Transportation and the Location of Cities 209 
there is natural protection for ships, a protection which man has 
increased by port improvements. 
Some of the reasons why New York has grown great. New York, 
the ¢ gateway of America,” is a most impressive example of the way 
in which a great city grows up under the combined influence of a good 
harbor for ocean transportation, a rich hinterland full of energetic 
people, and easy routes of inland communication. The spacious and 
beautiful harbor is almost unexcelled in its natural advantages, but 
every year the national and city governments spend millions of dollars 
dredging deeper channels, and building new piers. 
The hinterland includes the factory cities of the North Atlantic 
coast, the coal fields of Pennsylvania, the grain fields of the northern 
Mississippi basin, the cattle ranches of the Middle West, and even the 
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F1a. 145. New York has the advantage of a fine harbor and a river that affords anchorage for 
sea-going vessels for fifteen miles from the mouth. It has the disadvantage of being on a long, 
narrow island, a situation which does not permit many lines of railway track to radiate from the 
rity. Note the tunnel which makes it possible to have through train service from New England 
to points west and south of New York.