File:America, picturesque and descriptive (1900) (14778596771).jpg

Identifier: americapicturesq02cook (find matches)
Title: America, picturesque and descriptive
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Cook, Joel, 1842-1910
Subjects: United States -- Description and travel Canada -- Description and travel
Publisher: Philadelphia : John C. Winston
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
ndred yards, particu-larly in the northern portion. The Harlem Riverand the winding strait of Spuyten Duyvel separatenorthern Manhattan from the mainland. The islandis very rocky, excepting the southern part, Avhicli isalluvial, and at the upper end the cliffs rise precipi-tously from the Hudson over two hundred and thirtyfeet into Washington Heights, and the surface de-scends sharply on the eastern side to the Harlemflats. It does not take the visitor long to recognize,however, that the capacious harbor, the convergingrivers and numerous adjacent arms of the sea com-bine all the requisites of a great port, and they couldnot have been better planned if human hands hadfashioned them. There is a vast wharf-frontage, forover fifty miles of shore-line are available for ship-ping, thus accommodating an almost limitless com-merce. This has made the metropolis and continuesits wonderful growth. At the lower end of )\Ianhattan is the BatteryPark, of about twenty acres, with the elevated rail-
Text Appearing After Image:
PUBLIC LIBKAt(Y GREATER NEW YORK. 25 ways coming over it from both sides of the city, andjoining at the lower point of the ishmd in a terminalstation at the South Ferry. Here were located theold forts for the city defense, but the park supersededthem after the War of 1812, and in the earher yearsof the nineteenth century this was the fashionable re-sort for an airing. The old circular fort, Castle Gar-den, now the Aquarium, was formerly a popular placeof amusement, and here, under the auspices of thegreat manager, Barnum, Jenny Lind made her firstappearance in America in 1850. The Park containsa statue of John Ericsson. The lower point of theisland is Whitehall Slip, and here is the GovernmentBarge Office, an appanage of the Custom House.To the northward of the Battery is the BowlingGreen, the space between them having been the siteof the original Dutch palisade fort which guardedNew Amsterdam. A row of fine residences wasbuilt here, which afterwards became the favoritelocality for st

Note About Images