Winkle, which has clothed the rugged sides of the Kaatskill Mountains with such mysterious interest, this legend will find a place at the neighboring firesides for all time to come.

Nearly opposite Tarrytown, on the west side of the river, is the village of Nyack, once celebrated for its quarries of red sandstone. The village is prettily built at the foot of a high cliff, and makes a picturesque appearance from the eastern shore.

SING SING, thirty-two miles from New York, is situated partly upon elevated ground, and commands a beautiful view of the river and the surrounding country. At this place are several extensive marble quarries. A mineral spring, some three miles east of the village, has some reputation for its medicinal qualities, and a large boarding-house was erected there some years since.

Mount Pleasant Academy, for boys, is at Sing Sing. The building is of Sing Sing marble, and stands upon one of the most retired streets of the village, commanding an extensive prospect of the river and adjacent country. There is also a boarding-school for young ladies at Sing Sing, elegantly located

upon

The principal object of interest here is the State Prison. It is situated the bank of the Hudson River, ten feet above high water mark. The railroad runs directly through the prison yard. The prison grounds comprise one hundred and thirty acres, and may be approached by vessels drawing twelve feet of water. The keeper's house, workshop, &c., are built of rough "Sing Sing marble," quarried from lands owned by the state in the vicinity. The main building is four hundred and eighty-four feet in length, running parallel with the river, and forty-four feet in width. It is five stories high, with two hundred cells upon each floor; in all, one thousand cells.

The system and discipline of this prison owe their origin to Elam Lynds.

for many years agent of the Auburn prison. The convicts are shut up in separate cells at night, and on Sundays, except when attending religious services in the chapel. While at work, they are not allowed to exchange a word with each other, under any pretence whatever; nor to communicate any intelligence to each other in writing; nor to exchange looks, or winks, or to make use of any signs, except such as are necessary to convey their wants to the waiters. The plan of confining each convict in a separate cell during the night, or the "Auburn system," as it is called, was adopted at the Auburn prison in 1824. The prison at that time contained but five hundred and fifty cells. Being, therefore, totally insufficient to accommodate all the convicts of the state, an act was passed by the Legislature, authorizing the erection of a new one. Sing Sing was selected as the location, and Captain Lynds as agent to build it. He was directed to take from the Auburn prison one hundred convicts; to remove them to the ground selected for the site of the new prison; to purchase materials, employ keepers and guards, and to commence the construction of the building. The reasons for taking the convicts from Auburn, and transporting them so great a distance, instead of from New York, were, that the convicts at the former place had been more accustomed to cutting and laying stone, and had been brought by Capt. Lynds into the perfect and regular state of discipline he had established there, and which was indispensably necessary to their safe-keeping in the open country, and the successful prosecution of the work.

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The party arrived at Sing Sing, without accident or disturbance, in May, 1825, without a place to receive them, or a wall to enclose them. A temporary barrack was erected to receive the convicts at night, and they were then set at work building the prison, each one working at his trade, carpenter, another a mason, &c., all the time having no other means to keep them in obedience but the rigid enforcement of the strict discipline adopted at the Auburn prison. For four years the convicts, whose numbers were gradually increased, were engaged in building their own prison, and finally completed it in 1829. The prisoners, since the building was completed, have been engaged considerably in quarrying marble from the extensive ledges in this town.

Opposite Sing Sing, across Tappan Bay, which is widest at this point, is Verdritege's Hook, a bold headland, rising majestically from the river. On this mountain there is a crystal lake, about two miles in circumference, which farms the source of Hackensack River, and which, though not half a mile from the Hudson, is elevated three hundred feet above it. This is called Rockland Lake, from whence large quantities of the very clearest ice are anqually sent to New York. The ice, cut into large square blocks, is slid down to the level of the river, and, upon the opening of the spring, it is transported in boats to the city. The Hackensack River falls into Newark Bay, near Jersey City.

Two miles above Sing Sing, the road crosses the mouth of Croton River, and Teller's Point, a narrow neck of land extending into the river about a mile, and dividing Tappan and Haverstraw Bays. This neck of land, which is almost entirely light and sandy, has probably been formed by the earth and stones washed down by the Croton River during the spring freshets, when a large volume of water is poured into the Hudson at its mouth. The entire length of the river is about forty miles.

CROTON, thirty-five miles from New York, is a short distance above Teller's Point, in the southern part of Peekskill township. It is a small but thriving

village, and the nearest station to une fountain reservoir, the head of the far famed CROTON WATERWORKS, by which the city of New York is supplied with pure water. It is a place well worth visiting. Although not strictly within our plan, a brief sketch of this great project may not be uninteresting to the reader.

The building of the Croton Aqueduct was commenced in 1835. At the charter election of that year, the citizens of New York were required to vote for or against the project. There were 17,330 votes thrown; 11,367 of which were in favor of, and 5,963 against the act of incorporation. On the 4th of July, 1842, the water was let into the reservoir, and on the 14th of October following, it was brought into the city in the distributing pipes. The whole cost, including the high bridge across Harlem River, was about fourteen millions of dollars

The fountain reservoir is forty miles from New York. The dam built at this place is about six miles from the junction of the Croton River with the Hudson, and is 250 feet long, 40 feet high, 70 feet wide at the bottom and 7 feet at the top. It is built of stone and cement, in a vertical form on the upstream side, with occasional offsets, and the lower face has a curved form, so as to pass the water over without giving it a direct fall upon the apron at the foot; this apron is formed of timber, stone and concrete, and extends some distance from the toe of the masonry, giving security at the point where the water has the greatest action. A secondary dam has been built at the distance of three hundred feet from the masonry, in order to form a basin of water setting back over the apron at the toe of the main dam, so as to break the force of the water falling upon it. This secondary dam is formed of round timber, brushwood and gravel; it may be seen in the picture directly under the bridge which extends across below the main structure.

Pine's Bridge, the place where Major Andre crossed the Croton River, on his return from his interview with Arnold, occupied a position which is now about the middle of this reservoir, and there is at that place a bridge over the reservoir, resting upon piers and abutments.

The hills which bound the Croton valley, where the reservoir is formed, are so bold as to confine it within narrow limits; for about two miles above the dam the average width is about one eighth of a mile. At this distance from the dam the valley opens, so that, for the length of two miles more, the width is about a quarter of a mile; here the valley contracts again, and diminishes the width until the flow line reaches the natural width of the river at the head of the lake. The country immediately contiguous to the shore has been cleared up, and all that would be liable to impart any impurity to the water has been removed. This gives a pleasing aspect to the lake, showing where the hand of art has swept along the shores, leaving a clean margin.

The surface of the fountain reservoir is 166 feet above the level of mean tide at the city of New York; and the difference of level between that and the surface of the receiving reservoir on the island of New York, (a distance of thirty-eight miles,) is 47 feet, leaving the surface of this reservoir 119 feet above the level of the mean tide. From the receiving reservoir the water is conducted a distance of two miles in iron pipes to the distributing reservoir, where the surface of the water is 115 feet above the level of mean tide. This last is the height to which the water may generally be made available in the city.

From this dam the aqueduct proceeds, sometimes by tunnelling through solid rocks, crossing valleys by embankments, and brooks and rivers by bridges and culverts, until it reaches Harlem River. It is built of stone, brick, and cement, arched over and under. It is 8 feet 5 inches high, and the water has a descent of 131 inches per mile, discharging, when running two thirds full, 60,000,000 gallons per day The aqueduct is carried over

Harlem river upon a magnificent bridge of hewn granite, termed the "High Bridge" 1450 feet long, with 14 piers and 15 arches; eight of them 80 feet span, and seven of 50 feet span, 114 feet above tide-water to the top, and which cost nearly a million of dollars.

Previous to the completion of this bridge, the water was carried under the river in two lines of iron pipe of 36 inches in diameter. In the progress of preparing the foundations for the piers of the bridge, an embankment was formed across the river, and the pipe, leaving the aqueduct on the north side of the valley, followed down the slope of the hill, and, crossing over the river upon this embankment, ascended on the south side again to the aqueduct. At the bottom or lowest point in this pipe a branch pipe of one foot diameter was connected, extending a distance of 80 feet from it at right angles and horizontally; the end of this pipe was turned upwards to form a jet, and iron plates fastened upon it, so as to give any form that might be desired to the water issuing. The level of this branch pipe is about 120 feet below the bottom of the aqueduct on the north side of the valley, affording an opportunity for a beautiful jet d'eau, such an one as cannot be obtained at the fountains in the city. From an orifice of 7 inches in diameter, the column of water rises to a height of 115 feet, when there is but two feet of water in the aqueduct.

Visitors to the "High Bridge" can pass and repass upon the top with the most perfect security. It is a splendid structure, richly worth the notice of the traveller. Persons wishing to visit it from the city of New York can take the cars of the Hudson River Railroad to CARMANSVILLE, which is short of one mile distant from the Bridge or by the way of Harlem.

After crossing Harlem River, the aqueduct continues to the receiving reservoir at 86th street, covering 35 acres, and containing 150 millions of gallons. From this point the line proceeds to the distributing reservoir