The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-10-10
woRLD's BUSIEST STREET.
West Street, New York City, a
Torrent of Traffic.

$3,500,000 yearly in rentals from its
docks and ferries. OF this great rev.
enue the West Street section, from
the Battery to and including the new
marginal street which extends
from Gansevoort Street to Twenty
third Street, yields almost two-thirds
says Leslie's Weekly. In this section
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
alone pays the city more than $685.
600 a year for the privilege Of main
tanning Its freight and passenger
terminals. The White Star Steam
ship Company is paying $4,000
apiece yearly for two piers. These
figures give an idea of the great
value of pier privileges along West
Street
1t is practically an impossibilty to
give accurate figures as to the num-
ber of passengers and the amount Of
freight handled by the various trans
portation companies which touch
West Street because no such com
pilation has been made. Take the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company.
During each twenty-four hour period
10 trains arrive from the west at
It's Jersey City terminal, and all the
passengers are bound for New York
In a rush hour one day a conductor
and his assistants counted 4.S00 per-
sons on a single train. In the month
of October, 1905, the Market Street
(Newark) ticket Office of the Penn
sylvania sold $4,000 round-trip tick
cts, to say nothing of the one-way
fares. All these people cross West
Street on their way to the city, and
the figures given suggest but imper-
fectly the heavy travel from all
sources which Is focused on this
busy section.
A stroll along West Street will
prove interesting to all lovers of the
picturesque. Pier l., near the begin
ming of the street at historic old
Whitehall, is the landing place for
fruit steamers. Here, on certain
days, trucks are lined up by the hun
dreds, and there is a scene of mar
vellous activity when the work of
unloading begins. Within an hour
after the steamer reaches the pier
the truck loads of fruit are being
hurried to various distributing
points and sent to all parts of the
east. Monday is Commercial trav-
ellers' day." when thousands Of wide
awake statesmen may be seen hur-
rying to the ferries on their way to
catch early trains. The arrival or de-
n ri N 70 nf q, II
ways an inspiring sight. and such
happenings occur daily at the West
Street piers. Oddly enough the only
street cars which run along this
broad thoroughfare are pulled by
horses, and the belt line" tracks
and antiquated equipment remain as
q relic Of the days before New York
grew up" At night the scene on
West Street is an animated one. The
flickering lights against the strag-
Cling rows Of buildings along the
water front make a unique setting
for the motley throngs Of pedes-
trians hurrying homeward, the rois-
tering longshoremen and shouting
truckmen and the whole presents a
picture Of New York life which is
not soon forgotten.
West Street proper Is 10 feet wide.
The department Of docks and ferries
had added 1870 feet to this for the
entire length. and in many places
the thoroughfare has been extended
in width to 400 feet. When the
Dutch occupied the quaint village OF
the lower end Of the island, in 1926,
the high-water line was at a point
125 feet west OF Broadway-about
the present east line Of Greenwich
Street. Low-water line was at Wash
tngton Street (then known as LOW
Water" street). and West Street was
the old bulkhead line. It is difiicuit
to conceive of the loneliness and soli-
tude Of the Hudson river shore at
- '''"e. when its waters washed
the for,.ned palisade Just west Of
where the new and magnificent GUS
toms house now stands. In 1928 the
streets under the water" were Or
dered surveyed by the town alder
men. The same ordinance which
gave being to Greenwich and Wash
ington streets made a beginning Of
the vast array Of wharves which now
line the shore ana provided for fill
Ing In the land to form the present
great thoroughfare known as West
Street.