[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] Thereupon John Henry, one of the chief members of the syndicate, acquired substantially the whole of the Point, and proceeded to organize the brick-making industry which has since become so extensive at Verplanck's. lie was tolerably successful from the start, and within a few years the brick yards of Verplanck's Point were yielding a large output and giving employment to numer-ous workmen. After the introduction of steamboats the river traffic between New York City and the villages of our county (in common with others along the Hudson) gradually became very animated, resulting in con-ditions of keen competition. " Before the construction of the rail-roads," says one of the contributors to Scharf's History,1 " Peek-skill was the depot from which from Westchester County for miles around, from a large portion of Putnam County, and even from Con-necticut, the farmers shipped their produce to New York City. Apples and other fruit, butter, potatoes, cattle, sheep, calves, live pigs, and dressed pork were the principal articles of shipment, and were re-ceived in such quantities as to give employment at one time, when this commerce was at its height, to six market-sloops, while three pas-senger steamboats also shared in the business." The early days on the river, when it furnished almost the only avenue of commerce, were full of life and bustle. Cornelius Vanderbilt for some years ran a boat between Peekskill and New York, and had quite a struggle for the mastery of the route.