New York's Croton Water System. A tour through woodcuts of the bridges tunnels and workings of the system.... From Harpers Weekly Dec. 1860

The water to New York was once delivered by the Croton water line. It was built in the mid 19th century. In Harper's Magazine of December, 1860. It took us on a tour of the system in a series of wood cuts.
There is a lot of narrative here that I have left out. But in future writings I can put some of it in. But this was as it was on the eve of the American Civil war, and New York's water system.
The final placement of the water was the great reservoir which once stood on 5th Ave and 42 to 44th streets. The New York Public Library stands where some of that massive water storage area once stood. I have written a history on that already in a previous entry into this blog.















The Croton on its way to town.





Scene below the Croton dam.





Glimpse on the Croton lake.





The Hudson Highlands-Source of the Croton.





Sections of the aqueduct, showing its construction.
1.Embankments across valleys
2.Masonry in earth excavations
3.Tunnel cutting in earth
4.Tunnel cutting in rock
5.Open cutting in rock.





An aqueduct ventilator.





Aqueduct bridge at Sing Sing.





Bridge over Mill River in Tarrytown.





Bridge over the Napperhan at Yonkers.





The high bridge at Harlem.





Section of the high bridge over the Harlem River.





One of the bridges over 98th, 99th, and 100th Streets, New York.





The distributing reservoir in the 5th Avenue, New York.

An amazing record label from 1906. The American Record Company. It gives the average view of Indians in the beginning of the 20th century.

This blue shellac record from around 1906 is one made by the American Record Company. It is in many regards a beautiful label. And the records rich blue color adds to the effect. Yet once you look at it and see it, some interesting things come to mind. First off lets look at the label closer.




Here is a close up of the label. it has an American Indian listening to a phonograph.







What does it say here "Music have charms".....Let's think of that statement. Music hath charms to calm the savage beast. So what they are saying here is that the music on this record will calm even an American Indian, who of course in their view was a savage. It is amazing that such a label was made. But in its day it was looked on as perfectly normal. Needless to say the American Record Company did not last long and these labels are quite scarce today.

The Last acoustic Edison Diamond Disc Machines. The Edisonics. Here is the Schubert model of 1928

The Edison Edisonic was the last of a breed of hill and dale disc phonographs to play Edison Diamond Disc Records which by the time this catalog was published in 1928 were not selling at all well.

One of the main problems was that there was a stigma to Edison records and what was on them. It all went back to the earliest days of the Edison disc industry in 1912. Thomas Edison had for many years been in charge of picking the music for his company. While it can be agreed that it was "his" company, it was a terrible move and led to its ruin.
By 1926 Charles Edison had finally removed his father from control more or less. But the damage was done and by this time they were loosing over a million dollars a year.
The electrical system of recording and acoustic playback had been developed by Bell Labs/Western Electric and marketed by the Victor Talking Machine Company in it's Victrolas and records.
However, records only by the Columbia Graphophone Company, as the rights to the folded horn technology for acoustic playback of electrical recording were controlled by the Victor Company.
This had happened in the end of 1924. Victor and Columbia in 1925 started issuing electrically recorded discs in 1925. By November Victor issued it's new machines. They were called Orthophonic Victrolas. They were a smash.

Thomas Edison had little love for the Orthophonics. By this time in his life he could hardly hear anyway. Walter Miller, his assistant said that the Orthophonic sounded like music coming out of a Rain Barrel. I guess he said that to keep his boss happy. But it was one wonderful rain barrel.
But once Thomas Edison was out of the way, the company went to work on developing a system of electrically recorded discs. This was under the control of his son Theodore Edison.
What ended up happening was they purchased RCA microphones and amplifier equipment to make the electrically recorded Edison records as crazy as that sounds!

But once they had developed the system they needed machines to play these discs. As most of the lineup of machines for the Edison Company were from the 1915 era. That meant some serious revamping. But money was very tight.

The end result was 2 machines issued in 1927 to play the new records. They were called the Edisonic, to copy the popular Orthophonic of the Victor Company. The workings of these new machines were designed by Theodore Edison and would encompass a new type of reproducer and the longest horn ever put on a Diamond Disc Machine.

It was to add to the bass response and was as close as the Edison company could come to making a horn responsive to electrical recordings with out stepping on Victor's patents.

The Machines were called the Schubert and Beethoven. They were handsome machines but never really took of. Hence today, they are quite rare. But they did play wonderfully.
They were truly the last gasp of the acoustic Diamond Disc phonograph. One must remember by the time these machines came out Victor, Brunswick, and a few other companies had electrically powered and amplified machines.

These machines were produced from 1927 till the end of the company in late 1929. However they could still be purchased in early 1930 as well as leftover records from the company.








A 1928 Edison Edisonic Schubert


The inside of the machine. Showing the gun metal reproducer and the orange/peach turntable and felt cushions




The doors open to show the horn grill and cloth and storage for records. Both the Beethoven and Schubert used the same sized horns. Just there was a difference in the size of the cabinet. I have always been partial to the Schubert as I feel it was a better designed machine.




The grill removed and the horn of the Edisonic revealed. It was a good sized horn. The machine was usually equipped with a single spring. However many people opted to have a double spring put in. As you can see on this model.




Note the long extension of the horn designed by Theodore Edison to make the most of the mathematical properties in bass response. It has great sound and is most amazing to see in operation.

Here you will see an advertising piece for the Edisonic in 1927. Although Thomas Edison had nothing to do with this machine. It was always good press to use his name. Stigma or not, he was a god to many.









The sad part of it all was the Victor Orthophonic was the king of the industry. The Edison Company tried some radios and electric phonographs. But it was too late. Riddled in debt and mismanagement the phonograph company was quietly discontinued in 1929. Sadly few even noticed.

The Weeping Room at Grand Central Station. Track 42 Grand Central Station

If you walk around Grand Central Station look for track number 42. It is the last track in the massive station. Today the room leading to it does not get much traffic in the evening, but during the day travelers go to and fro to their destinations.

But what few know is that Track 42 was the track in which all the soldiers were sent from. It was outside the gate in the room that leads to 42nd street that soldiers from WWI and WW2 said their last farewells, many forever.

So go and look at that room and remember the great sacrifice given by so many as they went away on track 42. It has always been known as the Weeping room since the first soldiers were sent away from there in 1917.

It was interesting to know I was where my grandfather left for the war and all the many hundreds of thousands of young men went to fight and for many to die.

It is where so much happened, so much took place. So as you honor veterans of past wars this Veterans day, remember this place. You can feel the passion in this room. It lingers like a distant memory. But one you can feel the presence of.

Go in the evening, it is so quiet there, like a tomb or monument..It really is a monument to many brave men and women. A special history hidden in the hustle and bustle of New York City.

Thomas Marshall (1854-1925) Vice President of the USA during the Wilson administration 1913-1921.. What is he famous for?

We rarely hear of this gentleman today. He was Vice President under Woodrow Wilson, who was a very powerful force. So we do not hear about Marshall much at all.
He was the Governor of Indiana. He did quite a bit. But today, to be honest, there is only one thing that he usually is remembered for. He had a rye sense of humor and at times it did show itself. Here is the moment where it truly did.

He was in a session of Congress and it was a boring slow session. Lot's of talking going on and nothing really being said. During this long session Marshall was heard to exclaim.. "What this country needs, is a good 5 cent cigar." That was it. It brought laughs and still does today. That is about all that is remembered about Thomas Marshall.
Who was in every way a great Vice President. So good, you never heard of him.

The monitor. During the civil war they were worth their weight in gold. But by the end of the war they were obsolete. Yet we kept making them!! ???

One of the old monitors from the American Civil War. Rotting at a pier in the 1870's

This was the big problem with a monitor. This is just moving rather slowly in calm waters. Can you imagine sailing at a good rate of speed or in rough water? It was a fatal flaw specially for the first monitor.




Here are a few pictures of monitors taken around 1900-1902 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. You can see how low they are in the water. But still at this time they were sailing. They were a massive blast from the past as we entered the 20th century.

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The USS Monitor was designed by John Ericsson to be used to defend the coast and the wooden battleships that were being terrorized by the Confederate ironclad Virginia. The Virginia was built on the burnt remains of the wooden sailing ship Merrimack. The Monitor was a god send to the Union.
It was in every way an equal to the Virgina and was far more advanced. Through the war there were many monitors made. In fact there was a glut of them after the war. Many were scraped or sold to foreign governments.
But there seemed to be a hard core group who kept pushing for monitor style ships for the US navy. In the 1870's there were many designs put forward for monitors. They were finally built well into the 1880's and 90's. By then they were as obsolete as the wooden ships that they replaced in the civil war.
However Monitors were built as late as the beginnings of the 20th century!

One of the big problems with monitors was that they were very low into the water. In fact, the first monitor was called a cheese box on a raft. As it had a turret, the first ship to have such an item. The ship itself was nearly submerged in the water, which led to many difficulties. One being that the ship when even moving slowly would have water pouring over its decks and often pouring into the ship!
One must remember that as wonderful as the original monitor was it did have this problem. In fact the original monitor was not lost in battle, it was lost in stormy seas.

So through out the years that monitors were made they could not sail with other ships. As they could not sail so fast due to the fact that they would be practically submerged by doing so.
The navy had monitors in use till the time of WWI. By then the last of the monitors were scraped and every vessel built afterwards would have a higher free board.

The monitor was a great development. But sometimes we hate to let go of great developments. And we keep them till they become disasters.

My 1972 Caddy ..It was quite a limo, it was quite a car.

When we are very young we do things that may seem a bit strange and unusual. But in 1982 I bought a 1972 Cadillac Limo. It was so amazingly huge. It was a great party car. There was only one sad point I was driving.
The car had been in the use of the Warner Lambert Company before my friend Ted Spangenberg bought it. He had it for 6 years. It was a great car.

So when I needed a car I bought Ted's Limo. I was 25 and crazy ...and it looked like fun. Now looking back on it. I am glad I got it as I had a great time in it.
It was the ultimate party car.
But this car was my one venture into monster cars. The interior was beautiful and plush. It had a glass window that would raise and lower between the front and rear seats. It could seat 9 . It had an opera window in the back that was so tiny, but it was cute. It had two stereo systems..I had many parties in it.
We even made davit on the back and hung a cardboard VW bug on it as a lifeboat. That was funny and I wish I had taken a picture of it. But cameras were not everywhere then, like they are now.
In fact I did not take this picture of my car. It was taken by a friend of mine who 2 weeks after he took this picture drowned in a pool. So thanks to David I have this picture...I think of him every time I see it.
This picture was taken in Trenton, New Jersey in 1982. We were all going to the beach for a party. Of course there were about 7 in my car.

By 1984 the car was having troubles. I could not afford the repairs. The last straw was when the entire electrical system for the windows went down. I had the windows open and it started to rain...Ironically on the radio was playing the song.."Its raining again" I could not get over the irony of that moment.

But soon I traded the car in for a 1976 Dodge Dart and was happy. The Dodge had crank windows, and a slant six engine. It was good on gas. I must confess the Caddy belched every time it drove by a gas station. But what a hell of a good 2 years I had in that car!

The first American President to face an assassins gun. There seemed no way for it to fail, yet it did. In a most unusual manner.

In January of 1835 a very old, and very tired Andrew Jackson walked out of the House of Representatives. He had just attended a memorial service for Congressman Warren Davis. Jackson was so weak and infirm that he needed to lean onto the arms of many political officials. They did not mind it and considered it to be an honor.

Jackson had been ill for years. He had trouble sitting down, and had a standing desk. He had been at one time one hell of a man. Now as he slowly walked out of the House of Representatives on that cold damp day, he was but a shell of what he had once been. But the fire was not at all out in the old warrior. He was weak but had great moments of passion and battle.
These qualities had brought him to the White House and they sometimes did show at certain moments.
This day as he walked out of the Capital, he was met by an assassin, Richard Lawrence. Lawrence was a handsome young man who was dressed in a large dark cloak. He also brandished 2 single shot pistols. He lunged in front of the President pointed one pistol at his chest and fired. The gun did not go off. It misfired! The President always the fighter raised his cane and charged the assassin. As Jackson was about on Lawrence, the assassin fired his second pistol at point blank range at the charging President. This gun too, misfired! Soon Lawrence was wrestled to the ground. He was arrested and taken to prison.

Now for the pistols? Why did each misfire? No one really knows for sure, but the odds of such a thing happening are like 125,000 to 1!! Both pistols fired when tested later. Lawrence felt that he pistols did not work because of the dampness. But due to most bizarre circumstances the President of the United States was allowed to finish out his term.

Richard Lawrence was taken to court and prosecuted by none other than Francis Scott Key..Lawrence was suffering from depression and madness...He would be in and out of insane asylums for the rest of his life, dying in 1861.

This last weekend I had the chance to fire a 1770 repro of a early pistol. Is misfired 4 times before it worked. So I can see how such a thing could indeed happen. So by chance Andrew Jackson did not make it into the history books as the first assassinated President. Thirty years later the sad deed was done to another President. Abraham Lincoln.