Ferries and Bridges 197 



accepted by the city on August 21 , 1899. The cost to the city 

 of this third Harlem Bridge was #2,794,000. While the bridge 

 was in course of construction, passage across the river was 

 secured by a temporary wooden structure whose inadequacy 

 was the cause of ruined tempers, prolonged delays, and infinite 

 profanity. 



When the forfeited manor of Philipseburgh was sold in 

 1785, the Paparinemo tract went, in joint tenancy, to Joseph 

 Cook, inn-keeper, and Daniel Birkins and Abraham Lent, Jr., 

 of Dutchess County. It afterwards went through several 

 hands till about 1798, when it came into possession of Alexander 

 Macomb, a wealthy merchant of New York City. During 

 the various ownerships, the inn was kept open, and accommo- 

 dations were furnished for man and beast. Macomb continued 

 his purchases for several years, until he owned from Van 

 Cortlandt's to the creek, and from the Albany Post-road to 

 Tippett's Brook, mostly salt meadow and comprising about 

 one hundred acres. 1 In December, 1800, he received a water 

 grant from the Mayor and Commonalty of the City of New 

 York, at an annual rental of twelve and one half dollars, to 

 the water in Spuyten Duyvil Creek at low-water mark, ex- 

 tending from the bridge, one hundred feet on each shore to the 

 westward of it ; with the proviso that a passageway fifteen feet 

 wide should be left for small boats, a condition that seems to 

 have been ignored by the lessee, though the city officials re- 

 served the right to repossess in the event of its violation — 

 the lessee probably had a "pull." Macomb erected a four- 

 story grist-mill on the Borough side, extending over the edge 

 of the creek, whose alternate ebb and flow turned the mill 



■ It is interesting to know that he also purchased from the State three 

 and a half millions of acres of land at 8d an acre. This tract included the 

 Adirondacks, which, for many years, were knownas" Macomb's Mountains, 

 after their owner. 



