New-York tribune., 1903-05-31
ENT URGED TO COMPLETE CONSTRUCTED

tide protrude heaps of mud, stunted tufts of
grass and rottng hulks of canalboats. The
action of the tides is gradually washing down
this mud into the canal and piling up what
pilots call "rubs' There are so many of these
shoals between the Broadway Bridge across the
cut and High Bridge that the captain of the
Massasoit. Of the Department of Correction.
refused to take his boat through this part OF
the canal for the conveyance of the committee q
Congress. The draught Of the Massasoit is only
ten feet three inches.
All along this part of the canal as far south
as Central Bridge, there is almost an utter alb
sence of Wharves Along The Bronx shore
owners Of marginal property refuse to improve
it, for the reason that the channels condition
does not warrant the building of piers. The
Speedway, Of course. prohibits wharves along
the Manhattan shore. a shipyard at Morris
Heights and unutilized piers under Washington
and High bridges are about the only evidences
of commercial enterprise.
From Central Bridge. or One -hundred-and-
ftty-ffth-st, to the East River the chan
mel originally dredged to fifteen feet.
Tide action. however has shoaled the channel
in many places and has rendered navigation
difficult. In this section the original plan called
for 4 width Of 400 feet. Instead, the canal is as
narrow 100 feet where it opens into the East
soft mud
Between Central Bridge and the Madison
ave. Bridge the Bronx shore has been i'm
proved. but apparently to little purpose. The
extensive Astor docks unused The Bel
mont marginal property is still uninproved, At
the foot Of hundred-a forty ninth-st. the
contractors of the Rapid Transit tunnel are busy
Ia ldIng supplies. and near the NIadison-ave.
Bridge lumber yards where schooners are
unloading cargoes from upstate and New-Ens-
land ports. Between the Madison-ave. and the
Third-ave. bridges the channel is 200 feet wide
or one-half the original Improvement, and from
here to the East River the bulk of the canals
commerce is transacted. The stream is crowded
with barses loaded with all kinds of building
material grain -four feed and general mer-
chandjse. Along the Bronx shore there are huge
manufacturing plants.
Between the Third and Second-ave. bridges
the channel shrnks to q width of only 100 feet
or only one-fourth what was originally cOntem-
plated by the government. Shoals Of mud clog
the channel so that pilots have to follow zig
gag course IN getting through
Even At high tide" said a captain of the Har-
lem River Tugboat Company, Il have to take a
schooner with thirteen feet draught over to the
Nev-york shore at Second-ave., then to The
Bronx side at Third-ave and back again to the
New-YorlI shore where the NewYOrk Central
Bridge crosses at Fourth-ave. That isn't the
only trouble. either. At high water there is
such Z cross tide at the mouth of the Harlem
that We often have to wait two hours to tow q
boat in"
While the United States has spent little over
one million this waterway, the city in the last
twenty years has expended about $12,5OO,OOO for
Improvements, including new bridges, with
24-toot swing above high water. According to
Continued thirteenth page.