14 The Story of The Bronx 



Hospital. It is backed by the Episcopal Church and by a 

 number of the leading physicians of the Borough. 



The surface of the Borough is such as to present all varieties 

 of scenery; and in its wild state it must have shown scenes of 

 surpassing rural and sylvan beauty. In fact, even to-day, 

 one is pleased with the vistas of hills and streams in the more 

 sparsely settled parts. 



The elevated portions of the Borough are continuations of 

 the ranges of hills of Westchester County and, speaking gener- 

 ally, run north and south, parallel to the Hudson. The val- 

 leys between are occupied by streams flowing to the southward 

 and are comparatively level, so that they became the way of 

 the earlier roads, and later, of the railroads. These elevations 

 rise to a height of two hundred feet in many places, and do 

 not fall below a hundred, except in the slopes to the valleys. 

 The westernmost ridge extends from Yonkers to Spuyten 

 Duyvil Creek through Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale, and 

 Hudson Park. In Riverdale is the highest elevation in the 

 Borough, 282 feet. This ridge has a sharp descent to the 

 Hudson, and presents a bold frontage when viewed from that 

 stream. The streams emptying into the Hudson are few and 

 short; the longest being Dogwood Brook near West 247th 

 Street. On the east, the slope is almost equally abrupt to 

 the valley of Tippett's Brook. The lower part of this valley 

 is flat, meadow land, reaching, in places, over half a mile in 

 width. At its southern end is a rocky islet in this sea of 

 meadow, upon which the principal part of the former village 

 of Kingsbridge is situated ; in ancient times, it was the core of 

 the island of Paparinemo, or Paparinemin. 



The second ridge extends from the Yonkers line to Central 

 Bridge, and is the dividing line between Tippett's Brook and 



