Coal, cement and blue-stone are the prominent industries of the city.  The cement works yield several million dollars annually and employ about two thousand men.  A million tons of coal enter the Hudson via the Port of Rondout from the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania every year.  Blue-stone also meets tide-water at this point, brought in from quarries throughout the country by rail or by truck.  The city of Kingston, the largest station on the West Shore between Weehawken and Albany, has admirable railroad facilities connecting with the Erie Railway at Goshen via the Wallkill Valley, and the Catskills via the Ulster & Delaware.  All roads centre at the Union Station and the Ulster & Delaware connects at Kingston Point with the Hudson River Day Line, also with the New York Central by ferry from Rhinebeck.

=To the Catskills.=—­The two principal routes to the Catskills are via Kingston and the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, and via Catskill Landing, the Catskill Mountain Railway and Otis Elevating Railway to the summit of the mountains.  It has occurred to the writer to divide the mountain section in two parts: 

=The Southern Catskills.=—­Kingston Point, where the steamer lands is indeed a picturesque portal to a picturesque journey.  The beautiful park at the landing presents the most beautiful frontage of any pleasure ground along the river.  Artistic pagodas located at effective points add greatly to the natural landscape effect, and excursionists via Day Line from Albany have a delightful spot for lunch and recreation while waiting for the return steamer.  In the busy months of mountain travel it is interesting to note the rush and hurry between the landing of the steamer and the departure of the train.  The “all aboard” is given, and as we stand on the rear platform a friend points north to a bluff near Kingston Point and says the Indian name is “Ponckhockie”—­signifying a burial ground.  The old redoubts of Kingston, on the left, were defenses used in early days against the Indians.

After leaving Kingston Union Depot, the most important station on the West Shore Railroad, and the terminus of the Wallkill Valley Railroad, we pass through Stony Hollow, eight miles from Rondout, where the traveler will note the stone tracks in the turnpike below, on the right side of the car, used by quarry wagons.  Crossing the Stony Hollow ravine, we reach West Hurley, nine miles from Rondout and 540 feet above the sea.

=The Overlook= commands an extensive view,—­with an area of 30,000 square miles, from the peaks of New Hampshire and the Green Mountains of Vermont to the hills of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  To the east the valley reaches away with its towns and villages to the blue hills of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and, through this beautiful valley, the Hudson for a hundred miles is reduced to a mere ribbon of light.  Woodstock, at the foot of the Overlook, is popular with summer visitors, and is a good starting point for the mountain outlook.