Chapter IX: Part 9

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_.

* * *

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 Palæontologist 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.

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.]