Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/326

* HUDSON BAY. 286 HUDSON RIVEB SCHOOL. singularly free from storm or fogs. Neither the bay nor Hudson Strait is ever entirely froa?n over, but botli are beset by ilet.Tclieil Hues uuj bergs of ice, which render naviyuliun difficult for sailing vessels. Steamships can make the voyage up the bay and reach land from about the middle of June to the end of October. The west shore lies low, but the east shore is bold and rocky. Thirty rivers of consideralile magni- tude How into the bay, the Nelson River being the most important. The Churchill and the Severn eome ne.t, the former liavin'.' a deep though comparatively narrow mouth, which can be entered with ease by the lartjcst ships at all tides. Though the land lying south and west of .Tames Hay is suitable for dairj- farming, and though ironstone, manganiferous iron ore, galena, and plumbago are found in other portions of the surrounding territory, neithe- the soil, timber, nor minerals have been to any extent drawn ujKjn. Whale, walrus, seal, and salmon abound in the waters of Hudson Hay, and steam whalers visit it during the summer; but the only busi- ness which has been developed lucratively is the fur trade by the Hudson's Bay Company. Tliis may be accounted for by the severity of the long winter on the shores of the bay. The few sunmier months are marked by a genial and bracing' climate. The bay was discovered in 1010 by Henry Hudson (q.v.). HUDSONIAN CURLEW, Oodvit, etc. See Ci KLEW. (ioDwrr. etc. HUDSON RIVER. The principal river of New York State, and one of the most picturesque and important waterways in the Kastcrn L'nited States (Map: New York. « ^). It rises in the Adirondack Mountains in the northern |)art of the State, receiving the waters of most of the lakes in the southeastern half of the .dirondack region, and having its ultimate source in a small lake near the outlet of Long Lake in the north- eastern part of Hamilton County. After passing through these mountains in a number of wind- ings, it flows almost due south imtil it empties into the Atlantic Ocean thruugh New York B.iy at New York City. Tliroughout its course it receives only three eonsideral)le tributaries, the Sacondagii, Mohawk, and AVallkill, all from the ■west. The scenery along the Hudson is of re- markable beauty and grandeur, and with the number of places on its shores celebrated in his- toiy and literature, the river justly merits the title of the 'Rhine of America.' Like the other Atlantic rivers, it breaks transversely through the Appalachian ridges instead of following what would now be the natural course along the great lf)ngitudinal valleys. fSee ArPAi.ACHlANs, es- j)ecially under the subhead Drninnije Develnp- miiit.) Accordingly, its valley is in places very narrow, and its banks lined with high and steep hills or mountains, notable among which are the Highlands. 1.500 feet in elevation, through whirh the river winds in a highly picturesque gorge, narrowed at one point to about 1(100 feet. Farther down, near the mouth, its western shore, for about 18 miles, is formed by a great dike of trap rock, the famous Palisades (q.v.l. rising perpendicularly from the water's edge to a height of .300 to .500 feet. The Catskill Mountains, west of the Hudson, about 100 miles from the sea, approach to within 8 miles of the river. The Hudson difTers from the other Atlantic rivers in the fact that. oving to the consider- able sinking or depression of the land which has b<-en going on in this region, its valley has been drowiieil and tidewater admitted nearly 100 miles beyond the gorge of the Highlands as far as Albany. Below this point the so-called river is really an estuary or fiord, its volume being far out of proportion to its drainage area, though, owing to the narrowness of its valley, it still retains the asjH'ct of a river, except for a stretch of about 20 miles between the Highlands and the Palisades, where it expands into Havcrstraw Bay and Tajjpan Sea, the latter over 3 miles wide. Above Albany and Troy the river is really a small stream, obstructed by falls and rapids. It is this drowning of the Hudson 'al- ley which is one of the princi|>al causes of the couunercial supremacy of New York City, as it has made this river the only deep-water pas- sage cutting entirely through the Appalachian system. The connection of the Atlantic with the North Central States is completed by the Erie Canal (see Ca.nal), which extends from Troy to Bull'alo on Lake Krie. The Hudson I'iord, as it may be called, is a majestic water- way, from one-half to nearly one and one-half miles wide, with the exceptions noted above. It is navigated by a large number of vessels of all kinds, and elegant passenger steamers ply upon its waters. The principal places on the river are Clens Falls. Colioes. Troy, Albany. Hudson, Catskill. Kingston. Poughkeepsie (where is the only bridge between Albany and the sea). New- burgh, West Point (seat of the Cnited Stales Military .cademv), Peekskill, Havcrstraw, Os- sining (Sing Sing>, Nyaek. Tarrytoxm, Y'onkers, and at the month of the river. New Y'ork, Ho- boken, and .lersey City. The sailing craft, how- ever, whose numbers formerly added so much to the picturesqueness of the river, have to a great extent disappeared. The enormous tralTic is further facilital<'d by the New York Central and Hudson River and the West Shore railroads, which run along either shore of the Hudson and the Mohawk. The navigable length of the Huil- son from New York to Troy is 150 miles, and the entire length of the river is about .300 miles. It was discovered by Verrazano in 1524. but first explored by Henry Hudson in 100!). It was called North River to distinguish it from the Delaware, or South River, but the Knglish named it in honor of its explorer. Its Indian name was Shatemuc. The Hudson figure<l prom- inently in the Revolutionary War (see Stont Point: West Point), and it was on this river that steam navigation was first sneeessfully in- troduml by Rolicrt I-'tiltoii in 1S07. HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL OF PAINT- ING. So called from the work produced by a number of American artists who found their subjects largely in the neighborhood of the Hud- son River. Some of them lived on its banks, and the father of this group of painters was probablv Cole (q.v.). who lived at Catskill. The Hudson certainly furnished charming subjects for the landscape painter's brush; but as it was ex- ploited in art rather early in the art develop- ment of our cnuntrA". it seemed to have been regarded by artists of the day as ofTering pic- torial opportunities, rather than any grand and dramatic expressions of nature. This latter, however, it does at times present, but these phases have not been made rnich of by the 'school,' those painting along its shores prefer-