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Hemstreet, Charles

"The Story of Manhattan"

It went all the way to Albany, and from that day on
continued to make trips up and down the river. This was the first
successful steam-boat in the world. Soon steam ferry-boats took the
place of those which had been driven by horse-power. Quickly, too, after
the success of the Clermont, steam navigation went rapidly forward on
both sides of the ocean. Fulton made other and much better boats. Other
men followed in his footsteps, and the great ocean liners of to-day are
one of the results.


CHAPTER XXXVI
THE CITY PLAN

It is interesting at this time to read how the streets came to be just
where they are. The city was growing more rapidly than ever and the
streets and byways met one another at every sort of angle, forming a
tangled maze. To remedy this, a commission was formed of several of the
prominent citizens to determine just what course the streets should
take. Now this commission decided not to interfere with those that
existed, but to map out the island above the city and plan for those
that were to be. They worked for four years and then submitted, in the
year 1811, what they called the City Plan. If you will look at a map,
you will see at the lower part of the Island of Manhattan that the
streets cross and recross each other in the most bewildering manner.


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