OF OLD NEW YORK

EVOLUTION OF THE FERRY-BOAT
1692 TO 1890

By Fletcher DuBois

From time immemorial the ferry has been celebrated
in legend and story, and for two hundred and fifty years
it figured in the history of the City of New-York as one
of the most important factors in the material progress
and growth of the Metropolis. Being located on an
island, the city was dependent to a great extent on the
ferries for communication with the outside world, and
in keeping with the progress in every branch of trade
and transportation, the ferry-boat gradually advanced
from the skiff and rowboat of two centuries ago, up to
the palatial double screw, double decked ferry-boat of
the twentieth century.

The construction of the several bridges over the East
River marked a decline of ferry traffic on the routes to
Brooklyn and adjacent territory, and the subsequent con¬
struction of the Hudson River tunnels and the subway
tubes under the East River noted a still further falling
oflf of traffic on the ferry routes; yet, notwithstanding
this fact, there is probably no other point in the United
States where so many people in the aggregate are carried
on the ferries, and to people at a distance, who are not
familiar with the situation, it would seem as if these
bridges and tunnels would solve the problem of the inter¬
city commerce and transportation. While the bridges
and tunnels are undoubtedly of great advantage to
through travel from the West and South, having New

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