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Watercraft |
Though Europeans first
arrived by sail, settlers
rowed along the East River
much as Native Americans
paddled dugout canoes before
them. Ferrymen were summoned
by horn or bell. Robert
Fulton’s steamboats provided
the first service that
passengers could to adhere
to a set schedule. New York
State rewarded Fulton’s
company with a monopoly on
steamboat service in New
York. But the Supreme Court
decided in its 1824 Gibbons
v. Ogden decision that this
sweetheart deal impinged on
interstate trade with New
Jersey, which shares the
harbor. With the door thrown
open to competition, the
harbor soon buzzed with
constant traffic.
After the Civil War, New
York City life began to move
much faster. Much as raw
materials and industrial
goods were handed off
between watercraft and rail
cars and trolleys, so were
people. Terminals for the
revived ferry industry of
the 1990s and early 21st
century was also pegged to
subway stations and the Long
Island Rail Road. But horses
still pulled carriages away
from ferry landings right
into the 20th century.
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