CHAPTEH  rv.
 

(1700-1711,)
 

Qoologio History of Kew York—^Beginning of the Be Peyster Fortune

—"The Great Sickness"—^The First Schoolmaster—PrMentalion

of King's Farm to Trinity—^Fiist licensed Auctioneer.

An outline of the geologic history of New York two hundred years ago
may be of interest to the student of this science, aa It makea a strong appeal
to the imagination because of the vastness of time over which it extendH.

At Bome Indeflntte and distant age the present New York harbor was a
mere expansion In the course of tbe Hudson River, which found its exit
Into the Atlantic Ocean some hundred miles seaward from where It de¬
bouches to-day. Manhattan Island presented then a far higher wall on the
euEt aide of the river and the Palisades a loftier eacarpmenit on the west.
The Hudson received thh water discharged by the Housatonlc. which en¬
circled the raised promontory of Governor's Island and mingled Its tides
with those of the Hudson along the shores of Ellis and Bedlow's lalande,
Lhcn united to the mainland. Further south, at the opening of the present
chrnnel of the Kill van KuU, the Passaic, Bwollen by the waters of the
Hackensack, rnlted Its floods with the two rivers, and the combined
volume of water swept past Staten Island through the Narrows outward to
the edge of the continent, where to-day eighty miles from the shore tbe
floor of the coast plain sink^'steeply to the abysmal depths of tbe ocean.

As was mentioned before, the marble of which the present City Hall Is
built came from Stockbridge, Mass., while twelve miles from New York, near
the mouth of Kingsbrldge Creek, according to authoritative information, a
range of tbie stone extended, with partial Interruptions, as far aa Ver-
planck's Point. The inhabitants were not awar© of the riches within their
reach. Writing of thia in 1S15 the authority spoken of says: "This marble
forma the most valuable building stone, and ns it lies convenient to the
river, and can be obtained of any size and form, it Is a matter of surprise
that it has not long ago superseded the unsightly red sandstone we are so
fond of using. It only requires to be a little more used and It will become
fashionable. Habits of long standing are difficult to eradicate, but It will
not be long before the good sense of our fellow-citizens will discard the
brick and sandstone and build all their houses of this material."

In surveys made of the island early In 1700 it was declared to be ossen-
tlnlly primitive. No transition or secondary rocka could be found la it.
It wns of one formation, granite, in some places overlaid by other rocks.   At

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