NEW YORK CITY 



from the sea, through the so-called Kills, around 

 Staten Island, lietweeii it nnil the New Jersey shore ; 

 only vowels of light draught can approach bv this 

 route. Vessels that come from the north anil east, 

 by wny of I/ong Island Sound, pass the fortifications 

 at Throw's Neck on the mainland and Willett's 

 Point on Lng l.-linil. aliout 10 miles from the city ; 

 their nearer approach i- hinilered by the rocky shoals 

 and intricacies at Hell Gate (see BLASTING ). New 

 York's harbour or inner bay covers alrout 14 sq. in. ; 

 it U one of the amplest, safest, and most pictur- 

 esque on the globe, open all the year round ; many 

 waterways place it in easy communication with the 

 interior. Bridges span the East River and Harlem 

 River, and about thirty steam- ferries are in con- 

 stant intercourse witli the neighbouring shores. 

 The island of Manhattan has nearly 25 miles of 

 water-frontage, of which 13 miles are on the 

 Hudson River side ; a large, unimproved part of 

 the shore remains for future extension. The city 

 is the centre of finance and commerce of the 

 United States. It receives 66 per cent, of all the 

 import-, and sends abroad 44 per cent, of the 

 exports. Over 4000 steamers and 4000 sailing- 

 vessels enter and clear in the coastwise trade, and 

 2150 steamers and 5000 sailing-vessels in the for- 

 eign trade. The value of the exports of merchan- 

 li-e for 1S96-97 was $391,679,907, and of the im- 

 ports $480,603,580. There are more than seventy 

 wooden piers on each river ; and for want of con- 

 venient wharf accommodation several lines of 

 foreign steamers have transferred their piers to the 

 shores of Brooklyn and New Jersey, while a large 

 amount of staple produce from the southern states 

 and from distant lands is housed on the wharves 

 and in the large storehouses of Brooklyn. Liliertv 

 Island, for a long time known as Be<tloe's Island, 

 is situated in the harbour, about. If mile from 

 the lower end of the city. In 1886 the famous 

 Bartholdi (q.v.) statue was erected on this spot, 

 and occupies its central surface. The New York 

 and Brooklyn Suspension Bridge (see BROOKLYN) 

 spans the East River from opposite the old City 

 Hall Park. 



Old New York is laid out very irregularly. Here 

 the money interests and wholesale traffic are cen- 

 tred. Wall, New, and Broad streets are the great 

 centres in which banking and speculative enter- 

 pri-esare conducted loan enormous extent. The 

 first named thoroughfare is hardly half a mile in 

 length, but in extent of business is perhaps un- 

 equalled by any other locality on the glolie. The 

 newer part of the city, from 14th Street to the 

 Harlem Iliver, northward, is divided into twelve 

 great avenues and several smaller ones, from 75 to 

 150 feet in width, running north and south. These 

 are crossed at right angles by streets, mostly 60 

 feet in width, running from river to river. Fifth 

 Avenue, the great modern central thoroughfare, 

 divides t be c-ity into castside and westside. Twenty 

 street blocks measure a mile ; every tenth street is 

 double the usual width, designed for business pur- 

 poses. Among old inhabitants remote parts of the 

 city still liear the names of former village sites. 

 The original great thoroughfare, Broadway, runs a 

 distinct, devious course through the regular street 

 arrangement, making several short angles and 

 tarns through the middle of the island. On reach- 

 ing 59th Street it resolves itself into a grand boule- 

 vard. The streets, in general, are substantially 

 paved, and at night well lighted by gas and elee 

 trie lights. Manv, however, are suffered to remain 

 in an unxwept and neglected condition. In the 

 lower part at the city obstructions are often per- 

 mitted i>ennanently to occupy the sidewalks, and 

 pedestrians are compelled, among carts and hones, 

 /> explore their way through the middle of the 

 street. 



Night and day sumptuous pasKcnger steamers 

 pass up and down Hudson liner, Long Island 

 Sound, and l>eyoiid the Narrows, down to the 

 lower bay. Lines of railroads radiate from the 

 Grand Central Depot; others run from the oppo- 

 site shores of New Jersey and Brooklyn. The 

 large city depot is 695 feet long and 240 wide ; 

 alxmt 125 trains arrive and depart daily. Several 

 of the city's avenues are traversed their full length 

 by elevated steam passenger-railroads, built mi 

 wrought-iron structures, which from eaily dawn to 

 midnight carry crowd- of local passengers. l!e-ides 

 these there are many line- of hor-e anil ruble tram- 

 ways, and a few worked by electric agency. Al- 

 ready these modes of conveyance are so overtax ci: 

 that additional travelling facilities are urgently 

 demanded. More river-hiidges, a viaduct avenue, 

 subterranean roadways, and tunnelling under the 

 rivers are in active contemplation ; for most of 

 these enterprises charters have already I 

 granted. The number of houses is estimated at 

 alxive 120,000, mostly built of red brick, the letter 

 class of brown sandstone, a few of wood. Ik-sides 

 these there are stores built of iron, brown and 

 yellow sandstone, and a few of marble ; little 

 granite is being used in modern structures. The 

 construction of wooden buildings in the lower part 

 of the city has Ix-en interdicted. The modern 

 tendency 18 to build roomy, tall, fireproof and 

 semi-fireproof structures for apartment-houses and 

 for business purposes, the internal ascents of which 

 are made, front story to story, by mechanical 

 elevators. Most of these structures range from 75 

 to 100 feet in height, and are costly and elegant. 

 Among prominent public 'edifices are noteworthy : 

 the City Hall, County Court-house, Custom-house, 

 Treasury Building, City Prison, Barge OHioe, 

 Masonic Temple, Academy of Design, Coo|>er 

 Union, Post-office, Produce Exchange. Madison 

 Si|iiare Garden Hall, 1'iiiversit.y of the City of 

 New York, Lenox Library, Temple Emannel, 

 Trinity Church, and the Unman Catholic cathedral, 

 liesides numerous large, imposing hotels and palatial 

 dwellings and business depots. In many cases 

 vaulted basements and sub-cellars are laid out 

 under the buildings and sidewalks on an extensive 

 scale. Among the apartment houses conspicuous 

 for siw and luxiniou- appointment*: are Navarro's 

 Spanish Flat-, the Dakota, (ierlach, Knickerbocker, 

 Florence, and Central Park structures. In out-of- 

 the-way side streets the dependent and poorer 

 classes are huddled together in equally tall, brick- 

 built, dirty, yard less tenement houses. Immense 

 retail bazaars and arcades are found on Broad- 

 way, Grand Street, 14th, 23d, and 125th Streets, 

 anil 3d, Oth, and 8th Avenues. 



The government of The City of New York is 

 (1898) vested in a mayor, who ll the chief execu- 

 tive, and two legislative bodies termed respectively 

 a council and a board of aldermen, the two together 



-t\led "The Municipal A bly of the City of 



New York." The |Kilice force numbers :t4'J<> men ; 

 there are thirty live station-bonnes for prisoner* 

 and for the homeless. New York hns a paid fire- 

 department, conducted at an annual expense of 

 $2,000,OW), and divided into 76 companies ; 1TOI9 

 well-trained men and 337 horses are employed. Its 

 ap|Kiintments include, among others, 89 steam fire- 

 engines, 15 trucks, and 84 telegraph stations. The 

 lighting of the city i- mostlv done with gas, al- 

 though electric lighting is gradually being brought 

 iirto use. Of public gas- lamps there are some 

 25,000. Four gas companies are in ojicration, and 

 have together about 900 miles of mains laid under 

 ground. The Croton Aqueduct conveys to the 

 city an ample supply of soft water from the Croton 

 River and its lakes, a distance of about 40 miles, 

 to the four reservoirs of the city (see AQUEDUCT). 



