GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 653 



III. Why New York is the Commercial Metropolis op the 

 United States. The great commercial advantages of the site of the 

 city of New York attracted the attention of the first voyagers who 

 came to these shores. When Hendrick Hudson, passing through the 

 Narrows, found within a commodious, landlocked harbor, and a broad 

 and beautiful river, which floated his ships in safety more than a hun- 

 dred miles into the interior of the continent, he clearly foresaw, and 

 predicted, that this would be the great entrepot of foreign trade for the 

 New World. The subsequent history of New York has fully demon- 

 strated the advantages of its position, since a population of more than 

 2,000,000 has gathered immediately around its harbor, and it has be- 

 come not only the business metropolis of a great nation, but the second 

 in importance of the markets of the world. Those who have witnessed 

 and shared the progress and prosperity of the city have been generally 

 well satisfied to enjoy these, without any special inquiry into the causes 

 which have produced them ; and, indeed, it is not unlikely that they 

 have accepted them as simply the fruit of their own intelligence and 

 energy. It is doubtful, however, whether the merchants of New York 

 have been more shrewd and enterprising than those of the other ports 

 on our coast. It is not flattering to the vanity of men to assert that 

 they are what their surroundings make them, but it is nevertheless in 

 a great measure true, and New-Yorkers are probably no exception to 

 the rule. The real secret of the unparalleled growth of New York lies 

 in the peculiar topography of its vicinity. 



The city is set on an island, of which the shore on every side is 

 swept by tide-water. On the west it is bounded by the Hudson river 

 we call it, but really an arm of the sea in which the ebb and flow of the 

 tide are perceptible as far as Troy, one hundred and fifty miles from its 

 mouth. On the east the island is encircled by tideways called Spuyten 

 Duyvel Creek, Harlem River, and East River, the latter a deep channel 

 which connects New York Harbor with Long Island Sound, and thus 

 affords an important artery of internal commerce, and another outlet to 

 the ocean. These two great natural canals, the Hudson and East Rivers, 

 embracing the long and narrow island between them, unite in New 

 York Harbor, one of the most beautiful and commodious in the world. 

 Seen from the city, it seems to be completely landlocked, but commu- 

 nicates with the ocean through the Narrows, with Newark Bay through 

 the Kill van Kull, and thence by Arthur's Kill with Raritan Bay. 



Thus it will be seen that New York Harbor is the centre of a series 

 of navigable tideways which add greatly to its adaptation to the wants 

 of commerce, and constitute the most peculiar physical features in its 

 surroundings. The little map given on the next page will show the 

 connection of this system of water-w T ays more distinctly than any ver- 

 bal description can. 



To those who have not made topography a study, the interest and 

 mystery of the origin of the navigable channels leading into New York 



