The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-05-13

- ~ ~ With m1ses Of build
u = Guy tniS' yaal n "a hard to be-
~ y e''a'a large portion 4 n has been :"
1s \, Hup on pools, swampl. streams and :,
a' le ground. Y0 sath Is the tact, "
la'5s New York paper. q,
The peninaular gip Ct Manhattan
Island must have been a. vet and
swampy as old Holland Itself when
New Amsterdam was founded beside
The marsh which ran up 10 Broad
street from the East river. and. In an |
probability. Il was this very swamp.
ness that led sne Dutchmen TO selec,
L Us their new homo. This particular
pleco Of marsh land ended IN a
Iwampy pasture. which ran almost up
70 Wall street. and was drained by a
anal with two lateral branches along
Bridge street called the Common
Ditch.
This was the smallest OF the marshes.
short walk beyond the wall would
lead the burghers to a large wet field
allied Deckman's swamp. which COW
,rcd nearly all OF the area bounded by
Frankfort. Fulton. aud William
itreets and the then water front. De-
gond this. going cast. came a little
lafFoS neck Of solid land and then a
itlli lager swamp called the Roosc-
5elt swamp. which extended almost mp
o Parl, row aud covered all the area
now Included BY that street, the water
front as Il was. and James and Pearl
lstreets Through It ran quite a stream
,allsa thc Aud XIII. This stream be-
gan about The junction Of Roosevelt
iucft and Para row IN a narrow band
/ y marsh, which on the other side OF
Park Row opcnod into a NJ, .s,,.n,r
wing around two pools OF frceh 49,.
called the Collect ponds. THIS a,s.,unr,
land. ran up as far as Grand
and which filled in near,,o-.l||..s =. {, \,
-. -. l4If me Nnolt
81 inc sl,sS' between Broadway ana
ne noNcfy as faf south AZ Franklin
street. narrowed 10 a small outlet al
he Junction OF Canal street and
Broadway, and then spread out into an
extensive serios OF swamps. One OF
ALSO extended as far south "a the cor
aer OF Franklin and Hudson streets:
mother. known as Lispenard's swamp.
Dr. meadows. ran almost up to Houston
street. while a third reached far in
land In a northosierly direction as far
~ as the corner OF Twelfth street and
Sixth avenue Il will be seen. there
'ore. that this series OF swamps. pools.
and streams, extending diagonally
across town from the foot OF Roose-
gelt street to the Hudson river. practic-
ally divided Manhattan island into
lwo parts. and made subsidiary isle
IF the downtown portion. Through the
upper arm Of the great western chain
of swamps there flowed the stream
which has so bothered the contractor
referred 10 In the opening paragraph.
For some reason or other this stream
seems to have been a subject Of az
much dlverslty OF opinion among the
early topographors as Il has been
among the later gosslps OF Greenwich
village. The Dutch map makers dld
tot apparently venture as far north
a. thia. but In map made by Col.
John Montresor In the winter OF i775
Tor the Hon. Thomas Gaze. major gen
aral and commander-in-chleI OF his
majesty's forces In North America.
this stream Is founu set down. II Is
plotted as creek which apparently
Trained the swamp land that reached
from beyond the Obollsk road to the
Greenwich road. that Is. from about
3reonwieh avenue 10 Greenwich street
along the line OF Christopher street.
between the high land on which Lady
warNn's house was built. and the hills
back OF which lay the Llspenard
gwamps. The peculiarly OF the stream
was. according 10 Montresor. that Il
aad neither source nor mOJlh; Il Just
ay there.