Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/401

 NEW YORK (CITY) 387 CLASS. VALUE OF IMPORTS. 1872. 1873. 1874. Woollen. $42,794,336 28,345,694 85,094,096 19,085,811 11,511,675 $37,999,047 25,143,673 26,132,541 16,191,011 8.694,193 $34,278,882 22,139,783 26,358,883 15,065,926 8,676,879 Cotton Silk Flax Miscellaneous The movements of shipping in the foreign trade of the district for the year ending June 30, 1874, were as follows : ENTEANCES. FLAG. SAILING VESSELS. STEAMERS. TOTAL. No. Tons. No. Tom. No. Tons. American... Foreign Total. . . . 2,202 8,413 785,874 1,471,377 231 877 838,181 2,454,186 2,433 1,124,055 4,290 3,925,563 5,615 2,257,251 1,108 2,792,367 6,723 5,049,618 CLEABANCES. FLAG. SAILING VESSELS. STEAMERS. TOTAL. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Tons. American.. . Foreign Total.... 1,650 3,343 603,111 1,481,318 224 886 880,420 2,472,369 1,874 938,531 4,229 8,903,687 4,998 2,034,429 1,110 2,802,789 6,108 4,837,218 The following were the entrances and clear- ances in the coastwise trade for the same year : SAILING VESSELS. STEAMERS. TOTAL. No. Tons. No. Tons. No. Ton*. Entrances.. Clearances. 1,159 2,235 256,700 462,137 1,583 1,846 1,517,481 1,718,275 2,742 1,774,181 4,081 2,175,412 The number and tonnage of each class of ves- sels belonging in the district on June 30, 1874, and the same particulars for those built during the year ending on that date, are shown in the following table : CLASS. BELONGING. BUXLT. No. Tonnage. No. Tonnage. Sailing vessels 2,810 788 2,486 546 600,020 351,686 243,281 123,536 89 60 196 51 7,532 25,712 18,929 11,829 Steamers. Canal boats Barges Total. 6,630 1,818,523 396 64,002 Of the first total 847, tonnage 580,424, were registered; 5,225, tonnage 731,643, enrolled; and 558 (under 20 tons), tonnage 6,456, licen- sed. The number of vessels registered, en- rolled, and licensed in the district on June 30, 1873, was 7,071, with an aggregate tonnage of 1,353,147, viz. : sailing vessels, 2,793, tonnage 596,789; steamers, 771, tonnage 349,313; bar- ges, 525, tonnage 106,407; canal boats, 2,982, tonnage 300,638. The number of vessels built in the district during the year ending on that date was 601, with an aggregate tonnage of 71,545. About two thirds of the immigrants to the United States land at New York. The number landing at this port during the last ten years, compared with the entire immigration, has been as follows : Calendar years. New York. United States. Calendar years. New York. United States. 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 196,847 238,418 242,781 213,686 258,989 249,061 818,494 298,858 297,215 395,922 1870... 1871... 1872... 1873... 1874... 212,170 229,639 294,581 266,818 140,041 378,796 867,789 449,488 487,004 260,814 The whole number of aliens landing at New York since 1847 is 5,438,544. In that year a state board of emigration was constituted, which has in charge the interests of immi- grants. The general landing depot is in Castle Garden at the Battery. This structure was originally a detached fort surrounded by wa- ter, erected by the federal government in 1807 and called Castle Clinton. It was ceded to the city in 1822, and was subsequently used as a place of amusement until leased by the com- missioners of emigration in 1855. It was in this building that Jenny Lind made her first appearance in America. The commissioners have several institutions on Ward's island for the accommodation of sick and needy immi- grants, viz. : the Verplanck state hospital, a lunatic asylum, houses of refuge, a nursery or home for children, &c. They generally con- tain about 1,000 inmates. (See EMIGEATION, vol. vi., p. 573.) The quarantine establishment is situated on artificial islands constructed for the purpose on the West bank, a shoal off the E. shore of Staten island. The health officer of the port resides at the " boarding station," on Staten island. The West Bank hospital, completed in 1869 at a cost of more ^han $500,- 000, is a one-story edifice, divided into eight wards, each 89 ft. long and 24 wide, and each capable of accommodating 50 patients. It is lighted with gas and connected with the city by telegraph. There is also a building for the de- tention of persons exposed to disease while on passage in infected vessels, and a warehouse for the storage of infected goods. These institu- tions are under the control of a state board of quarantine commissioners. Only partial sta- tistics of the internal and coasting trade are ob- tainable. The former is carried on by means of the Hudson river and the Erie and other canals, as well as by rail. The completion of the Erie canal in 1825 made New York the maritime outlet for the surplus produce of the great west. Previous to that time western produce went down the Susquehanna to Balti- more or the Schuylkill to Philadelphia; and except in the region tributary to the Hudson river and Long Island sound, New York had no domestic commerce. The five following tables relating to the principal articles of do- mestic produce are from the annual report of the produce exchange for 1873-'4 :