New York Central Railroad Company

“ The beauty of the Palisades was threatened by quarrying and blasting operations until N.Y. and N.J. agreed to the establishment of the Palisades Interstate Park which comprises 36,000 acres (1,000 acres in New Jersey and 35,000 in New York State) .
"The spacious and stately characteristics of the Hudson from the Palisades to the Catskills are as epical as the loveliness of the Rhine is lyrical. The Hudson implies a continent beyond. No European river is so lordly in its bearing, none flows in such state to the sea. ”

“ Up to the time of the building of the Erie Canal, Schenectady had been an important depot of the Mohawk River boat trade to the westward, but after the completion of the canal it suffered a decline. The modern manufacturing era, beginning about 1880, brought Schenectady growth and prosperity. To-day the city can boast that its products "light and haul the world." As we enter the town we pass on the left the main establishment of the General Electric Co., the largest electrical manufacturing plant in the world, with 200 buildings and 26,000 employees. ”

“ With Cooper and Washington Irving (1783-1859) American literature first began to exist for the world outside our own boundaries. The Knickerbocker History of New York, in which the Dutch founders were satirized, was practically the first American book to win appreciation abroad. This and later books "created the legend of the Hudson, and Irving alone has linked his memory locally with his country so that it hangs over the landscape and blends with it forever." ”

“ But with the decline of water transportation the city has not suffered, for it stands at one of the natural cross roads of trade and travel. Today it is the chief railroad centre not only in the U.S. but in the world. Not counting subsidiary divisions there are 27 railroads entering Chicago, which is the western terminus of the great New York Central System.
Chicago is thus the focus of the activities of half a continent. It is the financial centre of the west and the metropolis of the richest agricultural section in the country. ”

“ But service as it is conceived by the New York Central, involves many aspects. One is the careful provision for the comfort and convenience of passengers; another is adequate and efficient facilities for serving the interests of shippers. In other words, New York Central service means not only fast and luxurious passenger trains, but also the rapid handling of freight. To give such service requires the highest class of equipment—the best rails, the finest cars, the most powerful locomotives, etc.—but it also requires an operating force of loyal, highly trained employees. ”

“ In the colonial period Philadelphia was the most important city, commercially, politically and socially, while just before the War of Independence, Boston, with a population of 20,000 was the most flourishing town in all the colonies. During the Revolutionary War, N.Y.C. had fallen to a population of 10,000 and in 1790 it had barely gained a position of leadership with 33,131, but by 1840 N.Y.C. had grown to be a city of 313,000 while Philadelphia had 95,000 and Boston 93,000.
Today one of the most remarkable features of New York is the Grand Central Terminal. ”

“ Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed every hour of the day, produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains, and they are regarded by all the good housewives far and near as perfect barometers. ”

“ There is probably no other locality in America, taking into account history, tradition, the old church, the manor house, and the mill, which so entirely conserves the form and spirit of Dutch civilization in the New World.... ”

“ From childhood to old age, a man's life is a kind of journey, and for this greatest of all journeys there could be no more interesting companion and no more trustworthy guide than the Encyclopædia Britannica. ”

“ The New York Central Lines have the initial advantage that they follow the great natural routes along which the first trails were blazed by the red men, and are almost free from grades, sharp curves and other hindrances to comfortable and efficient transportation. Thus the road owes its superiority primarily to the fact that it lends itself to a maximum degree of efficiency. ”

“ From about the middle of June to the end of August the cadets live in camp, engaged only in military duties and receiving military instruction. In general the education and discipline are so excellent that the business world is always ready with its high pecuniary rewards to tempt men away from their military vocation. The result is that graduates frequently resign their commissions, and the army loses what is gained by the world of affairs. ”

“ Rockefeller's country estate is called "Kijkuit," meaning look-out—a name given by the early Dutch settlers to the beautiful hill on which it stands, and which, rising to a height of 500 ft., gives a lovely view up and down the Hudson, across to the distant mountain ridges of N.J., and inland over Westchester County. The house and gardens are famous not only for their splendour, but for the priceless works of art they contain. Among the treasures which have been worked in as details of the landscape gardening is a fountain which for years has been considered unrivalled by experts. ”

“ During the early days Albany held high rank among American settlements. As a center of trade and civilization it rivalled Jamestown, Manhattan and Quebec. In 1618 the Dutch negotiated here the first treaty with the Iroquois, which tended to preserve friendly relations with the Indians for more than a century to come.
The territory of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, the most celebrated of Indian confederations, extended from Albany to Buffalo, that is, over just the country through which the New York Central runs. ”

“ In no other great city is the business district so concentrated as is the case in Chicago. Within an area of a little more than 1 Sq. M. are located the principal office buildings, department stores, shops, hotels and theatres. Not far from the centre of this district is the new City Hall and County Building, an 11-story structure costing $5,000,000.
Chicago is generally credited with being the original home of the steel frame sky-scraper, though there are now many higher buildings in New York and elsewhere. The height of buildings in Chicago is limited by city ordinance to about 22 stories. ”

“ The rest of the tribe lived around Oneida Lake, in the region southward to the Susquehanna. They were not loyal to the Iroquois League's policy of friendliness to the English, but inclined towards the French, and were practically the only Iroquois who fought for the Americans in the War of Independence. As a consequence they were attacked by others of the Iroquois under Joseph Brant and took refuge within the American settlements till the war ended, when the majority returned to their former home, while some migrated to the Thames River district, Ontario. ”

“ Of the seven natural wonders of the American world, which are given as Yellowstone Park, Garden of the Gods, Mammoth Cave, Niagara Falls, the Natural Bridge, Yosemite Valley, and the Giant Trees of California, by far the greatest spectacle is Niagara. The name means "thunder of the waters," and was given by the early Indians [95] who regarded the falls with a quite comprehensible religious awe. Today there are more than a million and a half visitors annually. ”

“ Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635) , born at the little port Brouage in the Bay of Biscay, made his first trip to Canada in 1603, and five years later established the first white settlement at Quebec. In the spring he joined a war party of Algonquins and Hurons, discovered the great lake that bears his name, and with his arquebus took an important part in the victory which his savage friends obtained over the Iroquois. In 1615, with another expedition of Indians, he crossed the eastern ends of Lakes Huron and Ontario and made a fierce but unsuccessful attack on an Onondaga town near Lake Oneida. ”

“ The lake trade grew to enormous proportions, and the building of the railways, especially the New York Central Lines connecting Chicago with the East, as well as other lines connecting it with the Northwest, and the South, gave the city an extraordinary impetus. ”

“ For many years Syracuse was the principal seat of the salt industry in the United States, but the development of salt deposits in other parts of N.Y. State and in Michigan caused a decline in the Onondaga product, though Syracuse still produced 2,000,000 bushels of salt a year. The Onondaga deposits were mentioned in the journal of the French Jesuit Lemoyne in 1653, and before the Revolutionary War the Indians marketed salt at Albany and Quebec. ”

“ In 1906 the United States Steel Corporation broke ground here for a series of enormous foundries and factories, first laying sewers, water mains, gas pipes and conduits for electric wires, as well as providing other improvements necessary for life of the city. The Steel Corporation had chosen this site partly because of its direct connection by water with the Lake Superior ore region, partly because of its proximity to Chicago, and partly because it was accessible to Virginia coal and Michigan limestone. ”

“ Born in Ireland, he came to America in 1738 for the purpose of managing a tract of land in this valley belonging to his uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren. The fort which he built on the site of the present village bearing his name soon became the center of trade with the Indians, and likewise a strategic point for Johnson's military ventures. The Mohawks adopted him and elected him a sachem. He was at various times superintendent of the affairs of the Six Nations, commissary of the province for Indian affairs, and major-general in the British army. ”

“ This foreign population is made up principally of Germans, about 50 per cent, Irish 12, Austrian 13, Russian 10, Swedish 6, Italian 4, Canadian, including French Canadians, 4, and English 4.
It has been said that Chicago is "the second largest Bohemian city in the world, the third Swedish, the fourth Norwegian, the fifth Polish and the fifth German (New York being the fourth) ." This ought not to be construed, however, as a reflection on the fundamental Americanism of Chicago's citizens.
The growth in area has kept pace with the growth in population. ”

“ For many years Rochester was the most important flour milling centre in the country, owing to the valuable water furnished by the falls and the fertility of the wheat fields of the Genesee Valley. Flour milling is no longer so important an industry here—Minneapolis having taken first rank in this respect—but Rochester ranks high among the great manufacturing cities of the country. Its total output is valued at more than $250,000,000 annually. ”

“ Of the latter, there are more than in any other city in the world, and the number of persons who are giving up their houses and adopting this manner of life is steadily increasing. The first thing, in fact, that impresses a visitor on his arrival is the seemingly endless amount of buildings adopted for transients. ”

“ The founder of the sect was Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784) of Manchester, England, who came to N.Y. with a number of relatives in 1774 and bought land in the lower Mohawk Valley. The first Shaker settlement was at Watervliet, not far from Troy. The settlers established a communistic organization with branches in Mass., and Conn. As a matter of practice they do not forbid marriage, but refuse to recognize it; they consider there are four virtues: virgin purity, Christian communism, confession of sin, and separation from the world. The women wear uniform costumes and the men have long hair. ”

“ There are Mennonite colonies in Holland, France, Russia and Germany, as well as in the U.S. The American Mennonites have been largely emigrants from Holland and Prussia. The principal American colony is at Germantown, Pa. (first settled 1683) .
There is a Carnegie library, a city hospital and a fine high school building in the town. Goshen is an important agricultural and lumber market. Its manufactures include flour, lumber goods, ladders, iron, wagons, steel tanks, underwear, machinery, furniture and farm implements. ”

“ The Hudson extends above Troy for 150 M. farther, but navigation is interrupted by shallows and swift currents. Below Troy the fall is only five feet in a distance of 145 M. This lower, navigable portion of the Hudson was the only feasible route through the Atlantic highlands, and in consequence it has been one of the most significant factors in the development of the United States. New York City likewise owes its phenomenal development largely to this great highway of commerce. ”

“ The city has 2,500 manufacturing plants with 125,000 workers, producing annually goods worth about $375,000,000, of which $100,000,000 represents the products of its foundries and machine shops. Cleveland is the first city in America in the making of wire products and automobile parts, second in the manufacture of clothing and sewing machines and one of the leading cities in the production of complete automobiles. Shipbuilding (there are five large shipyards* here) is likewise an important industry, and Cleveland controls the larger share of the tonnage on the Great Lakes. ”

“ Settlers were attracted to the site of the present town of Ashtabula (an Indian word said to mean "fish river") in 1801 by the excellent harbour here, formed by the mouth of the Ashtabula River. The city is built on the high bank of the river about 75 ft. above the lake and commands some fine views. There are large green-houses under glass from which forced fruit and vegetables are shipped to Pittsburgh and other large cities. ”

“ He was one of the leading organizers of the Liberty party (1840) , and later was nominated for president by various reform parties, notably the Free Soil Party (1848 & 1852) . He was likewise the candidate of the anti-slavery party for governor of New York in 1840 and 1858. In 1853 he was elected to Congress as an independent, whereupon he issued an address declaring that all men have an equal right to the soil; that wars are brutal and unnecessary; that slavery could not be sanctioned by any constitution, state or federal; that free trade is essential to human brotherhood ”

“ The New York Central Lines enter twelve states and serve territory containing 51,530,784 inhabitants or 50.3 per cent of the nation's population. This rich and busy territory produces 64 per cent of the country's manufactured products and mines a similar proportion of its coal.
This system does approximately 10 per cent of the railroad transportation business of the United States, although its main-track mileage is only 6 per cent. In other words the business it handles exceeds that of the average railroad, mile for mile, by nearly 100 per cent. ”

“ It is to this day doubtful whether the superb British regulars at Braddock's battle or the Highlanders at Grant's defeat a few years later, were able to so much as kill one Indian for every hundred of their own men who fell. ”

“ The trail on the north bank led through Tribes Hill, Johnstown, Fonda and Little Falls, where it united with the main traveled route.
At West Albany are extensive shops of the New York Central Lines. When working full capacity about 1,400 men are employed here. The machines are all of modern design and electrically driven. There are large freight yards having a trackage of nearly 100 M. The [56] passenger car shops include two great buildings which are used for making general repairs and one for construction of steel equipment. One of the repair buildings is 42 ft. ”