Here was the "Croton Bridge" of revolutionary times, frequently mentioned in connection with military movements between New York and the Highlands ; and here is now the scene of most important experiments in the production of malleable iron from the ore, by a simple process, which, if successful, would produce a marked change in the iron manufacture. It is a process of deoxidizing iron ore in a heated hollow screw, out of which, when the process is completed, it drops into the furnace, avoids all fluxes, and comes out "blooms" of the finest iron. Mr. Rogers, the inventor,

THE HUDSON.

claimed that by this process there would be a saving of from eight to twelve dollars a ton in the production of iron -- a matter of great importance to such isolated districts as that of the Adirondack works at the sources of the Hudson already mentioned. It was from Bayley's rolling mill, at the foot of the rapids in the Croton, just above the old High Bridge, where these experiments were going on, that I made the sketch of that dilapidated affair, just at sunset.

Crossing the bridge, I strolled down the right bank of the Croton, along

HIGH MBIDGE OViiE THE UBOTOX

the high margin of the stream, to the Van Cortlandt Manor House, passing the old Ferry House on the way, where a party of New York levies, under Captain Daniel "Williams, were surprised by some British horsemen in the winter of 1782. At the entrance gate to the mansion grounds, at twilight, I met Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt, the present proprietor, and accepted his cordial invitation to partake of the hospitalities of Jfiis house for the night.