urishing military boarding
schools and a seminary for girls. The old silver and copper mines once
worked here never yielded satisfactory returns for invested capital.
Various industries give active life and prosperity to the town. Just
above Sing Sing

=Croton River=, known by the Indians as Kitchawonk, joins the
Hudson in a bay crossed by the _New York Central Railroad_ Croton
draw-bridge. East of this point is a water shed having an area of 350
square miles, which supplies New York with water. The Croton Reservoir
is easily reached by a pleasant carriage drive from Sing Sing, and it
is a singular fact that the pitcher and ice-cooler of New York, or in
other words, Croton Dam and Rockland Lake, should be almost opposite.
About fifty years ago the Croton first made its appearance in New
York, brought in by an aqueduct of solid masonry which follows the
course of the Hudson near the Old Post Road, or at an average distance
of about a mile from the east bank. Here and there its course can be
traced by "white stone ventilating towers" from Sing Sing to High
Bridge, which conveys the aqueduct across the Harlem River. Its
capacity is 100,000,000 gallons per day, which however began to be
inadequate for the city and a new aqueduct was therefore begun in 1884
and completed in 1890, capable of carrying three times that amount, at
a cost of $25,000,000. The water-shed is well supplied with streams
and lakes. Lake Mahopac, one of its fountains, is one of the most
beautiful sheets of water near the metropolis, and easily accessible
by a pleasant drive from Peekskill, or by the _Harlem Railroad_ from
New York. The old Indian name was Ma-cook-pake, signifying a large
inland lake, or perhaps an island near the shore. The same derivation
is also seen in Copake Lake, Columbia County. On an island of Mahopac
the last great "convention" of the southern tribes of the Hudson was
held. The lake is about 800 feet above tide, and it is pleasant to
know that the bright waters of Mahopac and the clear streams of Putnam
and Westchester are conveyed to New York even as the poetic waters of
Loch Katrine to the city of Glasgow. The Catskill water supply, the
ground of which was broken in 1907, is referred to in our description
of Cold Spring and the Catskills.

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Round the aqueducts of story
As the mists of Lethe throng
Croton's waves in all their glory
Troop in melody along.

_George P. Morris._

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