NEW YORK COUNTY. The
city of New York was incorp. by Gov. Stuyvesant in 1652, and its municipal
powers were confirmed and enlarged by Gov. Dongan, april 22, 1686, and by
Gov. Montgomery, April 19, 1708. An act was passed Oct. 14, 1732,
confirming its rights; and subsequent enactments were embodied in one act
in the revised laws of 1813 and in the revised statutes of 1828.
Numerous changes in the details of the municipal government have been made
from time to time.
The co., from the beginning,
has embraced Manhattan, Governors, Bedloes, Ellis's, Blackwells, Wards,
and Randalls Islands, and the lands under water to low water mark on the
shores opposite, in Westchester, Queens, and Kings cos., and in New
Jersey. Manhattan Island is 13 1/2 mi. long, by 2 1/2 mi. wide at
the broadest part. It is centrally distant 130 mi. from Albany, and
contains an area of 22,000 acres. It is separated from Westchester
co. by a strait known as Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and Harlem River. The
surface of the island was originally quite broken by ridges of gneiss and
hornblendic slate, especially in the N. part; and immense masses of rock
and earth have been removed in grading. A deep valley extended
across the island on the line of Canal St., another near Carmansville; a
third at Manhattanville; and a fourth at Tubby Hook, near the N.
extremity. The S. part of the island was covered with drift and
boulders, presenting conical hills, some of which were 80 ft. bove the
present grade of the streets. Fresh water was readily obtained by
wells sunk to the surface of the rock; and the porous nature of the soil
has greatly favored the construction of deep foundations and vaults
without annoyance from water.

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Along the E. shore, from
94th St. northward, and around Harlem, the surface is very level, and to
some extent covered with salt marshes. On the W. side, toward the
N., the valleys are often deep and the hills precipitous. The
highest point, at Fort Washington, is 238 ft. above tide.
Both sides of the island
afford ample facilities for commerce; and the noble harbor embraced within
the shores of New Jersey, Staten Island, Long Island, and the city has
scarcely an equal for extent, safety, and facility of access, and for the
amount of its commercial transactions.
The preservation of this
harbor from injurious encroachments has been a subject of solicitude; and
investigations which these have occasioned have developed many interesting
facts connected with its interests.
Gazetteer of New York by J.H. French, 1860 |