +with Washington's encomium of the result of the meeting which he had +addressed: "Had this day been wanting, the world had never known the +height to which human greatness is capable of attaining." + + * * * + + Freemen pause! this ground is holy, + Noble spirits suffered here, + Tardy Justice, marching slowly, + Tried their faith from year to year. + + _Mary E. Monell._ + + * * * + + Serene and calm in peril's hour, + An honest man without pretence, + He stands supreme to teach the power + And brilliancy of common-sense. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +Notice of the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed to the army +April 19, 1783. It was received with great rejoicings by the troops +at Newburgh, and under Washington's order, was the occasion of +an appropriate celebration. In the evening, signal beacon lights +proclaimed the joyous news to the surrounding country. Thirteen +cannon came pealing up from Fort Putnam, which were followed by a +_feu-de-joie_ rolling along the lines. The mountain sides resounded +and echoed like tremendous peals of thunder, and the flashing from +thousands of fire-arms, in the darkness of the evening, was like unto +vivid flashes of lightning from the clouds. From this time furloughs +were freely granted to soldiers who wished to return to their homes, +and when the army was finally disbanded those absent were discharged +from service without being required to return. That portion of the +army, which remained at Newburgh on guard duty, after the removal of +the main body to West Point in June, were participants here in the +closing scenes of the disbandment, when, on the morning of November +3, 1783, "the proclamation of Congress and the farewell orders of +Washington were read, and the last word of command given." From +Monell's "Handbook of Washington's Headquarters" we also quote a +general description of the house and its appearance when occupied by +the commander-in-chief. "Washington's family consisted of himself, his +wife, and his aid-de-camp, Major Tench Tilghman. The large room, which +is entered from the piazza on the east, known as 'the room with seven +doors and one window,' was used as the dining and sitting-room. The +northeast room was Washington's bedroom and the one adjoining it on +the left was occupied by him as a private office. The family room was +that in the southeast; the kitchen was the southwest room; the parlor +the northwest room. Between the latter and the former was the hall and +staircase and the storeroom, so called for having been used by Colonel +Hasbrouck and subsequently by his widow as a store. The parlor was +mainly reserved for Mrs. Washington and her guests. A Mrs. Hamilton, +whose name frequently appears in Washington's account book, was his +housekeeper, and in the early part of the war made a reputation for +her zeal in his service, which Thacher makes note of and Washington +acknowledges in his reference to an exchange of salt. There was little +room for the accommodation of guests, but it is presumed that the +chambers were reserved for that purpose. Washington's guests, however, +were mainly connected with the army and had quarters elsewhere. Even +Lafayette had rooms at DeGrove's Hotel when a visitor at headquarters. + +"The building is now substantially in the condition it was during +Washington's occupation of it. The same massive timbers span the +ceiling; the old fire-place with its wide-open chimney is ready for +the huge back-logs of yore; the seven doors are in their places; +the rays of the morning sun still stream through the one window; no +alteration in form has been made in the old piazza--the adornments on +the walls, if such the ancient hostess had, have alone been changed +for souvenirs of the heroes of the nation's independence. In +presence of these surroundings, it requires but little effort of the +imagination to restore the departed guests. Forgetting not that this +was Washington's private residence, rather than a place for the +transaction of public business, we may, in the old sitting-room +respread the long oaken table, listen to the blessing invoked on the +morning meal, hear the cracking of joints, and the mingled hum of +conversation. The meal dispensed, Mrs. Washington retires to appear at +her flower beds or in her parlor to receive her morning calls. Colfax, +the captain of the life-guard, enters to receive the orders of the +day--perhaps a horse and guard for Washington to visit New Windsor, +or a barge for Fishkill or West Point, is required; or it may be +Washington remains at home and at his writing desk conducts his +correspondence, or dictates orders for army movements. The old +arm-chair, sitting in the corner yonder, is still ready for its former +occupant. + +"The dinner hour of five o'clock approaches; the guests of the day +have already arrived. Steuben, the iron drill-master and German +soldier of fortune, converses with Mrs. Washington. He had reduced +the simple marksmen of Bunker Hill to the discipline of the armies +of Europe and tested their efficiency in the din of battle. He has +leisure now, and scarcely knows how to find employment for his active +mind. He is telling his hostess, in broken German-English, of the +whale (it proved to be an eel) he had caught in the river. Hear his +hostess laugh! And that is the voice of Lafayette, relating perhaps +his adventures in escaping from France, or his mishap in attempting +to attend Mrs. Knox's last party. Wayne, of Stony Point; Gates, of +Saratoga; Clinton, the Irish-blooded Governor of New York, and their +compatriots--we may place them all at times beside our _Pater Patriae_ +in this old room, and hear amid the mingled hum his voice declare: +'Happy, thrice happy, shall they be pronounced hereafter, who have +contributed anything, who have performed the meanest office in +erecting this stupendous fabric of Freedom and Empire on the broad +basis of independency; who have assisted in protecting the rights of +human nature, and in establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed +of all nations and religions.' + +"In France, some fifty years after the Revolution, Marbois reproduced, +as an entertainment for Lafayette, then an old man, this old +sitting-room and its table scene. From his elegant saloon he conducted +his guests, among whom were several Americans, to the room which he +had prepared. There was a large open fire-place, and plain oaken +floors; the ceiling was supported with large beams and whitewashed; +there were the seven small-sized doors and one window with heavy sash +and small panes of glass. The furniture was plain and unlike any then +in use. Down the centre of the room was an oaken table covered with +dishes of meat and vegetables, decanters and bottles of wine, and +silver mugs and small wine glasses. The whole had something the +appearance of a Dutch kitchen. While the guests were looking around in +surprise at this strange procedure, the host, addressing himself to +them said, 'Do you know where we now are?' Lafayette looked around, +and, as if awakening from a dream, he exclaimed, 'Ah! the seven doors +and one window, and the silver camp goblets such as the Marshals of +France used in my youth. We are at Washington's Headquarters on the +Hudson fifty years ago.'" + + * * * + + One window looking toward the east; + Seven doors wide-open every side; + That room revered proclaims at least + An invitation free and wide. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + + The goodness which characterizes Washington is felt + by all around him, but the confidence he inspires is + never familiar; it springs from a profound esteem for + his virtues and a great opinion of his talents. + + _Marquis de Chastellux._ + + * * * + + From these headquarters Washington promulgated his + memorable order for the cessation of hostilities and + recalled the fact that its date, April 18th, was the anniversary + of the battles of Lexington and Concord. + + _Thomas F. Bayard._ + + * * * + +The Hasbrouck family returned to their old home, made historic for all +time, after the disbandment of the army and remained until it became +the property of the State. On July 4, 1850, the place was formally +dedicated by Major-General Winfield Scott, dedicatory address +delivered by John J. Monell, an ode by Mary E. Monell, and an oration +by Hon. John W. Edmunds. The centennial of the disbanding of the army +was observed here October 18, 1883. After the noonday procession +of 10,000 men in line, three miles in length, with governors and +representative people from almost every State, 150,000 people, "ten +acres" square, gathered in the historic grounds. Senator Bayard, of +Delaware, was chairman of the day. Hon. William M. Evarts was the +orator, and modestly speaking in the third person, Wallace Bruce, +author of this handbook, was the poet. No one there gathered can ever +forget that afternoon of glorious sunlight or the noble pageant. The +great mountains, which had so frequently been the bulwark of liberty +and a place of refuge for our fathers, were all aglow with beauty, as +if, like Horeb's bush, they too would open their lips in praise and +thanksgiving. One of the closing sentences of Senator Evarts' address +is unsurpassed in modern or ancient eloquence: "These rolling years +have shown growth, forever growth, and strength, increasing strength, +and wealth and numbers ever expanding, while intelligence, freedom, +art, culture and religion have pervaded and ennobled all this material +greatness. Wide, however, as is our land and vast our population +to-day, these are not the limits to the name, the fame, the power of +the life and character of Washington. If it could be imagined that +this nation, rent by disastrous feuds, broken in its unity, should +ever present the miserable spectacle of the undefiled garments of his +fame parted among his countrymen, while for the seamless vesture +of his virtue they cast lots--if this unutterable shame, if this +immeasurable crime, should overtake this land and this people, be sure +that no spot in the wide world is inhospitable to his glory, and +no people in it but rejoices in the influence of his power and his +virtue." In his lofty sentences the old heroes seemed to pass again +in review before us, and the daily life of that heroic band, when +Congress sat inactive and careless of its needs until the camp rose in +mutiny, happily checked, however, by the great commander in a single +sentence. It will be remembered that Washington began to read his +manuscript without glasses, but was compelled to stop, and, as he +adjusted them to his eyes, he said, "You see, gentlemen, that I have +not only grown gray, but blind, in your service." It is needless to +say that the "anonymously called" meeting was not held. + + He quelled the half-paid mutineers, + And bound them closer to the cause; + His presence turned their wrath to tears, + Their muttered threats to loud applause. + + The great Republic had its birth + That hour beneath the army's wing, + Whose leader taught by native worth + The man is grander than the king. + + * * * + + We hear the anthem once again,-- + "No king but God!"--to guide our way, + Like that of old--"Good-will to men"-- + Unto the shrine where freedom lay. + + _Wallace Bruce_. + + * * * + +Near at hand, and also plainly seen from the river, is the new Tower +of Victory, fifty-three feet high, costing $67,000. It contains a +life-size statue of Washington, in the act of sheathing his sword, +with bronze figures representing the rifle, the artillery, the line +officer and dragoon service of our country, with a bronze tablet on +the east wall bearing the inscription: "This monument was erected +under the authority of the Congress of the United States, and of +the State of New York, in commemoration of the disbandment, under +proclamation of the Continental Congress, of October 18, 1783, of +the armies, by whose patriotic and military virtue, our national +independence and sovereignty were established." The Belvidere, reached +by a spiral staircase, is capable of holding one hundred persons, +and the view therefrom takes in a wide extent of panoramic beauty. +Newburgh has not only reason to be proud of her historical landmarks +and her beautiful situation, but also of her commercial prosperity. +In olden times, it was a great centre for all the western and +southwestern district, farmers and lumbermen coming from long +distances in the interior. Soon after the Revolution she was made a +village, when there were only two others in the State. Before the days +of the Erie canal, this was the shortest route to Lake Erie, and was +made by stage _via_ Ithaca. With increasing facilities of railway +communication, she has also easily held her own against all commercial +rivals. The _West Shore Railroad_, the _Erie Railway_, the _New York +Central_ and the _New York and New England_ across the river, and +several Hudson river steamers, make her peculiarly central. The city +is favored with beautiful driveways, amid charming country seats. +The New Paltz road passes the site where General Wayne had his +headquarters, also, the "Balm of Gilead tree," which gave the name of +Balmville to the suburban locality. Another road affords a glimpse of +the "Vale of Avoca," named after the well-known glen in Ireland, of +which Tom Moore so sweetly sung. Here, some say, a treacherous attempt +was made on the life of Washington, but it is not generally credited +by critical historians. As the steamer leaves the dock, and we look +back upon the factories and commercial houses along the water front, +crowned by noble streets of residence, with adjoining plateau, +sweeping back in a vast semi-circle as a beautiful framework to +the wide bay, we do not wonder that Hendrick Hudson established a +prophetic record by writing "a very pleasant place to build a town." + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURGH] + + * * * + + Washington! Brave without temerity; laborious without + ambition; generous without prodigality; noble + without pride; virtuous without severity. + + _Marquis de Chastellux._ + + * * * + +=Fishkill-on-the-Hudson.=--Directly opposite Newburgh, one mile north +of Denning's Point (formerly the eastern dock of the Newburgh ferry), +rises on a pleasant slope, the newer Fishkill of this region. A little +more than a mile from the landing, is the manufacturing village +of Matteawan, connected by an electric railroad. Old Fishkill, or +Fishkill Village, is about four miles inland, charmingly located, +under the slope of the Fishkill range. This was once the largest +village in Dutchess county, and was chosen for its secure position +above the Highlands, as the place to which "should be removed the +treasury and archives of the State, also, as the spot for holding the +subsequent sessions of the Provincial Conventions," after they were +driven from New York. A historical sketch of the town, by T. Van Wyck +Brinkerhoff, presents many things of interest. "Its history, anterior +to 1682, belongs to the red men of the valley, and, more than any +other spot, this was the home of their priests. Here they performed +their incantations and administered at their altars." According to +Broadhead, "It would seem that the neighboring Indians esteemed +the peltries from Fishkill as charmed by the incantations of the +aboriginal enchanters who lived along its banks, and the beautiful +scenery in which those ancient priests of the Highlands dwelt, is +thus invested with new poetic associations." Dunlap speaks of them as +"occupying the Highlands, called by them Kittatenny Mountains. Their +principal settlement, designated Wiccapee, was situated in the +vicinity of Anthony's Nose. Here too, lived the Wappingers, a war-like +and brave tribe, extending themselves along the Matteawan, along +the Wappingers Kill and tributaries, along the Hudson, and to the +northward, across the river into Ulster County. These and other tribes +to the south, west and north, were parts of and tributaries to the +great Iroquois confederation--the marvel for all time to come of a +system of government so wise and politic, and for men so eloquent and +daring. The Wappingers took part in the Dutch and Indian wars of 1643 +and 1663, led on by their war chiefs, Wapperonk and Aepjen. A few +Indian names are still remaining, and a few traces of their history +still left standing. The name Matteawan is Indian, signifying 'Good +Beaver Grounds,' and the name Wappinger still speaks of those who +once owned the soil along the Hudson. Their name for the stream was +Mawanassigh, or Mawenawasigh. Wiccapee and Shenondoah are also Indian +names of places in Fishkill Hook, and East Fishkill, and Apoquague, +still surviving as the name of a country postoffice, was the Indian +style of what is now called Silver Lake, signifying 'round pond.' In +Fishkill Hook until quite recently, there were traces of their burial +grounds, and many apple and pear trees are still left standing, set +there by the hands of the red man before the country had been occupied +by Europeans." + + * * * + + For here amid these hills he once kept court-- + He who his country's eagle taught to soar + And fired those stars which shine o'er every shore. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +To return to Brinkerhoff, "The first purchase of land in the county +of Dutchess, was made in the town of Fishkill. On the 8th day +of February, 1682, a license was given by Thomas Dongan, +Commander-in-chief of the Province of New York, to Francis Rombout and +Gulian Ver Planck, to purchase a tract of land from the Indians. Under +this license, they bought, on the 8th day of August, 1683, of the +Wappinger Indians, all their right, title and interest to a certain +large tract of land, afterward known as the Rombout precinct. Gulian +Ver Planck died before the English patent was issued by Governor +Dongan; Stephanus Van Cortland was then joined in it with Rombout, +and Jacobus Kipp substituted as the representative of the children of +Gulian Ver Planck. On the 17th day of October, 1685, letters patent, +under the broad seal of the Province of New York, were granted by King +James the Second, and the parties to whom these letters patent were +granted, became from that time the undisputed proprietors of the soil. +There were 76,000 acres of these lands lying in Fishkill, and other +towns taken from the patent, and 9,000 acres lying in the limits of +the town of Poughkeepsie. Besides paying the natives, as a further +consideration for the privilege of their license, they were to pay +the commander-in-chief, Thomas Dongan, six bushels of good and +merchantable winter wheat every year." In the Book of Patents, at +Albany, vol. 5, page 72, will be found the deed, of special interest +to the historian and antiquarian. + + * * * + + It was a dainty day, and it grew more dainty towards + its close as the lights and shadows stretched athwart + our Highland landscape. + + _Susan Warner._ + + * * * + +"After the evacuation of New York, in the fall of 1776, and the +immediate loss of the seaboard, with Long Island and part of New +Jersey, Fishkill was at once crowded with refugees, as they were then +called, who sought, by banishing themselves from their homes on Long +Island and New York, to escape imprisonment and find safety here. The +interior army route to Boston passed through this place. Army stores, +workshops, ammunition, etc., were established and deposited here." The +Marquis De Chastellux, in his travels in North America, says: "This +town, in which there are not more than fifty houses in the space of +two miles, has been long the principal depot of the American army. +It is there they have placed their magazines, their hospitals, their +workshops, etc., but all of these form a town in themselves, composed +of handsome large barracks, built in the woods at the foot of the +mountains: for the American army, like the Romans in many respects, +have hardly any other winter quarters than wooden towns, or barricaded +camps, which may be compared to the 'hiemalia' of the Romans." These +barracks were situated on the level plateau between the residence of +Mr. Cotheal and the mountains. Portions of these grounds were no +doubt then covered with timber. Guarding the approach from the south, +stockades and fortifications were erected on commanding positions, and +regularly manned by detachments from the camp. + + * * * + + Unto him and them all owing + Peace as stable as our hills, + Plenty like yon river flowing + To the sea from thousand rills. + + _Mary E. Monell._ + + * * * + +"Upon one of these hills, rising out of this mountain pass-way, very +distinct lines of earthworks are yet apparent. Near the residence of +Mr. Sidney E. Van Wyck, by the large black-walnut trees, and east +of the road near the base of the mountain, was the soldiers' burial +ground. Many a poor patriot soldier's bones lie mouldering there; and +if we did but know how many, we would be startled at the number, for +this almost unknown and unnoticed burial ground holds not a few, but +hundreds of those who gave their lives for the cause of American +independence. Some fifteen years ago, an old lady who had lived near +the village until after she had grown to womanhood, told the writer +that after the battle of White Plains she went with her father through +the streets of Fishkill, and in places between the Dutch and Episcopal +churches, the dead were piled up like cord-wood. Those who died from +wounds in battle or from sickness in hospital were buried there. Many +of these were State militiamen, and it seems no more than just that +the State should make an appropriation to erect a suitable monument +over this spot. Rather than thus remain for another century, if a +rough granite boulder were rolled down from the mountain side and +inscribed: 'To the unknown and unnumbered dead of the American +Revolution,' that rough unhewn stone would tell to the stranger and +the passer-by, more to the praise and fame of our native town than +any of us shall be able to add to it by works of our own; for it is +doubtful whether any spot in the State has as many of the buried dead +of the Revolution as this quiet burial yard in our old town!" Here +also on June 2, 1883, was observed "The Fishkill Centennial," and +few of our centennials have been celebrated amid objects of greater +revolutionary interest. Near at hand, to quote from the official +report of the proceedings, is "Denning's Point where Washington +frequently, while waiting, tied his horses under those magnificent +'Washington oaks,' as he passed backward and forward from New Windsor +and Newburgh to Fishkill. Near by is the Verplanck House, Baron +Steuben's old headquarters. On Spy Hill and Continental Hill troops +were quartered. At Matteawan Sackett lived, and there is the Teller +House built by Madame Brett, where officers frequently resorted, and +there Yates dwelt when he presided over the legislative body while it +held its sessions in Fishkill, that had much to do with forming our +first State Constitution. Baron Steuben was for a while in the old +Scofield House at Glenham. In Fishkill are those renowned old churches +where legislative sittings were held, which were also used as +hospitals for the sick, and one of which is otherwise known as being +the place where Enoch Crosby, the spy, was imprisoned, and from which +he escaped. Near at hand the Wharton House (Van Wyck House), forever +associated with him, and made famous by Cooper's 'Spy.' In the +Brinckerhoff House above, Lafayette was dangerously ill with a fever, +and there, at Swartwoutville, Washington was often a visitor. Whenever +Washington was at Fishkill he made Colonel Brinckerhoff's his +headquarters. He occupied the bedroom back of the parlor, which +remains the same 'excepting a door that opens into the hall, which has +been cut through.' It is an old-fashioned house built of stone, with +the date 1738 on one of its gables." With the story of Fishkill we +close the largest page relating to our revolutionary heroes, and leave +behind us the Old Beacon Mountains which forever sentinel and proclaim +their glory. + + * * * + + No prouder sentinel of glory than the old Beacon + Mountain whose watch-fire guarded the valley and spoke + its rallying message to the Catskills and Berkshires and + the very foothills of the Green Mountains. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + + The sun touched mountains in some places were of + a bright orange and the shadows between them deep + neutral tint or blue. And the river apparently had + stopped running to reflect. + + _Susan Warner._ + + * * * + +=Low Point=, or Carthage, is a small village on the east bank, about +four miles north of Fishkill. It was called by the early inhabitants +Low Point, as New Hamburgh, two miles north, was called High Point. +Opposite Carthage is Roseton, once known as Middlehope, and above this +we see the residence of Bancroft Davis and the Armstrong Mansion. We +now behold on the west bank a large flat rock, covered with cedars, +recently marked by a lighthouse, the-- + +=Duyvel's Dans Kammer.=--Here Hendrick Hudson, in his voyage up the +river, witnessed an Indian pow-wow--the first recorded fireworks in a +country which has since delighted in rockets and pyrotechnic displays. +Here, too, in later years, tradition relates the sad fate of a wedding +party. It seems that a Mr. Hans Hansen and a Miss Kathrina Van +Voorman, with a few friends, were returning from Albany, and +disregarding the old Indian prophecy, were all slain:-- + + "For none that visit the Indian's den + Return again to the haunts of men. + The knife is their doom! O sad is their lot! + Beware, beware of the blood-stained spot!" + +Some years ago this spot was also searched for the buried treasures +of Captain Kidd, and we know of one river pilot who still dreams +semi-yearly of there finding countless chests of gold. + +Two miles above, on the east side, we pass New Hamburgh, at the mouth +of =Wappingers Creek=. The name Wappinger had its origin from Wabun, +east, and Acki, land. This tribe, a sub-tribe of the Mahicans, held +the east bank of the river, from Manhattan to Roeliffe Jansen's Creek, +which empties into the Hudson near Livingston, a few miles south of +Catskill Station on the _Hudson River Railroad_. Passing Hampton +Point we see Marlborough, the head-centre of a large fruit industry, +delightfully located in the sheltered pass of the Maunekill. On the +east bank will be noticed several fine residences: "Uplands," "High +Cliff," "Cedars," and "Netherwood." Milton is now at hand on the west +bank, with its cosy landing and _West Shore Railroad_ station. This +pleasant village was one of the loved spots of J. G. Holland, and the +home of Mary Hallock Foote, until a modern "Hiawatha" took our Hudson +"Minnehaha" to far away western mountains. + + * * * + + The tulip tree majestic stirs + Far down the water's marge beside, + And now awake the nearer firs, + And toss their ample branches wide. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +=Springbrook=, opposite Milton, a place of historic interest, near the +river bank, was bought by Theophilus Anthony before the Revolution. +Some of the links of the famous chain in the Highlands were forged +here in 1777. When the British ships ascended the river the family +fled to the woods, all but an old colored servant woman who wisely +furnished the soldiers a good dinner and got thereby their good will +to save the house. The old Flour Mill, however, was burned which stood +on the same site as the present Springbrook Mill. Theophilus Anthony's +only daughter married Thomas Gill after the Revolution, and from that +time the property has been in the Gill family. Few places in the +Hudson Valley have such ancient and continuous family history. + +=Locust Grove=, with square central tower and open outlook, residence +of the late Prof. S. F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, is seen on +the west bank; also the "Lookout," once known as Mine Hill, now a part +of Poughkeepsie cemetery, with charming driveway to the wooded point +where the visitor can see from his carriage one of the finest views +of the Hudson. The completion of this drive is largely due to the +enterprise of the late Mr. George Corlies, who did much to make +Poughkeepsie beautiful. The view from this "Lookout" takes in the +river for ten miles to the south, and reaches on the north to the +Catskills. In a ramble with Mr. Corlies over Lookout Point, he told +the writer that it was originally the purpose of Matthew Vassar to +erect a monument on Pollopel's Island to Hendrick Hudson. Mr. Corlies +suggested this point as the most commanding site. Mr. Vassar visited +it, and concluded to place the monument here. He published an article +in the Poughkeepsie papers to this effect, and, meeting Mr. Corlies +one week afterwards, said, "Not one person in the city of Poughkeepsie +has referred to my monument. I have decided to build a college for +women, where they can learn what is useful, practical and sensible." +It is interesting to note the fountain-idea of the first woman's +college in the world, as it took form and shape in the mind of its +founder. + +[Illustration: POUGHKEEPSIE BRIDGE] + +[Illustration: TROPHY POINT, WEST POINT] + +[Illustration: OLD CRO' NEST AND STORM KING] + +[Illustration: POLLIPEL'S ISLAND AND MOUNT TAURUS] + +[Illustration: THE CATSKILLS FROM THE HUDSON] + +[Illustration: NORTHERN GATE OF HIGHLANDS] + + * * * + + And from their leaguering legions thick and vast + The galling hail-shot in fierce volley falls, + While quick, from cloud to cloud, darts o'er the levin + The flash that fires the batteries of heaven! + + _Knickerbocker Magazine._ + + * * * + +[Illustration: MORNING VIEW AT BLUE POINT.] + +We now see =Blue Point=, on the west bank; and, in every direction, +enjoy the finest views. The scenery seems to stand, in character, +between the sublimity of the Highlands and the tranquil, dreamy repose +of the Tappan Zee. It is said that under the shadow of these hills was +the favorite anchorage of-- + +=The Storm Ship=, one of our oldest and most reliable legends. The +story runs somewhat as follows: Years ago, when New York was a +village--a mere cluster of houses on the point now known as the +Battery--when the Bowery was the farm of Peter Stuyvesant, and the Old +Dutch Church on Nassau Street (which also long since disappeared), +was considered the country--when communication with the old world was +semi-yearly instead of semi-weekly or daily--say two hundred years +ago--the whole town one evening was put into great commotion by the +fact that a ship was coming up the bay. + + * * * + + See you beneath yon sky so dark + Fast gliding along a gloomy bark:-- + By skeleton shapes her sails are furled, + And the hand that steers is not of this world. + + _Legend of the Storm Ship._ + + * * * + +She approached the Battery within hailing distance, and then, sailing +against both wind and tide, turned aside and passed up the Hudson. +Week after week and month after month elapsed, but she never returned; +and whenever a storm came down on Haverstraw Bay or Tappan Zee, it +is said that she could be seen careening over the waste; and, in the +midst of the turmoil, you could hear the captain giving orders, in +_good Low Dutch_; but when the weather was pleasant, her favorite +anchorage was among the shadows of the picturesque hills, on the +eastern bank, a few miles above the Highlands. It was thought by some +to be Hendrick Hudson and his crew of the "Half Moon," who, it was +well known, had once run aground in the upper part of the river, +seeking a northwest passage to China; and people who live in this +vicinity still insist that under the calm harvest moon and the +pleasant nights of September, they see her under the bluff of Blue +Point, all in deep shadow, save her topsails glittering in the +moonlight. + +=Poughkeepsie=, 74 miles from New York, is now at hand, Queen City +of the Hudson, with name, derived from the Indian word Apokeepsing, +signifying "safe harbor." Near the landing a bold headland juts out +into the river, known as Kaal Rock, and no doubt this sheltering +rock was a safe harbor in days of birch canoes. It has been recently +claimed that the word signifies "muddy pond," which is neither true, +appropriate or poetic. Poughkeepsie does not propose to give up +her old-time "harbor name," particularly as it has been recently +discovered that the name "Kipsie" was also given by the Indians to a +"safe harbor" near the Battery on Manhattan Island. It is said that +there are over forty different ways of spelling Poughkeepsie, and +every year the postoffice record gives a new one. The first house was +built in 1702 by a Mr. Van Kleeck. The State legislature had a session +here in 1777 or 1778, when New York was held by the British and after +Kingston had been burned by Vaughan. + + * * * + + On the crest of the waves, a something that glides + Before the stiff breeze, and gracefully rides + On the inflowing tide majestic and free + A huge and mysterious bird of the sea. + + _Irving Bruce._ + + * * * + +Ten years later, the State convention also met here for ratification +of the Federal Constitution. The town has a beautiful location, and is +justly regarded the finest residence city on the river. It is not +only midway between New York and Albany, but also midway between the +Highlands and the Catskills, commanding a view of the mountain portals +on the south and the mountain overlook on the north--the Gibraltar of +revolutionary fame and the dreamland of Rip Van Winkle. + + * * * + + The azure heaven is filled with smiles, + The water lisping at my feet + From weary thought my heart beguiles. + + _Henry Abbey._ + + * * * + +The well known poet and _litterateur_, Joel Benton, who divides his +residence between New York and Poughkeepsie, in a recent article, +"The Midway City of the Hudson," written for the _Poughkeepsie Sunday +Courier_, says: + +"Poughkeepsie as a township was incorporated in 1788. The village +bearing the name was formed in 1799 (incorporated as a city in 1854), +and soon became the center of a large trade running in long lines east +and west from the river. Dutchess County had at this time but a sparse +population. There was a post-road from New York to Albany; but the +building of the Dutchess Turnpike from Poughkeepsie to Sharon, Conn., +connecting with one from that place to Litchfield, which took place +in 1808, was a capital event in its history. This made a considerable +strip of western Connecticut tributary to Poughkeepsie's trade. + +"Over the turnpike went four-horse Concord stages, with berailed top +and slanting boot in the rear for trunks and other baggage. Each one +had the tin horn of the driver; and it was difficult to tell upon +which the driver most prided himself--the power to fill that thrilling +instrument, or his deft handling of the ponderous whip and multiplied +reins. Travelers to Hartford and Boston went over this route; and an +east and west through and way mail was a part of the burden. A sort of +overland express and freight line, styled the Market Wagon, ran in +and out of the town from several directions. One or more of these +conveyances started from as far east as the Housatonic River, and they +frequently crowded passengers in amongst their motley wares. + +"Speaking of the stage-driver's horn recalls the fact that when the +steamboat arrived--which was so solitary an institution that for some +time it was distinctly called 'The Steamboat'--the tin horn did duty +also for it. When it was seen in the distance, either Albanyward or in +the New York direction, a boy went through the village blowing a horn +to arouse those who wished to embark on it. It is said the expectant +passengers had ample time, after the horn was sounded, to make their +toilets, run down to the river (or walk down) and take passage on it. + +"In colonial days few were the people here; but they were a bright and +stirring handful. It seems as if every man counted as ten. The De's +and the Vans, the Livingstons, the Schuylers, the Montgomerys and ever +so many more of the Hudson River Valley settlers are still making +their impress upon the country. I suppose it need not now be counted +strange that the strong mixture of Dutch and English settlers, with a +few Huguenots, which finally made Dutchess county, were not a little +divided between Tory and Whig inclinations. Around Poughkeepsie, +and in its allied towns stretching between the Hudson River and the +Connecticut line, there was much strife. Gov. George Clinton in his +day ruled in the midst of much tumult and turbulence; but he held the +reins with vigor, in spite of kidnappers or critics. When the British +burned Kingston he prorogued the legislature to Poughkeepsie, which +still served as a 'safe harbor.' As the resolution progressed the Tory +faction was weakened, either by suppression or surrender. + +"It was in the Poughkeepsie Court House that, by _one_ vote, after a +Homeric battle, the colony of New York consented to become a part of +the American republic, which consent was practically necessary to its +existence. + +"How large a part two small incidents played here towards the result of +nationality. That single vote was one, and the news by express from +Richmond, announcing Virginia's previous ratification--and added +stimulus to the vote--was the other. Poughkeepsie honored in May, +1824, the arrival of Lafayette, and dined him, besides exchanging +speeches with him, both at the Forbus House, on Market Street, very +nearly where the Nelson House now stands, and at the Poughkeepsie +Hotel. It was one of Poughkeepsie's great days when he came. Daniel +Webster has spoken in her court house; and Henry Clay, in 1844, when a +presidential candidate, stopped for a reception. And it is said that, +by a mere accident, she just missed contributing a name to the list of +presidents of the United States. The omitted candidate was Nathaniel +P. Talmadge. He could have had the vice-presidential candidacy, the +story goes, in 1840, but would not take it. If he had accepted it, he +would have gone into history not merely as United States senator +from New York and afterwards Governor of Wisconsin territory, but as +president in John Tyler's place. + +"In 1844, the New York State Fair was held here somewhere east of what +is now Hooker Avenue. It was an occasion thought important enough then +to be pictured and reported in the London _Illustrated News_. Two +years after the telegraph wires were put up in this city, before they +had yet reached the city of New York. Considering the fact that Prof. +S. F. B. Morse, the telegraph inventor, had his residence here, this +incident was not wholly inappropriate. + +"The advent in 1849 of the _Hudson River Railroad_, which was an +enterprise in its day of startling courage and magnitude, constituted +a special epoch in the history of Poughkeepsie and the Hudson River +towns. Men of middle age here well remember the hostility and ridicule +the project occasioned when it was first broached. Some said no +railroad ever _could_ be built on the river's edge; and, if you +should build one, the enormous expense incurred would make it forever +unprofitable. It seemed then the height of Quixotism to lay an +expensive track where the river offered a free way to all. Property +holders, whose property was to be greatly benefited, fought the +railroad company with unusual spirit and persistence. But the railroad +came, nevertheless, and needs no advocate or apologist to-day. There +is no one now living here who would ask its removal, any more than he +would ask the removal of the Hudson River itself." + + * * * + + And lo! the Catskills print the distant sky, + And o'er their airy tops the faint clouds driven, + So softly blending, that the cheated eye + Forgets or which is earth or which is heaven. + + _Theodore S. Fay_. + + * * * + + Mountains on mountains in the distance rise, + Like clouds along the far horizon's verge; + Their misty summits mingling with the skies, + Till earth and heaven seem blended into one. + + _Bayard Taylor._ + + * * * + +Poughkeepsie has been known for more than half a century as the City +of Schools. The Parthenon-like structure which crowns College Hill was +prophetic of a still grander and more widely known institution, the +first in the world devoted to higher culture for women,-- + +=Vassar College.=--This institution, founded by Matthew Vassar, and +situated two miles east of the city, maintains its prestige not only +as the first woman's college in point of time, but also first in +excellence and influence. The grounds are beautiful and graced by +noble buildings which have been erected year by year to meet the +continued demands of its patrons. The college is not seen from the +river but is of easy access by trolley from the steamboat landing. + +=Eastman College= is also one of the fixed and solid institutions +of Poughkeepsie, located in the very heart of the city. It has +accomplished good work in preparing young men for business, and has +made Poughkeepsie a familiar word in every household throughout the +land. It was fortunate for the city that the energetic founder of this +college selected the central point of the Hudson as the place of all +others most suited for his enterprise, and equally fortunate for the +thousands of young men who yearly graduate from this institution, +as the city is charmingly located and set like a picture amid +picturesque scenery. + +Among many successful public institutions of Poughkeepsie are the +Vassar Hospital, the Vassar Old Men's Home, the Old Ladies' Home, the +State Hospital and the Vassar Institute of Arts and Sciences. + + * * * + + I went three times up the Hudson; and if I lived in + New York should be tempted to ascend it three times a + week during the summer. + + _Harriet Martineau._ + + * * * + +The opera house is one of the pleasantest in the country and received +a high comment, still remembered, from Joseph Jefferson, for its +perfect acoustic quality. The armory, the Adriance Memorial Library to +the memory of Mr. and Mrs. John P. Adriance, and the historic Clinton +House on Main Street purchased in 1898 by the Daughters of the +Revolution, also claim the attention of the visitor. Several factories +are here located, the best known being that of Adriance, Platt & Co., +whose Buckeye mowers and reapers have been awarded the highest honors +in Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Russia, +Switzerland, and the United States, and are sold in every part of +the civilized globe. The Phoenix Horseshoe Co., the Knitting-Goods +Establishment, and various shoe, shirt and silk thread factories +contribute to the material prosperity of the town. The drives about +Poughkeepsie are delightful. Perhaps the best known in the United +States is the Hyde Park road, six miles in extent, with many palatial +homes and charming pictures of park and river scenery. This is a part +of the Old Post Road and reminds one by its perfect finish of the +roadways of England. Returning one can take a road to the left leading +by and up to + +=College Hill=, 365 feet in height, commanding a wide and extensive +prospect. The city lies below us, fully embowered as in a wooded park. +To the east the vision extends to the mountain boundaries of Dutchess +County, and to the north we have a view of the Catskills marshalled as +we have seen them a thousand times in sunset beauty along the horizon. +This property, once owned by Senator Morgan and his heirs, was happily +purchased by William Smith of Poughkeepsie, and given to the city as a +public park. There is great opportunity here to make this a thing of +beauty and a joy forever, for there are few views on the Hudson, +and none from any hill of its height, that surpass it in extent and +variety. The city reservoir lies to the north, about one hundred feet +down the slope of College Hill. + + * * * + + My heart is on the hills. The shades + Of night are on my brow; + Ye pleasant haunts and quiet glades, + My soul is with you now! + + _Robert C. Sands._ + + * * * + +The South Drive, a part of the Old Post Road, passes the gateway of +the beautiful rural cemetery, Locust Grove and many delightful homes. +Another interesting drive from Poughkeepsie is to Lake Mohonk and +Minnewaska, well-known resorts across the Hudson, in the heart of the +Shawangunk (pronounced Shongum) Mountains, also reached by railway +or stages via New Paltz. There are also many extended drives to +the interior of the county recommended to the traveler who makes +Poughkeepsie for a time his central point; chief among these, Chestnut +Ridge, formerly the home of the historian Benson J. Lossing, lying +amid the hill country of eastern Dutchess. Its mean altitude is about +1,100 feet above tide water, a fragment of the Blue Ridge branch of +the Appalachian chain of mountains, cleft by the Hudson at West Point, +stretching away to the Berkshire Hills. It is also easy of access by +the _Harlem Railroad_ from New York to Dover Plains with three miles +of carriage drive from that point. The outlook from the ridge is +magnificent; a sweep of eighty miles from the Highlands to the +Helderbergs, with the entire range of the Shawangunk and the +Catskills. Mr. Lossing once said that his family of nine persons had +required during sixteen years' residence on Chestnut Ridge, only ten +dollars' worth of medical attendance. Previous to 1868 he had resided +in Poughkeepsie, and throughout his life his form was a familiar one +in her streets. + + * * * + + Thy waves are old companions, I shall see + A well-remembered form in each old tree + And hear a voice long-loved in thy wild minstrelsy. + + _Joseph Rodman Drake._ + + * * * + +=The Dover Stone Church=, just west of Dover Plains Village, is also +well worth a visit. Here a small stream has worn out a remarkable +cavern in the rocks forming a gothic arch for entrance. It lies in a +wooded gorge within easy walk from the village. Many years ago the +writer of this handbook paid it an afternoon visit, and the picture +has remained impressed with wonderful vividness. The archway opens +into a solid rock, and a stream of water issues from the threshold. On +entering the visitor is confronted by a great boulder, resembling an +old-fashioned New England pulpit, reaching half way to the ceiling. +The walls are almost perfectly arched, and garnished here and there +with green moss and white lichen. A rift in the rocks extends the +whole length of the chapel, over which trees hang their green foliage, +which, ever rustling and trembling, form a trellis-work with the blue +sky, while the spray rising from behind the rock-worn altar seems like +the sprinkling of holy incense. After all these years I still hear the +voice of those dashing waters and dream again, as I did that day, of +the brook of Cherith where ravens fed the prophet of old. It is said +by Lossing, in his booklet on the Dover Stone Church, that Sacassas, +the mighty sachem of the Pequoids and emperor over many tribes between +the Thames and the Hudson River, was compelled after a disastrous +battle which annihilated his warriors, to fly for safety, and, driven +from point to point, he at last found refuge in this cave, where +undiscovered he subsisted for a few days on berries, until at last he +made his way through the territory of his enemies, the Mahicans, to +the land of the Mohawks. + + * * * + + Tell me, where'er thy silver bark be steering, + Bright Dian floating by fair Persian lands, + Tell if thou visited, thou heavenly rover, + A lovelier stream than this the wide world over. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +=Poughkeepsie to Kingston.= + +Leaving the Poughkeepsie dock the steamer approaches the Poughkeepsie +Bridge which, from Blue Point and miles below, has seemed to the +traveler like a delicate bit of lace-work athwart the landscape, +or like an old-fashioned "valance" which used to hang from Dutch +bedsteads in the Hudson River farm houses. This great cantilever +structure was begun in 1873, but abandoned for several years. The work +was resumed in 1886 just in time to save the charter, and was finished +by the Union Bridge Company in less than three years. The bridge is +12,608 feet in length (or about two miles and a half), the track being +212 feet above the water with 165 feet clear above the tide in the +centre span. The breadth of the river at this point is 3,094 feet. The +bridge originally cost over three million dollars and much more has +been annually spent in necessary improvements. It not only affords a +delightful passenger route between Philadelphia and Boston, but also +brings the coal centres of Pennsylvania to the very threshold of New +England. Two railroads from the east centre here, and what was once +considered an idle dream, although bringing personal loss to many +stockholders, has been of material advantage to the city. + +As the steamer passes under the bridge the traveler will see on the +left Highland station (_West Shore Railroad_) and above this the old +landing of New Paltz. A well traveled road winds from the ferry and +the station, up a narrow defile by the side of a dashing stream, +broken here and there in waterfalls, to Highland Village, New Paltz +and Lake Mohonk. _The Bridge and Trolley Line_ from Poughkeepsie make +a most delightful excursion to New Paltz, on the Wallkill, seat of one +of the State normal colleges. + + * * * + + My thoughts go back to thee, oh lovely lake, + Lake of the Sky Top! as thy beauties break + Upon the traveller of thy mountain road, + While sunset gilds thee, vision never fairer glowed! + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + +Prominent among many pleasant residences above Poughkeepsie are: +Mrs. F. J. Allen's of New York, Mrs. John F. Winslow's, Mrs. Thomas +Newbold's, J. Roosevelt's and Archie Rogers'. The large red buildings +above the Poughkeepsie water works are the Hudson River State +Hospital. Passing Crum Elbow Point on the left and the Sisters of the +White Cross Orphan Asylum, we see + +=Hyde Park=, 80 miles from New York, on the east bank, named some say, +in honor of Lady Ann Hyde; according to others, after Sir Edward Hyde, +one of the early British Governors of the colony. The first prominent +place above Hyde Park, is Frederick W. Vanderbilt's, with Corinthian +columns; and above this "Placentia," once the home of James K. +Paulding. + +Immediately opposite "Placentia," at West Park on the west bank, is +the home of John Burroughs, our sweetest essayist, the nineteenth +century's "White of Selborne." Judge Barnard of Poughkeepsie, once +said to the author of this handbook, "The best writer America has +produced after Hawthorne is John Burroughs; I wish I could see him." +It so happened that there had been an important "bank" suit a day or +two previous in Poughkeepsie which was tried before the judge in which +Mr. Burroughs had appeared as an important witness. The judge was +reminded of this fact when he remarked with a few emphatic words, the +absence of which seems to materially weaken the sentence: "Was that +Burroughs? Well, well, I wish I had known it." + + * * * + + How soothing is this solitude + With nature in her wildest mood, + Where Hudson deep, majestic, wide, + Pours to the sea his monarch tide. + + _William Wilson._ + + * * * + +=Mount Hymettus=, overlooking West Park, so named by "the author and +naturalist," has indeed been to him a successful hunting-ground for +bees and wild honey, and will be long remembered for sweeter stores of +honey encombed and presented in enduring type. Washington Irving says +of the early poets of Britain that "a spray could not tremble in the +breeze, or a leaf rustle to the ground, that was not seen by these +delicate observers and wrought up into some beautiful morality." So +John Burroughs has studied the Hudson in all its moods, knowing well +that it is not to be wooed and won in a single day. How clear this is +seen in his articles on "Our River": + +"Rivers are as various in their forms as forest trees. The Mississippi +is like an oak with enormous branches. What a branch is the Red River, +the Arkansas, the Ohio, the Missouri! The Hudson is like the pine +or poplar--mainly trunk. From New York to Albany there is only an +inconsiderable limb or two, and but few gnarls and excrescences. Cut +off the Rondout, the Esopus, the Catskill and two or three similar +tributaries on the east side, and only some twigs remain. There +are some crooked places, it is true, but, on the whole, the Hudson +presents a fine, symmetrical shaft that would be hard to match in any +river in the world. Among our own water-courses it stands preeminent. +The Columbia--called by Major Winthrop the Achilles of rivers--is a +more haughty and impetuous stream; the Mississippi is, of course, +vastly larger and longer; the St. Lawrence would carry the Hudson as +a trophy in his belt and hardly know the difference; yet our river is +doubtless the most beautiful of them all. It pleases like a mountain +lake. It has all the sweetness and placidity that go with such bodies +of water, on the one hand, and all their bold and rugged scenery on +the other. In summer, a passage up or down its course in one of the +day steamers is as near an idyl of travel as can be had, perhaps, +anywhere in the world. Then its permanent and uniform volume, its +fullness and equipoise at all seasons, and its gently-flowing currents +give it further the character of a lake, or of the sea itself. Of +the Hudson it may be said that it is a very large river for its +size,--that is for the quantity of water it discharges into the sea. +Its watershed is comparatively small--less, I think, than that of the +Connecticut. It is a huge trough with a very slight incline, through +which the current moves very slowly, and which would fill from the sea +were its supplies from the mountains cut off. Its fall from Albany to +the bay is only about five feet. Any object upon it, drifting with the +current, progresses southward no more than eight miles in twenty-four +hours. The ebb-tide will carry it about twelve miles and the flood set +it back from seven to nine. A drop of water at Albany, therefore, will +be nearly three weeks in reaching New York, though it will get pretty +well pickled some days earlier. Some rivers by their volume and +impetuosity penetrate the sea, but here the sea is the aggressor, and +sometimes meets the mountain water nearly half way. This fact was +illustrated a couple of years ago, when the basin of the Hudson was +visited by one of the most severe droughts ever known in this part of +the State. In the early winter after the river was frozen over above +Poughkeepsie, it was discovered that immense numbers of fish were +retreating up stream before the slow encroachment of salt water. There +was a general exodus of the finny tribes from the whole lower part of +the river; it was like the spring and fall migration of the birds, or +the fleeing of the population of a district before some approaching +danger: vast swarms of cat-fish, white and yellow perch and striped +bass were _en route_ for the fresh water farther north. When the +people along shore made the discovery, they turned out as they do in +the rural districts when the pigeons appear, and, with small gill-nets +let down through holes in the ice, captured them in fabulous numbers. +On the heels of the retreating perch and cat-fish came the denizens of +the salt water, and codfish were taken ninety miles above New York. +When the February thaw came and brought up the volume of fresh water +again, the sea brine was beaten back, and the fish, what were left of +them, resumed their old feeding-grounds. + + * * * + + Still on the Half-Moon glides: before her rise swarms + of quick water fowl, and from her prow the sturgeon + leaps, and falls with echoing splash. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + + Beneath--the river with its tranquil flood, + Around--the breezes of the morning, scented + With odors from the wood. + + _William Allen Butler._ + + * * * + +"It is this character of the Hudson, this encroachment of the sea upon +it, on account of the subsidence of the Atlantic coast, that led +Professor Newberry to speak of it as a drowned river. We have heard +of drowned lands, but here is a river overflowed and submerged in the +same manner. It is quite certain, however, that this has not always +been the character of the Hudson. Its great trough bears evidence +of having been worn to its present dimensions by much swifter and +stronger currents than those that course through it now. To this +gradual subsidence in connection with the great changes wrought by the +huge glacier that crept down from the north during what is called the +ice period, is owing the character and aspects of the Hudson as we see +and know them. The Mohawk Valley was filled up by the drift, the Great +Lakes scooped out, and an opening for their pent-up waters found +through what is now the St. Lawrence. The trough of the Hudson was +also partially filled and has remained so to the present day. There +is, perhaps, no point in the river where the mud and clay are not from +two to three times as deep as the water. That ancient and grander +Hudson lies back of us several hundred thousand years--perhaps more, +for a million years are but as one tick of the time-piece of the Lord; +yet even _it_ was a juvenile compared with some of the rocks and +mountains which the Hudson of to-day mirrors. The Highlands date +from the earliest geological race--the primary; the river--the old +river--from the latest, the tertiary; and what that difference +means in terrestrial years hath not entered into the mind of man to +conceive. Yet how the venerable mountains open their ranks for the +stripling to pass through. Of course, the river did not force its way +through this barrier, but has doubtless found an opening there of +which it has availed itself, and which it has enlarged. In thinking +of these things, one only has to allow time enough, and the most +stupendous changes in the topography of the country are as easy +and natural as the going out or the coming in of spring or summer. +According to the authority above referred to, that part of our coast +that flanks the mouth of the Hudson is still sinking at the rate of a +few inches per century, so that in the twinkling of a hundred thousand +years or so, the sea will completely submerge the city of New York, +the top of Trinity Church steeple alone standing above the flood. We +who live so far inland, and sigh for the salt water, need only to have +a little patience, and we shall wake up some fine morning and find the +surf beating upon our door-steps." + + * * * + + A sloop, loitering in the distance, dropped slowly + with the tide, her sail hanging loosely against the + mast; and as the reflection of the sky gleamed along + the still water, it seemed as if the vessel was suspended + in the air. + + _Washington Irving._ + + * * * + +How strange it seems in these brief years since 1880 to read of +"Trinity Church steeple standing alone above the flood" as the rising +tide of New York skyscrapers has long since overtopped the old +landmark and is sweeping higher and higher day by day. + +The Frothingham residence and Frothingham dock are south of the +Burroughs cottage. The late General Butterfield's house immediately to +the north. The old Astor place (once known as Waldorf), is also near +at hand. In our analysis of the Hudson we refer to the hills above and +below Poughkeepsie as "The Picturesque." Any one walking or driving +from Highland Village to West Park will feel that this is a proper +distinction. The Palisades are distinguished for "grandeur" which +might be defined as "horizontal sublimity." The Highlands for +"sublimity" which might be termed "perpendicular grandeur;" the +Catskills for "beauty," with their rounded form and ever changing +hues, but the river scenery about Poughkeepsie abides in our memories +as a series of bright and charming "pictures." North of Waldorf is +Pelham, consisting of 1,200 acres, one of the largest fruit farms in +the world. Passing Esopus Island, which seems like a great stranded +and petrified whale, along whose sides often cluster Lilliputian-like +canoeists, we see Brown's Dock on the west bank at the mouth of Black +Creek, which rises eight miles from Newburgh on the eastern slope of +the Plaaterkill Mountains. Flowing through Black Pond, known by the +Dutch settlers as the "Grote Binnewater," it cascades its way along +the southern slope of the Shaupeneak Mountains to Esopus Village, +a cross-road hamlet, and thence carries to the Hudson its waters +dark-stained by companionship with trees of hemlock and cedar growth. +The Pell property extends on the west bank to Pell's Dock, almost +opposite the Staatsburgh ice houses. Mrs. Livingston's residence will +now be seen on the east bank, and just above this the home of the late +William B. Dinsmore on Dinsmore Point. Passing Vanderberg Cove, cut +off from the river by the tracks of the _New York Central Railroad_, +we see the residence of Jacob Ruppert, and above this the Frinck +mansion known as "Windercliffe," formerly the property of E. R. Jones, +and next beyond the house of Robert Suckly. Passing Ellerslie Dock we +see "Ellerslie," the palatial summer home of ex-Vice-President Levi +P. Morton, an estate of six hundred acres, formerly owned by the Hon. +William Kelly. Along the western bank extend the Esopus meadows, a low +flat, covered by water, the southern end of which is marked by the +Esopus light-house. To the west rises Hussey's Mountain, about one +thousand feet in height, from under whose eastern slope two little +ponds, known as Binnewaters, send another stream to join Black Creek +before it flows into the Hudson. Port Ewen on the west bank, with ice +houses and brick yards, will be seen by steamer passengers below the +mouth of Rondout Creek. + + * * * + + At dawn the river seems a shade, + A liquid shadow deep as space, + But when the sun the mist has laid + A diamond shower smites its face. + + _John Burroughs._ + + * * * + +=Rhinecliff=, 90 miles from New York. The village of Rhinebeck, two +miles east of the landing, is not seen from the river. It was named, +as some contend, by combining two words--Beekman and Rhine. Others say +that the word beck means cliff, and the town was so named from the +resemblance of the cliffs to those of the Rhine. There are many +delightful drives in and about Rhinebeck, "Ellerslie" being only about +eight minutes by carriage from the landing. + +_The Philadelphia & Reading Rhinebeck Branch_ meets the Hudson at +Rhinecliff, and makes a pleasant and convenient tourist or business +route between the Hudson and the Connecticut. It passes through a +delightful country and thriving rural villages. Some of the views +along the Roeliffe Jansen's Kill are unrivaled in quiet beauty. The +railroad passes through Rhinebeck, Red Hook, Spring Lake, Ellerslie, +Jackson Corners, Mount Ross, Gallatinville, Ancram, Copake, Boston +Corners, and Mount Riga to State Line Junction, and gives a person a +good idea of the counties of Dutchess and Columbia. At Boston Corners +connection is made with the _Harlem Railroad_. + + * * * + + Upon thy tessellated surface lie + The wave-glassed splendors of the sunset sky! + + _Knickerbocker Magazine._ + + * * * + +From State Line Junction it passes through Ore Hill, Lakeville with +its beautiful lake (an evening view of which is still hung in our +memory gallery of sunset sketches), Salisbury, Chapinville, and Twin +Lakes to Canaan, where the line crosses the _Housatonic Railroad._ +This route, therefore, is the easiest and pleasantest for Housatonic +visitors _en route_ to the Catskills. From Canaan the road rises by +easy grade to the summit, at an elevation of 1,400 feet, passing +through the village of Norfolk, with its picturesque New England +church crowning the village hill, and thence to Simsbury and Hartford. + +=The City of Kingston.=--Rondout and Kingston gradually grew together +until the bans were performed in 1878, and a "bow-knot" tied at +the top of the hill in the shape of a city hall, making them one +corporation. + +The name Rondout had its derivation from a redoubt that was built +on the banks of the creek. The creek took the name of Redoubt Kill, +afterward Rundoubt, and at last Rondout. Kingston was once called +Esopus. (The Indian name for the spot where the city now stands was +At-kar-karton, the great plot or meadow on which they raised corn or +beans.) + +Kingston and Rondout were both settled in 1614, and old Kingston, +known by the Dutch as Wiltwyck, was thrice destroyed by the Indians +before the Revolution. In 1777 the State legislature met here and +formed a constitution. In the fall of the same year, after the capture +of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton by the British, Vaughan landed at +Rondout, marched to Kingston, and burned the town. While Kingston +was burning, the inhabitants fled to Hurley, where a small force of +Americans hung a messenger who was caught carrying dispatches from +Clinton to Burgoyne. + + * * * + + What ample bays and branching streams, + What curves abrupt for glad surprise, + And how supreme the artist is + Who paints it all for loving eyes. + + _Henry Abbey._ + + * * * + +Rondout is the termination of the Delaware and Hudson Canal (whence +canal boats of coal find their way from the Pennsylvania Mountains +to tidewater), also of the _Ulster and Delaware Railroad_, by which +people find their way from tidewater to the Catskill Mountains, which +have greeted the eye of the tourist for many miles down the Hudson. +Originally all of the country-side in this vicinity was known as +Esopus, supposed to be derived, according to Ruttenber, from the +Indian word "seepus," a river. A "sopus Indian" was a Lowlander, and +the name is intimately connected with a long reach of territory +from Esopus Village, near West Park, to the mouth of the Esopus at +Saugerties. In 1675 the mouth of the Rondout Creek was chosen by the +New Netherland Company as one of the three fortified trading ports +on the Hudson; a stockade was built under the guidance of General +Stuyvesant in 1661 inclosing the site of old Kingston; a charter was +granted in 1658 under the name of Wiltwyck, but changed in 1679 to +Kingston. Few cities are so well off for old-time houses that span the +century, and there is no congregation probably in the United States +that has worshipped so many consecutive years in the same spot as the +Dutch Reformed people of Kingston. Five buildings have succeeded the +log church of 240 years ago. Dr. Van Slyke, in a recent welcome, said: +"This church, which opens her doors to you, claims a distinction which +does not belong even to the Collegiate Dutch Churches of Manhattan +Island, and, by a peculiar history, stands identified more closely +with Holland than any other of the early churches of this country. +When every other church of our communion had for a long time been +associated with an American Synod, this church retained its relations +to the Classis of Amsterdam, and, after a period of independency and +isolation, it finally allied itself with its American sisterhood as +late as the year 1808. We still have three or four members whose life +began before that date." + + * * * + + Yet there are those who lie beside thy bed + For whom thou once didst rear the bowers that screen + Thy margin, and didst water the green fields; + And now there is no night so still that they + Can hear thy lapse. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + +Dominie Blom was the first preacher in Kingston. The church where he +preached and the congregation that gathered to hear him have been +tenderly referred to by the Rev. Dr. Belcher: + + "They've journeyed on from touch and tone; + No more their ears shall hear + The war-whoop wild, or sad death moan, + Or words of fervid prayer; + But the deeds they did and plans they planned, + And paths of blood they trod, + Have blessed and brightened all this land + And hallowed it for God." + +=The Senate House=, built in 1676 by Wessel Ten Broeck, who would seem +by his name to have stepped bodily out of a chapter of Knickerbocker, +was "burned" but not "down," for its walls stood firm. It was +afterwards repaired, and sheltered many dwellers, among others, +General Armstrong, secretary of war under President Madison. The +Provincial Convention met in the court house at Kingston in 1777 and +the Constitution was formally announced April 22d of that year. The +first court was held here September 9th and the first legislature +September 10th. Adjourning October 7th, they convened again August +18th, 1779, and in 1780, from April 22d to July 2d, also for two +months beginning January 27, 1783. + +It was in the yard in front of the court house that the Constitution +of the State was proclaimed by Robert Berrian, the secretary of the +Constitutional Convention, and it was there that George Clinton, the +first Governor of the State, was inaugurated and took the oath of +office. It was in the court house that John Jay, chief justice, +delivered his memorable charge to the grand jury in September, 1777, +and at the opening said: "Gentlemen, it affords me very sensible +pleasure to congratulate you on the dawn of that free, mild, and equal +government which now begins to rise and break from amidst the clouds +of anarchy, confusion and licentiousness, which the arbitrary and +violent domination of the King of Great Britain has spread, in greater +or less degree, throughout this and other American states. And it +gives me particular satisfaction to remark that the first fruits +of our excellent Constitution appear in a part of this State whose +inhabitants have distinguished themselves by having unanimously +endeavored to deserve them." The court house bell was originally +imported from Holland. + + * * * + + Pinched by famine and menaced by foe + In the cruel winters of long ago, + They worked and prayed and for freedom wrought, + Freedom of speech and freedom of thought. + + _Frederica Davis Hatfield._ + + * * * + +The burning of Kingston seemed unnecessarily cruel, and it is said +that Vaughan was wide of the truth when, to justify the same, he +claimed that he had been fired upon from dwellings in the village. +General Sharpe in his address before the Holland Society says: "The +history of this county begins to be interesting at the earliest stages +of American history: Visited by Dutchmen in 1614, and again in 1620, +it was in the very earliest Colonial history, one of the strong places +of the Province of New York. The British museum contains the report +of the Rev. John Miller, written in the year 1695, who, after 'having +been nearly three years resident in the Province of New York, in +America, as chaplain of His Majesty's forces there, and constantly +attending the Governor, had opportunity of observing many things of +considerable consequence in relation to the Christians and Indians, +and had also taken the drafts of all the cities, towns, forts and +churches of any note within the same.' These are his own words, and +he adds that in the Province of New York 'the places of strength are +chiefly three, the city of New York, the city of Albany, and the town +of Kingstone, in Ulster.' The east, north and west fronts ran along +elevations overlooking the lowlands and having a varying altitude +of from twenty to thirty feet. The enclosure comprehended about +twenty-five acres of land. There were salients, or horn works at each +end of the four angles, with a circular projection at the middle +of the westerly side, where the elevation was less than upon the +northerly and easterly sides. The church standing upon the ground +where we now are, was enclosed with a separate stockade, to be used +as the last resort in case of disaster, and, projecting from this +separate fortification, a strong block-house commanded and enfiladed +the approaches to the southerly side, which was a plain. The local +history is of continued and dramatic interest. The Indian wars were +signalized by a great uprising and attack here, which was known as +the war of 1663, when a considerable number of the inhabitants +were killed, a still larger number were taken prisoners, and about +one-fourth of the houses were burned to the ground. Reinforcements +were sent by the governor-general from New Amsterdam, followed by his +personal presence, when the Indians were driven back to the mountains, +and, after a tedious campaign, their fields destroyed and the +prisoners recaptured. When the next great crisis in our history came +Kingston bore a conspicuous part. It was the scene of the formation of +the State Government. The Constitution was here discussed and +adopted. George Clinton was called from the Highlands, where, as a +brigadier-general of the Continental army, he was commanding all the +forces upon the Hudson River, which were opposing the attempts of Sir +Henry Clinton to reach the northern part of the State and relieve +Burgoyne, hemmed in by Gates at Saratoga. He was the ideal war +governor--unbuckling his sword in the court room, that he might take +the oath of office, and returning, immediately after the simple form +of his inauguration, to his command upon the Hudson River. + + * * * + + A paradise of beauty in the light + Poured by the sinking sun, the mountain glows + In the soft summer evening. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + +"The court house, standing opposite to us, and rebuilt upon its old +foundations, and occupying, substantially, the same superficies of +ground with its predecessors, recalls the dramatic scene where, +surrounded by the council of safety, and in a square formed by two +companies of soldiers, he was proclaimed Governor by Egbert Dumond, +the sheriff of the county, reading his proclamation from the top of a +barrel, and closing it with the words 'God save the people,' for the +first time taking the place of 'God save the King.' The only building +in any way connected with the civil foundation of this great State is +still standing, and presents the same appearance that it did at the +time of its erection, prior to the year 1690. It was subsequently +occupied by General Armstrong, who, while residing here for the better +education of his children, in Kingston Academy, was appointed minister +to France. Aaron Burr, then in attendance upon court, spent an evening +with General Armstrong, at his house, and, having observed the merit +of sundry sketches, made inquiry with regard to, and interested +himself in the fate of John Vanderlyn, who afterwards painted the +Landing of Columbus in the Capitol, and Marius upon the Ruins of +Carthage--which attracted the attention of the elder Napoleon, and +established Vanderlyn's fame. There are more than forty blue limestone +houses of the general type found in Holland, still standing to-day, +which were built before the revolutionary period, and many of them +before the year 1700." + + * * * + + Are there no scenes to touch the poet's soul, + No deeds of arms to wake the lordly stream, + Shall Hudson's billows unregarded roll? + + _Joseph Rodman Drake._ + + * * * + + River, oh river! upon thy tide + Gaily the freighted vessels glide. + Would that thou thus couldst bear away + The thoughts that burthen my weary day. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +Coal, cement and blue-stone are the prominent industries of the city. +The cement works yield several million dollars annually and employ +about two thousand men. A million tons of coal enter the Hudson _via_ +the Port of Rondout from the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania every +year. Blue-stone also meets tide-water at this point, brought in from +quarries throughout the country by rail or by truck. The city of +Kingston, the largest station on the _West Shore_ between Weehawken +and Albany, has admirable railroad facilities connecting with the +_Erie Railway_ at Goshen _via_ the _Wallkill Valley_, and the +Catskills _via_ the _Ulster & Delaware_. All roads centre at the Union +Station and the _Ulster & Delaware_ connects at Kingston Point with +the Hudson River Day Line, also with the _New York Central_ by ferry +from Rhinebeck. + +=To the Catskills.=--The two principal routes to the Catskills are +_via_ Kingston and the _Ulster & Delaware Railroad_, and _via_ +Catskill Landing, the _Catskill Mountain Railway_ and _Otis Elevating +Railway_ to the summit of the mountains. It has occurred to the writer +to divide the mountain section in two parts: + +=The Southern Catskills.=--Kingston Point, where the steamer lands is +indeed a _picturesque portal to a picturesque journey_. The beautiful +park at the landing presents the most beautiful frontage of any +pleasure ground along the river. Artistic pagodas located at effective +points add greatly to the natural landscape effect, and excursionists +_via_ Day Line from Albany have a delightful spot for lunch and +recreation while waiting for the return steamer. In the busy months of +mountain travel it is interesting to note the rush and hurry between +the landing of the steamer and the departure of the train. The "all +aboard" is given, and as we stand on the rear platform a friend points +north to a bluff near Kingston Point and says the Indian name is +"Ponckhockie"--signifying a burial ground. The old redoubts of +Kingston, on the left, were defenses used in early days against the +Indians. + +After leaving Kingston Union Depot, the most important station on +the _West Shore Railroad_, and the terminus of the _Wallkill Valley +Railroad_, we pass through Stony Hollow, eight miles from Rondout, +where the traveler will note the stone tracks in the turnpike below, +on the right side of the car, used by quarry wagons. Crossing the +Stony Hollow ravine, we reach West Hurley, nine miles from Rondout and +540 feet above the sea. + +=The Overlook= commands an extensive view,--with an area of 30,000 +square miles, from the peaks of New Hampshire and the Green Mountains +of Vermont to the hills of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. To the east +the valley reaches away with its towns and villages to the blue hills +of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and, through this beautiful valley, +the Hudson for a hundred miles is reduced to a mere ribbon of light. +Woodstock, at the foot of the Overlook, is popular with summer +visitors, and is a good starting point for the mountain outlook. + + * * * + + Let me forget the cares I leave behind, + And with an humble spirit bow before + The Maker of these everlasting hills. + + _Bayard Taylor._ + + * * * + +=Olive Branch= is the pretty name of the station above West Hurley. +Temple Pond, at the foot of Big Toinge Mountain, covers about one +hundred acres, and affords boating and fishing to those visiting the +foothills of the Southern Catskills. + +=Brown's Station= is three miles beyond, and near at hand Winchell's +Falls on the Esopus. The Esopus Creek comes in view near this station +for the first time after leaving Kingston. The route now has pleasant +companionship for twenty miles or more with the winding stream. + +=Brodhead's Bridge= is delightfully located on its wooded banks near +the base of High Point, and near at hand is a bright cascade known as +Bridal Veil Falls. + + * * * + + Then climb the Ontioras to behold + The lordly Hudson marching to the main, + And say what bard in any land of old + Had such a river to inspire his strain. + + _Thomas William Parsons._ + + * * * + +=Shokan=, 18 miles from Rondout. Here the road takes a northerly +course and we are advised by Mr. Van Loan's guide to notice on the +left "a group of five mountains forming a crescent; the peaks of +these mountains are four miles distant;" the right-hand one is the +"Wittenberg," and the next "Mount Cornell." Boiceville and Mount +Pleasant, 700 feet above the Hudson, are next reached. We enter the +beautiful Shandaken Valley, and three miles of charming mountain +scenery bring us to-- + +=Phoenicia=, 29 miles from Rondout and 790 feet above the Hudson. +This is one of the central points of the Catskills which the mountain +streams (nature's engineers), indicated several thousand years ago. +Readers of "Hiawatha" will remember that Gitche Manitou, the mighty, +traced with his finger the way the streams and rivers should run. The +tourist will be apt to think that he used his thumb in marking out +the wild grandeur of Stony Clove. The Tremper House has a picturesque +location in a charming valley, which seems to have been cut to fit, +like a beautiful carpet, and tacked down to the edge of these grand +old mountains. A fifteen minutes' walk up Mount Tremper gives a wide +view, from which the Lake Mohonk House is sometimes seen, forty +miles away. Phoenicia is one of the most important stations on the +line--the southern terminus of the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain +division of the _Ulster & Delaware_ system. Keeping to the main line +for the present we pass through Allaben, formerly known as Fox Hollow, +and come to-- + +=Shandaken=, 35 miles from Rondout and 1,060 feet in altitude, an +Indian name signifying "rapid water." Here are large hotels and many +boarding houses and the town is a central point for many mountain +spots and shady retreats in every direction--all of which are well +described in one of the handsomest summer resort guides of the season, +the handbook of the _Ulster & Delaware Railroad_. Three miles beyond +Shandaken we come to a little station whose name reminds one of the +plains: _Big Indian_, 1,209 feet above the river. + + * * * + + Along the ragged top + Smiles a rich stripe of gold that up still glides + Until it dwindles to a thread and then, + As breath glides from a mirror, melts away. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + +=Big Indian.=--It is said that about a century ago, a noble red man +dwelt in these parts, who, early in life, turned his attention to +agriculture instead of scalping, and won thereby the respect of the +community. Tradition has it that he was about seven feet in height, +but was overpowered by wolves, and was buried by his brethren not far +from the station, where a "big Indian" was carved out of a tree near +by for his monument. An old and reliable inhabitant stated that he +remembered the rude statue well, and often thought that it ought to be +saved for a relic, as the stream was washing away the roots; but it +was finally carried down by a freshet, and probably found its way to +some fire-place in the Esopus Valley. "So man passes away, as with a +flood." There is another tale, one of love but less romantic, wherein +he was killed by his rival and placed upright in a hollow tree. +Perhaps neither tradition is true, and quite possibly the Big Indian +name grew out of some misunderstanding between the Indians and white +settlers over a hundred years ago. As the train leaves the station it +begins a grade of 150 feet per mile to-- + +=Pine Hill=, a station perched on the slope of Belle Ayr Mountain. +This is the watershed between the Esopus and the Delaware, and 226 +feet above us, around the arcs of a double horseshoe, is the railway +summit, 1,886 feet above the tide. + +=Grand Hotel Station.=--The New Grand, the second largest hotel in the +Catskills, with a frontage of 700 feet, stands on a commanding terrace +less than half a mile from the station. The main building faces +southwest and overlooks the hamlet of Pine Hill, down the Shandaken +Valley to Big Indian. The mountains, "grouped like giant kings" in +the distance are Slide Mountain, Panther Mountain, Table and Balsam +Mountains. Panther Mountain, directly over Big Indian Station, with +Atlas-like shoulders, being nearer, seems higher, and is often +mistaken for Slide Mountain. Table Mountain, to the right of the +Slide, is the divide between the east branch of the Neversink and the +Rondout. + +Continuing our journey from the summit we pass through Fleischmann's +to-- + +=Arkville=, railway station for Margaretville, one and a half miles +distant, and Andes twelve miles--connected by stages. Furlough Lake, +the mountain home of George Gould, is seven miles from Arkville. An +artificial cave near Arkville, with hieroglyphics on the inner +walls, attracts many visitors. Passing through Kelly's Corners and +Halcottville, we come to-- + +=Roxbury= (altitude 1,497 feet), a quaint old village at the upper end +of which is the Gould Memorial Church. Miss Helen Gould spends part of +her summer here and has done much to make beautiful the village of her +father's boyhood. Grand Gorge comes next 1,570 feet above the tide, +where stages are taken for Gilboa three miles, and Prattsville five +miles distant, on the Schoharie Creek. Pratt's Rocks are visited by +hundreds because of the carving in bas-relief of Colonel Pratt and +figures emblematic of his career. + + * * * + + Softly the mist-mantled mountains arise + Dim in the dawning of opal-hued skies, + Nearer and clearer peaks burst on the view + Lightened by silvery flashes of dew. + + _James Kennedy._ + + * * * + +=Stamford= is now at hand, seventy-six miles from the Hudson, about +1,800 feet above the sea, named by settlers from Stamford, Conn. Here +are many large hotels, chief among them The Rexmere and Churchill +Hall. Thirteen miles from Stamford we come to Hobart, four miles +further to South Kortright, and then to-- + +=Bloomville=, eighty-nine miles from the Hudson, where a stage line of +eight miles takes the traveler to Delhi. Passing through Kortright, +ninety-two miles from the Hudson, 1,868 feet above the tide, East +Meredith, Davenport, West Davenport (where passengers _en route_ for +Cooperstown and Richfield Springs are transferred to the _Cooperstown +and Charlotte Valley R. R._) and four miles bring us to + +=Oneonta=, on the Susquehanna division of the _Hudson & Delaware R. R._ +Returning to Phoenicia we take train through "Stony Clove Notch," +passing Chichester, Lanesville, Edgewood and Kaaterskill Junction to-- + +=Hunter=, terminus of the Stony Clove Road. Resuming the eastward +journey at Kaaterskill Junction we come to-- + +=Tannersville=, near which are Elka Park, Onteora Park and Schoharie +Manor. + +=Haines Corners= is another busy station, at the head of Kaaterskill +Clove. On the slope of Mt. Lincoln have also been established +"Twilight," "Santa Cruz" and "Sunset" Parks. + +=Laurel House Station.=--Here the voice of a waterfall invites the +tourist to one of the most famous spots in the Catskill region and a +mile beyond is + +=Kaaterskill Station=, 2,145 feet above the sea, the highest point +reached by any railroad in the State, and half a mile or so further we +alight on a rocky balcony, known for its beautiful view all over the +world. + + * * * + + From greens and shades where the Kaaterskill leaps, + From cliffs where the wood-flowers cling. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + +=Kingston to Catskill.= + +=Rhinecliff=, with its historic Beekman stone house, is on the east +bank of the river opposite Kingston. The old mansion, on the hillside, +above the landing, was built before 1700 by William Beekman, first +patroon of this section. It was used as a church and as a fort during +the Indian struggles and still preserves the scar of a cannon ball +from a British ship. + +=Ferncliff=, a mile north of the Beekman House, is the home of John +Jacob Astor, formerly the property of William Astor, and above this + +=Clifton Point=, once known as the Garretson place, the noted +Methodist preacher whose wife was sister of Chancellor Livingston, and +above this Douglas Merritt's home known as "Leacote." Flatbush landing +lies on the west bank opposite Ferncliff. + +One might almost imagine from the names of places and individuals here +grouped on both banks of the river, that this reach of the Hudson +was a bit of old Scotland: Montgomery Place and Annandale with its +Livingstons, Donaldsons and Kidds on the east side, and Glenerie, +Glasgo and Lake Katrine on the west. + + * * * + + The Catskills to the northward rise + With massive swell and towering crest-- + The old-time "mountains of the skies," + The threshold of eternal rest. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Barrytown= is just above "Daisy Island," on the east bank, 96 miles +from New York. It is said when General Jackson was President, and this +village wanted a postoffice, that he would not allow it under the name +of Barrytown, from personal dislike to General Barry, and suggested +another name; but the people were loyal to their old friend, and +_went without_ a postoffice until a new administration. The name of +Barrytown, therefore, stands as a monument to pluck. The place was +once known as Lower Red Hook Landing. Passing "Massena," the Aspinwall +property, we see-- + +=Montgomery Place=, residence of Carleton Hunt and sisters, about +one-half mile north of Barrytown, formerly occupied by Mrs. +Montgomery, wife of General Montgomery and sister of Chancellor +Livingston. The following dramatic incident connected with Montgomery +Place is recorded in Stone's "History of New York City": "In 1818 the +legislature of New York--DeWitt Clinton, Governor--ordered the remains +of General Montgomery to be removed from Canada to New York. This was +in accordance with the wishes of the Continental Congress, which, in +1776, had voted the beautiful cenotaph to his memory that now stands +in the wall of St. Paul's Church, fronting Broadway. When the funeral +cortege reached Whitehall, N. Y., the fleet stationed there received +them with appropriate honors; and on the 4th of July they arrived in +Albany. After lying in state in that city over Sunday, the remains +were taken to New York, and on Wednesday deposited, with military +honors, in their final resting place, at St. Paul's. Governor Clinton +had informed Mrs. Montgomery of the hour when the steamer 'Richmond,' +conveying the body, would pass her home. At her own request, she stood +alone on the portico. It was forty years since she had parted from her +husband, to whom she had been wedded but two years when he fell on the +heights of Quebec; yet she had remained faithful to the memory of her +'soldier,' as she always called him. The steamboat halted before the +mansion; the band played the 'Dead March,' and a salute was fired; and +the ashes of the venerated hero, and the departed husband, passed on. +The attendants of the Spartan widow now appeared, but, overcome by +the tender emotions of the moment, she had swooned and fallen to the +floor." + + * * * + + The river that he loved so well + Like a full heart is awed to calm, + The winter air that wafts his knell + Is fragrant with autumnal balm. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +The Sawkill Creek flows through a beautiful ravine in Montgomery +grounds and above this is the St. Stephen's College and Preparatory +School of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York. Beyond and +above this are Mrs. E. Bartlett's home and Deveaux Park, afterwards +Almonte, the property of Col. Charles Livingston. We are now +approaching-- + +=Cruger's Island=, with its indented South Bay reaching up toward the +bluff crowned by Montgomery Place. There is an old Indian tradition +that no person ever died on this island, which a resident recently +said still held true. It is remarkable, moreover, in possessing many +antique carved stones from a city of Central America built into the +walls of a temple modeled after the building from which the graven +stones were brought. The "ruin" at the south end of the island is +barely visible from the steamer, hidden as it is by foliage, but it is +distinctly seen by _New York Central_ travelers in the winter season. +Colonel Cruger has spared no expense in the adornment of his grounds, +and a beautiful drive is afforded the visitor. The island is connected +by a roadway across a tongue of land which separates the North from +the South Bay. Above this island east of the steamer's channel across +the railway of the _New York Central_, we see a historic bit of water +known as-- + +=The North Bay.= It was here that Robert Fulton developed his +steamboat invention, receiving pecuniary aid from Chancellor +Livingston, and it is fitting to give at this place a concise account +of + +=Steam Navigation=, which after many attempts and failures on both +sides of the Atlantic was at last crowned with success on the Hudson. + +=John Fitch= first entertained his idea of a steamboat in 1785, and +sent to the general assembly of the State of Pennsylvania a model in +1786. New Jersey and Delaware in 1787, gave him exclusive right to +navigate their waters for fourteen years, which, however, was never +undertaken. His steamboat "Perseverance," on the Delaware in 1787, was +eighteen feet in length and six feet beam. The name, however, was a +misnomer, as it was abandoned. These facts appear by papers on file in +the State Library at Albany. After his experiment on the Delaware, +he traveled through France and England, but not meeting with the +encouragement that he expected, became poor and returned home, working +his passage as a common sailor. In 1797 he constructed a little boat +which was propelled by steam in the old Collect Pond, New York, below +Canal Street, between Broadway and the East River. + + * * * + + Exactly one hundred years separate the first paddle-boat + of Papin from the first steamboat of Fulton. + + _Victor Hugo._ + + * * * + +According to records in the State Library, the steam was sufficiently +high to propel the boat once, twice, or thrice around the pond. "When +more water being introduced into the boiler or pot and steam was +generated, she was again ready to start on another expedition." The +boat was a yawl about eighteen feet in length and six feet beam. She +was started at the buoy with a small oar when the propeller was used. +The boiler was a ten or twelve gallon iron pot. This boat with a +portion of the machinery was abandoned by Fitch, and left to decay on +the muddy shore. Shortly after this he died in Kentucky in 1798. Had +he lived, or, had the fortune like Fulton, to find such a patron as +Livingston, his success might have been assured. His visit to Europe +may have inspired Symington's experiment on Dalswinton Loch in 1788, +which made five miles an hour, and another steamboat on the Forth +of Clyde which made seven miles an hour in 1789, and the "Charlotte +Dundas" in 1802, which drew a load of seventy tons over three miles +against a strong gale. Something, however, was wanting and the idea +of successful navigation was abandoned in Britain till after the +invention of Robert Fulton which made steam navigation an assured +fact. + +"How necessary it is to succeed," said Kosciusko, at the grave of +Washington, and this is also as true in the story of invention as in +the struggle for freedom: "That they never fail who die in a great +cause though years elapse, and others share as dark a doom. They but +augment the deep and sweeping thoughts which overpower all others and +conduct the world at last to fortune." + +It was the writer's privilege in 1891, to deliver the unveiling +address of a monument to Symington at his birthplace, Lead Hills, +Scotland. In the tribute then paid to the genius of the great +Scotchman who had done so much for invention in many directions, he +said the difference between Symington and Fulton was this: "Each +worked diligently at the same idea, but it was the good fortune +of Fulton, so far as the steamboat was considered, to make his +'invention' 'go.'" + + * * * + + I see the traditions of my fathers are true; I see far, + far away the big bird again floating upon the + waters, so far my warriors that you cannot see it, but ere two + autumns have scattered the leaves upon my grave, the + pale face will claim our hunting grounds. + + _Aepgin, King of the Mahicans._ + + * * * + +To quote from a British writer, the "Comet" of Henry Bell on the Clyde +in 1812, was the first example of a steamboat brought into serviceable +use within European waters, and the writer incidentally added that +steam navigation in Britain took practical form almost on the spot +where James Watt, the illustrious improver of the steam engine was +born. The word "improver" is well put. It has much to do with the +story of many inventions. The labor of Fitch was far-reaching in +many directions, and it detracts nothing from Fulton's fame that the +experiments of Fitch and Symington preceded his final triumph. + +Rumsey's claim to the idea of application of steam in 1785 does not +seem to hold good. General Washington, to whom he referred as to a +conversation in 1785, replied to a correspondent that the idea of +Rumsey, as he remembered and understood it, was simply the propelling +of a boat by a machine, the power of which was to be merely manual +labor. + +=Robert Fulton= was born in 1765, and at the time of Symington's +experiment in Scotland, was twenty-three years of age. He was then an +artist student of Benjamin West, in London, but, after several years +of study, felt that he was better adapted for engineering, and soon +thereafter wrote a work on canal navigation. In 1797 he went to Paris. +He resided there seven years and built a small steamboat on the Seine, +which worked well, but made very slow progress. + +It is remarkable that the two most practical achievements of our +century have been consummated by artists,--the telegraph by Morse +after a score of "invented" failures, and the successful application +of steam to navigation by Fulton. + + * * * + + I was glad to think that among the last memorable + beauties which have glided past us were pictures traced + by no common hand, not easily to grow old or fade beneath + the dust of time--the Kaatskill Mountains, Sleepy + Hollow and the Tappan Zee. + + _Charles Dickens._ + + * * * + +Soon after his return to New York he brought his idea to successful +completion. His reputation was now assured, and his invention of +"torpedoes" gave him additional fame. Congress not only purchased +these instruments of warfare, but also set apart $320,000 for a steam +frigate to be constructed under his supervision. + +Through Livingston's influence the legislature passed an act granting +to Fulton the exclusive privilege of navigating the waters of the +State by means of steam power. The only conditions imposed were that +he should, within a year, construct a boat of not less than "twenty +tons burthen," which should navigate the Hudson at a speed not less +than four miles an hour, and that one such boat should not fail of +running regularly between New York and Albany for the space of one +year. + +="The Clermont,"= named after the ancestral home of the Livingstons, +was built for "Livingston and Fulton," by Charles Brownne in New York. +The machinery came from the works of Watt and Bolton, England. She +left the wharf of Corlear's Hook and the newspapers published with +pride that she made in speed from four to five miles an hour. She was +100 feet in length and boasted of "three elegant cabins, one for the +ladies and two for the gentlemen, with kitchen, library, and every +convenience." She averaged 100 passengers up or down the river. Every +passenger paid $7, for which he had dinner, tea and bed, breakfast and +dinner, with the liberty to carry 200 pounds of baggage. + + * * * + + The stars are on the running stream, + And fling, as its ripples gently flow, + A burnished length of wavy-beam + In an eel-like, spiral line below. + + _Joseph Rodman Drake._ + + * * * + +An original letter from Robert Fulton to the minister of Bavaria at +the court of France, written in 1809, upon the question of putting +steamboats on the Danube, is of interest at the present day: "The +distance from New York to Albany is 160 miles; the tide rises as far +as Albany; its velocity is on an average 11/2 miles an hour. + +"We thus have the tide half the time in favor of the boat and half the +time against her. The boat is 100 feet long, 16 feet wide and 7 feet +deep; the steam engine is of the power of 20 horses; she runs 41/2 +miles an hour in still water. Consequently when the tide is 11/2 +miles an hour in her favor she runs 53/4 miles an hour. When the +tide is against her she runs 23/4 miles an hour. Thus in theory her +average velocity is 41/4 miles an hour, but in practice we take +advantage of the currents. When they are against us we keep near shore +in the eddies, where the current is weak or the eddy in our favor; +when the tide is in our favor we take the centre of the stream and +draw every advantage from it. In this way our average speed is 5 miles +an hour, and we run to Albany, 160 miles, in about 32 hours." Previous +to the invention of the steamboat there were two modes of conveyance. +One was by the common sloops; they charged 42 francs, and were on the +average four days in making the passage--they have sometimes been as +long as eight days. The dread of such tedious voyages prevented great +numbers of persons from going in sloops. The second mode of conveyance +was the mail, or stage. They charged $8, or 44 francs, and the +expenses on the road were about $5, or 30 francs, so that expenses +amounted to $13. The time required was 48 hours. The steamboat has +rendered the communication between New York and Albany so cheap and +certain that the number of passengers are rapidly increasing. Persons +who live 150 miles beyond Albany know the hour she will leave that +city, and making their calculations to arrive at York, stay two +days to transact business, return with the boat, and are with their +families in one week. The facility has rendered the boat a great +favorite with the public. + + * * * + + Through many a blooming wild and woodland green + The Hudson's sleeping waters winding stray. + + _Margaretta V. Faugeres._ + + * * * + +A telegram from Exeter, N. H., in 1886, recorded the death of Dr. +William Perry, the oldest person in Exeter and the oldest graduate of +Harvard College, at the age of ninety-eight years. He was the sole +survivor of the passengers on Fulton's first steamboat on its first +trip down the Hudson, and the connecting link of three generations of +progress. He was born in 1788, was a member of 1811 in Harvard, and +grandfather of Sarah Orne Jewett, the authoress. + +The writer remembers his grandfather telling him of going to Hudson as +a boy to see the "steamboat" make its first trip, and how it had been +talked of for a long time as "Fulton's Folly." One thing is sure +it was a small cradle wherein to rock the "baby-giant" of a great +century. How Fulton would wonder if he could visit to-day the great +steamships born of his invention--successors of the "Clermont" of +"Twenty tons burthen." How he would marvel, standing on the deck of +the "Hendrick Hudson," to see the water fall away from the prow cut by +a rainbow scimitar of spray! at the great engines of polished steel, +working almost noiselessly, and wonder at the way the pilot lands at +the docks, even as a driver brings his buggy to a horse-block; for in +his day, and long afterwards, passengers were "slued" ashore in little +boats, as it was not regarded feasible to land a steamboat against a +wharf. It would surely be an "experience" for us to see the passengers +at West Point, Newburgh, or Poughkeepsie "slued ashore" to-day in +little rowboats. + +=Tivoli=, above North Bay took its name from a pre-revolutionary +"Chateau," home of the late Colonel DePeyster. The "Callender Place" +to the southeast, was formerly the property of Johnston Livingston. +Two miles from the river is the home of Mr. J. N. Lewis, a morning view +from whose veranda is still remembered, and it is to him that the +writer is indebted for a pleasant trip to the ruins on Cruger's +Island. The residence of the late J. Watts DePeyster stands on a +commanding bluff north of the railway station and it was beside his +open fireside many years ago that he told the writer how his house was +saved from Vaughan's cannon. "Rose Hill," was mistaken for "Clermont," +but a well-stocked cellar mollified the British captain. + + * * * + + O! stream of the mountains if answer of thine + Could rise from thy waters to questions of mine, + Methinks through the din of thy thronged banks a moan + Of sorrow would come for the days that are gone. + + _Legends of the Hudson._ + + * * * + +It grew like one of the old English family houses, with the increase +of the family, until, in strange but picturesque outline--the +prevailing style being Italian, somewhat in the shape of a cross--it +is now 114 feet long by 87 feet deep. The tower in the rear, devoted +to library purposes, rises to the height of about sixty feet. This +library, first and last, has contained between twenty and thirty +thousand volumes. Such indefinite language is used, because the owner +donated over half this number to the New York Historical Society, the +New York Society Library, and a number of other similar organizations +in different parts of the United States. As a working library, replete +with dictionaries and cyclopaedias, in many tongues and on almost +every subject, it is a marvel. It is likewise very valuable for its +collections on military and several other special topics. From it was +selected and given to the New York Historical Society, one of the +finest possible collections on the History of Holland, from the +earliest period down to the present time. "Rose Hill" was left in his +will to the Leake and Watts Orphan Home. + +A ferry from Tivoli to Saugerties affords communication between the +two villages. Glasco Landing, on the west bank, lies between the +residences of Henry Corse, on the south, and Mrs. Vanderpool (sister +of the late President Martin Van Buren), on the north. + +In locating the residences along the river and dealing so often in the +words "north" and "south," we are reminded of a good story of Martin +Van Buren. It is said that it was as difficult to get a direct answer +from him as from Bismarck or Gladstone. Two friends were going up with +him one day on a river boat and one made a wager with the other that +a direct answer could not be secured on any question from the astute +statesman. They approached the ex-president and one of them said, "Mr. +Van Buren, my friend and I have had a little discussion; will you +tell us, does or does not the sun rise in the east?" The ex-president +calmly drew up a chair, and said, "You must remember that the east +and west are merely relative terms." "That settles it," said the +questioner, "I'll pay the bet." + + * * * + + How grateful is the sudden change + From arid pavements to the grass, + From narrow streets that thousands range + To meadows where June zephyrs pass. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + + It is a drop for the old Hudson, and a merry time it + has until it gets down off the mountains. I have thought + how long it would be before that very water which was + made for the wilderness will be under the bottom of a + vessel and tossing in the salt sea. + + _James Fenimore Cooper._ + + * * * + +=Saugerties=, 101 miles from New York. From its location (being the +nearest of the river towns to the Catskills), it naturally hoped to +secure a large share of tourist travel, but Kingston and Catskill +presented easier and better facilities of access and materially +shortened the hours of arrival at the summit. Plaaterkill Clove, +wilder and grander than Kaaterskill Clove, about nine miles west of +the village, has Plaaterkill Mountain, Indian Head, Twin Mountains and +Sugar Loaf on the south, and High Peak and Round Top on the north. Its +eighteen waterfalls not only give great variety to a pedestrian trip, +but also ample field for the artist's brush. The Esopus, meeting +the Hudson at Saugerties, supplies unfailing waterpower for its +manufacturing industries, prominent among which are the Sheffield +Paper Company, the Barkley Fibre Company (wood pulp), the Martin +Company (card board) and a white lead factory. There are also large +shipments of blue stone, evidences of which are seen in many places +near at hand along the western bank. Many attractive strolls near +Saugerties invite the visitor, notably the walk to Barkley Heights +south of the Esopus. An extensive view is obtained from the _West +Shore Railroad_ station west of the village and the drive thereto. +North of Saugerties will be seen the docks and hamlets of Malden, +Evesport and West Camp, also the residences of J. G. Myers to the +northwest of the Rock islet, and of H. T. Coswell, near which the +steamer passes to the west of Livingston Flats. The west shore at West +Camp was settled by exiles from the Palatinate, about 1710, and one of +the old churches still stands a short distance inland. We are now in +the midst of-- + +=The Livingston Country=, whose names and memories dot the landscape +and adorn the history of the Hudson Valley. Dutchess and Columbia +Counties meet on the east bank opposite that part of Saugerties where +Sawyer's Creek flows into the Hudson. "Idele" was originally called +the Chancellor Place. "Clermont" is about half a mile to the north, +the home of Clermont Livingston, an early manor house built by Robert +R. Livingston, who, next to Hamilton, was the greatest New York +statesman during our revolutionary period. The manor church, not seen +from the river, is at the old village of Clermont, about five miles +due west from the mansion. The Livingstons are of Scotch ancestry and +have an illustrious lineage. Mary Livingston, one of the "four Marys" +who attended Mary Queen of Scots during her childhood and education in +France, was of the same family. Robert Livingston, born in 1654, came +to the Hudson Valley with his father, and in 1686 purchased from the +Indians a tract of country reaching east twenty-two miles to the +boundary of Massachusetts with a river frontage of twelve miles. This +purchase was created, "the Lordship and Manor of Livingston," by +Governor Thomas Dongan. In 1692 Robert built the manor house, but did +not reside in it for twenty years. He was a friend of Captain Kidd and +a powerful promoter of his enterprises. The manor consisted of 260,000 +acres. The estate of 13,000 acres, given to his second son Robert, was +called Clermont. Philip, his first son, inherited 247,000 acres, by +old-time primogeniture succession. From each of these two families +sprang a line of vigorous and resolute men. Robert R. Livingston, +our revolutionary hero, descended from the smaller estate, owned +"Clermont" at the time it was burned by the British. It was soon +rebuilt and Lafayette was a guest at the mansion during his visit to +the United States in 1824. + + * * * + + Let us not then neglect to improve the advantages we + possess; let us avail ourselves of the present moment to + fix lasting peace upon the broad basis of natural union; + let us while it is still in our power lay the foundation of + our long happiness and the happiness of our posterity. + + _Robert R. Livingston._ + + * * * + +Above West Camp landing on the west side, is the boundary line between +Ulster and Greene Counties; Ulster having kept us company all the way +from Hampton Point opposite New Hamburgh. Throughout this long stretch +of the river one industry must not be overlooked, well described by +John Burroughs: + +=The Shad Industry.=--"When the chill of the ice is out of the river +and the snow and frost out of the air, the fishermen along the shore +are on the lookout for the first arrival of shad. A few days of warm +south wind the latter part of April will soon blow them up; it is +true also, that a cold north wind will as quickly blow them back. +Preparations have been making for them all winter. In many a +farm-house or other humble dwelling along the river, the ancient +occupation of knitting of fish-nets has been plied through the long +winter evenings, perhaps every grown member of the household, the +mother and her daughters as well as the father and his sons, lending +a hand. The ordinary gill or drift-net used for shad fishing in the +Hudson is from a half to three-quarters of a mile long, and thirty +feet wide, containing about fifty or sixty pounds of fine linen twine, +and it is a labor of many months to knit one. Formerly the fish were +taken mainly by immense seines, hauled by a large number of men; but +now all the deeper part of the river is fished with the long, delicate +gill-nets that drift to and fro with the tide, and are managed by two +men in a boat. The net is of fine linen thread, and is practically +invisible to the shad in the obscure river current: it hangs suspended +perpendicularly in the water, kept in position by buoys at the top and +by weights at the bottom; the buoys are attached by cords twelve or +fifteen feet long, which allow the net to sink out of the reach of +the keels of passing vessels. The net is thrown out on the ebb tide, +stretching nearly across the river, and drifts down and then back on +the flood, the fish being snared behind the gills in their efforts to +pass through the meshes. I envy fishermen their intimate acquaintance +with the river. They know it by night as well as by day, and learn all +its moods and phases. The net is a delicate instrument that reveals +all the hidden currents and by-ways, as well as all the sunken snags +and wrecks at the bottom. By day the fisherman notes the shape and +position of his net by means of the line or buoys; by night he marks +the far end of it with a lantern fastened upon a board or block. The +night tides he finds differ from the day--the flood at night being +much stronger than at other times, as if some pressure had been +removed with the sun, and the freed currents found less hindrance. The +fishermen have terms and phrases of their own. The wooden tray upon +which the net is coiled, and which sits in the stern of the boat, is +called a 'cuddy.' The net is divided into 'shots.' If a passing sloop +or schooner catches it with her centre-board or her anchor, it gives +way where two or three shoots meet, and thus the whole net is not +torn. The top cord or line of the net is called a 'cimline.' One +fisherman 'plugs' another when he puts out from the shore and casts +in ahead of him, instead of going to the general starting place, and +taking his turn. This always makes bad blood. The luck of the born +fisherman is about as conspicuous with the gill-net as with the rod +and line, some boats being noted for their great catches the season +through. No doubt the secret is mainly through application to the +business in hand, but that is about all that distinguishes the +successful angler. The shad campaign is one that requires pluck and +endurance; no regular sleep, no regular meals; wet and cold, heat +and wind and tempest, and no great gains at last. But the sturgeon +fishers, who come later and are seen the whole summer through, have +an indolent, lazy time of it. They fish around the 'slack-water,' +catching the last of the ebb and the first of the flow, and hence +drift but little either way. To a casual observer they appear as if +anchored and asleep. But they wake up when they have a 'strike,' which +may be every day, or not once a week. The fishermen keep their eye on +the line of buoys, and when two or more of them are hauled under, he +knows his game has run foul of the net, and he hastens to the point. +The sturgeon is a pig, without the pig's obstinacy. He spends much of +the time rooting and feeding in the mud at the bottom, and encounters +the net, coarse and strong, when he goes abroad. He strikes, and is +presently hopelessly entangled, when he comes to the top and is pulled +into the boat, like a great sleepy sucker. For so dull and lubbery +a fish, the sturgeon is capable of some very lively antics; as, for +instance, his habit of leaping full length into the air and coming +down with a great splash. He has thus been known to leap unwittingly +into a passing boat, to his own great surprise, and to the alarm and +consternation of the inmates." + + * * * + + The swelling river, into his green gulfs, + Unshadowed save by passing sails above, + Takes the redundant glory, and enjoys + The summer in his chilly bed. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + + I heard the plaintiff note of the Whip-poor-will from the + mountain-side, or was startled now and then by the + sudden leap and heavy splash of the sturgeon. + + _Washington Irving._ + + * * * + +=Germantown.=--Germantown Station is now seen on the east bank, +and between this and Germantown Dock, three miles to the north, is +obtained the best view of the "Man in the Mountain," readily traced by +the following outline: The peak to the south is the knee, the next to +the north is the breast, and two or three above this the chin, the +nose and the forehead. How often from the slope of Hillsdale, forty +miles away on the western trend of the Berkshires, when a boy, playing +by the fountain-heads of the Kinderhook and the Roeliffe Jansen's +Creek, have I looked out upon this mountain range aglow in the sunset, +and at even-tide heard my grandfather tell of his far-off journeys to +Towanda, Pennsylvania, when he drove through the great Cloves of the +Catskills, where twice he met "a bear" which retreated at the sound +of his old flint-lock, and then when I went to sleep at night how I +pulled the coverlet closer about my head, all on account of those two +bears that had been dead for more than forty years. + +[Illustration: THE MAN IN THE MOUNTAIN.] + + * * * + + And, sister, now my children come + To find the water just as cool, + To play about our grandsire's home, + To see our pictures in the pool. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + + Alps of the Hudson, whose bold summits rise + Into the upper ether of the skies, + Cleaving with calm content + The cloudless crystal of the firmament. + + _Joel Benton._ + + * * * + +The Catskills were called by the Indians On-ti-o-ras, or mountains of +the sky, as they sometimes seem like clouds along the horizon. This +range of mountains was supposed by the Indians to have been originally +a monster who devoured all the children of the red men, until the +great spirit touched him when he was going down to the salt lake to +bathe, and here he remains. "Two little lakes upon the summit were +regarded the eyes of the monster, and these are open all the summer; +but in the winter they are covered with a thick crust or heavy film; +but whether sleeping or waking tears always trickle down his cheeks. +In these mountains, according to Indian belief, was kept the great +treasury of storm and sunshine, presided over by an old squaw spirit +who dwelt on the highest peak of the mountains. She kept day and +night shut up in her wigwam, letting out only one at a time. She +manufactured new moons every month, cutting up the old ones into +stars," and, like the old AEolus of mythology, shut the winds up in the +caverns of the hills:-- + +Where Manitou once lived and reigned, + Great Spirit of a race gone by, +And Ontiora lies enchained + With face uplifted to the sky. + +The Catskill Mountains are now something more than a realm of romance +and poetry or a mountain range of beauty along our western horizon, +for, from this time forth the old squaw spirit will be kept busy with +her "Treasury of Tear Clouds," as the water supply of New York is to +come from these mountain sources. + +=The Catskill Water Supply.=--The cost of this great undertaking is +estimated at $162,000,000. Four creeks: The Esopus, Rondout, Schoharie +and Catskill will constitute the main source of supply. The total area +of the entire watershed is over nine hundred square miles, and the +supply will exceed 800,000,000 gallons daily. The work projected will +bring to the city 500,000,000 gallons per day. + +The Ashoken Reservoir, 12 miles long and two miles wide, will hold +120,000,000,000 gallons. The Catskill Aqueduct supply from Ashoken +Reservoir will deliver the water without pumping to Hill View +Reservoir in Yonkers high enough for gravity distribution. It will +take from ten to fifteen years to complete the work, which is begun +none too early, as the population of Greater New York will be over +5,000,000 in 1915, and its water consumption 1,000,000,000 gallons. In +1930 the population will be 7,000,000 and will call for a consumption +of 100,000,000,000 gallons daily. We are indeed "ancients of the earth +and in the morning of our times." From the far limits of the gathering +grounds some of the water will flow 130 miles to reach the city hall, +and 20 miles further to the southern extremity of Staten Island. + + * * * + + The majestic Hudson is on my left, + The Catskills rise in my dream; + The cataracts leap from the mountain cleft + And the brooks in the sunlight gleam. + + _Minot F. Savage._ + + * * * + +Between Old Cro' Nest and Cold Spring the water will be syphoned under +the Hudson through a concrete tube six hundred feet below the surface +of the river. + +The Croton Water Works, at a cost of about $14,000,000, completed in +1842, were regarded the greatest undertaking since the Roman Aqueduct. +Many improvements to meet increased demand have been made since that +time. Fifty years from now it is quite possible that the Catskill +System will seem like the Croton of to-day, as a small matter, and our +next step will be "An Adirondack System," making the successive steps +of our water supply the Croton, the Catskills and the Adirondacks. + +It is fortunate that our city destined to be the world's emporium, has +everything at hand needed for comfort and safety. + +John Bigelow, the literary and political link of the century, born at +Malden-on-the-Hudson, in 1817, was present at the inauguration of the +work at Cold Spring, June, 1907. It was the writer's privilege to meet +him often on the Hudson River steamers in the decade of 1870, and +to receive from him many graphic descriptions of the early life and +customs of the Hudson. What memories must have thronged upon him as he +contrasted the life of three generations! + +=The Clover Reach.=--We are now in what is known as The Clover Reach +of the Hudson which extends to the Backerack near Athens. One mile +above Germantown Dock stood Nine Mile Tree, a landmark among old river +pilots so named on account of its marking a point nine miles from +Hudson. Above this the Roeliffe Jansen's Kill flows into the river, +known by the Indians as Saupenak, rising in Hillsdale within a few +feet of Greenriver Creek, immortal in Bryant's verse. The Greenriver +flows east into the Housatonic, the Jansen south into Dutchess County, +whence it takes a northerly course until it joins the Hudson. The +Burden iron furnaces above the mouth of the stream form an ugly +feature in the landscape. This is the southern boundary of the Herman +Livingston estate, whose house is one mile and a half further up the +river, near Livingston Dock, beneath Oak Hill. Greenville station is +now seen on the east bank, directly opposite Catskill Landing, which +the steamer is now approaching. + + * * * + + The fields and waters seem to us this Sabbath morning + from the summit of the Catskills, no more truly + property than the skies that shine upon them. + + _Harriet Martineau._ + + * * * + +=Catskill=, 111 miles from New York, was founded in 1678 by the +purchase of several square miles from the Indians. The landing is +immediately above the mouth of the Catskill or Kaaterskill Creek. It +is said that the creek and mountains derive their name as follows: It +is known that each tribe had a _totemic_ emblem, or rude banner; the +Mahicans had the wolf as their emblem, and some say that the word +Mahican means an enchanted wolf. (The Lenni Lenapes, or Delawares, had +the turkey as their totem.) Catskill was the southern boundary of the +Mahicans on the west bank, and here they set up their emblem. It is +said from this fact the stream took the name of Kaaterskill. The +large cat or wolf, similar in appearance, forms the mark of King +Aepgin on his deed to Van Rensselaer. Perhaps, however, the mountains +at one time abounded in these animals, and the name may be only a +coincidence. The old village, with its main street, lies along the +valley of the Catskill Creek, not quite a mile from the Catskill +Landing, and preserves some of the features of the days when +_Knickerbocker_ was accustomed to pay it an annual visit. The location +seems to have been chosen as a place of security--out of sight to one +voyaging up the river. The northern slope now reveals fine residences, +all of which command extensive views. Just out of the village proper, +on a beautiful outlook, stands the charming Prospect Park Hotel. The +drives and pedestrian routes in the vicinity of Catskill are well +condensed by Walton Van Loan, a resident of the village, whose guide +to the Catskills is the best on this region and will be of great +service to all who would like to understand thoroughly the mountain +district. + +=The Northern Catskills.=--The northern and southern divisions have +been indicated not so much as mountain divisions, but in order to +better emphasize the two routes, which converge from Kingston +and Catskill toward each other, drawn by two principal points of +attraction, the Catskill Mountain House and the Hotel Kaaterskill. + + * * * + + Ah! how often when I have been abroad on the mountains + has my heart risen in grateful praise to God that + it was not my destiny to waste and pine among those + noisome congregations of the city. + + _John James Audubon._ + + * * * + +=The Catskill Mountain House= has been widely known for almost a +century. The original proprietor had the choice of location in 1823, +when the entire range was a vast mountain wilderness, and he made +excellent selection for its site. It seems as if the rocky balcony +was especially reared two thousand feet above the valley for a grand +outlook and restful resort. "What can you see," exclaimed Natty +Bumppo, one of Cooper's favorite characters. "Why, all the world;" and +this is the feeling to-day of everyone looking down from this point +upon the Hudson Valley. + +The Mountain House Park has a valley frontage of over three miles in +extent, and consists of 2,780 acres of magnificent forest and farming +lands, traversed in all directions by many miles of carriage roads +and paths, leading to various noted places of interest. The Crest, +Newman's Ledge, Bear's Den, Prospect Rock on North Mountain, and +Eagle Rock and Palenville Overlook on South Mountain, from which +the grandest views of the region are obtained, are contained in the +property. It also includes within its boundaries North and South +Lakes, both plentifully stocked with various kind of fish and well +supplied with boats and canoes. The atmosphere is delightful, +invigorating and pure; the great elevation and surrounding forest +render it free from malaria. The temperature is fifteen to twenty +degrees lower than at Catskill Village, New York City or Philadelphia. + + * * * + + Cooper's "Leatherstocking" is the one melodious synopsis + of man and nature. + + _Thomas Carlyle._ + + * * * + +The =_Otis Elevating Railway_=, made possible by the enterprise of +the late Commodore Van Santvoord, extends from Otis Junction on the +_Catskill Mountain Railway_ to Otis Summit, a noble altitude of the +Catskill Range. The incline railway, 7,000 feet in length, ascends +1,600 feet and attains an elevation of 2,200 feet above the Hudson +River. "In length, elevation, overcome and carrying capacity it +exceeds any other incline railway in the world. It is operated by +powerful stationary engines and huge steel wire cables, and the method +employed is similar to that used by the Otis Elevator Company for +elevators in buildings. Every safeguard has been provided, so that an +accident of any kind is practically impossible. Should the machinery +break, the cables snap or track spread, an ingenious automatic device +would stop the cars at once. A passenger car and baggage car are +attached to each end of double cables which pass around immense drums +located at the top of the incline. While one train rises the other +descends, passing each other midway. By this arrangement trains +carrying from seventy-five to one hundred passengers can be run in +each direction every fifteen minutes when necessary, the time required +for a trip being only ten minutes. This is a vast improvement over the +old way of making the ascent of the mountains by stage, as it reduces +the time fully one and a half hours, besides adding greatly to the +pleasure of the trip. The ride up the mountains on the incline railway +is a novel and delightful experience, and is alone worth a visit to +the Catskills. As the train ascends, the magnificent panorama of the +valley of the Hudson, extending for miles and miles, is gradually +unfolded; while the river itself, like a ribbon of silver glistening +in the sun, and the Berkshire Hills in the distance seem to rise to +the view of the passenger. At the summit of the incline passengers for +the Laurel House, Haines Corners, Ontiora, Sunset, Twilight, Santa +Cruz, Elka Park, and Tannersville, take the trains of the _Kaaterskill +Railroad_, which connect with the _Otis Elevating Railway_." + + * * * + + The din of toil comes faintly swelling up + From green fields far below, and all around + The forest sea sends up its ceaseless roar + Like the ocean's everlasting chime. + + _Bayard Taylor._ + + * * * + +Two miles from the summit landing are the Kaaterskill Falls. The upper +fall 175 feet, lower fall 85 feet. The amphitheatre behind the cascade +is the scene of one of Bryant's finest poems: + + "From greens and shades where the Kaaterskill leaps + From cliffs where the wood flowers cling;" + +and we recall the lines which express so beautifully the well-nigh +fatal dream + + "Of that dreaming one + By the base of that icy steep, + When over his stiffening limbs begun + The deadly slumber of frost to creep." + +About half-way up the old mountain carriage road, is the place said to +be the dreamland of Rip Van Winkle--the greatest character of American +mythology, more real than the heroes of Homer or the massive gods +of Olympus. The railway, however, has rather dispensed with Rip Van +Winkle's resting-place. The old stage drivers had so long pointed out +the identical spot where he slept that they had come to believe in it, +but his spirit still haunts the entire locality, and we can get along +without his "open air bed chamber." It will not be necessary to quote +from a recent guide-book that "no intelligent person probably believes +that such a character ever really existed or had such an experience." +The explanation is almost as humorous as the legend. + +=The Hotel Kaaterskill=, whose name and fame went over a continent +even before it was fairly completed, is located on the summit of the +Kaaterskill Mountain, three miles by carriage or one by path from the +Catskill Mountain House. It is the largest mountain hotel at this +time in the world, accommodating 1,200 guests, and the Catskills have +reason to feel proud of this distinction. They have for many years had +the best-known legend--the wonderful and immortal Rip Van Winkle. They +have always enjoyed the finest valley views of any mountain outlook, +and they have a right to the best hotels. + + * * * + + There is a fall in the hills, where the water of two + little ponds runs over the rocks into the valley. The + first pitch is nigh two hundred feet and the water looks + like flakes of driven snow before it touches the bottom. + + _James Fenimore Cooper._ + + * * * + +It may seem antiquated and old-fashioned in the midst of elevated +railroads to speak of mountain driveways, but that to Palenville, as +we last saw it, was a beautiful piece of engineering--as smooth as a +floor and securely built. It looks as if it were intended to last for +a century, the stone work is so thoroughly finished. The views from +this road are superior to anything we have seen in the Catskills, and +the great sweep of the mountain clove recalls a Sierra Nevada trip on +the way to the Yosemite. + +The writer will never forget another Catskill drive fully twenty +years ago. Starting one morning with a pair of mustang ponies from +Phoenicia, we called at the Kaaterskill, the Catskill Mountain +House, and the Laurel House, took supper at Catskill Village, and +reached New York that evening at eleven o'clock. It is unnecessary to +say that we were on business--our book was on the press--and we went +as if one of the printers' best-known companions was on our trail. + +Irving's description of his first voyage up the river brings us more +delicately and gracefully down from these mountains to the Hudson--the +level highway to the sea. "Of all the scenery of the Hudson, the +Kaatskill Mountains had the most witching effect on my boyish +imagination. Never shall I forget the effect upon me of my first view +of them, predominating over a wide extent of country--part wild, woody +and rugged; part softened away into all the graces of cultivation. As +we slowly floated along, I lay on the deck and watched them through a +long summer's day, undergoing a thousand mutations under the magical +effects of atmosphere; sometimes seeming to approach; at other times +to recede; now almost melting into hazy distance, now burnished by the +setting sun, until in the evening they printed themselves against the +glowing sky in the deep purple of an Italian landscape." + + * * * + + Limned upon the fair horizon, + West from central Hudson's tide, + The fair form of Ontiora + Throughout ages shall abide. + + _Jared Barhete._ + + * * * + +=Catskill to Hudson.= + +Leaving Catskill dock, the Prospect Park Hotel looks down upon us from +a commanding point on the west bank, while north of this can be seen +Cole's Grove, where Thomas Cole, the artist, lived, who painted the +well-known series, the Voyage of Life. On the east side is Rodger's +Island, where it is said the last battle was fought between the +Mahicans and Mohawks; and it is narrated that "as the old king of the +Mahicans was dying, after the conflict, he commanded his regalia to be +taken off and his successor put into the kingship while his eyes were +yet clear to behold him. Over forty years had he worn it, from the +time he received it in London from Queen Anne. He asked him to kneel +at his couch, and, putting his withered hand across his brow, placed +the feathery crown upon his head, and gave him the silver-mounted +tomahawk--symbols of power to rule and power to execute. Then, looking +up to the heavens, he said, as if in despair for his race, 'The hills +are our pillows, and the broad plains to the west our hunting-grounds; +our brothers are called into the bright wigwam of the Everlasting, and +our bones lie upon the fields of many battles; but the wisdom of the +dead is given to the living.'" + +On the east bank of the Hudson, above this historic island, is the +residence of Frederick E. Church, whose glowing canvas has linked the +Niagara with the Hudson. It commands a wide view of the Berkshire +Hills to the eastward, and westward to the Catskills. The hill above +Rodgers' Island, on the east bank, is known as Mount Merino, one of +the first places to which Merino sheep were brought in this country. + +=Hudson=, 115 miles from New York, was founded in the year 1784, by +thirty persons from Providence, R. I., and incorporated as a city in +1785. The city is situated on a sloping promontory, bounded by the +North and South Bays. Its main streets, Warren, Union and Allen, run +east and west a little more than a mile in length, crossed by Front +Street, First, Second, Third, etc. Main Street reaches from Promenade +Park to Prospect Hill. The park is on the bluff just above the +steamboat landing; we believe this city is the only one on the Hudson +that has a promenade ground overlooking the river. It commands a fine +view of the Catskill Mountains, Mount Merino, and miles of the river +scenery. The city has always enjoyed the reputation of hospitality. +It is the western terminus of the Hudson and Chatham division of the +_Boston & Albany Railroad_, and also of the _Kinderhook & Hudson +Railway_. + + * * * + + White fleecy clouds move slowly by. + How cool their shadows fall to-day! + A moment on the hills they lie + And then like spirits glide away. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman._ + + * * * + +From an old-time English history we read that Hudson grew more rapidly +than any other town in America except Baltimore. Standing at the head +of ship navigation it would naturally have become a great port had it +not been for the railway and the steamboat which made New York the +emporium not only of the Hudson, but also of the continent. + +Hudson had also a good sprinkling of Nantucket blood, and visitors +from that quaint old town recognize in portico, stoop and window a +familiar architecture. + +=Columbia Springs=, an old-time resort with pleasant grove and white +sulphur water, is four miles northeast of Hudson. Its medicinal +qualities are attested by scores of physicians, and by hundreds who +have been benefited and cured. The drive is pleasant and the return +can be made through-- + +=Claverack=, three and a half miles east of Hudson, a restful +old-fashioned village situated at the crossing of the Old Post Road +and the Columbia turnpike and county seat of Columbia in Knickerbocker +days. The court house on its well-shaded street was for many years the +home of the late Peter Hoffman. The Dutch Reformed Church, built of +bricks brought from Holland, wears on its brow wrinkles of antiquity, +emphasized by the date 1767 on its walls. It is said that General +Washington encamped here, but there is no historical data to confirm +the tradition. Claverack Falls is well worth a visit, which can easily +be made in an afternoon stroll. Copake Lake, to the southeast, can be +reached by a drive of about twelve miles, a fine sheet of water ten +miles in circumference, with a picturesque island connected to the +main land by a causeway. Forty years ago a romantic ruin of a stone +mansion still stood on this island, where the writer, when a boy, used +to wander around the deserted rooms looking for ghosts, but the walls +were torn down July 4, 1866, as the place was frequented every summer +by a remnant of the old Stockbridge tribe. The neighbors thought the +best way of getting rid of the "noble red men" was to burn up the +hive. The mansion was built by a Miss Livingston, but she soon +exchanged her island home for Florence and the classic associations +of Italy. Bash-Bish, one mile from Copake Station on the _Harlem +Railroad_, one of the most romantic glens in our country, has been +visited and eulogized by Henry Ward Beecher, Bayard Taylor and many +distinguished writers and travelers. Soon after leaving Copake Station +a beautiful carriage road, but extremely narrow, strikes the left bank +of this mountain stream, and for a long distance follows its rocky +channel. On the right a thickly wooded hill rises abruptly more than a +thousand feet--a perfect wall of foliage from base to summit. A mile +brings one to the lower falls; the upper falls are about a quarter of +a mile farther up the gorge. The height of the falls, with the rapids +between, is about 300 feet above the little rustic bridge at the foot +of the lower falls. The glen between is a place of wild beauty, with +rocks and huge boulders "in random ruin piled." + + * * * + + I saw the green banks of the castle-crowned Rhine, + Where the grapes drink the moonlight and change into wine, + But my heart would still yearn for the sound of the waves + That sing as they flow by my forefather's graves. + + _Oliver Wendell Holmes._ + + * * * + +=Hillsdale Village= has a beautiful location and affords a good +central point for visiting Mount Everett, with its wide prospect +(altitude 2,624 feet), Copake Lake six miles to the west, Bash-Bish +Falls six miles south, and Po-ka-no five miles to the northeast, +sometimes known as White's Hill. The Po-ka-no, Columbia County's +noblest outlook, 1,713 feet, commands the Hudson Valley for eighty +miles; and the owner says that he saw the fireworks from there the +night of the Newburgh centennial in 1883. From the summit can be seen +"Monument Mountain" and the Green Mountains of Vermont. At its base +glides the "Green River Creek," which flows into the Housatonic near +Great Barrington. From this point the drive can be continued to North +Egremont, South Egremont, Great Barrington and Monument Mountain. +Before the days of railroads the Columbia turnpike was the great trade +artery of the city of Hudson. It was interesting to hear William +Cullen Bryant recount his experiences in driving from his home in +Great Barrington over the well-known highway on his way to New York. +The _Housatonic_ and _Harlem Railroads_ tapped its life and have left +many a sleepy village along the route, once astir in staging days. The +stone for Girard College was drawn from Massachusetts quarries over +this route and shipped to Philadelphia from Hudson. The Lebanon +Valley, in the northeastern part of the county, is considered one of +the most beautiful in the State, and said by Sir Henry Vincent, the +English orator, to resemble the far-famed valley of Llangollen, in +Wales. The Wy-a-mon-ack Creek flows through the valley, joining its +waters with the Kinderhook. Quechee Lake is near at hand, where Miss +Warner was born, author of "Queechee" and the "Wide Wide World." + + * * * + + Welcome ye pleasant dales and hills, + Where dream-like passed my early days! + Ye cliffs and glens and laughing rills + That sing unconscious hymns of praise! + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Lindenwald=, a solid and substantial residence, home of President +Martin Van Buren, where he died in 1862, is two miles from the +pleasant village of Kinderhook. Columbia County just missed the proud +distinction of rearing two presidents, as Samuel J. Tilden was born in +the town of Lebanon. Elisha Williams, John Van Buren and many others +have given lustre to her legal annals. + + * * * + + Ever fonder, ever dearer + Seems our youth that hastened by, + And we love to live in memory + When our fond hopes fade and die. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +=Hudson to Albany.= + +=Athens.=--Directly opposite Hudson, and connected with it by ferry, +is the classically named village of Athens. An old Mahican settlement +known as Potick was located a little back from the river. We are now +in the midst of the great + +="Ice Industry,"= which reaches from below Staatsburgh to Castleton +and Albany, well described by John Burroughs in his article on the +Hudson: "No man sows, yet many men reap a harvest from the Hudson. Not +the least important is the ice harvest, which is eagerly looked for, +and counted upon by hundreds, yes, thousands of laboring men along its +course. Ice or no ice sometimes means bread or no bread to scores of +families, and it means added or diminished comforts to many more. It +is a crop that takes two or three weeks of rugged winter weather to +grow, and, if the water is very roily or brackish, even longer. It is +seldom worked till it presents seven or eight inches of clear water +ice. Men go out from time to time and examine it, as the farmer goes +out and examines his grain or grass, to see when it will do to cut. If +there comes a deep fall of snow the ice is 'pricked' so as to let the +water up through and form snow ice. A band of fifteen or twenty men, +about a yard apart, each armed with a chisel-bar, and marching in +line, puncture the ice at each step, with a single sharp thrust. To +and fro they go, leaving a belt behind them that presently becomes +saturated with water. But ice, to be of first quality, must grow from +beneath, not from above. It is a crop quite as uncertain as any other. +A good yield every two or three years, as they say of wheat out west, +is about all that can be counted upon. When there is an abundant +harvest, after the ice houses are filled, they stack great quantities +of it, as the farmer stacks his surplus hay. Such a fruitful winter +was that of '74-5, when the ice formed twenty inches thick. The stacks +are given only a temporary covering of boards, and are the first ice +removed in the season. The cutting and gathering of the ice enlivens +these broad, white, desolate fields amazingly. My house happens to +stand where I look down upon the busy scene, as from a hill-top upon +a river meadow in haying time, only here figures stand out much +more sharply than they do from a summer meadow. There is the broad, +straight, blue-black canal emerging into view, and running nearly +across the river; this is the highway that lays open the farm. On +either side lie the fields, or ice meadows, each marked out by cedar +or hemlock boughs. The farther one is cut first, and when cleared, +shows a large, long, black parallelogram in the midst of the plain +of snow. Then the next one is cut, leaving a strip or tongue of ice +between the two for the horses to move and turn upon. Sometimes nearly +two hundred men and boys, with numerous horses, are at work at once, +marking, plowing, planing, scraping, sawing, hauling, chiseling; some +floating down the pond on great square islands towed by a horse, or +their fellow workmen; others distributed along the canal, bending to +their ice-hooks; others upon the bridges separating the blocks with +their chisel bars; others feeding the elevators; while knots and +straggling lines of idlers here and there look on in cold discontent, +unable to get a job. The best crop of ice is an early crop. Late in +the season or after January, the ice is apt to get 'sun-struck,' when +it becomes 'shaky,' like a piece of poor timber. The sun, when he +sets about destroying the ice, does not simply melt it from the +surface--that were a slow process; but he sends his shafts into it and +separates it into spikes and needles--in short, makes kindling-wood of +it, so as to consume it the quicker. One of the prettiest sights about +the ice harvesting is the elevator in operation. When all works well, +there is an unbroken procession of the great crystal blocks slowly +ascending this incline. They go up in couples, arm in arm, as it were, +like friends up a stairway, glowing and changing in the sun, and +recalling the precious stones that adorned the walls of the celestial +city. When they reach the platform where they leave the elevator, they +seem to step off like things of life and volition; they are still in +pairs and separate only as they enter upon the 'runs.' But here they +have an ordeal to pass through, for they are subjected to a rapid +inspection and the black sheep are separated from the flock; every +square with a trace of sediment or earth-stain in it, whose texture +is not perfect and unclouded crystal, is rejected and sent hurling +down into the abyss; a man with a sharp eye in his head and a sharp +ice-hook in his hand picks out the impure and fragmentary ones as they +come along and sends them quickly overboard. Those that pass the +examination glide into the building along the gentle incline, and are +switched off here and there upon branch runs, and distributed to all +parts of the immense interior." + + * * * + + But when in the forest bare and old + The blast of December calls, + He builds in the starlight clear and cold + A palace of ice where his torrent falls. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + + Where the frost trees shoot with leaf and spray + And frost gems scatter a silver ray. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + + How fair the thronging pictures run, + What joy the vision fills-- + The star-glow and the setting sun + Amid the northern hills. + + _Benjamin F. Leggett._ + + * * * + +Passing west of the Hudson Flats we see North Bay, crossed by the _New +York Central Railroad_. Kinderhook Creek meets the river about three +miles north of Hudson, directly above which is Stockport Station for +Columbiaville. Four Mile Light-house is now seen on the opposite bank. +Nutten Hook, or Coxsackie Station, is four miles above Stockport. +Opposite this point, and connected by a ferry, is the village of-- + +=Coxsackie= (name derived from Kaak-aki, or place of wild geese, "aki" +in Indian signifies place and it is singular to find the Indian word +"Kaak" so near to the English "cackle"). Two miles north Stuyvesant +Landing is seen on the east bank, the nearest station on the _New +York Central & Hudson River Railroad_, by carriage, to Valatie and +Kinderhook. The name Kinderhook is said to have had its origin from a +point on the Hudson prolific in children; as the children were always +out of doors to see the passing craft, it was known as Kinderhook, or +"children's point." Passing Bronk's Island, due west of which empties +Coxsackie Creek, we see Stuyvesant Light-house on our right, and +approach New Baltimore, a pleasant village on the west bank, with +sloop and barge industry. About a mile above the landing is the +meeting point of four counties: Greene and Albany on the west, +Columbia and Rensselaer on the east. Beeren Island, connected with +Coeyman's Landing by small steamer, now a picnic resort, lies near the +west bank, where it will be remembered the first white child was born +on the Hudson. Here was the Castle of Rensselaertein, before which +Antony Van Corlear read again and again the proclamation of Peter +Stuyvesant, and from which he returned with a diplomatic reply, +forming one of the most humorous chapters in Irving's "Knickerbocker." +Threading our way through low-lying islands and river flats, and +"slowing down" occasionally on meeting canal boats or other river +craft, we pass Coeyman's on our left and Lower Schodack Island on +our right, due east of which is the station of Schodack Landing. The +writer of this handbook remembers distinctly a winter's evening walk +from Schodack Landing, crossing the frozen Hudson and snow-covered +island on an ill-defined trail. He was on his way to deliver his first +lecture, February, 1868, and his subject was "The Legends and Poetry +of the Hudson." Since that time he has written and re-written many +guides to the river, so that the present handbook is not a thing of +yesterday. The next morning, on his return to Schodack, he had for +his companion a young man from twenty or thirty miles inland, who had +never seen a train of cars except in the distance. On reaching the +railway, one of the New York expresses swept by, and as he caught the +motion of the bell cord he turned and said: "Do they drive it with +that little string?" Lower Schodack Island, Mills Plaat (also an +island) and Upper Schodack Island reach almost to-- + +=Castleton=, a pleasant village on the eastern bank, with main street +lying close to the river. The cliffs, a few miles to the north, were +known to the Indians as Scoti-ack, or place of the ever-burning +council-fire, which gave the name of Schodack to the township, where +King Aepgin, on the 8th of April, 1680, sold to Van Rensselaer "all +that tract of country on the west side of the Hudson, extending from +Beeren Island up to Smack's Island, and in breadth two days' journey." + + * * * + + No spot in all the world where poetry and romance + are so closely blended with the heroic in history as + along the banks of our Hudson. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +THE MAHICAN TRIBE originally occupied all the east bank of the Hudson +north of Roeliffe Jansen's Kill, near Germantown, to the head waters +of the Hudson; and on the west bank, from Cohoes to Catskill. The town +of Schodack was central, and a signal displayed from the hills near +Castleton could be seen for thirty miles in every direction. After the +Mahicans left the Hudson, they went to Westenhook, or Housatonic, +to the hills south of Stockbridge; and then, on invitation of the +Oneidas, removed to Oneida County, in 1785, where they lived until +1821, when, with other Indians of New York, they purchased a tract of +land near Fox River, Minnesota. + +Domestic clans or families of the Mahicans lingered around their +ancient seats for some years after the close of the Revolution, but +of them, one after another, it is written, "They disappeared in the +night." In the language of Tamerund at the death of Uncas, "The +pale-faces are masters of the earth, and the time of the red men has +not yet come again. My day has been too long. In the morning I saw the +sons of Unami happy and strong; and yet before the night has come, +have I lived to see the last warrior of the race of the Mahicans." + + * * * + + Autumn had given uniformity of coloring to the woods. + It varied now between copper and gold, and shone like + an infinitely rich golden embroidery on the Indian veil + of mist which rested upon the heights along the Hudson. + + _Harriet Martineau._ + + * * * + +According to Ruttenber, the names and location of the Indian tribes +were not ascertained with clearness by the early Dutch settlers, but +through documents, treaties and information, subsequently obtained, +it is now settled that the Mahicans held possession "under sub-tribal +organizations" of the east bank of the river from an undefined point +north of Albany to the sea, including Long Island; that their dominion +extended east to the Connecticut, where they joined kindred tribes; +that on the west bank of the Hudson they ran down as far as Catskill, +and west to Schenectady; that they were met on the west by the +territory of the Mohawks, and on the south by tribes of the Lenni +Lenapes or Delawares, whose territory extended thence to the sea, and +west to and beyond the Delaware River. The Mahicans had a castle at +Catskill and at Cohoes Falls. The western side of the Hudson, above +Cohoes, belonged to the Mohawks, a branch of the Iroquois. Therefore, +as early as 1630, three great nations were represented on the Hudson-- + +=The Mahicans, the Delawares and the Iroquois.= The early French +missionaries refer to the "nine nations of Manhinyans, gathered +between Manhattan and the environs of Quebec." These several nations +have never been accurately designated, although certain general +divisions appear under the titles of Mohegan, Wappinger, Sequins, +etc. "The government of the Mahicans was a democracy. The office was +hereditary by the lineage of the wife; that is, the selection of a +successor on the death of the chief, was confined to the female branch +of the family." According to Ruttenber, the precise relation between +the Mahicans of the Hudson and the Mohegans under Uncas, the Pequot +chief, is not known. In a foot-note to this statement, he says: "The +identity of name between the Mahicans and Mohegans, induces the belief +that all these tribes belonged to the same stock,--although they +differed in dialect, in territory, and in their alliances." The two +words, therefore, must not be confounded. + + * * * + + Round about the Indian village + Spread the meadows and the cornfields, + Stood the groves of singing pine trees, + And beyond them stood the forest, + + _Henry W. Longfellow._ + + * * * + +It is also pleasant to remember that the Mahicans as a tribe were true +and faithful to us during the war of the Revolution, and when the six +nations met in council at Oswego, at the request of Guy Johnson and +other officers of the British army, "to eat the flesh and drink the +blood of a Bostonian," Hendrick, the Mahican, made the pledge for his +tribe at Albany, almost in the eloquent words of Ruth to Naomi, "Thy +people shall be our people, and whither thou goest we will be at your +side." + +=The Mourdener's Kill=, with its sad story of a girl tied by Indians +to a horse and dragged through the valley, flows into the Hudson above +Castleton. Two miles above this near the steamer channel will be seen +Staats Island on the east, with an old stone house, said to be next in +antiquity to the old Van Rensselaer House, opposite Albany. It is also +a fact that this property passed directly to the ancestors of the +present family, the only property in this vicinity never owned by the +lord of the manor. Opposite the old stone house, the point on the west +bank is known as Parda Hook, where it is said a horse was once drowned +in a horse-race on the ice, and hence the name Parda, for the old +Hollanders along the Hudson seemed to have had a musical ear, and +delighted in accumulating syllables. (The word pard is used in Spenser +for spotted horse, and still survives in the word leopard.) + +The Castleton Bar or "overslaugh," as it was known by the river +pilots, impeded for years navigation in low water. Commodore Van +Santvoord and other prominent citizens brought the subject before the +State legislature, and work was commenced in 1863. In 1868 the United +States Government very properly (as their jurisdiction extends over +tide-water), assumed the completing of the dykes, which now stretch +for miles along the banks and islands of the upper Hudson. Here and +there along our route between Coxsackie and Albany will be seen great +dredges deepening and widening the river channel. The plan provides +for a system of longitudinal dykes to confine the current sufficiently +to allow the ebb and flow of the tidal-current to keep the channel +clear. These dykes are to be gradually brought nearer together from +New Baltimore toward Troy, so as to assist the entrance of the +flood-current and increase its height. + + * * * + + Where Hudson winds his silver way + And murmurs at the tardy stay, + Impatient at delay. + + _William Crow._ + + * * * + +The engineers report that the greater part of the material carried in +suspension in the Hudson river above Albany is believed to come from +the Mohawk river, and its tributary the Schoharie river, while the +sands and gravel that form the heavy and obstinate bars near Albany +and chiefly between Albany and Troy, come from the upper Hudson. + +The discharge of the Hudson between Troy and Albany at its lowest +stage may be taken at about 3,000 cubic feet per second. The river +supply, therefore, during that stage is inadequate in the upper part +of the river for navigation, independent of tidal flow. + +The greatest number of bars is between Albany and Troy, where the +channel is narrow, and at least six obstructing bars, composed of fine +and coarse gravel and coarse and fine sand, are in existence. In many +places between Albany and Troy the navigable depth is reduced to 71/2 +feet by the presence of these bars. + +From Albany to New Baltimore the depths are variable, the prevailing +depth being 10 feet and over, with pools of greater depth separated by +long cross-over bars, over which the greatest depth does not exceed +9 or 10 feet. Passing many delightful homes on the west bank and the +mouth of the Norman's Kill (Indian name Ta-wa-sentha, place of many +dead) and the Convent of the Sacred Heart, we see Dow's Point on the +east and above this the-- + +=Van Rensselaer Place=, with its port holes on either side of the door +facing the river, showing that it was built in troublesome times. +It is the oldest of the Patroon manor houses, built in 1640 or +thereabouts. It has been said that the adaptation of the old tune now +known as "Yankee Doodle" was made near the well in the grounds of the +Van Rensselaer Place by Dr. Richard Shuckberg, who was connected with +the British army when the Colonial troops from New England marched +into camp at Albany to join the British regulars on their way to fight +the French. The tune was known in New England before the Revolution as +"Lydia Fisher's Jig," a name derived from a famous lady who lived +in the reign of Charles II, and which has been perpetuated in the +following rhyme: + + Lucy Locket lost her pocket, + Lydia Fisher found it; + Not a bit of money in it, + Only binding 'round it. + +The appearance of the troops called down the derision of the British +officers, the hit of the doctor became known throughout the army, and +the song was used as a method of showing contempt for the Colonials +until after Lexington and Concord. + + * * * + + When life is old + And many a scene forgot the heart will hold + Its memory of this. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +=Rensselaer=, on the east bank of the river, was incorporated in 1896 +by the union of Greenbush and East Albany. The old name of Greenbush, +which still survives in East Greenbush, four miles distant, was given +to it by the old Dutch settlers, and it was probably a "green-bushed" +place in early days. Now pleasant residences and villas look out upon +the river from the near bank and distant hillsides. Two railroad +bridges and a carriage bridge cross the Hudson at this point. During +the French war in 1775, Greenbush was a military rendezvous, and in +1812 the United States Government established extensive barracks, +whence troops were forwarded to Canada. + +=Albany=, 144 miles from New York. (_New York Central & Hudson River +Railroad_, _Boston & Albany_, _West Shore_, _Delaware and Hudson_, the +_Hudson River Day Line_ and _People's Line_.) Its site was called by +the Indians Shaunaugh-ta-da (Schenectady), or the Pine Plains. It +was next known by the early Dutch settlers as "Beverwyck," "William +Stadt," and "New Orange." The seat of the State Government was +transferred from New York to Albany in 1798. In 1714, when 100 years +old, it had a population of about 3,000, one-sixth of whom were +slaves. In 1786 it increased to about 10,000. In 1676, the city +comprised within the limits of Pearl, Beaver and Steuben streets, was +surrounded by wooden walls with six gates. They were 13 feet high, +made of timber a foot square. It is said that a portion of these walls +were remaining in 1812. The first railroad in the State and the second +in the United States was opened from Albany to Schenectady in 1831. +The pictures of these old coaches are very amusing, and the rate of +speed was only a slight improvement on a well-organized stage line. +From an old book in the State Library we condense the following +description, presenting quite a contrast to the city of to-day: +"Albany lay stretched along the banks of the Hudson, on one very wide +and long street, parallel to the Hudson. The space between the street +and the river bank was occupied by gardens. A small but steep hill +rose above the centre of the town, on which stood a fort. The wide +street leading to the fort (now State street) had a Market-Place, +Guard-House, Town Hall, and an English and Dutch Church, in the +centre." + + * * * + + I wandered afar from the land of my birth, + I saw the old rivers renowned upon earth, + But fancy still painted that wide-flowing stream + With the many-hued pencil of infancy's dream. + + _Oliver Wendell Holmes._ + + * * * + +Tourists and others will be amply repaid in visiting the new Capitol +building, at the head of State Street. It is open from nine in the +morning until six in the evening. It is said to be larger than the +Capitol at Washington, and cost more than any other structure on the +American continent. The staircases, the wide corridors, the Senate +chamber, the Assembly chamber, and the Court of Appeals room, attest +the wealth and greatness of the Empire State. The visitor up State +Street will note the beautiful and commanding spire of "St. Paul." The +Cathedral is also a grand structure. The population of Albany is now +100,000, and its growth is due to three causes: First, the Capitol +was removed from New York to Albany in 1798. Then followed two great +enterprises, ridiculed at the time by every one as the _Fulton Folly +and Clinton's Ditch_--in other words, steam navigation, 1807, and the +Erie Canal, 1825. Its name was given in honor of the Duke of Albany, +although it is still claimed by some of the oldest inhabitants that, +in the golden age of those far-off times, when the good old burghers +used to ask the welfare of their neighbors, the answer was "All +bonnie," and hence the name of the hill-crowned city. + + * * * + + Canals, long winding, ope a watery flight, + And distant streams and seas and lakes unite; + From fair Albania toward the fading sun, + Back through the midland lengthening channels run. + + _Joel Barlow._ + + * * * + +To condense from H. P. Phelps's careful handbook of "Albany and the +Capitol:" in 1614 a stockaded trading-house was erected on an island +below the city, well defended for trading with the Indians. In 1617 +another was built on the hill, near Norman's Kill. The West Indian +Company erected a fort in 1623 near the present landing of the Day +Line. In 1664 the province fell into the hands of the English and the +name was changed to Albany. In 1686 it was incorporated into a city. +It was the meeting place of the Constitutional Congress 1754, +the proposed Constitution of which, however, was never ratified. +Washington visited it in 1783. The Erie Canal was opened in 1825, +a railroad to Schenectady in 1832, the _Hudson River_ in 1851, a +consolidated road to Buffalo in 1853, and the _Susquehanna Railroad_ +to Binghamton in 1869. State Street at one time was said to be the +widest city thoroughfare in the country, after Pennsylvania Avenue in +Washington. The English and Dutch Churches and other public buildings, +once in the midst of it, but long since removed, account for its +extra width. The State Capitol has a commanding site. The old Capitol +building was completed in 1808. The corner-stone of the present +building was laid June 24, 1871, and it has been occupied since +January 7, 1879. According to Phelps, "the size of the structure +impresses the beholder at once. It is 300 feet north and south by 400 +feet east and west, and with the porticoes will cover three acres and +seven square feet. The walls are 108 feet high from the water-table, +and all this worked out of solid granite brought, most of it, from +Hallowell, Me." + +The impression produced varies with various persons. One accomplished +writer finds it "not unlike that made by the photographs of those +gigantic structures in the northern and eastern parts of India, which +are seen in full series on the walls of the South Kensington, and by +their barbaric profusion of ornamentation and true magnificence of +design give the stay-at-home Briton some faint inkling of the empire +which has invested his queen with another and more high-sounding +title. Yet when close at hand the building does not bear out this +connection with Indian architecture of the grand style; it might be +mere chance that at a distance there is a similarity; or it may be +that the smallness of size in the decorations as compared to the +structure itself explains fully why there is a tendency to confuse the +eye by the number of projections, arches, pillars, shallow recesses, +and what-not, which variegate the different facades. The confusion is +not entirely displeasing; it gives a sense of unstinted riches, and +represents the spirit that has reared the pile." + + * * * + + Nor let the dear love of its children grow cold + Till the channel is dry where its waters have rolled. + + _Oliver Wendell Holmes._ + + * * * + +The Governor's room, the golden corridor, the Senate staircase, the +Senate chamber, the Assembly chamber, and the Court of Appeals room +are interesting alike for their architectural stone work, decorations +and general finish. The State Library, dating from 1818, contains +about 150,000 volumes. The Clinton papers, including Andre's documents +captured at Tarrytown, are the most interesting of many valuable +manuscripts. Here also are a sword and pistol once belonging to +General Washington. The Museum of Military Records and Relics contains +over 800 battle flags of State regiments, with several ensigns +captured from the enemy. Near the Capitol are the State Hall and City +Hall, and on the right, descending State Street, the Geological Hall, +well worthy an extended visit. The present St. Peter's Episcopal +Church, third upon the site, is of Schenectady blue stone with brown +trimmings. Its tower contains "a chime of eleven bells and another +bell marked 1751, which is used only to ring in the new year." +Washington Park, consisting of eighty acres and procured at a cost +of one million dollars, reached by a pleasant drive or by electric +railway, is a delightful resort. It is noted for its grand trees, +artistic walks and floral culture. Several fine statues are also +worthy of mention, notably that of Robert Burns (Charles Calverley, +sculptor), erected by money left for this purpose by Mrs. McPherson, +under the careful and tasteful supervision of one of Albany's +best-known citizens, Mr. Peter Kinnear. A view from Washington Park +takes in the Catskills and the Helderberg Mountains. + + * * * + + No wonder that his countrymen today, led by the + Congress of this great Republic, celebrate the transaction + and the scene where Washington refused to accept + a crown. + + _William M. Evarts._ + + * * * + +And now, while waiting to "throw out the plank," which puts a period +to our Hudson River division, we feel like congratulating ourselves +that the various goblins which once infested the river have become +civilized, that the winds and tides have been conquered, and that +the nine-day voyage of Hendrick Hudson and the "Half Moon" has been +reduced to the _nine-hour system_ of the Hudson River Day Line. + +Those who have traveled over Europe will certainly appreciate the +quiet luxury of an American steamer; and this first introduction to +American scenery will always charm the tourist from other lands. No +single day's journey in any land or on any stream can present such +variety, interest, and beauty, as the trip of one hundred and +forty-four miles from New York to Albany. The Hudson is indeed a +goodly volume, with its broad covers of green _lying open_ on either +side; and it might in truth be called a _condensed_ history, for there +is no other place in our country where poetry and romance are so +strangely blended with the heroic and the historic,--no river where +the waves of different civilizations have left so many waifs upon the +banks. It is classic ground, from the "wilderness to the sea," and +will always be the poets' corner of our country: the home of Irving, +Willis, and Morris,--of Fulton, Morse, and Field,--of Cole, Audubon, +and Church,--and of scores besides, whose names are household words. + + * * * + + The Hudson's cable-tow of yore + Bound gallant sire and sturdy son + With hearty grasp from shore to shore + For Robert Burns and Washington. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + + + + +THE UPPER HUDSON. + + +=Albany to Saratoga.= + + +_Delaware and Hudson Railway._ + +A pleasant tour awaits the traveler who continues his journey north +from Albany, where the _Delaware and Hudson_ train for Saratoga is +ready at the landing on the arrival of the steamer. A half hour's run +along the west bank gives us a glimpse of Troy across the river with +the classical named hills Mount Ida and Mount Olympus. Two streams, +the Poestenkill and the Wynant's Kill, approach the river on the east +bank through narrow ravines, and furnish excellent water power. In the +year 1786 it was called Ferryhook. In 1787, Rensselaerwyck. In the +fall of 1787 the settlers began to use the name of Vanderheyden, after +the family who owned a great part of the ground where the city now +stands. January 9, 1789 the freeholders of the town met and gave it +the name of Troy. The "Hudson," the "Erie," and the "Champlain" Canals +have contributed to its growth. The city, with many busy towns, which +have sprung up around it--Cohoes, Lansingburg, Waterford, etc., is +central to a population of at least 100,000 people. The Rensselaer +Polytechnic Institute, the oldest engineering school in America, has a +national reputation. + +=Cohoes=, where the Mohawk joins the Hudson, has one of the finest +water powers in the country. Its name is of Indian origin and +signifies "the island at the falls." This was the division line +between the Mahicans and the Mohawks, and when the water is in full +force it suggests in graceful curve and sweep a miniature Niagara. The +view from the double-truss iron bridge (960 feet in length), looking +up or down the Mohawk, is impressive. + + * * * + + Oh, be my falls as bright as thine! + May heaven's relenting rainbow shine + Upon the mist that circles me, + As soft as now it hangs o'er thee! + + _Thomas Moore._ + + * * * + +Passing through Waterford, and Mechanicville which lies partly in the +township of Stillwater, with its historic records of Bemis Heights and +burial place of Ellsworth, the first martyr of the Civil war, we come +to-- + +=Round Lake=, nineteen miles north of Troy, and thirteen south +of Saratoga, near a beautiful sheet of water, three miles in +circumference, called by the Indians Ta-nen-da-ho-wa, which +interpreted, signifies Round Lake. The camp-meeting and assembly +grounds consist of 200 acres. The air is pure and invigorating and the +grove and cottages inviting. The drives in the vicinity are delightful +to Saratoga Lake, to the Hudson River, to the historic battlefields of +Bemis Heights and Stillwater. + +=Ballston Spa=, thirty-one miles from Albany, is the county seat of +Saratoga. Here are several well-known mineral springs, with chemical +properties similar to the springs of Saratoga. Over ninety years ago +Benjamin Douglas, father of Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, built a log +house, near the "Old Spring," for the accommodation of invalids and +travelers, and at one time it looked as if Saratoga would have a +vigorous rival at her very doors; but its hotel glory has departed and +the old "Sans Souci" of the days of Washington Irving is a thing of +the past. + + * * * + + A gallant army formed their last array + Upon that field, in silence and deep gloom, + And at their conqueror's feet, + Laid their war-weapons down. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +=Saratoga=, thirty-eight miles north of Albany, one hundred and +eighty-two miles from New York, is the greatest watering place of the +continent. Its development has been wonderful, and puts, as it were, +in large italics, the prosperity of our country. The first white man +to visit the place was Sir William Johnson, who, in 1767, was conveyed +there by his Mohawk friends, in the hope that the waters might afford +relief from the serious effects of a gunshot wound in the thigh, +received eight years before in the battle of Lake George, at which +time his army defeated the French legions under Baron Dieskau. It was +not until the year 1773, six years after Sir William Johnson's initial +visit, that the first clearing was made and the first cabin erected +by Derick Scowten. Owing, however, to misunderstandings with his red +neighbors, he shortly afterwards left. A year later, George Arnold, +from Rhode Island, took possession of the vacated Scowten House, and +conducted it with some degree of success for about two years. Arnold +was in turn followed by Samuel Norton, who failed to make the venture +successful, owing to the outbreak of the Revolution. Norton was +succeeded in 1783 by his son, who sold out in 1787 to Gideon Morgan, +who, in the same year, made the property over to Alexander Bryan. +Bryan became the first permanent settler after the close of the war. +The prosperity of the village began in 1789, with the advent of Gideon +Putnam, but the wooden inns and hotels of 1830, which seemed palatial +in those days, would get lost even in one of the parlors of the +mammoth hotels which now line the main street of the village. Chief +among these hotels, we mention the-- + +="United States,"= a grand and princely building of noble frontage +with a bright and spacious interior court, completed in June, 1874. It +constitutes one continuous line of buildings, six stories high, over +fifteen hundred feet in length, containing nine hundred and seventeen +rooms for guests, and is the largest hotel in the world. + +=The American-Adelphi= near at hand, also fronting Broadway, always +cheery and delightful under the management of its popular owner and +proprietor, Mr. George A. Farnham, has one of the finest locations in +Saratoga, combining comfort, good attention, a fine table, and every +convenience of a first-class house. One thing is sure, those who go to +the "American" return again and again. + +=The Speedway, the Race Track, and Driveways.=--Saratoga can justly +feel proud of her material growth and progress in many directions +during the last decade, and prominent among her varied attractions are +the Speedway and Race Track. Mr. W. C. Whitney and many other prominent +men have contributed liberally in this direction. _The Electric Line_ +to Saratoga Lake is also one of the features of the village, and +furnishes a delightful forenoon or afternoon's outing. + + * * * + + And boyhood's love and fireside-listened tales + Are rushing on your memories, as ye breathe + That valley's storied name,-- + Field of the Grounded Arms. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +=The Springs.=--The most prominent springs in and about Saratoga are +the Hathorn, the Patterson and the Congress. The popularity of the +Hathorn is attested by the universal sale of its bottled waters +throughout the United States. The Patterson has won a wide reputation +which its excellence deserves. + +=Historic Saratoga.=--But in the midst of this throbbing, gay and +delightful Saratoga, we must not forget that it was here the fathers +of the Republic achieved their most decisive victory. The battle was +fought in the town of Stillwater, at Bemis Heights, two and a half +miles from the Hudson. The defeat of St. Leger and the triumph of +Stark at Bennington filled the American army with hope. Burgoyne's +army advanced September 19, 1777. The battle was sharply contested. At +night the Americans retired into their camp, and the British held the +field. From September 20th to October 7th the armies looked each other +in the face, each side satisfied from the first day's struggle +that their opponents were worthy foemen. The Americans had retaken +Ticonderoga and Lake George. Burgoyne had no place to retreat, and +the lines were slowly but surely closing in around him. October 7th +Burgoyne commenced the battle, but in half an hour his line was +broken. He attempted to rally his troops in person, but they could not +stand before the impetuous charge of the Americans. He was compelled +to order a full retreat, and fell back on the heights above +Schuylerville. The Americans surrounded him, and he surrendered. It +was a decisive victory, and cheered the friends of freedom, not only +in America, but in the English House of Commons. + + * * * + + The leaves were red with crimson + And then brave Gates did cry, + 'Tis diamond now cut diamond, + We'll beat them boys or die. + + _Ballads of the Revolution._ + + * * * + +=Mount McGregor=, where General Grant died, associates the Saratoga of +the Revolution with the story of our Civil War. Near the monument +to the old heroes at Schuylerville, where Burgoyne surrendered, +a monument to the Boys in Blue was dedicated in 1904. It was the +privilege of the writer to be the poet of the occasion, and in his +lines "The Flag They Bore," to bind the noble memorials of those who +made and those who saved the Republic. + + Two monuments in triumph stand + To catch with joy the morning sun, + One chorus joins them hand in hand-- + Heroes of Grant and Washington. + + And wider yet the chorus leaps! + Two famous hills the song unites, + As Mount MacGregor's anthem sweeps + Across the plains to Bemis Heights. + +In Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester's book, entitled "Historical Sketches +of Northern New York and the Adirondack Wilderness," we learn that the +earliest date in which the word Saratoga appears in history is 1684, +and was then the name of an old hunting ground on both sides of the +Hudson. Its interpretations have been various. Some say "The Hillside +Country of the Great River;" others, the place of swift waters, while +Morgan, in his "League of the Iroquois," says the signification of +Saratoga is lost. + +Whatever the origin of the name whether from the old High Rock spring +or a "reach of the river," one thing is sure: Saratoga is the most +attractive point in the country as a gathering place for conventions +and large meetings, and, in response to the growing demand for +adequate facilities, a splendid convention hall, with a seating +capacity for five thousand people, has been erected by the town +authorities. It is a striking architectural addition to Saratoga's +attractions. + +In 1907 over fifty thousand "Knights" gathered here and were +hospitably entertained. + + * * * + + And such were Saratoga's victors--such + The yeoman-brave, whose deeds and death have given + A glory to her skies, + A music to her name. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +=Saratoga to the Adirondacks.= + +The _Adirondack Railway_ division of the _Delaware and Hudson_ +furnishes one of the pleasantest excursions to the north woods. The +traveler passes along the romantic and picturesque valley of the upper +Hudson--through King's, South Corinth, Jessup's Landing to Hadley (the +railroad station for Luzerne, a charming village at the junction of +the Hudson and the Sacandaga); then through Stony Creek, Thurman, +thirty-six miles from Saratoga Springs, at the junction of the Schroon +and the Hudson; the Glen, forty-four miles; Riverside, fifty miles +(for Schroon Lake), pleasurable throughout, to North Creek, where +"Concord coaches" and patent-covered spring buck-boards are in waiting +for Blue Mountain Lake--distance about thirty miles, through a +beautiful romantic country. + +The water route from this point is as follows: Through Blue Mountain +Lake and Utowana to the outlet, a distance of seven miles, where a +"Railway Carry," something less than a mile, brings the traveler to a +fairy-like steamer on Marion River. The river trip is twelve miles to +Forked Lake. + +Arriving at "Forked Lake Carry," one-half mile brings us to Forked +Lake, where the traveler gets his first real mountain bill of fare. +From this point we took a guide to Long Lake. There is a short cut +from this point over to the Tupper Lakes, which we can commend in +every particular, and the tourist can either return to Long Lake and +continue his route to the Saranacs, or go to the Saranacs direct from +Lake Tupper. + +From this point we visit Keene Flats, a charming and healthful spot, +only five miles from the "Lower Ausable Pond." These ponds, the +"Lower" and "Upper," are unrivaled in beauty and grandeur. They lie at +the foot of Mount Marcy, Haystack, the Gothics, and Mount Bartlett. + + * * * + + 'Twas in the mellow autumn time + When I, an idler from the town, + With gun and rod was lured to climb + Those peaks where fresh the Hudson takes + His tribute from an hundred lakes. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +=Saratoga to Lake George.= + +The traveler will find trains and excursions to suit his convenience +from Saratoga to our fairest lake. His route takes him through +Gansevoort and Fort Edward to Glens Falls with the narrowing and +bright-flowing Hudson for a companion. About one mile beyond Fort +Edward Station, near the railway on the right, stood, until recently, +the tree where Jane McCrea was murdered by Indians during the +Revolution. From Glens Falls the tourist proceeds over the +well-conducted Lake George division of the _Delaware and Hudson_, and +soon finds himself in the midst of a historic and romantic region. +About half way to the lake stands a monument to Col. Ephraim Williams, +killed at the battle of Lake George in 1755, erected by the graduates +of Williams College, which he founded. Bloody Pond, a little farther +on, sleeps calm and blue in the sunlight in spite of its tragic name +and associations, and soon Lake George, girt-round by mountains, +greets our vision, stretching away in beauty to the north. + +Near the railway station on the ninth of September, 1903, a monument +was unveiled commemorating the battle of Lake George one hundred and +forty-eight years before. The monument embodies the heroic figures of +Sir William Johnson and King Hendrick the Indian chief. It represents +the Indian chief demonstrating to General Johnson the futility of +dividing his forces. Governor Odell of New York, Governor Guild of +Massachusetts, Governor Chamberlain of Connecticut, and Governor +McCulloch of Vermont and others delivered appropriate addresses. + +=The Trossachs of America.=--Capt. Wm. R. Lord, author of +"Reminiscences of a Sailor," in a recent article contributed to a +Scottish paper, has happily called Lake George and its surroundings +"The Trossachs of America." In writing of the autumn season he says: +"Its similarity to the Trossachs of Scotland impresses one most +vividly as seen at this season; the mountains are clothed in a garb, +the prevailing color of which is purple, reminding me of a previous +visit through the Scottish Highlands when the heather was in full +bloom. I at that time felt it to be impossible that any other place on +the face of the globe could equal the magnificently imposing grandeur +of the 'Trossachs.' I must, however, freely admit that in its power of +changing beauty this region of America fully equals, if it does +not surpass it. Deeds of 'derring-do,' enacted in these mountain +fastnesses in days gone by, still add to make the comparison more +close. Our path at times seemed to be literally strewn with roses, +for the different colored leaves that carpeted our way conveyed that +thought. The depth and variegated beauty of coloring that marks this +season of decaying foliage, would enrapture the heart of an artist. +In my vocation I have had occasion to visit the four quarters of the +globe, but never have I seen tints so strikingly beautiful." + + * * * + + The early fragments of our Colonial poetry and Revolutionary + ballads are chanted in the midst of such profound + silence and loneliness that they sound spectrally + to our ears. + + _Bayard Taylor._ + + * * * + +=Lake George=, called by the French "Lac St. Sacrament," was +discovered by Father Jacques, who passed through it in 1646, on his +way to the Iroquois, by whom he was afterward tortured and burned. It +is thirty-six miles long by three miles broad. Its elevation is +two hundred and forty-three feet above the sea. The waters are of +remarkable transparency; romantic islands dot its surface, and elegant +villas line its shores. Fort William Henry and Ticonderoga, situated +at either end of the lake, were the salients respectively of the two +most powerful nations upon the globe. France and England sent great +armies, which crossed each other's track upon the ocean, the one +entering the St. Lawrence, the other the harbor of New York. Their +respective colonies sent their thousands to swell the number of +trained troops, while tribes of red men from the south and the north +were marshalled by civilized genius to meet in hostile array upon +these waters, around the walls of the forts, and at the base of the +hills. In 1755, General Johnston reached Lake St. Sacrament, to which +he gave the name of Lake George, "not only in honor of his Majesty, +but to assert his undoubted dominion here." + + * * * + + The progress of that October month had been like + the stately march of an Orient army, with all the + splendor of blazing banners. It looked as though the glories of the + sunset had been distilled into it decked + with the glowing hues of crimson, scarlet and gold. + + _John Henry Brandow._ + + * * * + +The village of Lake George is situated at the head of the lake. +It contains two churches, a court house, and a number of pretty +residences. Just behind the court house is the bay where Montcalm +landed his cannon, and where his entrenchments began. It ran across +the street to the rising ground beyond the Episcopal church. + +=Fort William Henry Hotel= is the largest and best appointed hotel on +Lake George. It has a most beautiful and commanding location, and the +view from its great piazza is one long to be remembered. The piazza is +twenty-four feet in width and supported by a row of Corinthian columns +thirty feet high. The outlook from it at all times is enchanting, +commanding as it does the level reaches of the lake for miles, with +picturesque islands and promontories. + +About twelve miles from the hotel is Fourteen-mile Island which, with +a number of others, form "The Narrows." The lake here is 400 feet +deep, much fishing is done, and in the right season hunting parties +start out. Black Mountain, the monarch of the lake, rises over two +thousand feet above its waters (being 2,661 feet above tide), and from +the summit a magnificent view is obtained of Lake Champlain, the Green +Mountains, the Adirondacks, and the distant course of the Hudson. + +A carriage drive to Schroon Lake and conveyance from Schroon Village +to Adirondack resorts can be made from Lake George. + +Those who have only a day can make a delightful excursion from +Saratoga to Caldwell by rail, then through the lake to Baldwin, and +thence by rail to Saratoga, or _via_ Baldwin and up the lake to +Caldwell, and so to Saratoga. But, to get the full beauty of this +unrivaled lake, the trip should be made with less haste, for there is +no more delightful place in the world to spend a week, a month, or an +entire summer. Its immediate surroundings present much to interest +the student of history and legend; and to lovers of the beautiful it +acknowledges no rivals. The elevation and absolute purity of air make +it a desirable place for the tourist. It is 346 feet above the level +of the sea, 247 feet above Lake Champlain, and is now brought within +six hours of New York City by the enterprise of the _Delaware & Hudson +Co_. It is a great question, and we talk it over every time we see the +genial Passenger Traffic Manager of this enterprising line, whether +Lake George or Lake Luzerne, in Switzerland, is the more beautiful. We +were just deciding last summer, on the steamer "Horicon," that Lake +George was more beautiful, but not so wild, when, as if the spirit +of the lake were roused, a great black squall suddenly came over the +mountains, and, the "crystal lake" for a few minutes, was as wild as +any one might desire. We all were glad to see her smile again as she +did half an hour afterward in the bright sunlight. + + * * * + + Oh the mystical glory that crowns them + Reflected in river and lake, + Like a fire that burns through the firs and ferns + By the paths that the wild deer take. + + _Eben E. Rexford._ + + * * * + +"At its widest point Lake George measures about four miles, but at +other places it is less than one mile in width. It is dotted with +islands; how many we do not know exactly--nobody does; but tradition, +which passes among the people of the district for history and truth, +says there is exactly one island for every day in the year, or 365 in +all. Whatever their real number they all are beautiful, although some +of them are barely large enough to support a flagstaff, and they all +seem to fit into the scene so thoroughly that each one seems necessary +to complete the charm. On either side are high hills, in some places +rising gently from the shores, and in others beetling up from the +surface of the water with a rugged cliff, or time-worn mass of rocks, +which reminds one of the wild bits of rocky scenery that make up the +savage beauty of the Isle of Skye. + +"Its clearness is something extraordinary. From a small boat, in many +places, the bottom can be seen. Indeed, so mysteriously beautiful is +the water that many visitors spend a day in a rowboat gazing into it +at different points." + + * * * + + Each islet of green which the bright waters hold + Like emeralds fresh from their bosom rolled. + + _Charles Fenno Hoffman._ + + * * * + +Charles Dudley Warner says: "Bolton, among a host of attractive spots +on the lake, holds, in my opinion, a rank among the two or three most +interesting points. There is no point of Lake George where the views +are so varied or more satisfactory, excepting the one from Sabbath-day +Point. At Bolton the islets which dot the surface of the lake whose +waters are blue as the sea in the tropics, carry the eye to the +rosy-tinted range which includes Pilot, Buck and Erebus Mountains, +and culminates in the stateliness of Black Mountain. Or, looking +northwest, the superb masses of verdure on Green Island are seen +mirrored on the burnished surface of the lake. Behind rises the mighty +dividing wall called Tongue Mountain, which seems to separate the lake +in twain, for Ganouskie, or Northwest Bay, five miles long, is +in effect a lake by itself, with its own peculiar features." The +Champlain Transportation Company runs a regular line of steamboats +the entire length of the lake, making three round trips daily, except +Sunday. The "Horicon" is a fine side-wheel steamer, 203 feet long and +52 feet wide, and will accommodate, comfortably, 1,000 people. + +At Fort Ti the tourist can continue his northern route _via_ the +_Delaware & Hudson_ to Hotel Champlain, Plattsburgh, Rouse's Point, or +Montreal, or through Lake Champlain by steamer. The ruins of Fort Ti, +like old Fort Putnam at West Point, are picturesque, and will well +repay a visit. + + * * * + + Far off the dreaming waters lie, + White cascades leap in snowy foam, + Lake Champlain mirrors cloud and sky, + The Hudson seeks his ocean home. + + _Benjamin F. Leggett._ + + * * * + +=Lake George to the Adirondacks.= + +The reader who does not visit Lake George may feel that he is switched +off on a side-track at Fort Edward; so, coming to his rescue, we +return and resume our northern journey _via_ the main line, through +Dunham's Basin, Smith's Basin, Fort Ann, and Comstock's Landing, to-- + +=Whitehall=, at the head of Lake Champlain. From this point north the +_Delaware & Hudson_ crosses all thresholds for the Adirondacks, and +shortens the journey to the mountain districts. It passes through +five mountain ranges, the most southerly, the Black Mountain range, +terminating in Mt. Defiance, with scattering spurs coming down to +the very shore of the lake. The second range is known as the +Kayaderosseras, culminating in Bulwagga Mountain. The third range +passes through the western part of Schroon, the northern part of +Moriah and centre of Westport, ending in Split Rock Mountain. The +fourth range, the Bouquet range, ends in high bluffs on Willsboro Bay. +Here the famous Red-Hook Cut is located, and the longest tunnel on the +line. + +The fifth range, known as the Adirondack Range, as it includes the +most lofty of the Adirondack Mountains, viz.: McIntyre, Colden and +Tahawas, ends in a rocky promontory known as Tremblau Point, at Port +Kent. + + * * * + + Afar the misty mountains piled, + The Adirondacks soaring free, + The dark green ranges lone and wild, + The Catskills looking toward the sea. + + _Benjamin F. Leggett._ + + * * * + +No wonder, with these mountain ranges to get through, that the subject +was agitated year after year, and it was only when the Delaware and +Hudson Company placed their powerful shoulder to the wheel, that the +work began to go forward. For these mountains meant tunnels, and rock +cuts, and bridges, and _cash_. Leaving Whitehall, we enter a tunnel +near the old steamboat landing, cross a marsh, which must have +suggested the beginning of the Pilgrim's Progress, for it seemed +almost bottomless, and pass along the narrow end of the lake, still +marked by light-houses, where steamers once struggled and panted "like +fish out of water," fulfilling the Yankee's ambition of running a boat +on a heavy dew. Then winding in and out along the shore, we proceed +to-- + +=Ticonderoga=, 23 miles from Whitehall. Here terminates the first +range of the Adirondacks, to which we have already referred, viz.: +Mount Defiance. Steamers connect with the train at this point on Lake +Champlain, also with a railroad for Lake George. Near the station we +get a view of old Port Ticonderoga, where Ethan Allen breakfasted +early one morning, and said grace in a brief and emphatic manner. The +lake now widens into a noble sheet of water; we cross the Lake George +outlet, enter a deep rock-cut, which extends a distance of about 500 +feet, and reach Crown Point thirty-four miles north of Whitehall. +Passing along the shore of Bulwagga Bay we come to-- + +=Port Henry=, 40 miles from Whitehall. A few miles further the +railroad leaves the lake at Mullen Brook, the first departure since +we left Whitehall, and we are greeted with cultivated fields and a +charming landscape. + +=Westport=, 51 miles from Whitehall, is the railroad station for-- + +=Elizabethtown=, the county seat of Essex. It is about eight miles +from the station, nestled among the mountains. A county consisting +mostly of mountain scenery could have no happier location for a +head-centre. Elizabethtown forms a most delightful gateway to the +Adirondacks either by stage route or pedestrian tour. + + * * * + + A health to Ethan Allen and our commander Gates; + To Lincoln and to Washington whom every Tory hates; + Likewise unto our Congress, God grant it long to reign, + Our country's right and justice forever to maintain. + + _Saratoga Revolutionary Ballad._ + + * * * + +A short distance north of Westport we enter the well-cultivated +Bouquet Valley, and after a pleasant run come to Wellsboro Falls, +where we enter seven miles of rock cutting. The road is about 90 feet +above the lake, and the cuts in many places from 90 to 100 feet high. +After leaving Red-Rock cut, we pass through a tunnel 600 feet long. +Crossing Higby's Gorge and rounding Tremblau Mountain, we reach-- + +=Port Kent=, the connecting point for the progressive village of +Keeseville. + +=Ausable Chasm=, is only three miles from the station of Port Kent. It +is many years since we visited the Chasm, but its pictures are still +stamped upon our mind clearly and definitely--the ledge at Birmingham +Falls, the Flume, the Devil's Pulpit, and the boat ride on the swift +current. Indeed, the entire rock-rift, almost two miles in length, +left an impression never to be effaced. The one thing especially +peculiar, on account of the trend of the rock-layers was the illusion +that we were floating up stream, and that the river compressed in +these narrow limits, had "got tired" of finding its way out, until it +thought that the easiest way was to run up hill and get out at the +top. + + * * * + + Hear what the gray-haired woodmen tell + Of this wild stream and its rocky dell. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + +=Bluff Point.=--On a commanding site 200 feet above the lake some +three miles south of Plattsburgh, stands the superb "Hotel Champlain" +commanding a view far-reaching and magnificent, from the Green +Mountains on the east to the Adirondacks on the west. The hotel +grounds comprise the same number of acres as the islands of Lake +George, 365. The hotel is 400 feet long. We condense the following +description from the "Delaware and Hudson Guide-book," which we can +heartily endorse from many personal visits: + +"Resolute has been the struggle here with nature, where rocks, tangled +forest and matted roots crowned the chosen spot; but upon the broad, +smooth plateau finally created the Hotel Champlain has been placed, +and all the surrounding forest, its solitudes still untamed, has been +converted into a superb park, threaded with drives and bridle paths. +At the foot of the gradual western slope of the ridge the handsome +station of Bluff Point has been located beside the main line of the +_Delaware & Hudson Railroad_, the chief highway of pleasure and +commercial travel between New York, Saratoga, Lake George, the +Adirondacks and Canada. + +"From the station where the coaches of the hotel await expected +guests, a winding pike, the very perfection of a road, leads up the +hill. From the carriage, as it rises to the crest, a wondrous outlook +to the westward is opened to view. Nearly a thousand square miles of +valley, lake and mountain are within range of the eye or included in +the area encircled by visible peaks. As the porch of the hotel +is reached, the view, enhanced by the fine foreground, is indeed +beautiful, but still finer is the grandeur of the scene from the +arches of the tall central dome of the house. + +"To the southward we see Whiteface, showing, late in spring and early +in autumn, its coronet of almost perpetual snow; and in a grand circle +still more southward we see in succession McIntyre, Marcy (both over +5,000 feet high), Haystack, Dix, the Gothic peaks, Hurricane and the +Giant. This noble sisterhood of mountains rises from the very heart of +the wilderness, and yet the guests at the Hotel Champlain may reach +any portion of their environment within a few hours." + +The fine equipment and frequent train service of the _Delaware & +Hudson_ between New York and Bluff Point without change, by daylight +or at night, and the direct connection of the same line with the +Hudson River steamboats, places this resort high upon the list of +available summering points in the dry and healthful north for families +from the metropolis. Travel from the west, coming down the St. +Lawrence River, or through Canada _via_ Montreal, will find Bluff +Point easy to reach; while from the White Mountains and New England +seashore resorts it is accessible by through trains _via_ St. Albans +or Burlington. + +The western shore of Lake Champlain forms the margin of the most +varied and altogether delightful wilderness to be found anywhere upon +this continent east of the Rocky Mountains. The serried peaks to the +westward are in plain view from its shores, their foot-hills ending +in lofty and often abrupt ridges where they meet the lake. Three +impetuous rivers, the Saranac, the Salmon and the Ausable, flow down +from the cool, clear lakes, hidden away in the wildwood, and, breaking +through this barrier at and in the vicinity of Plattsburgh, contribute +not only to the lucid waters of Lake Champlain but greatly to the +picturesque variety of the region. + + * * * + + There lie broad acres laced with rills + And gemmed with lake and pond + Behind a wave of wooded hills + And mountain peaks beyond. + + _Benjamin F. Leggett._ + + * * * + +=Plattsburgh=, 168 miles from Albany, at the mouth of the Saranac, is +a delightful threshold to the Adirondacks. The northern part of Lake +Champlain offers special attractions to camping parties. The shores +and islands abound in excellent sites. Lake Champlain is also replete +with interest to the historian. The ruins of Fort St. Anne are still +seen on the north end of the Isle La Mott, built by the French in +1660. Valcour Strait, where one of the battles of '76 was fought; +Valcour's Island, where lovers came from far and near, built air +castles, wandered through these shady groves for a season or two, and +then vanished from sight, bankrupt in everything but mutual affection; +Cumberland Bay, with its victory, September, 1814, when the British +were driven back to Canada; and many other points which can be visited +by steamer or yacht. + +It is thirty years since I made my first trip to the Saranacs and I +remember well the long journey of those early days, but now we can +step aboard a well equipped train at Plattsburgh and in five or six +hours stand by the bright waters of the Lower Saranac, which might +to-day be called the centre and starting point for all resorts and +camping grounds in the eastern lake district of the Adirondacks. +Floating about the Saranac Islands of a summer evening, roaming among +forest trees, strolling over to the little village one mile distant, +and absorbing the rich exhilaration of a life of untrammeled freedom, +with a perfect hotel, and blazing fire-places if the weather happens +to be unpleasant, form a grand combination, alike for tourists or +seekers after rest. + + * * * + + Where rosy zephyr lingers + All the livelong day, + With health upon his pinions + And gladness on his way. + + _George P. Morris._ + + * * * + + + + +SOURCE OF THE HUDSON. + + +In our journey from Albany to Plattsburgh, we have indicated various +routes to the Adirondacks: By way of Saratoga and North Creek to Blue +Mountain Lake following the course of the Hudson which might therefor +be called "The Hudson Gateway;" _via_ Lake George, Westport, and +Elizabethtown, suited for carriage and pedestrian trips, and _via_ +Plattsburgh, which might be termed "The Northern Portal." In addition +to these it has been my lot to make several trips up the valley of the +Sacandaga to Lake Pleasant and Indian Lake, and _via_ Schroon Lake +to Sanford and Lake Henderson--and four times to ascend the mountain +trail of Tahawas to the tiny rills and fountains of the Hudson, but +one trip abides in memory distinct and unrivalled, which may be of +service to those who wish to visit in fact or fancy the head waters of +the Hudson. + +=The Tahawas Club.=--We took the cars one bright August morning from +Plattsburgh to Ausable Forks, a distance of twenty miles, hired a team +to Beede's, some thirty miles distant from the "Forks;" took dinner at +Keene, and pursued our route up the beautiful valley of the Ausable. + +From this point we visited Roaring-Brook Falls, some four hundred feet +high, a very beautiful waterfall in the evening twilight. The next +morning we started, bright and early, for the Ausable Ponds. Four +miles brought us to the Lower Ausable. The historic guide, "old +Phelps," rowed us across the lower lake, pointing out, from our slowly +moving and heavily laden scow, "Indian Head" on the left, and the +"Devil's Pulpit" on the right, lifted about eight hundred feet above +the level of the lake. "Phelps" remarked with quaint humor, that +he was frequently likened to his Satanic Majesty, as he often took +clergymen "up thar." The rocky walls of this lake rise from one +thousand to fifteen hundred feet high, in many places almost +perpendicular. A large eagle soared above the cliffs, and circled in +the air above us, which we took as a good omen of our journey. + + * * * + + The rills + That feed thee rise among the storied rocks + Where Freedom built her battle-tower. + + _William Wallace._ + + * * * + +After reaching the southern portion of the lake, a trail of a mile and +a quarter leads to the Upper Ausable--the gem of the Adirondacks. This +lake, over two thousand feet above the tide, is surrounded on all +sides by lofty mountains. Our camp was on the eastern shore, and I can +never forget the sunset view, as rosy tints lit up old Skylight, the +Haystack and the Gothics; nor can I ever forget the evening songs from +a camp-fire across the lake, or the "bear story" told by Phelps, a +tale never really finished, but made classic and immortal by Stoddard, +in his spicy and reliable handbook to the North Woods. + +The next morning we rowed across the lake and took the Bartlett trail, +ascending Haystack, some five thousand feet high, just to get an +appetite for dinner; our guide encouraging us on the way by saying +that there never had been more than twenty people before "on that air +peak." In fact, there was no trail, and in some places it was so steep +that we were compelled to go up on all fours; or as Scott puts it more +elegantly in the "Lady of the Lake": + + "The foot was fain + Assistance from the hand to gain." + +The view from the summit well repaid the toil. We saw Slide Mountain, +near by to the north, and Whiteface far beyond, perhaps twenty-five +miles distant; northeast, the Gothics; east, Saw-teeth, Mt. Colvin, +Mt. Dix, and the lakes of the Ausable. To the southeast, Skylight; +northwest, Tahawas, still foolishly styled on some of our maps, +Mt. Marcy. The descent of Haystack was as easy as Virgil's famous +"Descensus Averni." We went down in just twenty minutes. The one +that reached the bottom first simply possessed better adaptation for +rolling. + + * * * + + Eagles still claim the loftiest heights: from there + They scan with solemn eyes the scenes below-- + The river and the hills which shall endure + While man's frail generations come and go. + + _E. A. Lente._ + + * * * + +One mile from the foot of Haystack brought us to Panther Gorge Camp, +appropriately named, one of the wildest spots in the Adirondacks. We +remained there that night and slept soundly, although a dozen of us +were packed so closely in one small camp that no individual could turn +over without disarranging the whole mass. Caliban and Trinculo were +not more neighborly, and Sebastian, even sober, would have been fully +justified in taking us for "a rare monster" with twenty legs. + +The next morning we ascended Tahawas, but saw nothing save whirling +clouds on its summit. Twice since then we have had better fortune, and +looked down from this mountain peak, five thousand three hundred and +forty-four feet above the sea, upon the loveliest mountain landscape +that the sun ever shone upon. We went down the western slope of +Tahawas, through a driving rain, to Camp Colden, where, with clothes +hung up to dry, we looked like a party of New Zealanders preparing +dinner, hungry enough, too, to make an orthodox meal of each other. +The next day the weather cleared up, and we made a trip of two miles +over a rough mountain trail to Lake Avalanche, whose rocky and +precipitous walls form a fit christening bowl, or baptistery-font for +the infant Hudson. + +Returning to Camp Colden and resuming our western march, two miles +brought us to Calamity Pond, where a lone monument marks the spot of +David Henderson's death, by the accidental discharge of a pistol. Five +miles from this point brought us to the "Deserted Village," or the +Upper Adirondack Iron Works, with houses and furnaces abandoned, +and rapidly falling into decay. Here we found a cheery fireside and +cordial welcome. + + * * * + + All the sad story of forest and flower, + All the red glory of sunsetting hour, + Comes till I seem to lie lapped in bright dreams + Lulled by the lullaby murmur of streams. + + _James Kennedy._ + + * * * + +Had I time to picture this level, grass-grown street, with ten or +fifteen square box-looking houses, windowless, empty and desolate; a +school-house with its long vacation of twenty-three years; a bank with +heavy shutters and ponderous locks, whose floor, Time, the universal +burglar, had undermined; two large furnaces with great rusty wheels, +whose occupation was gone forever; a thousand tons of charcoal, +untouched for a quarter of a century; thousands of bricks waiting for a +builder; a real haunted house, whose flapping clap-boards contain +more spirits than the Black Forests of Germany--a village so utterly +desolate, that it has not even the vestige of a graveyard--if I could +picture to you this village, as it appeared to me that weird midnight, +lying so quiet, + + "under the light of the solemn moon," + +you would realize as I did then, that truth is indeed stranger than +fiction, and that Goldsmith in _his_ "Deserted Village" had not +overdrawn the description of desolate Auburn. + +By special request, we were permitted to sleep that night in the +Haunted House and no doubt listened to the first crackling that the +old fire-place had known for years. Many bedsteads in the old building +were still standing, so we only needed bedding from the hotel to +make us comfortable. As we went to sleep we expressed a wish to be +interviewed in the still hours of the night by any ghosts or spirits +who might happen to like our company; but the spirits must have been +absent on a visit that evening, for we slept undisturbed until the old +bell, suspended in a tree, rang out the cheery notes of "trout and +pickerel." We understand that the Haunted House from that night +lost its old-time reputation, and is now frequently brought into +requisition as an "Annex," whenever the hotel or "Club House," as it +is now called, happens to be full. The "Deserted Village" is rich in +natural beauty. Lakes Henderson and Sanford are near at hand, and the +lovely Preston Ponds are only five miles distant. + + * * * + + Stately and awful was the form of Tahawas, the old + scarred warrior king of the mountains, and yet it owns + pines that sing like the sea, brooks that warble like the + robin, and flowers that scent the air like the orange-blossoms + of Italy. + + _Alfred B. Street._ + + * * * + +Resuming our march through Indian Pass, under old Wall-Face Mountain, +we reached a comfortable farmhouse at sunset, near North Elba, known +by the name of Scott's. The next morning we visited John Brown's house +and grave by the old rock, and read the beautiful inscription, "Bury +me by the Old Rock, where I used to sit and read the word of God." + +From this point we went to Lake Placid, engaged a lad to row us across +the lake--some of our party had gone on before--and strapped our +knapsacks for another mountain climb. We were fortunate in having a +lovely day, and from its sparkling glacier-worn summit we could look +back on all the mountains of our pleasant journey, and far away across +Lake Champlain to Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump of the Green +Mountains, and farther still to the faint outlines of Mount +Washington. We reached Wilmington that night, drove the next morning +to Ausable Forks, and took the cars for Plattsburgh. The ten days' +trip was finished, and at this late hour I heartily thank the Tahawas +Club of Plattsburgh for taking me under their generous care and +guidance. We took Phelps, our guide, back with us to Plattsburgh. When +he reached the "Forks," and saw the cars for the first time in his +life, he stooped down and, examining the track, said, "What tarnal +little wheels." I suppose he concluded that if the ordinary cart had +two large wheels, that real car wheels would resemble the Rings of +Saturn. He saw much to amuse and interest him during his short stay +in Plattsburgh, but after all he thought it was rather lonesome, and +gladly returned to his lakes and mountains, where he slept in peace, +with the occasional intrusion of a "Bar" or a "Painter." He knew the +region about Tahawas as an engineer knows his engine, or as a Greek +professor knows the pages of his lexicon. He had lived so closely with +nature that he seemed to understand her gentlest whispers, and he had +more genuine poetry in his soul than many a man who chains weak ideas +in tangled metre. + + * * * + + Lake Avalanche with rocky wall + And Henderson's dark-wooded shore, + Your echoes linger still and call + Unto my soul forevermore. + + _Wallace Bruce_. + + * * * + +[Illustration: INDIAN HEAD.] + +Since that first delightful trip I have visited the Adirondacks many +times, and I hope this summer to repeat the excursion. To me Tahawas +is the grand centre. It remains unchanged. In fact, the route I have +here traced is the same to-day as then. Even the rude camps are +located in the same places, with the exception that the trail has been +shortened over Tahawas, and a camp established on Skylight. With good +guides the route is not difficult for ladies in good health,--say +sufficient health to endure half a day's shopping. Persons +contemplating the mountain trip need blankets, a knapsack, and a +rubber cloth or overcoat; food can be procured at the hotels or farm +houses. + + * * * + + The old English ballads have all the sparkle, the + energy and the rhythm of our mountain streams, but + Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare and Bunyan are the + crystal lakes from which flow the river, ay, the Hudson + of our language. + + _Wallace Bruce_. + + * * * + +In this hasty sketch I have had little space to indulge in +picture-painting. I passed Bridal-Veil Fall without a reference. I +was tempted to loiter on the banks of the Feld-spar and the bright +Opalescent, but I passed by without even picking a pebble from the +clear basins of its sparkling cascades. I passed the "tear of the +clouds," four thousand feet above the tide--that fountain of the +Hudson nearest to the sky, without being beguiled into poetry. I have +not ventured upon a description of a sunrise view from the summit of +Tahawas, of the magic effect of light above clouds that clothe the +surrounding peaks in garments wrought, it seems, of softest wool, +until mist and vapor dissolve in roseate colors, and the landscape +lies before us like an open book, which many glad eyes have looked +upon again and again. I have left it for your guides to tell you, by +roaring camp-fires, long stories of adventure in trapping and hunting, +of wondrous fishes that grow longer and heavier every season, although +captured and broiled many and many a year ago--trout and pickerel +literally pickled in fiction, served and re-served in the piquant +sauce of mountain vocabulary. In brief, I have kept my imagination and +enthusiasm under strict control. But, after all, the Adirondacks are +a wonderland, and we, who dwell in the Hudson and Mohawk valleys, are +happy in having this great park of Nature's making at our very doors. + +It has charms alike for the hunter, the angler, the artist, the +writer, and the scientist. Let us rejoice, therefore, that the State +of New York is waking at last to the fact, that these northern +mountains were intended by nature to be something more than lumber +ranches, to be despoiled by the axe, and finally revert to the State +for "taxes" in the shape of bare and desolate wastes. Nor can the most +practical legislator charge those, who wish to preserve the Adirondack +woods, with idle sentiment; as it is now an established scientific +fact that the rainfall of a country is largely dependent upon its +forest land. If the water supply of the north were cut off, to any +perceptible degree, the Hudson, during the months of July and August, +would be a mere sluice of salt water from New York to Albany; and the +northern canals, dependent on this supply, would become empty and +useless ditches. Our age is intensely practical, but we are fortunate +in this, that so far as the preservation of the Adirondacks is +concerned, utility, common sense, and the appreciation of the +beautiful are inseparably blended. + + * * * + + Wild umbrage far around me clings + To breezy knoll and hushed ravine, + And o'er each rocky headland flings + Its mantle of refreshing green. + + _Henry T. Tuckerman_. + + * * * + +To those persons who do not desire long mountain jaunts, who simply +need some quiet place for rest and recuperation, I would suggest this: +Select some place near the base of these clustered mountains, like the +tasty Adirondack Lodge at Clear Pond, only seven miles from the summit +of Tahawas, or Beede's pleasant hotel, high and dry above Keene Flats, +near to the Ausable Ponds, or some pleasant hotel or quiet farm-house +in the more open country near Lake Placid and the Saranacs. But +I prophesy that the spirit of adventure will come with increased +strength, and men and women alike will be found wandering off on +long excursions, sitting about great camp-fires, ay, listening like +children to tales which have not gathered truth with age. If you have +control of your time you will find no pleasanter months than July, +August and September, and when you return to your firesides with +new vigor to fight the battle of life, you will feel, I think, like +thanking the writer for having advised you to go thither. + + * * * + + To shut up a glen or a waterfall for one man's exclusive + enjoying; to fence out a genial eye from any + corner of the earth which nature has lovingly touched; + to lock up trees and glades shady paths and haunts + along rivulets, would be an embezzlement by one man + of God's gifts to all. + + _N. P. Willis._ + + * * * + +I have written in this article the Indian name, Tahawas, in the place +of Mt. Marcy, and for this reason: There is no justice in robbing the +Indian of his keen, poetic appreciation, by changing a name, which +has in itself a definite meaning, for one that means nothing in its +association with this mountain. We have stolen enough from this +unfortunate race, to leave, at least, those names in our woodland +vocabulary that chance to have a musical sound to our imported Saxon +ears. The name Tahawas is not only beautiful in itself, but also +poetic in its interpretation--signifying "I cleave the clouds." +Coleridge, in his glorious hymn, "Before sunrise in the vale of +Chamouni," addresses Mount Blanc: + + "Around thee and above + Deep is the air and dark, substantial, black-- + An ebon mass. Methinks thou piercest it. + _As with a wedge!_" + +The name or meaning of Tahawas was never made known to the great +English poet, who died sixty years ago. Is it not remarkable that +the untutored Indian, and the keenist poetic mind which England has +produced for a century, should have the same idea in the uplifted +mountains? There is also another reason why we, as a State, should +cherish the name Tahawas. While the Sierra Nevadas and the Alps +slumbered beneath the waves of the ocean, before the Himalayas or the +Andes had asserted their supremacy, scientists say, that the high +peaks of the Adirondacks stood alone above the waves, "the cradle of +the world's life;" and, as the clouds then encircled the vast waste +of water, Tahawas then rose--"Cleaver" alike of the waters and the +clouds. + + * * * + + Tahawas, rising stern and grand, + "Cloud-sunderer" lift thy forehead high, + Guard well thy sun-kissed mountain land + Whose lakes seem borrowed from the sky. + + _Wallace Bruce_. + + * * * + + + + +GEOLOGY OF THE HUDSON. + + +In addition to various geological references scattered through these +pages the following facts from an American Geological Railway Guide, +by James Macfarlane, Ph.D., will be of interest. + +"The State of New York is to the geologist what the Holy Land is +to the Christian, and the works of her Palaeontologist are the Old +Testament Scriptures of the science. It is a Laurentian, Cambrian, +Silurian and Devonian State, containing all the groups and all the +formations of these long ages, beautifully developed in belts +running nearly across the State in an east and west direction, lying +undisturbed as originally laid down. + +"The rock of New York Island is gneiss, except a portion of the north +end, which is limestone. The south portion is covered with deep +alluvial deposits, which in some places are more than 100 feet in +depth. The natural outcroppings of the gneiss appeared on the surface +about 16th Street, on the east side of the city, and run diagonally +across to 31st Street on 10th Avenue. North of this, much of the +surface was naked rock. It contains a large proportion of mica, a +small proportion of quartz and still less feldspar, but generally an +abundance of iron pyrites in very minute crystals, which, on +exposure, are decomposed. In consequence of these ingredients it soon +disintegrates on exposure, rendering it unfit for the purposes +of building. The erection of a great city, for which this island +furnishes a noble site, has very greatly changed its natural +condition. The geological age of the New York gneiss is undoubtedly +very old, not the Laurentian or oldest, nor the Huronian, but it +belongs to the third or White Mountain series, named by Dr. Hunt the +Montalban. It is the same range which is the basis rock of nearly all +the great cities of the Atlantic coast. It crosses New Jersey where it +is turned to clay, until it appears under Trenton, and it extends to +Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Richmond, Va., and probably +Boston, Massachusetts, is founded on this same formation. + + * * * + + Oh, river! darkling river! what a voice + Is that thou utterest while all else is still! + + _William Cullen Bryant_. + + * * * + +"On the opposite side of the river may here be seen for many miles the +Palisades, a long, rough mountain ridge close to the water's edge. Its +upper half is a perpendicular precipice of bare rock of a columnar +structure from 100 to 200 feet in height, the whole height of the +mountain being generally from 400 to 600 feet, and the highest point +in the range opposite Sing Sing 800 feet above the Hudson, and known +as the High Torn. The width of the mountain is from a half mile to a +mile and a half, the western slope being quite gentle. In length it +extends from Bergen Point below Jersey City to Haverstraw, and then +westward in all 48 miles, the middle portion being merely a low ridge. +The lower half of the ridge on the river side is a sloping mound of +detritus, of loose stones which has accumulated at the base of the +cliff, from its weathered and wasted surface. + +"Viewed from the railroad or from a steamboat on the river, this lofty +mural precipice with its huge weathered masses of upright columns of +bare rock, presenting a long, straight unbroken ridge overlooking the +beautiful Hudson River, is certainly extremely picturesque. Thousands +of travelers gaze at it daily without knowing what it is. This entire +ridge consists of no other rock than trap traversing the Triassic +formation in a huge vertical dike. The red sandstone formation of New +Jersey is intersected by numerous dikes of this kind, but this is much +the finest. The materials of this mountain have undoubtedly burst +through a great rent or fissure in the strata, overflowing while in a +melted or plastic condition the red sand-stone, not with the violence +of a volcano, for the adjoining strata are but little disturbed in +position, although often greatly altered by the heat, but forced up +very slowly and gradually, and probably under pressure. Subsequent +denudation has laid bare the part of the mountain now exposed along +the river. The rock is columnar basalt, sometimes called greenstone, +and is solid, not stratified like water-formed rocks, but cracked in +cooling and of a crystalline structure. Here is a remarkable but not +uncommon instance of a great geological blank. On the east side of +this river the formations belong to the first or oldest series of +Primary or Crystalline rocks, while on the west side they are +all Triassic, the intermediate Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian and +Carboniferous formations being wanting. This state of things continues +all along the Atlantic coast to Georgia, the Cretaceous or Jurassic +taking the place of the Triassic farther south. + + * * * + + Like thine, O, be my course--nor turned aside, + While listening to the soundings of a land, + That like the ocean call invites me to its strand. + + _Mrs. Seba Smith._ + + * * * + +"Montrose to Cornwall. This celebrated passage of the Hudson through +the Highlands, is a gorge nearly 20 miles long from 3 miles south of +Peekskill to Fishkill, and is worn out of the Laurentian rocks far +below mean tide water. The hills on its sides rise in some instances +as much as 1,800 feet, and in many places the walls are very +precipitous. The rock is gneiss, of a kind that is not easily +disintegrated or eroded, nor is there any evidence of any convulsive +movement. It is clearly a case of erosion, but not by the present +river, which has no fall, for tide water extends 100 miles up the +river beyond the Highlands. This therefore was probably a work mainly +performed in some past period when the continent was at a higher +level. Most likely it is a valley of great antiquity. + +"Opposite Fishkill is Newburgh, which is in the great valley of Lower +Silurian or Cambrian limestone and slate. North of that, on the west +side of the river, the formations occur in their usual order, their +outcrops running northeast and southwest. On the _N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R._, +on the east side, the same valley crosses, and the slates from +Fishkill to Rhinebeck are about the same place in the series; +but being destitute of fossils and very much faulted, tilted and +disturbed, their precise geology is uncertain. See the exposures in +the cuts at Poughkeepsie. The high ground to the east is commonly +called the Quebec group. + + * * * + + Amid thy forest solitudes one climbs + O'er crags, that proudly tower above the deep, + Along the verge of the cliff, and he can hear + The low dash of the wave with startled ear. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + +"A series of great dislocations with upthrows on the east side +traverse eastern North America from Canada to Alabama. One of these +great faults has been traced from near the mouth of the St. Lawrence +River, keeping mostly under the water up to Quebec just north of the +fortress, thence by a gently curving line to Lake Champlain or through +western Vermont across Washington County, N. Y., to near Albany. It +crosses the river near Rhinebeck 15 miles north of Poughkeepsie and +continues on southward into New Jersey and runs into another series of +faults probably of a later date, which extends as far as Alabama. It +brings up the rocks of the so called Quebec group on the east side of +the fracture to the level of the Hudson River and Trenton. + +"Catskill Mountains. For many miles on this railroad are beautiful +views of the Catskill Mountains, 3,800 feet high, several miles +distant on the opposite or west side of the river, and which furnish +the name for the Catskill formation. The wide valley between them +and the river is composed of Chemung, Hamilton, Lower Helderberg and +Hudson River. The geology on the east or railroad side is entirely +different. + +"Albany. The clay beds at Albany are more than 100 feet thick, and +between that city and Schenectady they are underlaid by a bed of +sand that is in some places more than 50 feet thick. There is an +old glacial clay and boulder drift below the gravel at Albany, but +Professor Hall says it is not the estuary stratified clay." + + * * * + + There has that little stream of water been playing among the hills + since He made the world, and none know how often the hand of God + is seen in a wilderness but them that rove it for a man's life. + + _James Fenimore Cooper._ + + * * * + + + + +THE HUDSON TIDE. + +(_Condensed from article by permission of writer._) + +The tide in the Hudson River is the continuation of the tide-wave, +which comes up from the ocean through New York Bay, and is carried +by its own momentum one hundred and sixty miles, growing, of course, +constantly smaller, until it is finally stopped by the dam at Troy. +The crest of this wave, or top high water, is ten hours going from New +York to Troy. A steamer employing the same time (ten hours) for the +journey, and starting at high water in New York, would carry a flood +tide and highest water all the way, and have an up-river current of +about three miles an hour helping her. On the other hand, the same +steamer starting six hours later, or at low tide, would have dead low +water and an ebb tide current of about three miles against her the +entire way. The average rise and fall of the tides in New York is five +and one-half feet, and in Troy, about two feet. + +Flood tide may carry salt water, under the most favorable +circumstances, so that it can be detected at Poughkeepsie; ordinarily +the water is fresh at Newburgh. + +To those who have not studied the tides the following will also be of +interest. + +The tides are the semi-diurnal oscillations of the ocean, caused by +the attraction of the moon and sun. + +The influence of the moon's attraction is the preponderating one in +the tide rising force, while that of the sun is about two-fifths as +much as that of the moon. The tides therefore follow the motion of the +moon, and the average interval between the times of high water is the +half length of the lunar day, or about twelve hours and twenty-five +minutes. + + * * * + + Nor lives there one whose boyhood's days + Of happiness were passed beneath that sun, + That in his manhood-prime can calmly gaze + Upon that Bay, or on that mountain stand, + Nor feel the prouder of his native land. + + _Fitz-Greene Halleck._ + + * * * + + + + +CONDENSED POINTS. + +_As Seen on the Hudson River Day Line Steamers._ + +_Desbrosses Street Pier._ On leaving landing a charming view is +obtained of New York Harbor with Bartholdi Statue to the south. + +_Stevens Castle._ Above Jersey City docks on the west, crowning a +commanding site. + +_St. Michael's Monastery_, or Monastery of the Passionist Fathers, on +west bank above Elysian Fields; distinguished by large dome and towers +of the St. Paul (London) style of architecture. This dome is 300 feet +high, and its summit is 515 feet above the Hudson. + +_42d Street Pier._ Midway to the dwellers of Greater New York and +convenient to all Elevated, Subway and Trolley Lines. + +_Weehawken_, on the west bank, about opposite 50th Street. Near the +river bank was the scene of the Hamilton and Burr duel, 1804. + +_Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument_, 89th Street, New York. Dedicated +May 30, 1902. Corner stone laid in 1900 by President Roosevelt when +Governor. + +_Columbia University._ Stately buildings on east bank. + +_St. Luke's Hospital._ Beautiful dome in the distance southeast of +college. + +_The Cathedral of St. John the Divine_, now in construction, will be +one of the finest structures in the world. + +_General Grant's Tomb_ at Riverside Drive and 123d Street. + +_129th Street Pier._ Above this landing is the Steel Viaduct of the +Boulevard Drive. + + * * * + + The land that from the rule of kings + In freeing us itself made free, + Our old world sister to us brings + Her sculptured dream of liberty. + + _John G. Whittier._ + + * * * + +_Carmansville_ (where Audubon, the ornithologist lived), a city suburb +at 152d Street. + +_Trinity Cemetery_, 152d Street, and above this Audubon Park. + +_Old Fort Washington_ once crowned the hills on the east bank. Fort +Lee was almost opposite on the southern point of the Palisades. + +_Stewart Castle_, east bank, formerly owned by A. T. Stewart. + +_University of City of New York_ with dome, in distance. + +_Inwood._ Station on the Hudson River Railroad, above the heights. +Place once known as Tubbie Hook. + +_Palisades_, on west bank, extend fifteen miles from Fort Lee to +Piermont, a sheer wall of trap rock from 300 to 500 feet high. + +_Spuyten Duyvil_, on east bank northern boundary of Manhattan Island. + +_Site of Fort Independence_, east bank, on height north of Spuyten +Duyvil. + +_Riverdale Station._ Station on the Hudson River Railroad above +Spuyten Duyvil. Yonkers rising on the green slope to the north; and +the Palisades blending in the far distance with green headlands of the +Ramapo Range. + +_Convent of Mount St. Vincent._ The gray, castle-like structure in +front, was once the home of Edwin Forrest. + +_Yonkers_, seventeen miles from Battery. + +_Greystone_, on east bank, crowning hill, about one and a half miles +north of Yonkers. Once property of Samuel J. Tilden. + +_Hastings_, pleasant village on east bank. + +_Indian Head_ (510 feet), opposite Hastings, highest point of +Palisades. + +_Dobb's Ferry_, on east bank, named after an old Swedish ferryman. + +_Cottinet Place_, on east bank, built of stone brought from France. +Easily distinguished by light shade through trees. + +_George L. Schuyler's Residence_, near east bank. The late Col. James +A. Hamilton's house almost east of Mr. Schuyler's. Stiner's place +distinguished by its large dome. + + * * * + + From this brow of rock + That overlooks the Hudson's western marge, + I gaze upon the long array of groves, + The piles and gulfs of verdure drinking in the grateful heat. + + _William Cullen Bryant._ + + * * * + +_Ardsley_, on east bank, just above Dobb's Ferry. + +_Ardsley Club_ and Golf Links. + +_Irvington_, 24 miles from New York, named after Washington Irving. + +_Piermont_, on west bank, with pier almost one mile in length +extending into river. + +_Sunnyside_, home of Washington Irving, east bank, one-half mile north +of Irvington Station, close to river bank and scarcely seen through +the trees. + +_Helen M. Gould's Residence_, east bank, prominent Abbey-like +structure, known as "Lyndehurst." + +_Tarrytown_, east bank, 26 miles from New York. + +_Nyack_, west bank, opposite Tarrytown. + +_J. D. Rockefeller's New Home_ on Kykuit or Kake-out Mt. back of +Tarrytown. + +_Tappan Zee_, reaching from Dobb's Ferry to Croton Point, is about +three miles wide at Tarrytown. + +_Sleepy Hollow_, east bank, north of Tarrytown; burial place of +Washington Irving. The tall shaft visible from steamer, erected by the +Delavan family, is near his grave. + +_Kingsland Point_, east bank, above lighthouse. + +_Rockwood_, home of William Rockefeller. One of the most imposing +residences on the river. + +_Mrs. Elliot F. Shepard's Residence_, on east bank. + +_Ramapo Mountains_, on west side above Nyack, known as "Point No +Point." + +_Ossining_, on east bank, six miles north of Tarrytown. Prison +buildings are near the river below the village. + +_Rockland Lake_, opposite Sing Sing, between two hills; source of the +Hackensack River. + +_Croton River_, on east bank, meets the Hudson one mile above Sing +Sing; crossed by drawbridge of the Hudson River Railroad. + +_Teller's Point._ That part of Croton Point which juts into the Hudson. +This point separates Tappan Zee from Haverstraw Bay. + + * * * + + O Tappan Zee! with peaceful hills, + And slumbrous sky and drowsy air, + Thy calm and restful spirit stills + The heart weighed down with weary care. + + _Wallace Bruce_. + + * * * + +_Haverstraw Bay_, widest part of the river; over four miles in width. + +_West Shore R. R. Tunnel_ under mountain. + +_West Shore Railroad_, west bank, meets the Hudson south of +Haverstraw. + +_Haverstraw_, on west bank, with two miles of brickyards. + +_Treason Hill_, where Arnold and Andre met at the house of Joshua Hett +Smith, northwest of Haverstraw. + +_Stony Point_, west bank. Lighthouse built on site and from the +material of old fort captured from British by Anthony Wayne in 1778. + +_Verplank's Point_, on east shore, full of brickyards. It was here +Baron Steuben drilled the soldiers of '76. + +_Tompkin's Cove_, on west bank. Lime kilns and quarries. + +_Peekskill_, east bank, pleasantly located on Peekskill Bay. + +_New York State Encampment_, on bluff north of Peekskill Creek. + +_Kidd's Point_, on west bank, where steamer enters Highlands almost at +a right angle. + +_Dunderberg Mountain_, west bank, forming with Manito Mountain on the +east southern portal of Highlands. + +_Iona Island_, former pleasure resort for excursions, now converted to +Government use. + +_The Race._ The river channel is so termed by navigators, between Iona +Island and the east bank. + +_Anthony's Nose_, east bank, with railroad tunnel. + +_Montgomery Creek_, on west side, empties into the Hudson about +opposite the point of Anthony's Nose. _Fort Clinton_ was on the south +side of this creek, and _Fort Montgomery_ on the north side. + +_J. Pierpont Morgan's Residence_, on west bank. + +_Sugar-Loaf_, east bank, resembling an old "sugar-loaf" to one looking +north from Anthony's Nose. + + * * * + + From Stony Point to Bemis Height, + From Saratoga to the sea, + We trace the lines, now dark, now bright, + From seventy-six to eighty-three. + + _Wallace Bruce._ + + * * * + +_Beverley Dock_, at foot of Sugar-Loaf, from which point Arnold fled +to the "Vulture." + +_Lady-Cliff Academy_, (west side) on bluff. + +_Hamilton Fish's Residence_, on hill, east side. + +_William H. Osborne's Residence_, on east bank; house with pointed +tower north of Sugar-Loaf. + +_Sam Sloan's_ lookout tower, east side, on top of mountain. Residence +on hillside below. + +_Buttermilk Falls_, on west bank. + +_West Point_, 50 miles from New York, Academy Buildings and Parade +Grounds. + +_Memorial Hall_, building on bluff above landing. + +_Kosciusko's Garden_ with monument and spring below Memorial. + +_Garrison_, opposite West Point on east bank. + +_Fort Putnam_ (596 feet), above the Hudson on west. + +_West Point Hotel_, west bank, wide outlook to the north. + +_Battle Monument_, surmounted by Statue of "Victory." + +_Constitution Island_, on east bank; chain was thrown across the river +at this point during the Revolution. + +_Old Cro' Nest_, picturesque mountain north of West Point on west +bank. + +_Cold Spring_, on east bank, opposite Old Cro' Nest. + +_Undercliff_, once the home of George P. Morris, on slope north of +Cold Spring. + +_Break Neck Mountain_, on east bank, from which point the Highlands +trend away to the northeast, known as the Beacon Mountains or the +Fishkill Range. + +_Storm King_, on west bank, marking northern portal of the Highlands. + +_Cornwall_, under the slope of Storm King. + +_Pollopel's Island_, at northern portal of the Highlands. + +_Idlewild_, above Cornwall, former home of N. P. Willis. + +_Washington's Headquarters_, Newburgh, seen as the boat approaches the +city. A flag-staff marks the point. + +_Newburgh_, west bank, 59 miles from New York. + +_Fishkill Landing_, on east bank, opposite Newburgh. + + * * * + + Let us toast our foster-father, the Republic as you know-- + Who in the path of science taught us upward for to go-- + And the maidens of our native land whose cheeks like roses glow, + They're oft remembered in our songs, at Benny Havens--oh! + + _Benny Havens, West Point._ + + * * * + +_Low Point_ or _Carthage_, 4 miles above Fishkill. + +_Devil's Dans Kammer_, point on west bank covered with cedars. + +_New Hamburg_, above Low Point, on the east side. + +_Hampton Point_, opposite New Hamburgh. Here are the finest white +cedars on the river. + +_Irving Grinnell's Residence, "Netherwood,"_ east bank, just +distinguished through the trees. + +_Shawangunk Mountains_, on the west side, reach away in the distance +toward the Catskills. + +_Marlborough_ and _Milton_, on west bank. + +_Locust Grove._ Home of the late Prof. S. F. B. Morse on east bank, with +square central tower. + +_The Lookout_, a wooded hill owned by Poughkeepsie Cemetery. + +_Livingston Place_, now occupied by a rolling mill. + +_Vassar Brothers Hospital_, brick building on the hillside. + +_Poughkeepsie_, 74 miles from New York. + +_Poughkeepsie Bridge_, 12,608 feet in length. Track 212 feet above +tide-water. + +_Mrs. John F. Winslow's Residence_, seen through opening of trees on +east bank. + +_Hudson River State Hospital._ Large red buildings on east bank, two +miles north of Poughkeepsie. + +_Hyde Park_, on the east side. + +_Residence of Frederick W. Vanderbilt_, with white marble Corinthian +columns. + +_Manresa Institute_, large building above Crum Elbow, on west side. + +_A. R. Frothingham._ Grecian portico with columns. + +_John Burrough's_ brown stone cottage, north of Frothingham's. + +_The Novitiate of the Redemption Fathers_, a large new building on +west bank at Esopus. + +_Staatsburgh, on east side._ Dock and ice houses in foreground. + + * * * + + While fashion seeks the islands + Encircled by the sea, + Taste finds the Hudson Highlands + More beautiful to see. + + _George P. Morris._ + + * * * + +_D. O. Mills' Mansion_, palatial residence on the east bank above +Staatsburgh. + +_Dinsmore's Residence_, a large building charmingly located on +Dinsmore Point, east bank. + +_Ellerslie_, residence of Ex-Vice-President Levi P. Morton, below +Rhinecliff. + +_Rhinecliff_, on east bank. + +_City of Kingston_, embraces Kingston and Rondout. + +_Kingston Point._ Delightful park and picnic grounds near the landing. + +_Old Beekman Place_, on east bank, a short distance above Rhinecliff. +One of the old Revolutionary houses. + +_Ferncliff, Residence of John Jacob Astor._ Fine villa with pointed +tower. + +_Out-of-Door Sports._ A large building on east bank, erected by Mr. +Astor. + +_Garretson Place_, north of Ferncliff, on east bank. + +_"Leacote," Douglas Merritt's Residence_, north of Clifton Point. + +_Flatbush_, on west bank opposite Clifton Point. + +_Rokeby, Residence of late William B. Astor_, above Astor's Point. + +_Barrytown_, on east side. + +_Aspinwall Place_, north of Barrytown, formerly John R. Livingston's +place. + +_Montgomery Place_, east bank, among the trees. + +"_Annandale_," name of John Bard's place. East of this is St. +Stephen's College, a training school for the ministry. + +_Cruger's Residence_, on Cruger's Island--once called Lower Red Hook +Island. + +_Tivoli_, on east side, 100 miles from New York. + +_Glasco_, south of Tivoli on the west side. + +_Saugerties_, on the west side. + +_Idele_, property of Miss Clarkson, known as the old Chancellor Place, +on east bank. + +_Hotel Kaaterskill_ is plainly seen from this point. + + * * * + + O would that she were here, + Sure Eden's garden-plot, + Did not embrace more varied charms + Than this romantic spot. + + _George P. Morris._ + + * * * + +_Malden_, above Saugerties, on west side. + +_Clermont_, above Tivoli. The original Livingston manor. + +_West Camp_, on west side, above Malden. + +_Four County Island._ The "meeting point" of Dutchess, Columbia, +Greene and Ulster. + +_Germantown_, on east side, 105 miles from New York. + +_Man in the Mountain._ Between Germantown and Catskill we get a fine +view of the reclining giant, traced by the following outline:--the +peak to the south is the _knee_; the next to the north is the +_breast_; and two or three above this, the _chin_, the _nose_, and the +_forehead_. + +_Roeliff Jansen's Kill_ meets the Hudson on east bank above what is +known by the pilots as Nine Mile Tree. + +_Herman Livingston's Residence_, on point above. + +_Catskill Creek_ joins the Hudson south of Catskill. + +_Catskill_, 110 miles from New York. Route from this point to Catskill +Mountains, via Catskill Mountain Railroad. + +_Prospect Park Hotel_, on west bank, north of Catskill. + +_Cole's Grove_, north of Catskill. Here was the residence of Thomas +Cole, the artist. + +_Frederick E. Church's Residence._ One of the most commanding sites +and finest residences, opposite Catskill. + +_Rodger's Island_, on the east side, where the last battle was fought +between the Mohawks and the Mahicans. + +_Mount Merino_, two miles north of Roger's Island. + +_State Reformatory for Women_, on bluff south of Hudson. + +_Hudson_, 115 miles from New York. Promenade Hill just north of +landing. + +_Athens_, quiet village, on the west bank. + +_Stockport._ On east side, four miles north of Hudson, near the mouth +of Columbiaville Creek, formed by the union of the Kinderhook and +Claverack Creeks. + +_Four-mile Point._ On west side, about 125 feet high; four miles from +Hudson and four from Coxsackie. + +_Coxsackie._ On west side, 8 miles from Hudson. + + * * * + + For while the beautiful moon arose, + And drifted the boat in the yellow beams, + My soul went down the river of thought + That flows in the mystic land of dreams. + + _Richard Henry Stoddard._ + + * * * + +_Newtown Hook_, opposite Coxsackie. The wooded point is called +Prospect Grove. + +_Stuyvesant._ On the east side. Once called Kinderhook Landing. + +_Schodack Island._ On east side, about two miles above Stuyvesant. The +island is about 3 miles long. + +_New Baltimore._ About opposite the centre of Schodack Island; fifteen +miles from Hudson and fifteen from Albany. The Government dykes begin +opposite New Baltimore. + +_Berren Island._ Site of the famous "Castle of Rensselaerstien." + +_Coeymans._ Right above Berren Island. Above Coeymans is what is known +as the Coeyman's Cross Over. + +_Shad Island._ The first island to the westward above Coeymans; 3 +miles long; old Indian fishing ground. + +_Castleton_, on east bank, in the town of Schodack. + +_Mourdeners Kill_, a small stream which empties into the Hudson above +Castleton. + +_Sunnyside Island_ near east bank. + +_Cedar Hill_, above, on west bank. + +_Staats Island_, settled by the Staats family before the arrival of +the Van Rensselaers. + +_The Overslaugh_ reaches from Van Wies' Point (the first point above +Cedar Hill), on east bank, about two miles up the river. + +_Albany_, 142 miles from New York, is now near at hand, and we see to +the south the Convent of the Sacred Heart; to the north the Cathedral, +the Capitol, the State House, the City Hall, etc. + +_Rensselaer_, opposite. Connected with Albany by ferries two railroad +bridges, and carriage bridge. + +_Old Van Rensselaer Place._ One of the Van Rensselaer houses on the +east bank, built before the Revolution. The tourist will note the port +holes on either side of the door as defense against Indians. + + * * * + + In love to the deep-bosomed stream of the west + I fling this loose blossom to float on its breast. + + _Oliver Wendell Holmes._ + + * * * + + * * * * * + + + +[Transcriber's Note--Errata (Old Typos) and Corrections + + TOC:-- + Entries for "New Amsterdam" and "The Dutch and the English" + reversed, and page number for New Amsterdam changed from 25 to 23. + Page number for "New York" changed from 26 to 27. + Page number for "Yonkers to West Point" changed from 59 to 60. + Changed: '97-104' to '97-103', to match entry. + Changed: '152' (1st listing) to '151', to match entry. + Page number for "Source of the Hudson" changed from 201 to 202. + Changed: 'Colombia County' to 'Columbia Springs', to match entry. + Page 9: Restored missing period and missing half of closing quote. + [Illustration: Hendrick Hudson's "Half Moon."] + Page 35: added 's' to 'landing' (...steamers make their various + landings.) + Page 43: removed extraneous closing quote. + Page 46: added comma after 'erection' (..., now in process of + erection, ...) + Page 55: added 's' to 'make' (forgetting even, as Bryant did, that a + vertical line from the top of the cliff on account of the crumbling + debris of ages make(s) it impossible for even the strongest arm to + hurl a stone from the summit to the margin of the river). + Page 59: missing closing quote, and possibly also missing text in + paragraph? + (one narrator says: "remarkable disappearances ...) + Page 76: changed 'materal' to 'material'. + Page 80: changed 'Revoluton'to 'Revolution'. + Page 94: added missing comma after 'library': "The Library, founded + in 1812, has about 50,000 volumes." + Page 95: changed 'Seige' to 'Siege'"... Siege Battery on the slope...." + Page 96: changed 'pictureque' to 'picturesque'. + Page 107: changed (Major Tench) 'Tighlman' to 'Tilghman'. + Page 107: added opening quote ..."the proclamation of Congress and + the farewell orders of Washington were read, and the last word + of command given." + Page 108/9: changed 'proclams' to 'proclaims'. + Page 110: changed: 'The Marquis De Chastelleaux' to 'The Marquis De + Chastellux' (ref.: google) + Page 113: changed: 'The Marquis De Chastelleux' to 'The Marquis De + Chastellux' + Page 125: added 's' to 'thousand' (thousands of young men) + Page 129: (While sunset gilds) 'theee', to 'thee', + Page 139: changed 'openng' to 'opening'. + Page 145: changed 'Sofly' to 'Softly'. + Page 153: changed 'communicaton' to 'communication'. + Page 153: added closing quote (in about 32 hours.") + Page 155: changed 'wth' to 'with' + Page 173: changed 'thousand' to 'thousands' (...thousands of + laboring men... ) + Page 205: added 's' to 'brick' (thousands of bricks) + Page 212: added " to para beginning ("Viewed from the railroad ...) + Page 212: added 's' to 'thousand' (Thousands of travellers ...) + +Also added: Periods and commas, various (in the poetry footnotes). The +text appears worn; there is space for a period (and a couple of letters +are missing), so I am assuming that the missing punctuation may have +been rubbed off the page. + +I have also encountered a number of instances throughout the book where +the author quoted from an external source and omitted either the opening +or closing quotation mark, and it is not obvious from the text just +where the quote began or ended. In a couple of instances I have hazarded +a guess, but have otherwise left the single quotaton mark in place, as it +appears in the original.] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hudson, by Wallace Bruce + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUDSON *** + +***** This file should be named 17823.txt or 17823.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/8/2/17823/ + +Produced by Curtis Weyant, Lesley Halamek and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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