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Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.' Vol BULL. GEOL. SOC. AM.' VOL. 16. 1904, PL. 35 SKETCH MAP OF MANHATTAN ISLAND Showing its hydrography, the location of som e of the river sections, and the distribution of dikes (the last nam ed after Julien). BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA V o l . 16, PP. 151-182, PL. 85 A PR IL 12, 1905 ORIGIN OF THE CHANNELS SURROUNDING MANHATTAN ISLAND, NEW YORK* BY WILLIAM HERBERT HOBBS ( Read, before the Society December 81, 1902s) CONTENTS Page Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 152 Theories of origin of the New York water front................... ................................. 153 Form of the rock floor beneath the New York water front.................................. 155 Generally accepted v ie w ......................................................................... ................ 155 Detailed study of sections......... .......................................................................... 156 Order o f presentation of results....................................................................... 156 Spuyten Duyvil bridge, Harlem river.......................................................... 157 Kings bridge and Dyckmans cu t........................................................ - ......... 158 Washington bridge, Harîem river...................................................... ........... 158 High bridge, Harlem river.............................................................................. 159 New New York aqueduct siphon under Harlem river.......... ................ 159 Eighth Avenue bridge, Harlem river............................................................ 160 McCombs Dam (Central) bridge.................................................................... 160 Soundings to rock east of Central bridge...................................................... 161 New York Central Railroad bridge across Cromwells creek ................ 161 One hundred and forty-fifth Street bridge.................................................. 162 Rapid Transit tunnel......................................................................................... 162 Madison Avenue bridge, Harlem river......................................................... 162 Park Avenue Railroad bridge.......................................................................... 163 Third Avenue bridge, Harlem river.............................................................. 163 Second Avenue bridge...................................................................................... 163 W illis Avenue bridge......................................................................................... 164 One hundred and twenty-fifth and One hundred and twenty-second Street reefs, East river.................................................................................. 164 Projected Hell Gate railroad bridge.............................................................. 164 Hell Gate r eefs................................................................................................... 165 East River Gas Company’s tunnel (Blackwells Island tunnel)............ 166 Projected but abandoned Rainey bridge...................................................... 167 East River bridge number 4 (Blackwells Island bridge)........................... 168 Abandoned East River tunnel........................................................................ 169 Man-o’-war reef...................................................................................................169 Section on center line of Forty-second street produced.......................... 169 •This paper was read December 81,1902, at the Washington meeting, and is mentioned on page 543 of volume 14, under title “ Configuration of the rock floor of the vicinity of New York." XXI— B ull. Geol. Soc. Am., V o l . 16, 1904 (151) 152 W. H. HOBBS— CHANNELS SURROUNDING MANHATTAN ISLAND Page Tunnels of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company...................................... 170 Twenty-sixth Street and Third Street reefs................................................171 East River bridge number 2 (Williamsburg bridge)................................ 171 East River bridge number 3 ........................................................................... 171 Brooklyn bridge.................................................................................................. 172 Coenties reef ...................................................................................................... 173 Rapid Transit tuunel under East river......................................................... 174 Deep well on north shore of Governors island.......................................... 174 Diamond reef. .................................................................................................... 174 R eef off Battery.................................................................................................. 176 Jersey flats ............ ............................................................................................. 176 Hudson River tunnel from Jersey City to New York (McAdoo tun­ n el)..................................................................................................................... 176 Projected Hudson River tunnels of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com­ pany.................................................................................................................... 176 Proposed New York and New Jersey bridge. .•.......................................... 178 Conclusions respecting the origin of the channels.................................................... 17® Harlem river................................................................................................................. 179 East river....................................................................................................................... 180 Hudson river............................................................................................................... 180 Focmer hydrography of Manhattan islan d ................................................................ 181 I ntroduction The engineering work recently completed and that now undertaken in and about the city of New York make it easily the focus for such enterprises on the planet—enterprises the cost of which must be esti­ mated in the hundreds of millions. To mention but a few, there are the subway and the tunnels of the Rapid Transit railway, the East River bridges numbers 2, 3, and 4, the proposed tunnels of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company from Weehawken to Long Island City beneath the two rivers and Manhattan island, the completion of the old Hudson River tunnel from Jersey City to New York, and the dredging of the Buttermilk and Ambrose channels and of the Man-o’-War and Diamond reefs by the United States government. These are some of the larger of the recent enterprises. Of earlier ones, the government work in making the channel of Hell Gate by removing Flood and Mill rocks, the con­ struction of the Croton and the new New York aqueducts, Dyckmans cut in the ship canal at Kings bridge, the East River Gas Company’s tunnel from New York to Long Island City beneath Blackwells island, and the numerous bridges spanning the Harlem river, have all facilitated the work of the geologist within the New York city area. Taken to­ gether, they have furnished more than 35 sections crossing the rivers forming the water front of the island, many of them revealing the nature THEORIES OF ORIGIN 1 5 3 of the subjacent rock, and not a few giving practically complete sections across it. The present is, then, an especially favorable time to study the geology of the channels, and it is of great importance that observations be now made and recorded, lest the opportunity be forever lost. T h e o r ie s o f O r ig in o f t h e N e w Y o r k W a t e r F r o n t The unexcelled harbor facilities of New York city have furnished a fascinating subject for study, and writings of geologists on the structure of Manhattan island have devoted considerable space to it. As is well known, the water-courses surrounding the island form sharply incised tideways of quite exceptional depth. Stevens accounted for the location of the lower Hudson, the Harlem, and the East rivers both by the posi­ tion of supposed belts of limestone and by longitudinal faults along the channels.* Dana ascribed their formation entirely to the presence of supposed limestone belts, and formulated the theory which has since formed the subject of many papers; all, so far as is known, in support of the theory, although comparatively little evidence has been adduced for it. Dana stated his views as follows : t “ From the distribution of the limestone, as exhibited on the map, and the fact of its easy wear or erosion, we derive explanations of several topographic features of New York island and the adjoining region. For example, we learn— Why Harlem river has its present position and depth, and its north and south course; why there is an ‘ Eighth Avenue valley; ’ why the ‘ Inwood parade grounds ’ are a broad rolling region from the Harlem to the Kings Bridge road ; why, south of the Inwood Presbyterian church, there was a Kings Bridge road valley, to fix the position of that old highway; why Shermans creek bends around the Fort George heights; why Cromwells creek exists and the valley or ‘ Clove’to the north ; why Fleetwood park is low and nearly flat, except its western side;
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