By this the people all across the State knew that the
canal had been opened.
For ten days the boats crept along the canal, and at each town bands
played, and speeches were made, until on the tenth day the Governor and
his party reached New York--the first to make the journey across the
State by water. They were taken to Sandy Hook, the Mayor of New York,
with many others, attending, and surrounded by all the ships in the bay,
with their colors flying and their whistles blowing. And there at Sandy
Hook, Governor Clinton poured a keg of water which he had brought from
Lake Erie into the waters of the ocean.
Thus were the waters of the Great Lakes and the waters of the Atlantic
Ocean united, and the city was illuminated as it had never been before,
and great bonfires burned all night, in honor of the wedding.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE BUILDING of the CROTON AQUEDUCT
It really seemed now as though some fairy wand had been turned toward
New York. Blocks of houses of brick and stone sprang up, and buildings
of every sort crept up the Island of Manhattan and were occupied by more
than 200,000 people. The city was the centre of art and literature and
science in America. The streets were lighted by gas; there were fine
theatres; and the first street railroad in the world was in
operation--the first step toward crowding out the lumbering stages.
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