It astonishes a Mississippi or Missouri traveler to see the captain standing like a train-conductor, with watch in hand, to let off the gang-plank and pull the bell, at the very moment of the advertised schedule.

Southward the river gleams--a snowy sail Now gliding o'er the mirror--now a track Tossing with foam displaying on its course The graceful steamer with its flag of smoke.

_Alfred B. Street._

One of the most humorous incidents of the writer's journeying up and down the Hudson, was the "John-Gilpin-experience" of a western man who got off at West Point a few years ago. It was at that time the first landing of the steamer after leaving New York.

As he was accustomed to the Mississippi style of waiting at the various towns he thought he would go up and take a look at the "hill."

The boat was off and "so was he"; with wife and children shaking their hands and handkerchiefs in an excited manner from the gang-plank. Some one at the stern of the steamer shouted to him to cross the river and take the train to Poughkeepsie.

Every one was on the lookout for him at the Poughkeepsie landing, and, just as the steamer was leaving the dock, he came dashing down Main street from the railroad station, but too late. Then not only wife and children but the entire boat saluted him and the crowded deck blossomed with handkerchiefs. Some one shouted "catch us at Rhinebeck." After leaving Rhinebeck the train appeared, and on pa.s.sing the steamer, a lone handkerchief waved from the rear of the platform.

At Hudson an excited but slightly disorganized gentleman appeared to the great delight of his family, and every one else, for the pa.s.sengers had all taken a lively interest in the chase. "Well," he says, "I declare, the way this boat lands, and gets off again, beats anything I ever see, and I have lived on the Mississippi nigh on to a quarter of a century."

While drinking in the scene, my mind goes back upon the tide of years, and lo, a vision! On its upward path the "Half-Moon" glides.

_Alfred B. Street._

=The "Hendrick Hudson."= In these centennial days of discovery and invention, a description of the steamers will be of interest, furnished by the Hudson River Day Line. The "Hendrick Hudson" was built at Newburgh by the Marvel Company, under contract with the W.

& A. Fletcher Company of New York, who built her engines, and under designs from Frank E. Kirby. Her princ.i.p.al dimensions are: length, 400 feet; breadth over all, 82 feet; depth of hold, 14 feet 5 inches, and a draft of 7 feet 6 inches. Her propelling machinery is what is known as the 3-cylinder compound direct acting engine, and her power (6,500-horse) is applied through side wheels with feathering buckets, and steam is supplied from eight boilers.

Steel has been used in her construction to such an extent that her hull, her bulk-heads (7 in all), her engine and boiler enclosures, her kitchen and ventilators, her stanchions, girders, and deck beams, and in fact the whole essential frame work of the boat is like a great steel building. Where wood is used it is hard wood, and in finish probably has no equal in marine work.

Her scheme of decoration, ventilation and sanitation is as artistic and scientific as modern methods can produce, and at the same time her general lay out for practical and comfortable operation is the evolution of the long number of years in which the Day Line has been conducting the pa.s.senger business.

A detailed account of this steamer would be a long story, but some of the salient features are as follows: She carries the largest pa.s.senger license ever issued, namely: for 5,000 people; on her trial trip she made the fastest record through the water of any inland pa.s.senger ship in this country, namely: 23.1 miles per hour. Her shafts are under the main deck. Her mural paintings represent prominent features of the Hudson, which may not be well seen from the steamer. Her equipment far exceeds the requirements of the Government Inspection Laws.

We hear the murmur of the sea,-- A monotone of sadness, But not a whisper of the crowd, Or echo of its madness.

_Charles Mackay._

=The "New York."= The hull of the "New York" was built at Wilmington, Del., by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., in 1887, and is, with the exception of the deck-frame, made of iron throughout. During the winter of 1897 she was lengthened 30 feet, and now measures 341 feet in length, breadth over all 74 feet, with a tonnage of 1975 gross tons. The engine was built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co. of New York.

It is a standard American beam engine, with a cylinder 75 inches in diameter and 12 feet stroke of piston, and develops 3,850 horse power.

Steam steering gear is used. One of the most admirable features of this queen of river steamers is her "feathering" wheels, the use of which not only adds materially to her speed but does away with the jar or tremor common to boats having the ordinary paddle-wheels. The exterior of the "New York" is, as usual, of pine, painted white and relieved with tints and gold. The interior is finished in hard-wood cabinet work, ash being used forward of the shaft on the main deck, and mahogany aft and in the dining-room. Ash is also used in the grand saloons on the promenade deck. One feature of these saloons especially worthy of note, is the number and size of the windows, which are so numerous as to almost form one continuous window. Seated in one of these elegant saloons as in a floating palace of gla.s.s, the tourist who prefers to remain inside enjoys equally with those outside the unrivalled scenery through which the steamer is pa.s.sing. The private parlors on the "New York" are provided with bay windows and are very luxuriantly furnished. In the saloons are paintings by Albert Bierstadt, J. F. Cropsey, Walter Satterlee and David Johnson. The dining-room on the "New York" is located on the main deck, aft; a feature that will commend itself to tourists, since while enjoying their meals they will not be deprived from viewing the n.o.ble scenery through which the steamer is pa.s.sing. While the carrying capacity of the "New York" is 4,500 pa.s.sengers, license for 2,500 only is applied for, thus guaranteeing ample room for all and the absence from crowding which is so essential to comfort.

Thy fate and mine are not repose, And ere another evening close Thou to thy tides shall turn again And I to seek the crowd of men.

_William Cullen Byrant._

=The "Albany"= was built by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Co., of Wilmington, Del., in 1880. During the winter of 1892, she was lengthened thirty feet and furnished with modern feathering wheels in place of the old style radial ones. Her hull is of iron, 325 feet long, breadth of beam over all 75 feet, and her tonnage is 1,415 gross tons. Her engine was built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co., of New York, and develops 3,200 horse power. The stroke is 12 feet, and the diameter of the cylinder is 73 inches. On her trial trip she ran from New York to Poughkeepsie, a distance of 75 miles, in three hours and seven minutes. Steam steering gear is used on the "Albany," thus insuring ease and precision in handling her. The wood-work on the main deck and in the upper saloons is all hard wood; mahogany, ash and maple tastefully carved. Wide, easy staircases lead to the main saloon and upper decks. Rich Axminster carpets cover the floors, and mahogany tables and furniture of antique design and elegant finish make up the appointments of a handsomely furnished drawing room.

Lose not a memory of the glorious scenes, Mountains and palisades, and leaning rocks.

_William Wallace._

=The Old Reaches.=--Early navigators divided the Hudson into fourteen "reaches" or distances from point to point as seen by one sailing up or down the river. In the slow days of uncertain sailing vessels these divisions meant more than in our time of "propelling steam," but they are still of practical and historic interest.

The Great Chip Rock Reach extends from above Weehawken about eighteen miles to the boundary line of New York and New Jersey--(near Piermont). The Palisades were known by the old Dutch settlers as the "Great Chip," and so styled in the Bergen Deed of Purchase, viz, the great chip above Weehawken. The _Tappan_ Reach (on the east side of which dwelt the Manhattans, and on the west side the Saulrickans and the Tappans), extends about seven miles to Teller's Point. The third reach to a narrow point called _Haverstroo_; then comes the _Seylmaker's_ Reach, then _Crescent_ Reach; next _Hoge's_ Reach, and then _Vorsen_ Reach, which extends to Klinkersberg, or Storm King, the northern portal of the Highlands. This is succeeded by _Fisher's_ Reach where, on the east side once dwelt a race of savages called Pachami. "This reach," in the language of De Laet, "extends to another narrow pa.s.s, where, on the west, is a point of land which juts out, covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river, on which another nation of savages--the Waoranecks--have their abode at a place called Esopus. Next, another reach, called _Claverack_; then _Backerack;_ next _Playsier_ Reach, and _Vaste_ Reach, as far as Hinnenhock; then _Hunter's_ Reach, as far as Kinderhook; and Fisher's Hook, near Shad Island, over which, on the east side, dwell the Mahicans." If these reaches seem valueless at present there are

=Five Divisions of the Hudson=--which possess interest for all, as they present an a.n.a.lysis easy to be remembered--divisions marked by something more substantial than sentiment or fancy, expressing five distinct characteristics:--

1. THE PALISADES, an unbroken wall of rock for fifteen miles--GRANDEUR.

2. THE TAPPAN ZEE, surrounded by the sloping hills of Nyack, Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow--REPOSE.

3. THE HIGHLANDS, where the Hudson for twenty miles plays "hide and seek" with "hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun"--SUBLIMITY.

4. THE HILLSIDES for miles above and below Poughkeepsie--THE PICTURESQUE.

5. THE CATSKILLS, on the west, throned in queenly dignity--BEAUTY.

On the deck Stands the bold Hudson, gazing at the sights Opening successive--point and rock and hill, Majestic mountain-top, and nestling vale.

_Alfred B. Street._

=SUGGESTIONS.=

From the Hurricane Deck of the Hudson River Day Line Steamers can be seen, on leaving or approaching the Metropolis, one of the most interesting panoramas in the world--the river life of Manhattan, the ma.s.sive structures of Broadway, the great Transatlantic docks, Recreation Piers, and an ever-changing kaleidoscope of interest. The view is especially grand on the down trip between the hours of five and six in the afternoon, as the western sun brings the city in strong relief against the sky. If tourists wish to fully enjoy this beautiful view they should remain on the Hurricane Deck until the boat is well into her Desbrosses Street slip.

=The Brooklyn Annex.=--The Brooklyn tourist is especially happy in this delightful preface and addenda to the Hudson River trip. The effect of morning and evening light in bringing out or in subduing the sky-line of Manhattan is nowhere seen to greater advantage. In the morning the buildings from the East River side stand out bold and clear, when lo! almost instantaneously, on turning the Battery, they are lessened and subdued. On the return trip in the evening, the effect is reversed--a study worth the while of the traveler as he pa.s.ses to and fro on the commodious "Annex" between Desbrosses Street Pier and Brooklyn. Surely no other city in the world rises so beautiful from harbor line or water front as "Greater New York," with lofty outlines of the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn reminding one of Scott's tribute to Edinburgh:

"Piled deep and ma.s.sy, close and high, Mine own romantic town!"