The daily Alaskan., 1913-10-02
A CHAIN OF FAME.
The Barrier Washington Erected
 Across the Hudson.
ARNOLD REMOVED ONE LINK.

Still the Monster Gable, In Spite of the
 Traitors Act, Served It's Purpose and
 Blocked the Progress of the British
 Ships Up the River.
 Somewhere in the bed of the Hudson river just off of West Point lies buried the larger part of great iron chain, one of several ordered by General | Washington during the Revolution to be constructed to prevent the enemy from ascending certain rivers to ac complish strategic points of vantage.
 The British were making strenuous efforts to get hold of the Hudson in order to keep free communication with Canada by the additional channels of the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, and so 1t was determined to obstruct l the Hudson by great chain crossing l from Fort Montgomery to Anthony's | Nose
 l But this was a failure. The chain parted within week after 1t had been stretched, and, although subsequently raised and again placed. 1t was de- strOyed by the British.
 Finally Washington decided to forge another and Obstruct the river between West Point and Constitution island, for l here there was an abrupt change of course, and heavy tide reduced the speed of any ship encountering It. Be sides, the channel was 300 feet narrow | CT at this crossing.
 The forging of chain such as was contemplated was then no small under taking. Requests were secretly sent to various iron companies, and among the bids the most favorable came from the Sterling Iron works, situated in one of the most beautiful regions of l the east, now within the fashionable domains of Tuxedo Park.
 1t was originally organized by Lord | Sterling in lT5l, a well known officer In the Revolutionary army, and con tinucd in operation for more than hundred years, meanwhile passing into the possession of Abel Noble, who married a niece of Peter Townsend | and who now in association with the 1 latter increased the capacity of the works which eventually came into the entire possession of Peter Townsend, patriot and filled with the spirit Of the time.
 He finally obtained few Welsh min CTS from Pennsylvania for the heavy 1 handling in the forging and q number of men from Connecticut with their OK teams to do the hauling, and when i the chain was ready it was drawn over the rough mountainous roads and through forests that had to be pur- posely cut in many places and so on to New Windsor, the. nearest river point and lowed to West Point
 It was strenuous undertaking from the very start Each link weighed 300 pounds. was two feet in length and two and d quarter inches square, and 1 each 100 feet was secured by a swivel, a twisting link. and at every thousand feet there was a clovis. The whole of this weighed lS5 tons. When 1t was stretched across from West Point to Constitution island 1t was buoyed up by large sixteen foot logs, and these were in turn held In place by 1 the anchors.
 The British made no specific attack on this then invincible obstacle, for It must be remembered that in those days there was no dynamite nor tor pedoes. and none of the enemy's prows | would have pushed their way through such d barrier.
 Although the British did not succeed in passing the big Hudson river chain. the American traitor Arnold gave 1t his particular attention and removed link of it under the pretense of hay ing it repaired for weakness at q near by smithy. He wrote to Major Andre that it would not be replaced until the forts were surrendered to the British. 1 But somehow the chain stood for It's purpose. and Sir Henry Clinton did not attempt to relieve Burgoyne.
 Parts of this celebrated chain are to be seen among various historical cu- rios of prominent societies. A number of years ago Mayor Hewitt of New | York. then tue owner of mine near the Sterling properties, became inter- ested in finding out the whereabouts Of the remaining portions of the chain. A large part of it lies at the bottom or the river, about thirty tons were In various possessions, and at West Point there are thirteen links, and staple placed near the spot where the chain was anchored and a plate tells Of the date and place of forging.-Boston 1 Herald.