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.