n.ikton] "THE GREAT CHIP ROCKS" OF THE HUDSON 147 



viewed the cliffs. As the years passed solid, stone walled, heavy 

 beamed Dutch farmhouses replaced the leathern huts, and for a 

 century red man and white lived in peace. Across the river little 

 New Amsterdam laid the foundation for the great New York, and 

 then came the revolution. 



Upon the Palisades many minor and several major scenes of the 

 war were enacted. Historic old Fort Lee saw much action and 

 many relics have been found in the neighborhood. Many times 

 the armies scaled the bluffs and some of the old military roads are 

 still in evidence. "Light Horse" Harry Lee with a handful of men 

 captured the English stronghold at Block House Point. Bull's 

 Ferry, a short distance from the Point, was an important landing 

 place. It was before Sneden's Landing (Dobb's Ferry) that the 

 first salute to the American flag was fired by the English navy. 

 Above these points many engagements occurred and now countless 

 monuments and tablets mark the spots. 



Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought their famous duel in 

 a secluded part of the bluffs, while other parts have been selected as 

 the background for man}' stories ; Edgar Allen Poe was particularly 

 fond of setting his stories there. 



For years after the war the bluffs remained unchanged. Then, 

 at the southern end, blasting began as the Jersey cities grew. 

 Much of the rock which now is a part of the buildings of New York 

 was once part of the cliffs. The blaster has wrecked the beauty 

 south of Edgewater, and old Indian Head is now a jagged quarry. 

 Tunnels pierce the bluffs, and factories have finished the destruc- 

 tion of the southern end. 



The roads, both old and new, form an interesting feature of the 

 bluffs. They zigzag up its face, crossing and re-crossing mountain 

 torrents with a chasm on one side and a sheer wall of rock on the 

 other. They wind through the forests at the top of the Palisades 

 and circle ponds and lakes giving rare and beautiful views to the 

 traveler. The moving picture man has discovered these and the 

 veteran bluffs are now the scene of many dramas. 



The quarrying interests began work north of Edgewater but 

 here public indignation soon stopped them. Thus began the last 

 chapter of the story of the bluffs. A Palisade Interstate Park 

 Commission was formed and after prodigious efforts and the 

 expenditure of thousands of dollars, saved the bluffs from further 

 damage. 



