NEW YORK 



New York. State of the U.S.A., 

 usually called the empire state. It 

 iiirludcs many adjacent inland*, of 

 which Long Island, Staten Island, 

 and Manhattan Island are the chief. 

 The surface is diversified. In t In- 

 vest and centre, approach! 

 Lakes Erie and Ontario, it consists of 

 a level tract, part of which belongs to 

 the Allegheny plateau. The central 

 portion contains the " finger lakes" 

 (Canandaigua, Seneca, Cayuga, and 

 ut In is), which occupy depressions 

 formed by the Laurentian glaciers. 



'I'll-- mountainous regions of the 

 E. are separated by the Mohawk, 

 whose valley connects at right 

 angles with those of Lake Cham- 

 phin. I^ke George, and the Hud- 

 son. N. of the Mohawk lies the 

 picturesque Adirondack range, 

 \\ hjrh attains in Mt. .Man \ an alt. 

 of 5,345 ft., and S., to the W. of the 

 Hudson river, are the Catskill group 

 (highest summit, Slide Mt., 4,205 

 ft. ), and an extension of the Penn- 

 sylvanian Mts. The principal rivers 

 are the Hudson, flowing N. to S., 

 its right bank affluent the Mohawk, 

 the St. Lawrence, which forms part 

 of the N. delimitation, the Dela- 

 ware, Niagara, Oswego, Black, and 

 Genesee. Numerous lakes occur in 

 the Adirondack Mts., and the rivers 



8723 



are noted for th. -ir picturesque fall*. 

 Waterway communication is main- 

 tained between Albany on the 

 IludHon arid the St Lawrence and 

 Great Lakes by means of the Cham- 

 plain Canal to the N. and the New 

 York State Barge Canal to the W. 

 New York is essentially a manu- 

 fai luring state, and its excep- 

 tional means of transport by the 

 lakes, rivers, 638 m. of canals, 

 MM in. of steam, and 4,760 m. of 

 electric rlys., make it the greatest 

 conmien -iiil state of the Union. 

 The leading industries are clothing, 

 automobile, flour, tobacco, paper, 

 wood pulp, boot and shoe, and 

 machinery manufactures, printing 

 and publishing, brewing, and 

 slaughtering and meat-packing. 

 Next to manufactures, agriculture 

 is of chief importance, and mining 

 also is a valuable interest. Saline, 

 chalybeate, sulphur, and other 

 springs are found in various parta 

 of the state. Higher education is 

 provided at several universities 

 and a large number of colleges. 

 Two senators and 43 representa- 

 tives are returned to Congress. 

 New York, Buffalo, and Rochester 

 are the principal cities, and Albany 

 is the capital. Area, 49,204 sq. m. 

 Pop. 10..385.000. 



NEW YORK: AMERICA'S WONDER CITY 



Ii. B. Holme. K.A., Asst. London Correspondent, New York Time* 



There are in this work articles on all the cities of the U.S.A., as 



there are on the states. See also Brooklyn ; Hudson ; Long Island ; 



Manhattan ; Metropolitan Museum ; and colour map 



New York is the financial and 

 commercial metropolis of the 

 U.S.A. Situated at the head of 

 New York Bay and at the mouth 

 of the Hudson or North river, it 

 is a great seaport and the centre 

 of an important industrial district. 

 Pop. (1920) 5,459,463. 



In 1609 Henry Hudson dis- 

 covered the river named after him 

 and the island of Manhattan, and 



in 1621 the Dutch 



founded the col- 

 ony of Nieuw 

 Amsterdam at the 

 S. end of the lat- 

 ter. In 1664 the 

 English captured 

 it and called it 

 New York, after 

 the duke of York, 

 afterwards James 

 II. During the revolutionary war 

 it was the English headquarters 

 after the evacuation of Boston, and 

 it was surrendered to the Americans 

 in 1783. From 1785 to 1790 it was 

 the seat of the U.S. government. 



Since 1897 the greater city of New 

 York has included five boroughs, 

 having a total area of 326 sq. m. 

 Of these boroughs, Manhattan, 

 New York city proper, is the most 



New York City 

 aims 



important. It is of peculiar shape, 

 a tongue of land from 10 to 13 m. 

 long and about 2 m. wide, running 

 almost N. and S. between the 

 North or Hudson river on the W., 

 which separates it from New Jer- 

 sey, and the East river, the water- 

 way which cuts it off from Long 

 Island on the E. Within this 

 elongated strip over 2,000,000 

 people live and half as many again 

 earn their daily bread, with the 

 result that a mere topographical 

 accident has had a profound effect 

 on New York's development. 

 The Famous "Sky-line" 



Ocean travellers passing through 

 The Narrows, a mile broad, at the 

 entrance to the harbour, see across 

 a 5 m. stretch of placid bay a 

 great pile of lofty buildings. Sky- 

 scraper crowds on sky-scraper, 

 tower on tower, and the green strip 

 of Battery Park alone divides 

 them from the water's edge. Even 

 the grassy slopes and obsolete 

 fortifications of Governor's Island, 

 or the statue of Liberty, rising 151 

 ft. on Bedloe's or Liberty Island, 

 cannot divert the eye from that 

 fantastic castellated group. 



Already the sky-scrapers rise 

 commonly to 300 ft. Several, aa 



NEW YORK 



the Ringer tower and the City 

 Inventing building in Broadway, 

 are taller Ht ill ; but most remark- 

 able, and most ucoeMful architec- 

 turally, is the Woolwortb building 

 opposite City Hall Park. With it* 

 66 storeys, it in, with the exception 

 of the Eiffel Tower, the loftiest 

 structure ever built 



The Home ol American Finance 



In the midst of these sky- 

 scrapers, in its own churchyard 

 in Broadway, stands old Trinity 

 Church, and from its very door 

 opens Wall Street, which with 

 Broad Street is the home of 

 American finance. Here is the 

 United States sub-treasury, on the 

 site of Federal Hall, where the first 

 American congress sat ; here are 

 the offices of such great institu- 

 tions as J. P. Morgan & Co., the 

 New York stock exchange, an<l the 

 National City Bank. All round are 

 tall buildings occupied by banks, 

 financiers, engineers, lawyers, and 

 important companies ; and in this 

 district the cotton and the produce 

 exchanges, the chamber of com- 

 merce, and the New York clearing 

 house have their quarters. The 

 Consolidated Stock Exchange has 

 its own building. 



The municipal activity of New 

 York centres in the beautifully 

 proportioned century-old City 

 Hall. It stands in its own park, on 

 the edge of which is the gigantic 

 municipal building, the impressive 

 architecture of which is completely 

 spoiled by its site. The general 

 post office, with the United States 

 law courts over it, faces the City 

 Hall, while behind it are the state 

 civil courts. 



Broadway, the great thorough- 

 fare which runs from the Battery 

 through the entire city until it 

 becomes the high-road to Albany, 

 now traverses a rather uninterest- 

 ing section devoted to the whole- 

 sale dry goods trade. Parallel to it 

 to the E. is the Bowery, once re- 

 nowned for every form of cheap 

 vice, but now reformed to dull 

 respectability, while between them 

 are the criminal courts and the 

 Tombs, the Newgate of New York. 

 Five Points, the slums described 

 by Dickens, has been swept away, 

 but the East Side, the densely 

 populated district between the 

 Bowery and the East river, atill 

 retains its peculiar picturesqueneaa. 



It is a tenement house area, too 

 often the place where the poor 

 European immigrant first tastes 

 American life. Certain streets have 

 distinct national characteristics ; 

 the Chinese are in Mott Street, the 

 Italians in Mulberry Street, the 

 Russians in Henry Street, and the 

 Jews everywhere. The East Side 

 has a life of its own. Its politics are 



