Panorama of Riker's Island, N.Y.

SUMMARY
The film was photographed from a boat going around Riker's Island. Located on the East River north of Hell Gate between the Bronx and Queens, Riker's Island was the site of a massive New York City landfill operation at the time of the filming (originally eighty-seven acres, by 1939 the size of the island had increased to four hundred acres). The film includes scenes of heavy equipment at work, including pile drivers constructing the seawall and steam shovels unloading rubbish from barges. On one of the steam shovels, a sign reading "Water Front Improvement Co., 220 Broadway, New York" can be distinguished [Frame: 3502]. Near the end of the film, a narrow-gauge steam engine with five open cars loaded with landfill, comes into view [3826]. The island is currently the site of a New York City penitentiary.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1903.

NOTES
Copyright: Thomas A. Edison; 20May1903; H32031.
Camera, Edwin S. Porter.
Photographed May 9, 1903. Location: East River, New York, N.Y.

SUBJECTS
Rikers Island (N.Y.)
Refuse and refuse disposal--New York (State)--New York.
Sanitary landfills--New York (State)--New York.
Waste disposal sites--New York (State)--New York.
Rivers--New York (State)--New York.
Islands--New York (State)--New York.
Barges--New York (State)--New York.
Narrow gauge railroads--New York (State)--New York.
Construction equipment--New York (State)--New York.
East River (N.Y.)
Actuality--Short.

RELATED NAMES
Porter, Edwin S., camera.
Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)

DIGITAL ID
lcmp002 m2a47683 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/lcmp002...