HUDSON RIVER. The principal river of New York State, and one of the most picturesque and important waterways in the Eastern United State. (a\lap: Nev• York, G 3). It rises in the .kilirondack :Mountains in the northern part of the State, receiving the waters of most of the lakes in the southeastern half of the .\dirondaek region, and having its ultimate source in a small lake near the indict of Long Lake in the north eastern part of Hamilton County. .kfter passing through these mountains in a number of wind ings, it flows almost doe south until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean through New York Bay at New Ytirk. City. Throughout its course it receives only three considerable tributaries, the Sacondaga, Alohawk, and \Vaillkill. all from the west. The .emery along the lludson is of re markable beauty and grandeur. and with the number of 'dames on its shores celebrated in his tory and literature. the river justly merits the title of the 'Rhine 44 America.' Like the other \Handle rivers, it breaks transversely throng]] the .\ppalriellian ridges instead of following what would now lie the natural course along the great longitudinal valleys. (See APPAIACIII‘NS. Cs reCia Ily iindi.r the sub-head Drninvi 9e Decrlop nical.) Accordingly. its valley is in places very narrow, and its banks lined with high and steep hills or mountains. notable among which are (lie Highlands, 1500 feet in elevation, through which the river winds in a highly pieturesque gorge, narrowed at one point to about 100 feet. Farther down. near the month, it- western -bore, for about hR miles. is formed by a great dike of trap rock• the famous Palisades (q.v.). rising perpendicularly fr,ni the water's ed., to a height of 300 to 500 feet. The Catskill 'Mountains. west of the Hudson. about lno miles from the sea, approach to within R miles of the river.
The Hudson differs from (lie other Atlantic rivers in the fact that. owing to the consider able sinking or depression of the land which has been going on in this region, lit.4.11 deco null and tidewater admitted Deal lc 100 miles bepaid the gorge of the Highlands Ils far as .\ !badly. Below this point the so-called river is really an estuary or fiord. its volume being far out of proportion to its drainage area, though, owing to the narrowntss of it- valley, it still retains the aspect of a titer, except for a st retell of about 20 miles between the Highlands and the Palisades, w here it 1•Npallik film Ilaverst raw Day and Tappan Sea. the latter o‘er :3 miles
wide. Abate Albany and Troy the river is really a small stream, obst•ucted by fall, and rapids. It is this drowning of the Hudson Val ley which is one of the principal causes of the. commercial supremacy of New York City. as it has made this river the only deep-water pas sage cutting entirely through the Appalachian syst em. The connect ion of t he Atlantic the North Central States is completed by the Erie ('anal I see ('ANAL). which extends from 'Troy to Bulfalo on Lake Erie. The Iludson Fiord. as it may be called, is a majestic water way. from to nearly one and one-half miles wide, with the exceptions noted above. It is navigated by a large number of vessels of all kinds, and elegant passenger steamers ply upon its waters. The principal plaees tin the river are Glens Falls. Cohoes, Troy. .\ lbany, Hudson, Catskill, Kingston, Poughkeepsie (where is the only bridge between Albany and the seal. New burgh, 11 est Point (seat of flub United States :Military Academy), Peekskill. Ilaverstraw• Os sining (Sing Sing). Nyaek. Tarrytown, Yonkers, and at the mouth of the river, New York, Ho boken. and Jersey City. The sailing craft. how ever, whor-e numbers formerly added so inuell to the picturesqueness of the river, have to a great extent disappeared. 'flue enormous traffic is further facilitated by the New York Central and Hudson River and the \Vest Shore railroads. Which run either shore of the Hudson and the 'Mohawk. The navigable length of the Ilud on from New York to Troy is 150 miles, and the entire length of the river is about 300 miles. It was Ilkeircered by Verrazano in 152t, but first explored by 'Henry Hudson in )609. It (-ailed North River to distinguish it from the 1)elaware. or South River. hut the English named it in honor of its explorer. Its Indian name was Shateinue. The Hudson figured prom inently in the Revolutionary War (see STONY POINT: WEST Poivr). and it was on this river that steal]] navigation was first suceessfully in trodu•ed by Robert Fulton in IR(17.