CHAPTER IX 



FERRIES AND BRIDGES 



THE Borough of The Bronx is separated from the 

 Boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens by 

 Long Island Sound, the East River, the Harlem 

 River, and Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The origin of the name 

 of the "Sound," as it is distinctively known to all the in- 

 habitants of the southeastern part of New York State, is 

 apparent from the geographical definition of the term. The 

 East River was so called from its lying east of the island 

 of Manhattan. In the Keskeskeck deed of 1639, we read 

 of "the Kil which runs behind the Island of Manhattan, 

 mostly east and west." This kill, which was called by 

 the Indians Muscoota, soon received a more distinctive 

 name; for the Dutch settlers had already begun to occupy 

 the flats at the northern end of the island, and with char- 

 acteristic Dutch patriotism, called their little settlement 

 Nieuw Haarlem, after the town of Harlem in Holland. 

 The kill thus became known as the Haarlem, or Harlem, 

 River. It does not run "mostly east and west," but 

 rather, north and south. It is not a true river; but with 

 Spuyten Duyvil Creek it constitutes a strait connecting the 

 Hudson with the Harlem, which latter is itself a strait con- 

 necting the Sound with New York Bay. 

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