The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-10-10
Estimates Of Population and
Commerce.
THE PLAN or napR6vEn1ENT.
Stone Piers and Bulkheads, Widening Of
the Exterior Street and oh
Elevated Railway.
PROPOSED DRAINAGE SYSTEM
The Markets to be Sent
Up Town.

The Canal Trade to be Located on
the Earlem River.
Report Of General vieIs to the Commissioners
Of tho Department Of Docks.
In submitting the accompanying plans, speeilca-
tions and estimates for new system OF wharves,
PIERS docks basins and slips, solicited by your
Board in accordance with the provisions Of section
49, chapter $685. Of the laws OF 1870 1t Is proper that
should enumerate in detail the considerations and
principles upon which they are based.
II Is required that the proposed system shall &C.
commodate the present commerce or the city and
harbor and shall provide for the future expansion
thereof and for the facafon of the transportation
Of freight along the water front. render the
whole water front OF the city available TO the com.
MERGE OF the port
1t is further required that the plans 'sha contain
provision for the special accommodation Of
steamers and vessels engaged In foreign trade In
domestic trade, In the coal trade In the trade In
| lumber and building materials, In the hay and
grain trade, In furnishing market suppes also for
| the accommodation Of steamboats, plying to places
on the Hudson river and Long Island Sound for the
canal boats arriving In this city, and for the rail-
| roads and other commercial interests
In discussing these very comprehensive require
ments and determining upon plan that shall iulnl
| the several conditions specified. 1t becomes ne.
| cessary-
| photographed status OF the narbor in order 10
avoid any artificial constructions which shall de-
range or impair the natural conditions which have
liked its present character
| Second-To ascertain the nature and extent OF the
several branches Of commercial traffic using wharf
facilities and the present character OF those con-
phi. To
experience have supplied, the elements or progress
which arc Incidental TO the city OF New York by vr-
cations and It's present STANDPOINT the commercial
| metropolis OF the country.
Fo,ata-To determine the location. extent and
character OF sucn artificial and permanent construc-
lions az are requisite to supply the place OF those IN
| CURED. First,
THE HARBoR or NEW YORK
The harb0r OF New York consists OF the harbor
proper and an outer roadstead called the Lower Bay,
the latter being partially protected the sea by
the peninsula OF Sandy Hook, which stretches out
from the coast OF New Jersey In a northerly arec
ton, about SIX miles in length and three quarters or
mile wide. The main channel from the sea into
the Lower Bay passes the extremity or Sandy
| Hook, between which and the coast OF Long Island
| IA distance OF seven niles Is an immense shoal
through which pass three lesser channels to the sea-
The bar to the entrance lies three miles or Sandy
Hook; on 1t there is depth OF from twenty. one 10
twenty three feet OF water which has been gradually
| diminishing.
| The lower bay contains about one hundred
square miles OF water surface, receiving from the
| west the waters OF the Raritan river, which is
| seventy-four miles In length passing through the
red sandstone formation Of New Jersey. The lower
bay connects with the harbor proper at 'the Mar.
rows,n o strait formed by the approximation OF the
shores OF Staten and Long Islands.
| There is also another connection around the west
ern shore OF Staten Island by the Staten Island
Sound, which meets at Newark bay the united
waters OF the Passaic and HacKensack rivers The
| former is seventy miles in length passing through
the new red sandstone formation and having at one
| point fall OF seventy feet The latter Is forty
miles long passing through red sandstone and con.
glomerate. Newark Bay is six miles long and one
half mile widc connecting with the harbor by the
KIM Won Kull, narrow strait The principal
| afiiuent OF the harbor IS the Hudson river, which
rises in the mountainous regions OF Hamilton and
Essex counties Of New York, and is 300 miles long,
passi ng through granite and calcareous formations
and alluvial deposits. 1t receives In It's course the
waters OF numerous small streams. but Its principal
tributary Is the Mohawk, considerable river when
empties into 1t At Waterford, 100 miles from its
| mouth.
The Hudson is navigable for large ships distance
Of l1S miles; for smaller vessels and steamers $50
miles. 1t Is connected with the great lakes by the
Erie Canal at Albany and with Lake Champlaln and
| the st. Lawrence river by the Northern Canal
| The river divides At the north end OF Manhattan
Island forming what Is called Harlem river, which
| harbOr with Long Island sound, and thus forming
| another outlet TO the ocean.
The harbor contains twenty-rour square miles Of
| water surface.
From this description the natural elements which
.o ns are seen Nearly all q the
| subject to constant disintegrations; hence the
amount or detrltal matter which necessarily bought
down to the narbor Is enormous In its extent, re-
curing oil the force and capacity OF the tides
and currents n 9S p tine naygabs con
For the purpose OF institutlng comparison be-
tween the past and the present have caused TO be
copy Of map published in London 10 - iTS5, Oh.
tanned from the New York Historical Society; the
SURVEY q Brea aaf00f
The first OF these exhibits the narDor as 1t existed
before any artificial constructions OF any kind
| erected. The Hudson and the other tributaries,
with their smaller afluents flowed through their al
most unexpored valleys with an equable current.
BY these rivers projected the mountain springs from
the innl&nce Of the sun, retarded the melting Of the
abrasion, and tie tides eS6ed and nowed with no
| other obstacles than those which nature opposed.
The second map exhibits ,, the haIbor as IT. appears
man and by nature In her struggles with his nno-
vations. We ma chat The original shore line in
great measure disappeared In most instances It
has given place to wharves and piers, and In many
places dense blocks OF houses now stand where yes
sells snce noated. This Ii the case not only with the
harb0r ITSELF but along both shores OF Its afliuents
| Many Of the smaller streams which flowed into 1t
| are entirely filled up and obliteIated. The greater
portion Of the swamp lands In this vicinity, which
| the flood tide once covered, have been embarked
| from the water or filed up.
That all this has produced a material change in
the capacity and navigation OF the harbor and rivers
does not admit OF discussion. 1t requires know
ledge or hydr0statics for the
see It.. Within the corporate limits OF the city OF
New York more than one thousand acres OF ground
have been nled In where the tide once hewed.
In the city OF Brooklyn the same thing has been
done, and on the New Jersey shore an enormous
area OF tidal space has been filled In with solid EARTH
In precisely the same ratio has the quantity OF
water sent int the bay by the mood tide been dimin
lshed, thus reducing the quantity OF water absolutely
necessary TO clear from the channels the SEDIMENT
airy deposits These deposlts the other hand.