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"Harlem Prison Site" Inspected October 15, 1914. W. J. Kiernan, Superintendent and Caretaker. This site consists of four farms lying one mile south of Wingdale village in the eastern section of Dutchess County on the Harlem Division of the New York Central railroad. These farms contain about 618 acres, about 200 of which are plow lands and the remainder pasture ranges and woods, the latter covering what was intended to be the watershed of the site. There are eight dwelling houses and each farm has a barn and other out buildings. One of the houses on the hill in the eastern section of the site was built of brick, the clay for which was taken from the site; this clay is said to be of good quality. The brick of this house, built (I was informed) more then 75 years ago, are still in good condition. The three farms in the eastern section of the site comprising about 250 acres have been occupied by tenants since their purchase by the State. These tenants kept stock and feed up the hay and other like products, thus preserving the fertility of the lands. They had a good crop this year of hay, potatoes, corn and grain. The western part of the site, known as the Wheeler farm of about 360 acres lying along the state road and the Harlem railroad, has been occupied during the present year as a branch of the Great Meadow Prison. On the day of my visit there were eleven prisoners and ten more were expected that evening. During the year to date there had been sixty different prisoners for various lengths of time; the average number was about 15. In 1913 twenty-three inmates from this prison were kept at this site doing work from July 7th to October. Neither during last year nor this has there been a single case of illness. The prisoners are housed in a two-story wooden building which had been fitted up by the contractor for the housing of laborers at the time construction of a prison plant on the site was in its initial stage. There is a large dormitory with cot beds, mattresses, blankets, white sheets, and pillows with slips, a dining or mess room, a kitchen, a store room, a refrigerator, and one or two other rooms not now in use. The water supply is piped from a spring on the hillside. An inmate cook has charge of the kitchen and another inmate does the general housework. Everything about the premises was clean and the sanitary conditions good. The stock on the farm consists of four work horses, thirty-two cows, twenty-nine of them milk, two bulls, twelve calves, and eight pigs. The cows are mostly high grade Jerseys. The milk is consumed by the prisoners and employees, and what they do not use is fed to the calves and pigs. No arrangement has yet been made to supply any other institution. The products of the farm this year were about as follows: Hay; 150 tons; ensilage corn, 75 tons; potatoes, 2,500 to 3,000 bushels (from about 14 acres), 2 ½ acres not yet dug; field corn, 400 to 500 bushels from 4 ½ acres; sweet corn, 2 1/2; picked apples, 25 barrels; cider apples, 100 bushels; onions, 40 bushels; and large quantities of garden vegetables. The superintendent has shipped form the new crop 1,490 bushels of potatoes and 13 bushels of onions to Great Meadow prison, and 20 tons of hay to Clinton prison. Last winter he shipped 35 tons of hay to Great Meadow prison and 55 tons to Clinton prison. Some of the potatoes and some of the corn was raised this season on the lower end of the big meadow near the railroad. The product of this farm could be greatly increased if there were more prisoners, more work horses, and a better equipment of farm tools.
Respectfully submitted,
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