Lake George to the Adirondacks 197-201
    Ticonderoga 198
    Bluff Point 199
    Plattsburgh and the Saranacs 201

Source of the Hudson 202-210
    The Tahawas Club 202
    The Upper Ausable 203
    Haystack and Camp Colden 204
    The Deserted Village 205
    Indian Pass 206
    Tahawas 210

Geology, tides and condensed points 211-224
    Geological Formation 211-215
    The Hudson Tide 215
    Condensed Points—­New York to Albany 216-224

[Illustration:  Robert Fulton’s “Clermont” 1807]

1907—­1909

CENTENNIAL GREETING

Hendrick Hudson and Robert Fulton are closely associated in the history of our river, and more particularly at this time, as the dates of their achievements unite the centennial of the first successful steamer in 1807, with the tri-centennial of the discovery of the river in 1609.  In fact, these three centuries of navigation, with rapidly increasing development in later years, might be graphically condensed—­

“Half Moon,” 1609; “Clermont,” 1807;

“Hendrick Hudson,” 1906.

Singularly enough the discovery of Hendrick Hudson, and the invention of Robert Fulton are also similar in having many adverse claimants who forget the difference between attempt and accomplishment.

Everyone knows that Verrazano entered the Narrows and harbor of our river in 1524, and sailed far enough to see the outline of the Palisades; that Gomez visited its mouth in 1525; Cabot still earlier in 1498; and various Norsemen, named and nameless, for several centuries before them, coasted along the shore and indenture of the “River of the Manhattoes,” but failed to acquire or transmit any knowledge of the river’s real course or character, and it was left for Hendrick Hudson to be its first voyager and thereby to have and to hold against all comers the glory of discovery.

* * *

  A century vast of Hudson-fame
    Which Irving’s fancy seals;
  Whose ripples murmur Morse’s name
    And flash to Fulton’s wheels.

  Wallace Bruce.

* * *

So Robert Fulton had several predecessors in the idea of applying steam to navigation—­John Fitch in 1785, William Symington in 1788 and many others who likewise coasted along the shore and indenture of a great idea, marked by continual failure and final abandonment.  It was reserved for Fulton to complete and stamp upon his labor the seal of service and success, and to stand, therefore, its accepted inventor.