Quassaick Creek is a fine stream entering the Hudson between Newburgh city and New Windsor, and is formed by the united waters of Orange Lake outlet and Fostertown and Gidney's Creeks. It has supplied many mills and factories with power.
King's Hill is a high boundary elevation in the northwest part of the town affording an extensive view in all directions. Bacon Hill is another, north from King's Hill, at the edge of the town. Limestone Hill is a ridge running north and south two miles northwest of the city.
Fostertown Creek, one of the tributaries of Quassaick Creek, is a small stream which rises in Ulster County and drains a narrow valley several miles in extent. Bushfield Creek also rises in Ulster and is one of the streams which feed Orange Lake.
EARLY INCIDENTS.
Among the "remarkable incidents" of early times mentioned by Eager, are the following: In 1803 the formation of a Druid society, composed, it was said, wholly of deists, whose proceedings were secret. In January, 1805, a son of Warren Scott, 14 years old, was torn in pieces by wolves in the west part of the town while feeding his father's sheep. The wolves at this time also came down and killed sheep near the village of Newburgh. In 1816 the owners of the Newburgh ferry first used a horse boat, and on August 13th of that year the boat Jason Rogers crossed the river with two horses attached to a coach and a wagon, seventeen chaises and horses, another horse and fifty passengers. In 1817 government officers inspected ninety tons of cannon made by Mr. Townsend on Chamber's Creek, and all proved good. They were the first manufactured in the State, and were of sterling ore from the town of Monroe. November 24, 1824, the schooner Neptune, on the way from New York to Newburgh, was upset and sunk, and the most of her fifty or more passengers were drowned. She had forty or fifty tons of plaster on board, and the heavy wind shifted it, which caused the accident.
[CHAPTER XXV.]
CITY OF NEWBURGH.
Newburgh, the chief city of Orange County, with a population of nearly 27,000, is also the largest commercial city on the Hudson between New York and Albany. It is located on the side hill of a bay, 57 miles from the river's mouth, has a deep and spacious harbor, with good docks, and its scenic views and contiguous territory are peculiarly attractive. The inviting bay and river are in front, and the mountains southward and westward have been characterized as "Nature's arm thrown lovingly about us." In the landward distance mountains are visible in several directions from the upper town, and adjacent are fruit and dairy farms on undulating fields, with a ten-mile plain known as "Highland Terrace." A recent local pamphlet says of the City of Newburgh: "As a home-city there is little to be desired. It is metropolitan and suburban. It has broad thoroughfares, good streets, and provision is now perfected for having $100,000 expended annually in new pavements. There are numerous breathing spots. One of the most magnificent views obtainable anywhere in the Hudson Valley is from Downing Park, where from the observatory the city appears to be almost beneath your feet. The Hudson River presents an unobstructed view for miles, and a half dozen ranges of mountains appear to view. The Catskills at the north, Fishkill and the Beacons on the east, Storm King and Crow Nest on the south, Schunnemunk at the southwest, and the Shawangunk range far to the west. At the north end of the city is LeRoy Place, one of the coziest and most inviting of the city's little parks. It is especially referred to as a resting place for those who find it convenient to take a walk to the famed 'Balm of Gilead' tree, one of the oldest monarchs of its class to be found for many miles around."
The near suburban villages tributary to the city have a population of nearly 50,000, as follows: Fishkill and Matteawan, 1 mile, 13,016; Cornwall, 1 mile, 4,258; Marlborough, 6 miles 3,478; Milton 10 miles, 1,500; Walden, 10 miles, 5,939; Highland Falls, 10 miles, 4,519; Cold Spring, 8 miles, 2,067; New Hamburgh, 10 miles, 500; Washingtonville, 10 miles, 1,118; New Windsor, 3 miles, 2,392; Newburgh Town, 3 miles, 4,246. The little hamlets in the vicinity probably have a population of 3,000 more.