3. (Train 51 passes 11:30a; No. 3, 12:02p;
No. 41, 4:12p; No. 25, 5:44p; No. 19, 8:53p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes
6:00a; No. 26, 6:32a; No. 16, 12:27p; No. 22, 2:07p.)

Rensselaer, originally called Greenbush, lies directly across from
Albany. It was first settled in 1631 and the site formed part of a large
tract of land bought from the Indians by agents of Killiaen Van
Rensselaer. On the lower edge of the town Ft. Cralo,* built in 1642 for
protection against the Indians, still stands; the fort has a special
interest in being connected with the origin of Yankee Doodle.

Some writers claim that Cralo is the oldest fort still preserved
in the U.S. Its white oak beams are said to be 18 inches square;
its walls are 2 to 3 ft. thick, and some of the old portholes
still remain. According to tradition there were once secret
passages connecting the fort with the river. About 1770, during
the French and Indian Wars, Maj. James Abercrombie had his
headquarters here.

Yankee Doodle is said to have been composed at the fort by Dr.
Schuckburgh, a British surgeon, as a satire on the provincial
troops, who did not show to advantage among the smartly dressed
British soldiers. The Yankees, however, adopted the words and the
tune, and less than 20 years later the captured soldiers of
Burgoyne marched behind the lines of the victorious Continentals
to the same melody.

[Illustration: Albany from Van Rensselaer Island in 1831]

ALBANY TO SYRACUSE

142 M. ALBANY, Pop. 113,344. (Train 51 passes 11:32a; No, 3, 12:05p; No.
41, 4:15p; No. 25, 5:46p; No. 19, 8:55p. Eastbound: No. 6 passes 5:58a;
No. 26,6:30a; No. 16, 12:25p; No. 22, 2:05p.)

Across the river from Rensselaer on sharply mounting hills is the city
of Albany. We cross the river by a suspension bridge, passing over
Rensselaer Island and seeing ahead of us the handsome new freight houses
of the D. & H.R.R., and to right and left the boats of the Hudson River
Steamship lines lying against the wharves. Once over the bridge the
tracks swerve to the right, and soon lead into the Union Station.

Almost under the shadow of the present Capitol, on a meadow to the
north, Ft. Orange was built in 1624, when 18 families of Dutch Walloons
selected this site for a permanent settlement in the New World. The
history of Albany, however is usually dated from ten years earlier when
Dutch traders built