iff and other land sales, and it was the commonest
thing at such places to hear the closing words of the auctioneer: 'Last
call--going, going--gone--to John Jacob Astor.' At that time many large
estates were broken up, and among others, that of Aaron Burr was put
into the market, and speedily became the property of Mr. Astor. It
embraced a small suburban principality, whose mansion, 'Richmond Hill,'
was Burr's country-seat. The whole property is now in the heart of the
city and is worth millions, where once it brought thousands. Mr. Astor
boldly bought those wild lands, including swamps, rocky knolls, and
barren commons, which lay at waste from Canal street onward to
Bloomingdale, and while others affected to laugh at his judgment, the
correctness of that judgment is now quite apparent. A case similar in
character is that of the late eccentric Jonathan Hunt. This man, who had
accumulated a vast fortune South, was quite noted, a few years ago, for
his dashing land purchases in New-York, and his relatives actually
served on him a warrant _de lunatico inquirendo_, with a view of
preventing him from wasting his estate. Subsequently, however, it turned
out that these incessant purchases which had made him a leading man at
the Merchants' Exchange, and an object of distrust to his family, were
splendid operations. Poor Hunt's bid was subsequently refused by the
auctioneers, on the score of insanity, while the lots he bought on
Madison avenue and elsewhere, were, in fact, as speculations, superior
to the operations of the most sagacious speculators.

Astor's boldness increased with years. He bought government loans at a
time when other capitalists shrunk, and the price had run down to the
lowest mark. He bought claims against old estates--one of which paid an
enormous profit, and would have been accounted a splendid fortune of
itself--while the gradual increase of the city brought his waste lands
into demand; and the opening of the Erie Canal may be said to have at
one stroke added a million of dollars to the value of his estate.
Whatever was bought was held with determined grasp, however small the
prospect of advance. For instance, a friend of ours (now dead)
purchased, in company with Mr. Astor, two lots on Broadway, of which
they took separate deeds, and held for an advance. Year after year
passed by, but no advance appeared, while assessments were continually
made for city improvement. At the end of this period our friend ca