348 Transactions of the American Institute. 



iiig the earth and forming embankments could be done, for the 

 most part, by steam engines. 



A channel thus formed between Lona: Island Sound and the 

 lower bay, would greatly increase the quantity of water passing 

 between the Sound and the Ocean. The mouth of such a channel 

 would not close, but would continually enlarge from the same 

 causes which have closed the northern and enlarged the southern 

 inlets of Barnegat and other l^ays along the Atlantic coast. 



By the consummation of the proposed improvement, Brooklyn 

 would become an important part of the great metropolis. The 

 land Ij'ing between the new channel indicated and the East river, 

 includes all of Kings county and part of Queens; its area is 

 six or seven times that of Manhattan Island, and the whole of it is 

 nearer the New York city hall, postoffice, and custom house than 

 the present northern limits of the city. 



The whole expense of the proposed improvement would not 

 exceed ten per cent of the increased value given to land bordering 

 the new route, and it might be defrayed by the sale of the vast 

 number of city lots which could be made by narrowing the East 

 river, below Blackwell's Island, to one-quarter of its present width. 

 Closing that river completely, by extending Forty-eighth street 

 from New York to Hunter's Point, would obviate the evils arising 

 from strong tidal currents, and form below a safe harbor free from 

 floating ice during the winter season. However, should sanitary 

 considerations be opposed to the measure, there could be no olijec- 

 tion to greatly reducing the width of the river below Forty-eighth 

 street. Broad bridges could be built from New York to Brooklyn 

 Heights, which, at the east end, would be high enough to permit 

 ordinary river steamers to pass under them, and a draw in each 

 could be provided for the passage of ships on their way to the 

 United States Navy Yard, or some of the neighboring piers, it 

 being understood that ships bound to sea would pass through the 

 new channel into Long Island Sound. A grave question is soon to 

 'arise as to whether the progress of hundreds of thousands of people, 

 on foot, in carriages, and in cars, is to be imperatively stopped at 

 an arm of the sea for the passage of a single sloop carrying two or 

 three persons. At Chicago, where there are already more than a 

 dozen bridges over the river which forms its harbor, the draws are 

 only opened at certain intervals and are not allowed to remain 

 open beyond a certain number of minutes. Let us look forward 

 twenty years, when M^iNiLiTTAN — embracing New York and its 



