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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.
* * *
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. 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.]
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