point. Referring to Mercator's map made in Duisburg in 1569, Fiske says:

"Here then we seem to have the testimony of one of the greatest geographers of the sixteenth century that the River of Norumbega was the Hudson, and that the village of Norumbega was at the head of the bay into which it empties, that is to say, on Manhattan Island. We further learn that the French fort of Norumbègue was situated on a small island (or partly submerged isthmus) in a lake upon the Island of Manhattan. In other words, it was a little north of the present City Hall. The lake, which the Dutch used to call sometimes the Collect, sometimes the Fresh Water, was a familiar feature in New York until after the present century had come in. John Fitch used it for experiments with a small steamboat in 1796. It covered a large portion of the Five Points neighborhood. Here, we are told, French fur-traders had a village and block-house in 1540, perhaps on the isthmus between the Collect and Little Collect where a powder magazine was built in 1728; and such was then the City of Norumbega."

Title to the Pond.

The ownership of the Collect Pond site was once in dispute. The City of New York claimed the lands as part of the unpatented lands granted to it by the Dongan Charter of 1686. About the year 1694, however, Governor Fletcher granted the pond and adjacent meadows, embracing altogether about seventy acres, to John Evans, but in 1698, the Assembly annulled the grant.

In 1730, Anthony Rutgers, who owned a large farm on the upland of the Kalch Hook to the westward of the pond, petitioned for a grant of the pond and swamp and received it in 1733. Hence arose conflicting claims between the City and the representatives of the Rutgers interests which were settled in 1791 by the City buying the pond for 150 pounds.

Rutgers, immediately after securing the grant above-mentioned, set to work to drain the marsh, with the result that he also lowered the water in the pond. By this time, a considerable industry had grown up on the margin of the pond, in which the tanners had large interest; and on September 18, 1734, a number of tanners and others represented to the Common Council that they were greatly prejudiced by a drain which Rutgers had built and which drained off the water from the pond. Whereupon Rutgers was ordered to fill up the drain for a distance of thirty feet from the pond.

Ship Basin and Canal Proposed.

As time went on, and the pond became the receptacle of town rubbish, various projects were put forward for its improvement.

In 1766, Monsieur Mangin, a French engineer, proposed to convert the pond into a ship basin, and connect it with both the Hudson and East River by canals, forty feet wide. The plans drawn for this improvement appear attractive even to-day. Canal street, which derives its name from this project, is represented bordered with trees and traversed by the open canal, crossed at intervals by arched bridges, presenting an appearance resembling that of many Dutch streets in Holland.

This plan was the subject of interested discussion for a number of years, but after the settlement with the Rutgers heirs in 1791, the Corporation had the bounds of property staked out in 1792 to prevent encroachments and in 1793 a survey was ordered with a view to laying out streets when the pond should be filled in.

In 1805, the Committee of the Common Council appointed to examine the pond reported that it was filled with dead animals and was dangerous to public health. Thereupon the Council ordered that the dead animals be removed, that tunnels or sewers be made through the dam to carry off the water, and that the head of the Collect be filled with good and wholesome earth. For this purpose the Street Commission was authorized to accept an offer of several thousand loads of dirt at five cents a load. The process of filling in, however, was slow and very annoying to the neighboring property owners. While it was going on, and while the project for a ship basin had definitely been abandoned, the proposal for a canal or tunnel from river to river through the pond and swamp district continued to be discussed. It was calculated that the difference in the time of the tides in the two rivers would give a head of water of about sixteen inches at every tide to carry off such filth as might enter the tunnel. The tunnel plan was at length abandoned, to be followed by plans for open ditches, etc. For a while, there was an open ditch through the made land of what is now called Center street, originally called Collect street. As late as 1811, the City was considering "how far it would be expedient to fill up the Collect, and whether it would not be expedient to leave some of the springs or fountains of it open." The conclusion

is evident in the result. The Collect was completely closed up, the building lots began to be improved, and in 1816 an ordinance was passed for the regulating and paving of Collect street.

So the Collect Pond passed away, but the evidences of it are to be found partly in the dip in the grade of the streets of that section, partly in the character of the soil upon excavation, and partly in the courses of Baxter, Mulberry, and other adjacent streets which were bent to conform to the outlines of the old pond.

Water Works. Steam Navigation. A Future King nearly

Drowned.

There are many interesting historical facts connected with the Collect Pond site. The land adjacent to the pond has the distinction of having been the site of the first water works system of New York. The pond had originally been called with great propriety, the Fresh Water, for it was of great depth, and the water was once pure and sparkling and abounding with fish. One of its principal fountains, known as the Tea Water Spring, was located at the corner of Park Row and Baxter street and at one time the famous Tea Water Pump supplied a population of ten or twelve thousand inhabitants with water for their favorite table beverage. In 1774, the Common Council resolved to carry into execution the proposal of Christopher Colles to build a reservoir on the west side of the pond and to convey water to the City in wooden pipes, and Augustus and Frederick Van Cortlandt offered to sell to the Corporation at the rate of $600 an acre sufficient land for the reservoir. The City therefore resolved to purchase about two acres of the land if, upon sinking a well, the water proved to be of good quality. The experiment proved satisfactory and the reservoir was built on the east side of Broadway (then Great George street), between what are now Pearl and White streets. For this work the City voted the sum of £2,500. The Corporation also entered into a contract with parties at Albany for 60,000 feet of pitch-pine timber for the water pipes for the sum of £1,250. The works were completed about April, 1776.

In 1781, the Collect Pond nearly became the untimely grave of a Royal Prince, afterwards King of Great Britain. In that year, Prince William (the Duke of Clarence), afterwards King William

the Fourth, came to New York as midshipman in the squadron of Admiral Digby. Wilson's "Life of Halleck" says:

"The young Duke of Clarence, afterward King of Great Britain, who now and then came in his midshipman's roundabout to Tarleton's quarters to dine, and who lived with Admiral Digby in the old Beekman house in Hanover Square, was one of his (Fitz-Greene Halleck's father's) distinguished friends, and many a skating bout did the Dutchess County boy have with the young Duke on the Collect, where the Tombs now stands, and on one occasion saved him from a watery grave by helping His Royal Highness out of a hole in the ice through which he had fallen."

The history of the Manhattan Company, organized by Aaron Burr in 1799, for the ostensible purpose of supplying water to the City, is also connected with the Collect Pond as a source of water. The Manhattan Company, now continued as the Manhattan Bank, which in 1799 applied for the Colles reservoir site, still maintains a reservoir in the building at the northwest corner of Reade and Center streets, in order, it is said, to perpetuate its charter.

Another interesting historical fact in connection with the Collect Pond is that in 1796 or 1797, John Fitch made experiments with a steamboat on the pond. Fitch was a native of East Windsor, Connecticut, and in 1787, on the Delaware river, drove a boat by means of paddles actuated by steam. He went abroad with a view to promoting his ideas, but not meeting with encouragement, returned in depleted financial circumstances and came to New York. Here, on the Collect Pond, he fitted up a boat about eighteen feet long which was propelled by paddlewheels driven by steam. The steam was generated in a crude boiler, consisting of an iron pot holding ten or twelve gallons, tightly closed with a reinforced wooden lid. It is claimed that Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston were among those who witnessed the experiments. The boat, together with a portion of its machinery, was abandoned on the shore of the Collect Pond and the wood was carried away piecemeal by the inhabitants of the neighborhood for fuel. Fitch was forced by pecuniary and domestic troubles to leave New York for Kentucky where he died in 1798. A model of Fitch's steam boat is in possession of the New York Historical Society.

Site Safe for New Court House.

The pond site is now covered with buildings mostly of the commercial type, and some public buildings, notably the Tombs Prison and the Criminal Courts Building. The original Tombs Prison, so-called on account of its style of architecture resembling an Egyptian tomb, was built in 1838, but was remodeled in 1897 so as to look like a new structure. The Criminal Courts Building on the block north of the Tombs was begun in 1890 and finished in 1894. The original Tombs suffered on account of the instability of the soil on which it was built and the Criminal Courts Building has for three or four years been in a dangerous condition on account of fissures in the walls due to settling. This building was erected, however, before the caisson system of building deep foundations was developed, and engineers give assurance that the Collect Pond site presents no difficulties which cannot be overcome by modern science.

CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK CITY.

Latest Projected Innovation.

On pages 484-488 of our Sixteenth Annual Report (1911), we gave a list of about twenty-five different projects for the diminution, abolition, mutilation or perversion of Central Park. Our attention has been called to two other early projects for the introduction of undesirable features in the Park. One was the proposition that a certain city regiment be given a portion of the park for a parade ground. The other was the suggestion that the body of General Grant, who died in 1885, be buried in the Park. Both projects were prevented by public sentiment. We also find mention of the project for the creation of a building for the Academy of Design in the park as early as February, 1894.

In October, 1911, the project of the Fire Commissioner to locate central fire alarm stations in Central and other city parks was renewed and again encountered objection. We are happy to report that Hon. Charles B. Stover, Commissioner of Parks for the Boroughs of Manhattan and Richmond, expressed his doubt of the advisability of the location in Central Park. The Fire Department sought a site on the north side of the ball field at Sixty-fifth