WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en

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[...] Magic Manhattan.

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Like a cluster of thin-fired mountain peaks,
its man-made mansions of

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industry rise out of the bay.

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From the Battery to the Bronx,
its brightly-lighted avenues are a byword.

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Its waterfront, the frayed frontier of
this Golden Island, is the greatest on

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Earth, a kaleidoscope of all those
who go down to the sea in ships.

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And no less than 10,000 ships each year
come into New York Harbor from voyages to

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the seven seas, to rest, exchange their
cargoes, and then quietly slip away

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on their restless wanderings.

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Its more than 1,800 wharves and other
waterfront facilities, if put end to end,

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would stretch almost one-third the distance
across the United States, and more

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than 200,000 persons are employed daily
to handle the traffic of the harbor.

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The tugs, approximately 700 in number,
are an institution unto themselves,

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appearing like puny little water
bugs hitting at great drifting logs.

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They nevertheless handle the mighty
leviathums of the deep with amazing ease.

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Innumerable are the types of sea-going
craft in the harbor, from the most modern

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of ships to picturesque, four-masted schoomers,
reminiscent of wind-jamming days

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of the almost forgotten past.

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On the lower East River waterfront
is the Seaman's Church Institute,

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which for more than 100 years has
befriended all men of the sea.

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Thousands of barges carry thousands
of products about the harbor.

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An occasional line draped with freshly
washed clothing is often the only outward

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indication that many of these
barges are the permanent

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homes of those who tend them.

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This little girl has brought a
doll and carriage up on there.

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Hello there, young lady, how are you today,
all right? Well, that's good.

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She and her little brother were both
born on this particular barge, and

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it's the only playground they know.

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Sunrise over the lower East River always
discloses long lines of sturdy little

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schooners tied to the wharves
at the foot of Fulton Street.

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Here at the famous 100-year-old Fulton
Fish Market, boats come periodically from

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near and far to unload their catch
within the shadow of the towering

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skyscrapers of lower Manhattan.

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Some of these fishermen have caught their
cargo as far away as the coast of Nova

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Scotia, or as far south as Stormy Cape
Hatteras on the coast of North Carolina.

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The Fulton Fish Market,
of which this is but one pier, is the largest

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wholesale fish market in the world.

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Each year it handles approximately
500 million pounds of seafood of more

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than 100 different varieties.

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Nothing is more characteristic of the New
York waterfront than these bulldog-like

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little tugboats that pull off
push-floating cargos, often

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a hundred times their own size.

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Let's go aboard one for a sail up
East River for a midstream view.

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There's the famous Brooklyn Bridge.

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For more than half a century,
it has proudly spanned the broad East River and

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watched the ever-growing skyscrapers.

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First of New York's great bridges,
yet its 14,000 miles of cable, continue to

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defy the ravages of wear and time,
and it still retains its place as one of the

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principal thoroughfares to Manhattan.

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Just above Brooklyn Bridge is Manhattan Bridge,
considerably greater in length,

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and beyond that, Williamsburg Bridge.

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The waterfront is a place of contrast,
where the elegance sits besides the ugly.

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Where graceful white yachts
are looked down upon by the

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smoky black chimneys of industry.

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Here and there are extravagant dwellings,
such as pretentious river hubs, with

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landing floats especially designed for
the racy speedboats of its affluent

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residents, and exuding opulence and
prosperity to the very top of lofty towers.

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And then, there are the jungles of the
less fortunate, whose only homes are made

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of discarded boards and bits of tin
collected from the back alleys of the same

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metropolis, and whose household furnishings
come from ash cans and public refuse

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heaps, dead ends of Manhattan.

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They wandered dejectedly about their
shacks on this decrepit spot of the

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waterfront, like unholy ghosts of men who
have failed in every opportunity that

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life and the land of opportunity can afford.

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Some of the backwater bends and little-used
coves become the grave of harbor

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derelicts, barges, tugs, and other craft,
which have completed their life of

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usefulness and have been
abandoned to sink and rot.

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Even the out-of-water ends of some of
these damp and dilapidated harbor wrecks

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are converted into homes
for Manhattan beach comers.

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In the less repellent little bays are
occasionally to be found somewhat more

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pretentious improvised living quarters,
neat homes built on deserted barges,

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lifted above the mire and murky water,
with clean window curtains and front

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porches that look out across beached and
sunken hulks of various types, sizes,

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and stages of wreckage, warehouses and
sprawling factories, and the homes of

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other waterfront squatters.

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Manhattan is a city of bridges.
The over-water roadways that connect the

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metropolis with surrounding points total
more than twice the entire length of the

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island. Some are mechanical, swinging or
lifting, while others span the sky well

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above the tallest smokestack or masthead.

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This is one of the less lofty spans of
the Great Tri-Borough Bridge, a mere

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segment that straddles the Harlem River,
high enough for tugs and other small

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craft to go underneath,
also capable of lifting like an elevator to

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permit the passing of large vessels.

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Here is one of the automobile approaches
on this same Harlem River crossing of

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the Tri-Borough Bridge, the newest of all
those serving Manhattan. It is 17 and a

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half miles in length, and its three arms extend

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to the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx.

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There are also 14 miles of highway approaches,
and the concrete alone that was

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used in the construction of the
bridge proper would pave a four-lane

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highway from New York to Philadelphia.

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The most imposing part of this great
engineering achievement is the suspension

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part over the East River at Hellgate,
near the point where it spreads out into

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Long Island Sound.
The span is sufficiently high to

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permit all vessels to pass underneath.

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Beyond can be seen the famous Hellgate Bridge,
used

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exclusively for railway traffic.

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This gives a better idea of the great
length of Hellgate Bridge, looking towards

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the main span from a point approximately
in the middle of the entire structure.

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Probably the most imposing of all Manhattan's
bridges is the George Washington,

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across the expansive and historic Hudson.
Its many traffic arches, curving of

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trees and silver framework
are things of beauty.

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Its towers rise twice the height of any
of the other bridges, and this massive

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structure of steel and concrete reaches
gracefully almost three-quarters

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of a mile in a single span.

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Skirting a goodly part of the western
shoreline of the island is famous Riverside

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Drive, which looks out across well-hidden
railway tracks onto the Hudson, where

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the battleships of many navies have
anchored on parade, and where now and then,

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even today, an occasional antiquated
square rigger can be seen tied to a whore.

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The industries of Manhattan's magic
waterfront are many-sided and never-ending.

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The falling shadows of evening bring no
silencing to its towering skeletons of

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steel and fast-dropping and rising clamshell
buckets, unloading barges of coal,

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sand and gravel, or its great dry docks
capable of lifting great ships so that

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men may work under their monstrous keels.

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From sunrise to sunset and through
the bleak grab-hours of darkness,

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round and round this ever-varying waterfront,
from Hellgate's lofty bridges to

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the battery that looks out toward the
open ocean, there are sights at which to

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marvel and sights one may best avoid.

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Nature has indeed been kind to the little
island on which the American metropolis

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is built, but were it not for the development
of maritime transportation, which

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has made it a mecca of ships and merchants
of the sea, its great harbor might be

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only a vacant expanse of inland water
at the edge of the mighty Atlantic.

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No age, no century in history,
no place on any continent, has known such a

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monstrous melting pot of human and
industrial accomplishment as is clustered

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about the Manhattan waterfront.