The Harlem River, slanting about eight miles around the northern end
of Manhattan, is not entirely a natural waterway. The old unnavigable
Spuyten Duyvil Creek, which almost encircled Marble Hill, connected the
Harlem and Hudson rivers until 1895 when a canal was cut through the
flatlands separating Marble Hill from its southern neighbor, Inwood. By
obviating the trip around the Battery, the improved Harlem channel, 350
to 400 feet wide and 15 feet deep, shortens the water route between the
Hudson River and Long Island Sound by about fourteen miles.

Nine swing bridges, almost identical in appearance, and five fixed
bridges cross the Harlem between Manhattan and the Bronx; three sub-
way tunnels burrow under it. Coal hoists, small docks, garbage scows, junk
yards, and grimy bridge approaches line both sides of the southern half of
the Harlem's length. North of the Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds
high wooded shores are of some scenic interest. The section that leads past
steep Inwood Hill Park and under Henry Hudson Bridge into the Hudson
River is strikingly beautiful.

The East River islands, owned by the city for many years, until recently
have been jumbles of institutional masonry, ill-assorted piles of prison,
hospital, and asylum architecture. Removal of many of the most unsightly
buildings and intelligent landscaping by the Department of Parks have
given a new beauty to the islands.

Politically, Welfare, Ward's, and Randall's Islands belong to Manhat-
tan; Riker's and North Brother Islands are parts of the Bronx; and South
Brother Island is in Queens.

Welfare Island

Queensboro Bridge from East 59th St. to elevators on island, or ferry (pedestrians
only) from foot of East 78th St. to Metropolitan Hospital. Pass from Department of
Hospitals required.

Welfare Island, shaped very much like a cigar, is a mile and three-
quarters long and at its broadest point 750 feet wide. From one end, off
Manhattan's Fifty-first Street, to the other, opposite Eighty-sixth Street, it
holds municipal welfare institutions—hospitals and old people's homes—
grouped in little landscaped villages with paved streets.

The Queensboro Bridge, crossing high over the island about one-quarter
of the way north of the lower tip, gives access to Welfare through a most
unusual building, the Elevator Storehouse. The entrance to this ten-
story structure, the only vehicular entrance to the island, is on its top floor,