History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 1. Frederic Shonnard
and form a portion of the southern boundary of the old County of Westchester, are in reality only an arm of the sea: and though to the superficial observer they may appear to constitute one of the mouths of the Hudson, they have no such function, and, indeed, receive none of its flow. The two are strictly to be considered not as a river, but as a strait, connecting the tide waters of the East River and Sound with those of the North River. Their length is about eight miles. The Harlem River at its eastern extremity is divided by Randall's Island into two channels — the southern and principal one communicating with Hellgate, and the northern one (unnavigable), called the Bronx Kills, passing between the island and the Westchester shore into Long Island Sound. The Harlem and Spuyten Duyvil waterway presents the remarkable phenomenon of double tides, which vary decidedly in height, time of occurrence, duration of rise and fall, and swiftness of flow. ''The tides in the Harlem River," says General John Newton, in a report to the War Department, " are chiefly due to the propagated Hellgate wave, while the latter is the result of the contact of the Sound and Sandy Hook tides. The tides in the Hudson River and Spuyten Duyvil are produced by the propagation of the sea. tide through the Upper and Lower bays." The mean rise of the tide in the Harlem is from Ave and one-half to six feet; in the Spuyten Duyvil Creek it is three and eight-tenths feet. The mean high water level in the Hudson River at Spuyten Duyvil Creek is nearly a foot lower and an hour and forty minutes earlier than in the Harlem, and the mean duration of the rise of tide in the former is thirty-six minutes shorter than in the latter. The westerly current, from Hellgate, is swifter than the easterly, from the Hudson. The place of " divide " between the Harlem River and the Spuyten Duyvil Creek is usually located at Kingsbridge. In early times the Harlem was navigable for most of its length, but owing to artificial obstructions (notably that of Macomb's Dam), which were begun in the first part of the present century, the channel above the present Central Bridge became both shallow and contracted. The mean natural depth of Spuyten Duyvil Creek has always been comparatively slight. Owing to the importance of this waterway as a means of short transit for craft plying between the Hudson River and ports on the Sound and in New England, the United States Government has in our own time dredged a channel, which, from the Hudson to Hellgate, has a depth of from twelve to fifteen feet. This improvement, known as the Harlem Ship Canal, was opened to commerce on the 17th of June, 1805. The Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek are crossed at present by thirteen bridges.
Along the Spuyten Duyvil and Harlem River portion of its water line, as along the Sound, the (old) County of Westchester loses the comparatively lofty feature which characterizes its Hudson shore, and the land is generally low, sinking into marshy tracts in some localities near the Sound. The Westchester coast on the Sound, stretching from the mouth of the Harlem River to the mouth of the Byram River (where the Connecticut State line begins), is broken by numerous necks and points, with corresponding inlets and coves. Among the more important of the projecting points of land are Stony Point ( Tort Morris), Oak Point, Barreto Point. Hunt's Point, Cornell's Neck (Clason's Point), Throgg's Neck (with Fort Schuyler at its extremity), Rodman's (Pelham) Neck, Davenport's Neck, De Lancey Point, and Rye Neck. Some of these localities are famous in the history of the county, the province, and the State. The coast indentations include the outlets of the Bronx River, Westchester Creek, and the Hutchinson River; Eastchester Bay, Pelham Bay. De Lancey Cove and Larchmont Harbor, Mamaroneck Harbor, and Byram Harbor. Much of The contraband trade of colonial times was supposed to have found cover in the unobserved retreats which the deep inlets of this coast afforded; and of some of the earlier settlements along the Sound it is supposed that they were undertaken quite as much to provide secure places of rendezvous for commerce more or less outside the pale of the law as to promote the development of the country. In close proximity to the shore are many islands, of which the more notable are those between Pelham Bay and New Rochelle, including City, Hart's, Hunter's, David's, and Glen Islands.
The New York City limits on the Hudson now reach to the northern bounds of the hamlet of Mount Saint Vincent, and on the Sound to a point about opposite, taking in also Hunter's, Hart, and City Islands. Of the more than one hundred miles of coast line originally and until 1873 possessed by Westchester County, about thirty have passed to the city — three miles on the Hudson, eight on Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Harlem Hirer, and the remainder on the Sound.
The eastern boundary of the county is an entirely arbitrary one, in no respect following natural lines of division, of which, indeed, there are none of a continuous character at this portion of the eastern confines of New York State. To the reader unfamiliar with the history of the New York and Connecticut boundary dispute, this zigzag line will appear to have been traced quite without reference to any symmetrical division of territory, but for the accommodation of special objects in territorial adjustment. This is largely true, although the line, as finally drawn, was reduced as nearly to a simple construction as could be done consistently with the very difficult circumstances of the boundary dispute.
On the north the limit fixed for the county at the time of its erection was the point where the Highlands of the Hudson begin. Pursuant to this provision the line between Westchester and Putnam Counties starts on the Hudson at Anthony's Nose and follows an easterly course to the Connecticut boundary.
The surface of the county consists of several ranges of hills, with valleys stretching between, in which are numerous streams and an abundance of lakes. None of the physical features of Westchester County (if we except its lovely prospect of the Hudson) are in any wise remarkable from the viewpoint of the tourist in quest of natural wonders. On the other hand, its entire surface presents scenery of diversified beauty and interest, not the less gratifying to the contemplative eye because unchangeably modest in its pretensions.
The principal chain of hills is the one closely bordering the Hudson, already noticed. This is the southern prolongation of the Highlands. Its elevations display a constant diminishing tendency southward.
Another range, likewise extending north and south, is found near the Connecticut border. The Matteawan Mountains enter the northwestern corner of the county, and thence cross the Hudson. A high ridge, called the Stone Hill (the watershed of the county), passes from the town of Mount Pleasant on the Hudson eastward through the towns of New Castle, Bedford, Poundridge, and Salem into Connecticut, in spite of this exception, however, the general trend of the hills is north and south, a fact illustrated by the almost uniformly southerly course of the more considerable streams, and by the usually level character of the roads running north and south, as contrasted with the conspicuous unevenness of those which extend east and west. Famous in our county's history are the North Castle or Chappaqua Hills, above White Plains, into which Washington retired with the Continental army after the engagement near the latter place (October 28, 1776), and, on account of the strength of the new position thus gained, compelled General Howe, with his greatly superior force, to return to New York. The highest point in Westchester County ( according to the figures of the United States Coast Survey) is Anthony's Nose, 900 feet above half tide level.
Of the streams of Westchester County the names of two, the Croton and the Bronx, have become widely familiar. The former river is the chief source of the water supply of New York City; the latter — which, by the way, also furnishes water to New York — has many historic and romantic associations, dear to New Yorkers as well as Westchester people, and its name has been adopted for one of the beautiful new parks of the city, and also for one of the five grand divisions which constitute the Greater New York.
Some half dozen streams of noticeable size find their outlets in the Hudson. Peekskill Creek gathers its waters from the hills of the northwestern corner of the county, and flows into the Hudson just above the village of Peekskill. Furnace Brook is a small rivulet which empties into the river several miles farther south. Then comes the Croton, having its outlet in Croton Bay, as the northeastern portion of the Tappan Sea is called.
The Croton has its sources in Dutchess County — these sources comprising three " branches " ( the East, Middle, and West), which unite in the southern part of Putnam County. In its course through Westchester County to its mouth, the Croton receives as tributaries the Muscoot, Titicus, Cross, and Kisco Rivers. The Muscoot is the outlet of the celebrated Lake Mahopac in Putnam County, and the Cross (also called the Peppenegheck ) of Lake Waccabuc, one of the largest of the Westchester lakes. The Croton watershed lies almost wholly in the State of New York, although draining a small area in Connecticut.