New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-12-13


SOURCE Historical LegendaTy Io6 TssqIs
BY EdsnG gar Ma Nah Sectional Map Of the HUDSON
River. octave. PIP. xii. $50 G. P Putnam s
Sons.
The story of Its Discovery in 1910. with an Ac-
count of the Later Explorations and with G Spe,
the Line OF the Great Canyons BY Frederlc 70 ,.
drssa PiTsr EXECUTION of iS71 and 1872 octave
DID. xxxv 399 C. P. Putnam's Sons
Two more dissirnilar rivers could hardly be
chosen for simultaneous description than the
Hudson anT the Colorado. One is a magnificent
straight tidewater passage that laid the north
ern interior of new continent open to discov-
cry and settlement. became a crucial avenue Of
military influence in the days when revolving
confederacy was disputing its declared indie
pendence and induced the commercial growth
of one of the foremost of cities. The other is a
monster of natural forces, tearing its way
through deserts and sorely trying human cour-
age curiosity and sacrifice to so much as trace
its t1multuous course The first contrast which
the two suggest is one of geological causes,
consideration from which both Of these books
turn aside. Mr.. Bacon has written Of the ar
rival and life of early settlers, the scenes of
battle and the appearance of cities. Mr. Del
lenbaugh describes the struggles Of explorers
who came TO see and record, and after learning.
left the river as barren they found it. On the
whole his task is the simpler.
Mr.. Bacon has set himself to assemble all the
history that is notable concerning the COM
munities that stretch from the harbor to the
rapids annals of three hundred years He has
produced a compendious book that is readable
and attractive The run must be made at each
stop along the course from the arrival of the
Half Moon" or the days of Indian traditions,
to aspects of the present, but the events have
been too rich IN variety and contrast to make
the method tedious One is glad to be reminded
of the trite even. when marshalled in something
like an imposing recital. And here and there
charming little bit of tradition or anecdote not
commonly current may be come across, that
could hardly have been made available without
the search of local records which the author has
made it his pleasure to pursue. There is no real
bitterness in the disappointment, for instance,
with which the origin of the name of Glens Falls
is recalled It had formerly been Wings Falls,
and before that Che-pon-tuc. the Indian equiva-
lent for "a hard place to get around" and the
only name Of the three that neither stupid
nor commonplace"
Wing was simply the name of unimag gina
tive white man who used to own the Falls and
knew no better name for them than his own
The transfer OF name from Wing to Glen was
the price of a dinner at the tavern Glen paid
for the dinner and then posted all the roads
around with handbills announcing the change
Of title
half ago in Albany there but one lawyer.
Wander Donck by name who not allowed
TO practise because there one in town
to oppose him. In the old days of the Dutch
church in Kingston, when it still stood out
uniquely against the jurisdiction of the General
Synod a quaint custom was observed for the
convenience Of the diligent churchgoers. Be
tween the sounding of the first and last bell
for service the rheumatic old sexton made his
,7oa- wiz at
with his ivory headed cane and calling Church
time,'' We are told that the people Of Manhat-
tan Island have always shown unappreci-
ated habit OF modesty, inclination to do
things without much talk before or after
Among other examples this is decidedly inter-
esting:
At Crugers dock occurred one of the deeds
which, in any other city under the sun, would
have been celebrated in song and woven into
story, but which in New-York was allowed TO
go almost unrecorded. Out OF some dusty pile
Of records one draws the scanty account OF the
arrival of Captain Haviand, the 18th of
January, 116S. with supply Of stamps, and Of
the gathering at the dock that evening of a
company Of armed men, who captured the
stamps and burned them. That is all If it
had been Boston, and a cargo of tea, how sono-
rously the deed would have been exploited
Early giimpses can be had of the time when
tenant farmers of Dutch patrons were known
in this valley as ''boers,' and earlier STILL when
known to keep the Catskill heavens bright by
making new moons and cutting the old ones up
into stars. The book is illustrated with repro
auctions Of photographs engravings, drawings
by the author and paintings by Durand, Cast
lear, Boughton. Seavey and Weir. sectional
map of the river, folded in a slip. makes
venient aid TO reading.
Turning to the other book. we have the history
Of exploring parties in the Canyon region writ
1,,-, Nraso
petition, in 1871 The early part of the MARIA
tive is record of the visits of Spanish explor-
ers and American trappers. Beavers were a
source of great profit in the region at time,
and in the ten years preceding 1912 buffalos
were killed to the number Of ninety thousand
year during the cold months. besides great
number taken for other purposes than their
skins during the other seasons. But the trap
pers knowledge of a region is, of course, per-
sonal. 1t is the conscious explorer who brings
back serviceable record. This work done
by the successive expeditions that took the field
after foreign voyagers had done with proud
reiterated discoveries. and the church had aban-
doned seemingly hopeless attempt to win the
savages. Fremont, 1.-The Pathfinder" with Kit
Carson. Fitzpatrick, Walker and Cooley, APP
peared in 1912. Then follows the whipple ex-
petition. in 1854; E F. Beale in 1857, when
camels tried for transporting supplies in
place Of mules; the attempts to navigate the
river with a sternwheel steamship in the follow
ing year: the astounding fabrication of White
in 1867, after the interval of the war a hoax as
shortlived contemplate; and finally the two
expeditions under Powell, justly celebrated in
this account, and those under Dutton and others.
1t is a record of bold daring and hand to hand
struggle for life with unsurpassed rapids. a
progress through an enormous Dantean gulch
of xVhip in