" So
John Burroughs has studied the Hudson in all its moods, knowing well
that it is not to be wooed and won in a single day. How clear this is
seen in his articles on "Our River":
"Rivers are as various in their forms as forest trees. The Mississippi
is like an oak with enormous branches. What a branch is the Red River,
the Arkansas, the Ohio, the Missouri! The Hudson is like the pine
or poplar--mainly trunk. From New York to Albany there is only an
inconsiderable limb or two, and but few gnarls and excrescences. Cut
off the Rondout, the Esopus, the Catskill and two or three similar
tributaries on the east side, and only some twigs remain. There
are some crooked places, it is true, but, on the whole, the Hudson
presents a fine, symmetrical shaft that would be hard to match in any
river in the world. Among our own water-courses it stands preeminent.
The Columbia--called by Major Winthrop the Achilles of rivers--is a
more haughty and impetuous stream; the Mississippi is, of course,
vastly larger and longer; the St. Lawrence would carry the Hudson as
a trophy in his belt and hardly know the difference; yet our river is
doubtless the most beautiful of them all.
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