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 "Encyclopædia 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. Cæsar 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 " 5½, " 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.=