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that is a special feature in all the views. Its surmounting tank is at two hundred and sixty-five feet elevation, and a portion of the water is pumped up there for the convenient supply of the highest parts of Manhattan Island. The greater current, however, flows on to the reservoirs in Central Park, which cover one hundred and thirty-five acres, and have one thousand two hundred million gallons' capacity, their elevation being one hundred and nineteen feet. Underground pipe-lines thence convey water to the smaller Fifth Avenue distributing reservoir on Murray Hill, holding twenty million gallons. Before long this will be abandoned and the ground put to other uses. Some thirty million dollars have been expended upon these waterworks, the large storage reservoirs in connection with the Croton lakes giving ample opportunity for subsidence, so that the Croton water is clear, and not ornamented, like ours at Philadelphia, with all the rainbow hues of the soils of the Schuylkill watershed. New York's expansive growth has, however, almost got beyond the capacity even of these extensive works, so that new enterprises are afoot. At the Quaker Bridge in the Croton district the most enormous. reservoir in the world is being constructed, intended to hold forty thousand million gallons, so that no protracted drouth can imperil the supply. About twenty million dollars will be expended upon this work, and the water will come to Harlem River by a new aqueduct twelve feet in diameter tunnelled for twenty-seven miles through the rocks, and then carried under the river by a tunnel at about two hundred and fifty feet depth. At One-Hundred-and-Thirty-fifth Street an imposing gate-house is to admit the new water-supply into the city mains. This aqueduct is to cost over fifteen million dollars, and its work through political peculations has recently made many unsavory scandals. These works are the most enormous ever projected, and in a few years are expected to give a supply of at least two hundred and fifty million gal

lons daily enough for the metropolis for many years to come. Thus New York will have spent altogether over sixty-five million dollars to bring in an adequate watersupply.

THE ELEVATED RAILWAYS.

The Central Park and the extensive region beyond are readily accessible through the lines of the elevated railways stretching from the Battery to Harlem. One cannot stay long in New York without riding upon them. These airy constructions, set up in the streets upon stilts, have solved the rapid-transit problem for the elongated, narrow city. Nowhere have methods of quick transportation been more studied. The character of New York and its surroundings, and the migratory habits of the enormous crowds rushing in from all points in the morning and rushing out again at night, have forced it. A million people cross the Hudson and East Rivers daily, and a half million more move "down town" in the morning, and “up town" again at night. No city anywhere has so many ferries or such vast capacity in the huge boats crossing the rivers, or such gorgeous floating palaces to carry its passengers from its wharves to other cities. Two hundred thousand people daily cross the Brooklyn Bridge, reared high above East River, and a second bridge is projected to cross at Blackwell's Island, so that "up town" may also have an outlet. To secure similar advantages the Hudson River is being tunnelled and a high suspension bridge is also planned across it. Almost every principal street has a horse-car line, and some, like the Bowery, two or three of them. Four lines of elevated railways are overtaxed with traffic, and a scheme has been started to relieve them by tunnelling Broadway, which has the late lamented Jacob Sharp's most lucrative street-railway upon its surface, coining money for Philadelphia owners. As the city could only grow at its distant northern end, the relief for

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overcrowded transportation was sought cheaply overhead that London only got at great cost and serious inconvenience underground. Yet the new plan was hard to introduce. When somebody first set up a railway on posts along Greenwich Street and the "West Side" it had for years a sickly existence, people being afraid to ride lest it might topple over. But it grew in favor, and when it paid there came a rush of capital for investment in more elevated railways, which were speedily built, and for the present have solved the problem of rapid transit throughout the great length of New York. They have all been gathered into the "Manhattan Company," ruled by the "Little Wizard," Jay Gould. Their trains, high up in the air, rush past the upper windows of the houses, where you can see the inhabitants eating their meals or doing their work, or, possibly, going to bed, while the street-traffic moves slowly and with obstruction beneath. Swiftly and smoothly gliding through and over the great city, among the houses and around the corners, now hemmed by tall buildings within a narrow street, and then quickly given a broader view upon a wide avenue, this system shows many New York peculiarities. It is unique, and to most visitors is as great an attraction as New York can present, giving more enjoyment at less cost than any other Gotham entertainment. Its convenience is also a charm, and the admirable system could be copied with advantage wherever rapid transit has become a necessity.

VIII.

THE EAST RIVER.

THE eastern boundary of Manhattan Island is made by the Harlem and East Rivers. The former flows into the

latter, dividing Manhattan from Ward's Island, that with Randall's Island to the north and Blackwell's Island to the south forms the group of "East River islands" upon which are the penal and charitable institutions of the great city. The " Commissioners of Charities and Correction" take charge annually of a large population, sometimes reaching three hundred thousand. The chief buildings are on Blackwell's Island, the long and narrow strip stretching nearly two miles in the centre of East River off the upper city piers, and being barely more than two hundred yards wide. Upon its one hundred and twenty acres of surface are the penitentiary, almshouses, workhouses, asylums, and hospitals, the spacious buildings being of granite quarried there by the convicts. Over on the city side is Bellevue Hospital with extensive buildings, also in charge of the commission, and containing the Morgue and the headquarters of the ambulance corps. In cases of vagrancy and minor offences the punishment is to be "sent to the Island." There are insane and inebriate asylums upon Ward's Island, and also a Soldiers' Home. Randall's Island has the institutions for children and idiots, while upon Hart's Island, over in Long Island Sound, are the pauper cemetery and industrial schools. The building and grounds are all upon the most elaborate scale, and it costs about two million dollars annually for their maintenance. The steamboat ride along the river, with these extensive establishments and their attractive, well-kept grounds passing in full review, is one of the most charming suburban excursions.

To the southward of Ward's Island the shore of Long Island is thrust out in a way that curves and contracts the East River passage. Just here, below where the Harlem joins the East River, the latter turns eastward, and, flowing around the other side of Ward's Island, goes through the famous Hell Gate to reach Long Island Sound. Formerly, this was a most dangerous pass, through which the swift tidal current boiled and eddied. Hallett's Point, jut

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ting out from Long Island, narrowed the channel, and Pot Rock, Flood Rock, the Gridiron, and other reefs obstructed it, making navigation perilous. Over thirty years ago desultory operations began for the improvement of this channel, but a comprehensive plan was not projected until 1866, when General Newton took charge of the work. His first task was the removal of the reef at Hallett's Point, where a mass of rock projected about three hundred feet into the stream and threw the tidal current coming in from the sound against an opposing rock, called the Gridiron. General Newton sunk a shaft upon the point, and then excavated the inland side, so that it made a perpendicular wall, which was curved around and designed for the future edge of the river. From the shaft tunnels were bored into the rock under the river in radiating directions, and these were connected by concentric galleries. The design was to remove as much rock as possible without letting the water in from overhead, and then to blow up the rocky roof and supporting columns, afterward removing the fragments at leisure. The work began in 1869, the shaft being sunk thirty-two feet below mean low water, and the tunnels drilled out under the river through a tough hornblende gneiss. In 1876 the task was finished, and thousands of separate blasts had been placed in the roof and supporting columns ready for the final explosion on Sunday, September 24. There was much trepidation shown in New York, many people leaving the city, while everywhere the keenest interest was shown in the result, this being the greatest artificial explosion ever attempted. It was entirely successful, being dislodged by General Newton's little child, who touched the electric key; and the calculation had been so accurately made that the great reef was pulverized and the fragments fell into the spaces excavated beneath without causing more than a slight tremor in the adjacent region. By a similar system and more extensive work Flood Rock was afterward removed from mid-channel, the second great