318 The Story of The Bronx 



Mt. Vernon and back with his companions by way of East- 

 chester and the Split Rock Road. Bolton gives records of a 

 striped bass weighing sixty-three pounds, being caught on 

 June 3, 1844, of another of fifty pounds, caught by E. des 

 Brosses Hunter, and of others of twenty and forty-three 

 pounds at various times. "There were giants in those days!" 

 Flounders, tom-cod, eels, and fish of all kinds, including an 

 occasional sheepshead, are also mentioned by the same author. 

 The best time for fishing is in the months of September and 

 October. The stream was formerly clear, but for many years 

 it has been polluted by the sewage of Mt. Vernon and the 

 outpourings of the gas-works at Eastchester, and the fish 

 are not so plentiful as formerly. 



Crotona Park lies between Third and Arthur avenues on 

 the west and east, and Fulton and Tremont avenues on the 

 south and north. ' It originally contained 141 acres, but 

 thirteen more have been added. Bungay Creek, the boundary 

 between the manor of Morrisania and the West Farms patent, 

 had its origin within the park. It is also famous for its trees, 

 which one writer states are not surpassed by anything this 

 side of the Adirondacks. The property formerly belonged 

 to the Bathgate family, whose ancestor, Alexander, came from 

 Scotland early in the nineteenth century and became foreman 

 for the first Gouverneur Morris, and bought the farm from the 

 second. Alexander's brother James was also a farmer at Ford- 

 ham ; his farm was taken by the Jerome Park Racing Associ- 

 ation. In the northwest corner of the park, facing Third 

 Avenue, is the Borough Hall, containing the offices of the 

 Borough departments, except that of parks. It is a fine build- 

 ing, erected in 1897, and stands on an elevation which is 

 approached by an imposing flight of steps in terraces. In the 

 rear of the building there is a field for base-ball, and about the 



