THE PALISADES INTERSTATE PARK 



207 



of the Palisades as there is in Central Park. 

 Quite a number of acres are sufficiently level 

 to make camping enjoyable, and three thou- 

 sand permits for tents were issued last year. 



Before the commission went to work, the 

 condition of the beaches, narrow and strewn 

 with rocks and stones from the cliffs above, 

 left very much to be desired, from the jioint 

 of view of camping, boating and swimming. 

 Blasting has been done to get rid of jagged 

 rocks, riprai) has been laid along the water's 

 edge, and the beaches have been widened, 

 cleared, and filled in with broken stone and 

 cinders. Docks have been built to provide 

 safe landing places for small boats, and basins 

 also in which they may be protected from the 

 swell of the large steamers. Paths, stairs, 

 and in some cases roads, have been con- 

 structed up the cliff, connecting with high- 

 ways on the top of the Palisades. 



From the foot of Dyckman Street on 

 Manhattan Island to the park on the west 

 side of the river, the commission has estab- 

 lished a ferry. At the ferry landing in the 

 park it is making an important develo])- 

 ment, including a dock, and a t>asin enclosed 

 by a bulkhead. The basin is to be arranged 

 so that small boats can enter through a 

 seventy-five foot entrance and anchor inside 

 for a .short stay. From this point an auto- 

 mobile "trail" is being built running north- 

 ward to a point opposite Yonkers. 



From the same ferry landing opposite 

 Dyckman Street, a remarkable road has been 

 built up to the top of the Palisades — here 

 about four hundred feet above the river — 

 connecting with the road to Englewood. 

 This road is carried up a steep grade by means 

 of great loops, the roadway being supported 

 by massive walls of masonry. 



There is much splendid timber on the 

 Palisades, antl for the past ten years the 

 commission has been doing forestry work. 

 Undergrowth has been cleared and wood 

 cut out, and, since all the work is done by 

 the commission's own organization, there 

 is no waste. All buildings are made from 

 logs taken out of the forest by the forestry 

 department. 



One of the finest developments in the park 

 is at Bear Mountain, six miles south of West 

 Point. At the waterfront a steamboat dock 

 has been built which accommodates the larg- 

 est boats on the river. At this dock is an- 

 chored the replica of the " Half Moon " — the 

 vessel in which Ilusdon explored the river — 



which was given to the State of New York by 

 the Dutch people during the Hudson-Fulton 

 celebration in 1909. Bear Mountain Inn 

 is a picturesque restaurant building, and 

 near it is Highland Lake. In the woods 

 around the lake are tables for ijicnic parties. 

 From Bear Mountain Inn, a road leads north- 

 ward to West Point. 



It is at the northern end of the park that 

 the most extensive developments have been 

 possible. A special study was made of the 

 land given by Mrs. Harriman, particularly 

 with regard to its watershed, and it was found 

 that it would be possible to build a great 

 many lakes of from twenty-five to seven 

 hundred acres extent, and to make them look 

 perfectly natural owing to the foothills and 

 the streams. This work is now in progress. 

 Stumps of trees have been burned and dug 

 out and dams built, and in one place where a 

 year ago was only a little bog, will be next 

 year one of the most beautiful lakes in New 

 York. 



Through the Bear Mountain grounds and 

 thence southeastward to Tuxedo the com- 

 mission has built an automobile road, very 

 largely with native help — ^men who have lived 

 all their lives under the foothills of the west 

 bank of the Hudson. At several places along 

 the road artificial lakes have been made by 

 damming streams, and in two or three years 

 it will be possible to travel by boat to this 

 part of the park. There is a very large 

 amount of water in this section of country 

 and it is hoped some day to make it a source 

 of revenue by selling water to near-by towns. 



The total area of this great mountain and 

 riverside park is twenty-two thousand acres, 

 a glorious heritage of picturescjue meadows 

 and forests, rocks and crags, with alluring 

 bridle paths, little streams and cascades, 

 with vistas of distant hill and river, and with 

 a considerable flower and bird life. 



The commission hopes eventually to own 

 its own excursion boats from the Battery. 

 Eight million dollars has been spent; eighty 

 million is not too much still to spend, for it 

 is impossible to overestimate the amount of 

 work that can be done on the west side of 

 the Hudson, where land has as yet a low 

 price compared with that on the New York 

 side. Already hundreds of thousands of 

 people annually are using the park for health- 

 ful recreation, and it has almost limitless 

 possibilities of future benefit to the millions 

 of inhabitants of the largest city in the world. 



