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out" quartz leads.

The railroads, too, contribute their quota of recent ruins. Every important railroad, during its construction, carries at its end a town-even a city As the end of the road moves on, the

in some cases. town follows it. It is a city upon wheels. The houses are made of the thinnest and lightest materials, and are often carried bodily in sections from one stopping-place to another. The Union Pacific Railroad, during its construction, carried a town of several thousand inhabitants upon its end. As may be supposed, the people of this town were not of the most desirable sort. Besides the employés of the road, it consisted mainly of gamblers, desperadoes, and loose women of the baser sort. Law and order were unknown, save as administered by "Judge Lynch." Shooting was a pastime freely indulged in by both sexes and all classes. The revolver was king over the community.

5. New York City.

This, the chief commercial city of the country, is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, on the island of Manhattan. It was originally peopled by the Dutch, and by them named New Amsterdam. It is by far the largest and most important city in the country, and has a magnificent harbour, excelled by none in the world.

The older part of the city, situated at the southern end of the island, is more or less irregular in plan. But the general scheme of the city is that of long streets running north and south, lengthwise of the island, and mainly known as avenues, with cross-streets from one side to the other. The latter are numbered, commencing near Union Park, at the upper end of the old part of the city. The southern portion of the city is devoted to business, the northern portion mainly to dwellings. Broadway, though not, as implied by its name, a broad street, is the

principal among the business streets. It runs down the island in a southerly direction to its lower end.

The city contains, besides vast numbers of magnificent dwellings, many fine public buildings and business edifices. Of the public buildings, one of the most noted is the City Hall, a graceful and elegant structure, with a white marble façade; another is the new Court-House, notorious as the means whereby many were enriched from the city treasury. The Custom-House is an immense and massive structure of Quincy granite. The national Sub

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treasury occupies the old Custom-House, a beautiful and spacious building of white marble. The new Post-Office building is the finest public structure in the city, and is admirably adapted for its purpose.

With parks, the breathing-places of cities, this metropolis is well provided. The largest of these is Central Park, in the northern part of the city. It is two miles and a half long, by half a mile in width, of a rectangular shape. It is divided into two unequal parts by the Croton reservoir, whence water is supplied to the city. The surface of the park is undulating, just sufficiently to

give an agreeable diversity to the scenery. Nature had done little for it, but art has beautified it until it is one of the finest parks in the world. It is embellished with fine groves of trees and shrubbery, ponds and fountains, statuary, etc. etc.

Besides Central Park, the city contains several other open places. Among these are the Battery, Bowling Green, the City Hall Park, Union Square, and others, amounting altogether to more than a thousand acres.

The commerce of the city is enormous. Nearly 60 per cent of the foreign trade of the country passes through this port. In manufactures its importance is proportional. It contains 59 banks, representing a capital of 85 millions of dollars.

As regards means of education, the city is well provided. There are 287 grammar and primary schools, with an average attendance of about 117,000. There are several schools of higher grade, commonly known as academies, and supported in whole or in part by religious denominations. There are two colleges, Columbia, and the University of New York, both of which are flourishing institutions. There are also several schools of medicine and surgery. The city also contains no less than 23 public libraries.

The public improvements of the city are by no means all that could be desired. Most of the pavements are in bad condition. The main business streets are paved with cobble stones, than which scarcely anything could be worse, although they are being gradually replaced by Belgian blocks. Wood pavements have been tried, but there, as everywhere, they have soon decayed, leaving the streets in a shocking condition. Although the city is admirably situated for carrying out a perfect sewage system, it is yet in a bad condition. The market-houses,

too, are unworthy of the great city.

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