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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 25, no. 620: January 31, 1880

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXV. NEW YORK, SATUEDAY, JANUARY 31, 1880. No. 620 Published WeeJcly by %^t%ml €statE Efcorb ^ssocmtton. TERMS. ONE YEAR, in advance.. ..$10.00. Coraraunications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, Nos. 135 AND 137 Broadway NEW lOEK A MINING CENTRE. It is now very certain that New York City will hereafter be the mining centre of the country, in¬ stead of San Francisco. The dividends paid on mining shares in New York already largely exceed those disbursed at San Francisco. Some of the most conservative people in tbe city are becoming interested;in miidng ventures. Leadville, the Black Hills, as well as many of the mineral districts on the Pacific coast itself, such aa Bodie, are now directly tributary to New York City. So far, there has not been many scandals connected with the marketing of mining shares, but if the fever con¬ tinues as it h£s begun we may reas nably expect that greedy and incautious capitalists will be "caught out" by the trained manipulators of bogus mining properties. But making allowances for mistakes aud deception there is no question but that the handling of this business in New York will add largely to the wealth and prosperity of the metropolis. We want New York to be the financial centre of the world, and mines can be just as well handled here as they are in London. A glance at the English stock reports will show tbe capital of Great Britain is invested in mines all over the world. Indeed, some of the beat managed properties in the United States are owned by English companies. The immense activity in the extreme West, the building of the railroads be¬ yond the Missouri ia in great part due to the ac¬ tivity in the mining regions. It is the mineral wealth of Colorado, Dakota, Arizona, and New ilcxico which is inducing the railway companiea to undertake new transcontinental lines, and all this adds to the importance, wealth, and popula¬ tion of our city. At the recent dinner of the Bullion Club much feeling was expressed at the state of our laws affecting these mining corporations. It seems that it is at the peril of one's property if a person ac¬ cepts position as officer of a mining company, or buys a share of stock. This is not the place to give tho details, but as a real estate paper we are in¬ terested in adding to the importance and business of the metropolis, and this we cannot do if the laws are onerous, or such as make the conducting of any business unprofitable or impossible. There IS, properly speaking, no mining law in this State. Our corporations are formed under the provisions of the manufacturing law, and, as we have said, are not only inadequate, but burdensome. It is to be hoped that the legislature at Albany may be induced to take action so as to frame a proper law that will guard alike the officers, the stockholders, and the general public. The New Jersey law is nmch more liberal, and if no change is made this year by our law givers we will find the mining business stepping across the river. UNION PROPOSED. Why do not some of our ambitious local legis¬ lators take in hand the project of uniting Brook¬ lyn and New York? It will certainly be brought about some day. There is a chance for some one to make his name memorable in connection with this very much needed local consolidation. Brooklyn belongs of right to this city. The pros¬ perity of New York has made Brooklyn what it is. The latter city depends for its life and vital¬ ity upon the people who do business on this island. To take its true place among the great cities of the world, New York must have added to it the population of Kings County. "When this great work is accomplished we will have better government. The greater responsibilities will make our people more careful who they select to represent the united city. Of course there will be an active opposition to this consoli¬ dation on the part of the local officials of Brook¬ lyn. The ring over there will find its occupation gone when the politics of the City of Churches is at one with the politics of the metropolis. With this union New York could soon aspire to repre¬ sent three million of people, for it could honestly include not only all who live on the two banks of the East River, but those who swarm on the op¬ posite bank of the Hudson River. Why does not some of our active young politicians- take this matter in hand and urge upon the Legislature at Albany the appointment of a commission to take this whole matter into consideration, and arrange the details for the consolidation of the twin cities ? CONSOLIDATING. Last October, in endeavoring to forecast the course of speculation, we pointed out the obvious tendency among railwity companies toward consoli¬ dation. In several articles we explainedtliat the spec¬ ulators were wise in not advancing the price of stand- ard.divideud-paying railway ihares; that little mon¬ ey was to be made in investing in high-priced stocks. The reason lor this, as we pointed out, was in the unifying of our railway system, the smaller roads, being bought up, leased or in some way incorpor¬ ated into the system of which the Trunk lines were the main stems. Certainly the course of the market has justified our vaticinations. New York Central, Pennsylvania Central, Rock Island and the other standard companies, while they have advan¬ cing in price, have by no means kept pace with Iron Mountain, Kansas and Texas, Kansas Pacific or the Louisville & Nashville railroad stock. During the past week it haa come to light that there is a virtual consolidation between the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific, while it has also been made public that the whole railway system of the South has been incorporated into one gigantic corporation. We alluded to this tendency as being inevitable and, on the whole, of a benefit to the public. It is better for the business and travelling public to deal with one rather than a dozen different corporations. The only persons who will really suffer in the end are those who bought the main Trunk lines at very high figures. While the whole railway system will be vivified by being made part of one great body, the special advantages of certain lines of travel as an investment tor prudent capitalists will have been lost. In the next great panic we must expect to see New York Central and Rock Island go through some of the samo experiences that the coal stocks and the Pennsylvania Central did during the last few years. Of course, we do not advise any one to buy the cheaper railway shares. We believe to-day that real estate, well located, is the wisest in¬ vestment and we soon expect to see vast sums of money directed into the real estate market. The people who are now enlarging their bank account by dealing in the once cheap railway shares will be putting their surplus into houses and lots and buainess property upon New York Island. The tide is only beginning to rise aud investors would do well to take advantage of the many circumstances which even now tend to keep real pi-operty below the value it will reach before two years are over. THE ANNEXED DISTRICT. THE CONDITIONS PRECEDENT TO A SUBSTANTIAL IN- CEEASE OF VALUES—THE LAY OF THE LAND—MAG¬ NIFICENT FUTURE OF THE TWO WARDS, PROVIDED CERTAIN WORK IS DONE. It was during Mr. Wm. R. Martin's adminis¬ tration of the Park Department that official attention was first fixed upon the Twenty-third and fourth Wards, shortly after they had been annexed to the city. The then President of the Department went carefully over the ground of , the entire district, studied its requirements and ever since has taken a deep interest in the devel¬ opment of that section. In a conversation recently had with Mr. Martin on this subject he said: " The entire region comprised in the annexed dis¬ trict (Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards) is as large as Manhattan Island and presents also a larger variety of features.* The section along the Hudson, from Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers, has very fine elevations, and the slopes of the hills there will afford places for terrace upon terrace of elegant villa residences. East of this, north of Fordham, the land is of the same character, the elevation here is also very fine, but it lacks the river view so attractive for villas. South of this, from the Harlem to the Bronx River, with the exception of two ridges, one on each side of the Harlem Railroad, the land is level and well adapted for city occupation, and will soon till up with a population that will build houses on single lots. In the lower section again, on Fordham Heights, along the Harlem River, there are very fine elevations, and the ground there is adapted for suburban villas." " In 1875 I found that plans were far advanced for parallel, rectangular streets, by bringing the hills down'to a level and by filling up the valleys. While this plan was practicable in the land around Morrisania, it was impracticable in the morf^ elevated regions. The estimates which I procured were the first that had been made, and I found that the cost of the construc¬ tion of that system would have been about double the value of the land. That is to say, a man with $100,0G0 in land would have had to spend $200,000 in assessments before he could bring it into use. This argument convinced, property owners generally, and I succeeded in setting aside the old plan and adopted a new one for all the region north of Morrisania, which had been laid out previously. The characteristics of this new plan were that this country of high eleva¬ tions and steep declivities should not be subjected