The Bronx, though unaavigable, was formerly a stream of some magnitude, furnishing water-power for a saw and grist-mill, which stood from before the days of the Revolution until the Rebellion near Scarsdale Station, but now fully one-half of the volume of water has been diverted to the new aqueduct or pipe-line which skirts the town on the Greenburgh bank of the river, contributing to the water supply of the city of New York. The general character of the soil of the town is light and sandy loam, but in former years there were many acres of swamp and marsh, most of which has now been drained and imj^roved, hirnishing large tracts of rich black loam. Only about half of the acreage of the town is under actual cultivation, the remainder consisting of meadow, pasture and woodland. The ownership of the town, according to the last State census (1875), is divided among ninety-four proprietors, few of whom hold over fifty acres. There is no farming on a large scale, the greater part of the farm product being devoted to home consumption.

The facts in relation to the first settlement of the part of Westchester now included in Scarsdale township are very meagre. It appears, however, that the town was once part of a large tract ceded by the Indian owners to one John Richbeli, a native of England, about whom little is known. This tract formed part of the Indian district of "Quaroppas," then occupied by the Mohegans or Mohicans. This was in the year 1660, and Richbeli was probably the first white man to settle in the town. For this purchase Richbeli received a grant and confirmation from Francis Lovelace, Governor of New York, in 16()8, and it had already been confirmed by the government of New Netherlands in 16(52.