East River

This article is about the East River in New York City. For other uses, see East River (disambiguation).
East River
Tidal strait
East River and the headquarters of the United Nations in Manhattan as seen from Roosevelt Island
(December 2006)
Country United States
State New York
Municipality New York City
Tributaries
 - left Newtown Creek, Flushing River
 - right Westchester Creek, Bronx River,
Bronx Kill, Harlem River
Source Long Island Sound
 - coordinates 40°48′01″N 73°47′31″W / 40.800172°N 73.791995°W / 40.800172; -73.791995
Mouth Upper New York Bay
 - coordinates 40°42′01″N 74°00′14″W / 40.700357°N 74.003842°W / 40.700357; -74.003842Coordinates: 40°42′01″N 74°00′14″W / 40.700357°N 74.003842°W / 40.700357; -74.003842
Length 16 mi (26 km)
The East River is shown in red on this satellite photo of New York City
Wikimedia Commons: East River

The East River is a salt water tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens on Long Island from the Bronx on the North American mainland, and also divides Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn, which is also on Long Island.[1] Because of its connection to Long Island Sound, it was once also known as the Sound River.[2] The tidal strait changes its direction of flow frequently, and is subject to strong fluctuations in its current, which are accentuated by its narrowness and variety of depths. The waterway is navigable for its entire length of 16 miles (26 km), and was historically the center of maritime activities in the city, although that is no longer the case.[1][3]

Formation and description

Technically a drowned valley, like the other waterways around New York City,[4] the strait was formed approximately 11,000 years ago at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation.[5] The distinct change in the shape of the strait between the lower and upper portions is evidence of this glacial activity. The upper portion (from Long Island Sound to Hell Gate), running largely perpendicular to the glacial motion, is wide, meandering, and has deep narrow bays on both banks, scoured out by the glacier's movement. The lower portion (from Hell Gate to New York Bay) runs north-south, parallel to the glacial motion. It is much narrower, with straight banks. The bays that exist, as well as those that used to exist before being filled in by human activity, are largely wide and shallow.

A navigation map for Hell Gate from c.1885, after many of the obstructions had been removed.

The section known as "Hell Gate" – from the Dutch name Hellegat or "passage to hell" given to the entire river in 1614 by explorer Adriaen Block when he passed through it in his ship Tyger[3][6] – is a narrow, turbulent, and particularly treacherous stretch of the river. Tides from the Long Island Sound, New York Harbor and the Harlem River meet there, making it difficult to navigate, especially because of the number of rocky islets which once dotted it, all of which lead to a number of shipwrecks, including the British frigate Hussar which sank in 1780 while carry gold and silver intended to pay British troops. The stretch has since been cleared of rocks and widened.[6] Washington Irving wrote of Hell Gate that the current sounded "like a bull bellowing for more drink" at half tide, whilte at full tide it slept "as soundly as an alderman after dinner." He said it was like "a peaceable fellow enough when he has no liquor at all, or when he has a skinful, but who, when half-seas over, plays the very devil."[3]

The river is navigable for its entire length of 16 miles (26 km). In 1939 it was reported that the stretch from The Battery to the former Brooklyn Navy Yard near Wallabout Bay, a run of about 1,000 yards (910 m), was 40 feet (12 m) deep, the long section from there, running to the west of Roosevelt Island, through Hell Gate and to Throg's Neck was at least 35 feet (11 m) deep, and then eastward from there the river was, at mean low tide, 168 feet (51 m) deep.[3]

Islands

In the stretch of the river between Manhattan Island and the borough of Queens, lies Roosevelt Island, a narrow (maximum width 800 feet (240 m)) 2-mile (3.2 km) long island consisting of 147 acres (0.59 km2). Politically part of Manhattan, it begins at around the level of East 46th Street of that borough and runs up to around East 86th Street. Formerly called Blackwell's Island and Welfare Island, and now named after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was the site of a penitentiary, and a number of hospitals, but now consists primarily of apartment buildings, park land, and the ruins of older buildings. It is connected to Queens by the Roosevelt Island Bridge, to Manhattan by the Roosevelt Island Tramway, and to both by a subway station. The Queensboro Bridge runs across Roosevelt Island, but no longer has an passenger elevator connection to it, as it did in the past.

Other islands in the river are U Thant Island – formerly Belmont Island – south of Roosevelt Island, which was named after U Thant, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations; and Mill Rock, Wards and Randalls Islands, which have been joined together by landfill, and are used as park land, for a stadium, and to support the Triborough Bridge and the Hell Gate Bridge, Rikers Island, a small island bought by the city in 1884 to be a prison farm and expanded with landfill,[7] currently the site of the city's primary jail, and North and South Brother Islands, all of which lie north of Roosevelt Island.[1]

A map from 1781

Tributaries

The Bronx River drains into the East River in the northern section of the strait.

North of Randalls Island, it is joined by the Bronx Kill. Along the east of Wards Island, at approximately the strait's midpoint, it narrows into a channel called Hell Gate, which is spanned by both the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly the Triborough), and the Hell Gate Bridge. On the south side of Wards Island, it is joined by the Harlem River.

Newtown Creek on Long Island drains into the East River, and forms part of the boundary between Queens and Brooklyn. The Gowanus Canal was built from Gowanus Creek, which emptied into the river. Historically, there were other small streams which emptied into the river, but these and their associated wetlands have been filled in and built over.

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the land north of the East River was occupied by the Siwanoys, one of many groups of Algonquin-speaking Lenapes in the area. Those of the Lenapes who lived in the northern part of Manhattan Island in a campsite known as Konaande Kongh used a landing at around the current location of East 119th street to paddle into the river in canoes fashioned from tree-trunk in order to fish.[8]

Dutch settlement of what became New Amsterdam began in 1623.[9] Some of the earliest of the small settlements in the area were along the west bank of the East River on sites that had previously been Native American settlements. As with the Native Americans, the river was central to their lives for transportation for trading and for fishing.[10] They gathered marsh grass to feed their cattle, and the East River's tides helped to power mills which ground grain to flour. By 1642 there was a ferry running on the river between Manhattan island and what is now Brooklyn, and the first pier on the river was built in 1647 at Pearl and Broad Streets. After the British took over the colony in 1664, and was renamed "New York", the development of the waterfront continued, and a shipbuilding industry grew up once New York started exporting flour. By the end of the 17th century, the Great Dock, located at Corlear's Hook on the East River, had been built.[9]

Narrowing the river

Historically, the lower portion of the strait, which separates Manhattan from Brooklyn, was one of the busiest and most important channels in the world, particularly during the first three centuries of New York City's history. Because the water along the lower Manhattan shoreline was too shallow for large boats to tie up and unload their goods, from 1686 on – after the signing of the Dongan Charter, which allowed intertidal land to be owned and sold – the shoreline was "wharfed out" to the high-water mark by building retaining walls that were filled in with every conceivable kind of landfill: excrement, dead animals, ships deliberately sunk in place, ship ballast, and muck dredged from the bottom of the river. On the new land were built warehouses and other structures necessary for the burgeoning sea trade Many of the "water-lot" grants went to the rich and powerful families of the merchant class, although some went to tradesmen. By 1700, the Manhattan bank of the river has been "wharfed-out" up to around Whitehall Street, narrowing the strait of the river.[11]

A "bird's-eye" view of New York City from 1859; Wallabout Bay and the East River is in the foreground, the Hudson River and New York Bay in the background

After the signing of the Montgomerie Charter in the late 1720s, another 127 acres of land along the Manhattan shore of the East River was authorized to be filled-in, this time to a point 400 feet beyond the low-water mark; the parts that had already been expanded to the low water mark – much of which had been devastated by a coastal storm in the early 1720s and a nor'easter in 1723 – were also expanded, narrowing the channel even further. What had been quiet beach land was to become new streets and buildings, and the core of the city's sea-borne trade. This infilling went as far north as Corlear's Hook. In addition, the city was given control of the western shore of the river from Wallabout Bay south.[12]

American Revolution

Expansion of the waterfront halted during the American Revolution, in which the East River played an important role early in the conflict. On August 28, 1776, while British and Hessian troops rested after besting the Americans at the Battle of Long Island, General George Washington was rounding up all the boats on the east shore of the river, in what is now Brooklyn, and used them to successfully move his troops across the river – under cover of night, rain, and fog – to Manhattan island, before the British could press their advantage. Thus, though the battle was a victory for the British, the failure of Sir William Howe to destroy the Continental Army when he had the opportunity allowed the Americans to continue fighting. Without the stealthy withdrawal across the East River, the American Revolution might have ended much earlier.[13]

Wallabout Bay on the River was the site of most of the British prison ships – most notoriously the HMS Jersey – where thousands of American prisoners of war were held in terrible conditions. These prisoners had come into the hands of the British after the fall of New York City on September 15, 1776, after the American loss at the Battle of Long Island and the loss of Fort Washington on November 16. Prisoners began to be housed on the broken-down warships and transports in December; about 24 ships were used in total, but generally only 5 or 6 at a time. Almost twice as many Americans died from neglect in these ships than did from all the battles in the war: as many as 12,000 soldiers, sailors and civilians. The bodies were thrown overboard or were buried in shallow graves on the riverbanks, but their bones – some of which were collected when they washed ashore – were later relocated and are now inside the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in nearby Fort Greene Park. The existence of thh ships and the conditions the men were held in was widely known at the time through letters, diaries and memoirs, and was a factor not only in the attitude of Americans toward the British, but in the negotiations to formally end the war.[14]

Development begins again

After the war, East River waterfront development continued once more. New York State legislation which in 1807 authorized what would become the Commissioners Plan of 1811 also authorized the creation of new land out to 400 feet from the low water mark into the river, and with the advent of gridded streets along the new waterline – Joseph Mangin had laid out such a grid in 1803 in his A Plan and Regulation of the City of New York, which was rejected by the city, but established the concept – the coastline become regularized at the same time that the strait became even narrower.[15]

One result of the narrowing of the East River along the shoreline of Manhattan and, later, Brooklyn – which continued until the mid-19th century when the state put a stop to it – was an increase in the speed of its current. Buttermilk Channel, the strait that divides Governors Island from Red Hook in Brooklyn, and which is located directly south of the "mouth" of the East River, was in the early 17th century a fordable waterway across which cattle could be driven. Further investigation by Colonel Jonathan Williams determined that the channel was by 1776 three fathoms deep (18 feet (5.5 m)), five fathoms deep (30 feet (9.1 m)) in the same spot by 1798, and when surveyed by Williams in 1807 had deepened to 7 fathoms (42 feet (13 m)) at low tide. What had been almost a bridge between two landforms which were once connected had become a fully navigable channel, thanks to the constriction of the East River and the increased flow it caused. Soon, the current in the East River had become so strong that larger ships had to use auxiliary steam power in order to turn.[16] The continued narrowing of the channel on both side may have been the reasoning behind the suggestion of one New York State Senator, who wanted to fill in the East River and annex Brooklyn, with the cost of doing so being covered byselling the newly made land.[17] Others proposed a dam at Roosevelt Island (then Blackwell's Island) to create a wet basin for shipping.[18]

The excavations and tunnels used to undermine Hallert's Point

Clearing Hell Gate

Filling in part of the river was also proposed in 1867 by engineer James E. Serrell, later a city surveyor, but with emphasis on solving the problem of Hell Gate. Serrell proposed filling in Hell Gate and build a "New East River" through Queens with an extension to Westchester County.[18][19][20]

With the main shipping channels through The Narrows into the harbor silting up with sand due to littoral drift, thus providing ships with less depth, and a new generation of larger ships coming online – epitomized by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Eastern, popularly known as "Leviathan" – New York began to be concerned that it would start to lose its status as a great port if a "back door" entrance into the harbor was not created.[21] Earlier, in 1849, a French engineer whose specialty was underwater blasting, Benjamin Maillefert, had cleared some of the rocks which, along with the mix of tides, made the Hell Gate stretch of the river so dangerous to navigate. Ebenezer Meriam had organized a subscription to pay Maillefert $6,000 to, for instance, reduce Pot Rock to provide 24 feet (7.3 m) of depth at low-mean water. By 1851 Maillefert had cleared the rock "Baldheaded Billy", and it was reported that Pot Rock had been reduced to 20.5 feet (6.2 m), which encouraged the United States Congress to appropriate $20,000 for further clearing of the strait. However, a more accurate survey showed that the depth of Pot Rock was actually a little more than 18 feet (5.5 m), and eventually Congress withdrew its funding.[22]

In the late 1860s, Congress, realizing after the Civil War the military importance of having easily navigable waterways, charged the Army Corps of Engineers with clearing Hell Gate of the rocks there that caused a danger to navigation. The Corps put Colonel James Newton in charge of the project, and in 1868 Newton decided, with the support of both New York's mercantile class and local real estate interests, to focus on the 3-acre (1.2 ha) Hallert's Point Reef off of Queens. The project would involve 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of tunnels equipped with trains to haul debris out as the reef was eviscerated, creating a reef structured like "swiss cheese" which Newton would then blow up. After years of preparation, in 1876 Newton's daughter set off the explosion. The city's Chamber of Commerce commented that "The Centennial year will be for ever known in the annals of commerce for this destruction of one of the terrors of navigation." Clearing out the debris from the explosion took until 1891.

Then, in 1885, Flood Rock, a 9-acre (3.6 ha) reef that Newton had begun to undermine even before starting on Hallert's Rock, removing 8,000 cubic yards (6,100 m3) of rock from the reef, was blown up as well, with Civil War General Philip Sheridan and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher among those in attendance, and Newton's daughter once more setting off the blast, the biggest ever to that date, and reportedly the largest man-made explosion until the advent of the atomic bomb.[3][6][23]

It should be noted that as the some time that Hell Gate was being cleared, the Harlem River Ship Canal was being planned. When it was completed in 1895, the "back door" to New York's center of ship-borne trade in the docks and warehouses of the East River was open from two directions, through the cleared East River, and from the Hudson River through the Harlem River to the East River.[24]

A panorama of the Hell Gate Bridge and Robert F. Kennedy Bridge from Astoria Park

Later history

The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, was the first bridge to span the East River, connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn, and all but replacing the frequent ferry service between them, which did not return until the late 20th century. The bridge offered cable car service across the span. The Brooklyn Bridge was followed by the Williamsburg Bridge (1903), the Queensboro Bridge (1909), the Manhattan Bridge (1912) and the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge (1916). Later would come the Triborough Bridge (1936), the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (1939), the Throgs Neck Bridge (1961) and the Rikers Island Bridge (1966). In addition, numerous rail tunnels pass under the East River – most of them part of the New York City Subway system – as does the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. (See Crossings below for details.) Also under the river is Water Tunnel #1 of the New York City water supply system, built in 1917 to extend the Manhattan portion of the tunnel to Brooklyn, and via City Tunnel #2 (1936) to Queens; these boroughs became part of New York City after the city's consolidation in 1898.[25][26] City Tunnel #3 will also run under the river, under the northern tip of Roosevelt Island, and is expected to be completed by 2018; the Manhattan portion of the tunnel went into service in 2013.[26]

The East River was the site of one of the greatest disasters in the history of New York City when, in June 1904, the PS General Slocum sank near North Brother Island due to a fire. It was carrying 1,400 German-Americans to a picnic site on Long Island for an annual outing. There were only 321 survivors of the disaster, one of the worst losses of life in the city's long history, and a devastating blow to the Little Germany neighborhood on the Lower East Side. The captain of the ship and the managers of the company that owned it were indicted, but only the captain was convicted; he spent 3 and a half years of his 10-year sentence at Sing Sing Prison before being released by a Federal parole board, and then pardoned by President William Howard Taft.[27][28]

In February 2012 the federal government announced an agreement with Verdant Power to install 30 tidal turbines in the channel of the East River. The turbines were projected to begin operations in 2015 and are supposed to produce 1.05 megawatts of power.[29] The strength of the current foiled an earlier effort in 2007 to tap the river for tidal power.[30]

Ecosystem collapse, pollution and health

Throughout most of the history of New York City, and New Amsterdam before it, the East River has been the receptacle for the city's garbage and sewage. "Night men" who collected "night soil" from outdoor privies would dump their loads into the river, and even after the construction of the Croton Aqueduct (1842) and then the New Croton Aqueduct (1890) gave rise to indoor plumbing, the waste that was flushed away into the sewers, where it mixed with ground run off, ran directly into the river, untreated. The sewers terminated at the slips where ships docked, until the waste began to build up, preventing dockage, after which the outfalls were moved to the end of the piers. The "landfill" which created new land along the shoreline when the river was "wharfed out" by the sale of "water lots" was largely garbage such as bones, offal, and even whole dead animals, along with excrement – human and animal.[31][32] The result was that by the 1850s, if not before, the East River, like the other waterways around the city, was undergoing the process of eutrophication where the increase in nitrogen from excrement and other sources lead to a decrease in free oxygen, which in turn lead to an increase in phytoplankton such as algae and a decrease in other life forms, breaking the area's established food chain. The East River became very polluted, and its animal life decreased drastically.[33]

The river also became darker as it became more polluted. In an earlier time, one person had described the transparency of the water: "I remember the time, gentlemen, when you could go in twelve feet of water and you could see the pebbles on the bottom of this river." As the water got darker, underwater vegetation such as photosynthesizing seagrass began dying, and as the seagrass beds declined, the many associated species of their ecosystems declined as well, contributing to the decline of the river. Also harmful was the general destruction of the once plentiful oyster beds in the waters around the city,[notes 1] and the over-fishing of menhaden, or mossbunker, a small silvery fish which had been used since the time of the Native Americans for fertilizing crops - however it took 8,000 of these schooling fish to fertilize a single acre, so mechanized fishing using the purse seine was developed, and eventually the menhaden population collapsed. Menhaden feed on phytoplankton, helping to keep them in check, and are also a vital step in the food chain, as bluefish, striped bass and other fish species which do not eat phytoplankton feed on the menhaden. The oyster is another filter feeder: oysters purify 10 to 100 gallons a day, while each menhaden filters four gallons in a minute, and their schools were immense: one report had a farmer collecting 20 oxcarts worth of menhaden using simple fishing nets deployed from the shore. The combination of more sewage, due to the availability of more potable water – New York's water consumption per capita was twice that of Europe – indoor plumbing, the destruction of filter feeders, and the collapse of the food chain, damaged the ecosystem of the waters around New York, including the East River, almost beyond repair.[34]

Because of these changes to the ecosystem, by 1909, the level of dissolved-oxygen in the lower part of the river had declined to less than 65%, where 55% of saturation is the point at which the amount of fish and the number of their species begins to be affected.[35] Only 17 years later, by 1926, the level of dissolved oxygen in the river had fallen to 13%, below the point that most fish species can survive.[36]

Due to heavy pollution, the East River is dangerous to people who fall in or attempt to swim in it, although as of mid-2007 the water was cleaner than it had been in decades.[37] As of 2010, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) categorizes the East River as Use Classification I, meaning it is safe for secondary contact activities such as boating and fishing.[38] According to the marine sciences section of the DEP, the channel is swift, with water moving as fast as four knots, just as it does in the Hudson River on the other side of Manhattan. That speed can push casual swimmers out to sea. A few people drown in the waters around New York City each year.[37]

As of 2013, it was reported that the level of bacteria in the river was below Federal guidelines for swimming on most days, although the readings may vary significantly, so that the outflow from Newtown Creek or the Gowanus Canal can be tens or hundreds of times higher than recommended, according to Riverkeeper, a non-profit environmentalist advocacy group. The counts are also higher along the shores of the strait then they are in the middle of its flow. Nevertheless, the "Brooklyn Bridge Swim" is an annual event where swimmers cross the channel from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Manhattan.[39]

Crossings

Crossing Carries Location Coordinates Year
opened
Manhattan — Manhattan (Roosevelt Island)
Roosevelt Island Tramway pedestrians, bicycles (aerial tramway) 1976
Manhattan — Brooklyn
City Tunnel #1 water 1917
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel I-478 1950
Joralemon Street Tunnel 1908
Montague Street Tunnel 1920
Clark Street Tunnel 1919
Cranberry Street Tunnel 1932
Brooklyn Bridge vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles 1883
Manhattan Bridge , vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles 1909
Rutgers Street Tunnel 1936
Williamsburg Bridge , vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles 1903
14th Street Tunnel 1924
Manhattan — Queens
East River Tunnels Amtrak Northeast Corridor
Long Island Rail Road		 1910
Queens Midtown Tunnel I-495 1940
Steinway Tunnel   1915
53rd Street Tunnel 1933
Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge (59th Street Bridge) NY 25, pedestrians, bicycles 1909
60th Street Tunnel 1920
63rd Street Tunnel 1989
Roosevelt Island Bridge vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles to Roosevelt Island 1955
City Tunnel #3 water 2018 (proj.)
Robert F. Kennedy Triborough Bridge (East River Suspension Span) I-278, pedestrians, bicycles 1936
Hell Gate Bridge Amtrak Northeast Corridor
CSX Transportation Fremont Secondary
Providence & Worcester Railroad		 1916
The Bronx — Queens
Rikers Island Bridge vehicles to Rikers Island 1966
Bronx-Whitestone Bridge I-678 1939
Throgs Neck Bridge I-295 1961
Historical film of the East River, leading up to a final shot of the Brooklyn Bridge (1903)
Exposition display showing cross-section of East River railroad tunnel to Pennsylvania Station
William Glackens 1902 painting of East River Park in the Brooklyn Museum

In popular culture

Music

Television

Games

Views of the river

See also

References

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ Oysters were so plentiful in New Amsterdam and early New York that they were considered to be food for the poor, although the rich also ate them in great numbers. They were sold in specialized "oyster shops" and by vendors on the street, some of which were paved with their shells. Pearl Street was named after the piles of oysters left there by the Native Americans of the area. "Enjoy the oysters" was often said to a person planning on traveling to New York City, so strong was the bivalve as an icon of the city. It was only after the collapse of the local oyster beds, by around 1920, that oysters became scarce, and a delicacy only affordable by the rich.
    Burrows and Wallace, pp.460, 798, 816
    Kurlansky, Mark "oysters" in Jackson, Kenneth T. (ed.), (2010) The Encyclopedia of New York City (2nd edition). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11465-2, pp.963-964
    Steinberg, pp.7, 170-71

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Hodges, Godfrey. "East RIver" in Jackson, pp.393-93
  2. ↑ Montrésor, John (1766). A plan of the city of New-York & its environs. London.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Federal Writers' Project. (1939) New York City Guide. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-403-02921-X (Reprinted by Scholarly Press, 1976; often referred to as WPA Guide to New York City) pp.419-20
  4. ↑ Burrows and Wallace, p.5
  5. ↑ Staff (July 20, 2005). "The East River Flows From Prehistoric Times To Today". The Queens Gazette. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
  6. 1 2 3 Wolfe, Gerard R. "Hell Gate and Hell Gate Bridge" in Jackson, pp.588-89
  7. ↑ Steinberg, p 148
  8. ↑ Burrows and Wallace, pp.5, 6-8
  9. 1 2 Baard, Erik (2008) "East River: History to 1815" East River NYC
  10. ↑ Baard, Erik (2008) "East River: Living on the River" East River NYC
  11. ↑ Steinberg, pp.23-26
  12. ↑ Steinberg, pp.26-28; 34
  13. ↑ Stokesbury, James L. (1991) A Short History of the American Revolution New York: Morrow. pp.92-95. ISBN 0-688-08333-1
  14. ↑ Burrows, Edwin G. "prison ships" in Jackson, Kenneth T. (ed.), (2010) The Encyclopedia of New York City (2nd edition). New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11465-2, pp.1039-40
  15. ↑ Steinberg, pp.57-58; 73
  16. ↑ Steinberg, pp.81-82, 89-90, 107
  17. ↑ Burrows and Wallace, p.719
  18. 1 2 Steinberg, p.127
  19. ↑ New York Public Library (1901) Bulletin of the New York Public Library p.109 Quote: "Plan and description proposing to re model the city of New York and its vicinity By making a New East River filling up Hell Gate and annexing Brooklyn also extending into Westchester County By James E Serrell ... 1869"
  20. ↑ New York Public Library (1913) Selected List of References Bearing on the City Plan of New York p.7 Quote: "Suggestion for removal of rocks in Hell Gate to lessen currents Also to change shape of the boundary on the easterly and westerly side of New York Eleven reasons presented for furtherance of plan. ... A canal 200 ft extending from Long Island sound to 150th street to transport people"
  21. ↑ Steinberg, pp.105-106
  22. ↑ Steinberg, pp.99-100
  23. ↑ Steinberg, pp.139, 142-43
  24. ↑ Steinberg, p.140
  25. ↑ Burrows and Wallace, p.1229
  26. 1 2 New York City Department of Environmental Protection "City Water Tunnel #3"
  27. ↑ Jackson, Kenneth T. "General Slocum" in Jackson, p.499
  28. ↑ Staff (December 20, 1912). "Van Schaick Pardoned. Captain of the Ill-Fated Slocum Is Restored to Full Citizenship.". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2009.
  29. ↑ United States Department of Energy. "Turbines Off NYC East River Will Create Enough Energy to Power 9,500 Homes". Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  30. ↑ Hogarty, Dave (August 13, 2007). "East River Turbines Face Upstream Battle". Gothamist. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
  31. ↑ Steinberg, 23-28, passim
  32. ↑ Burrows and Wallace, p.185
  33. ↑ Steinberg, pp.118-19
  34. ↑ Steinberg, pp.166-73
  35. ↑ Steinberg, pp.161, 163-64
  36. ↑ Steinberg, p.177
  37. 1 2 Staff (August 30, 2007). "Welcome, Students. Now Watch It.". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
  38. ↑ New York City Department of Environmental Protection (September 2010) "East River and Open Waters" in Green Infrastructure Plan
  39. ↑ Jeffries, Adrianna (July 8, 2013) "Into the murky waters: hundreds brave New York City's East River for annual swim" The Verge
  40. ↑ 第86回　秋元 康 氏 ("86th Yasushi Akimoto") (Japanese)

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to East River.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.