Ex ICtbrtB 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 When you leave, please leave this hook 
 
 Because it has heen said 
 "Ever thing comes t' him who waits 
 
 Except a loaned hook." 
 
 OH' — f SI £ y: 5<* 
 
 Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library 
 
4 
 
 N. Y, Academy 
 Of Sciences 
 
[D0CU3IENT NO. 61] 
 
 City Hall, Novembpr 10, 1832. 
 
 At a meeting of the Joint Committees on Fire and Water, hel$ 
 if) the room of the Board of Assistants, it was 
 
 Resolved, That Colonel De Witt Clinton be requested and au- 
 thorised to proceed and examine the continuation of the route 
 from Chatterton Hill, near White Plains, to Croton River, or such 
 other sources in that vicinity from which he may suppose that an 
 inexhaustible supply of pure and wholesome water for the city of 
 New- York may be obtained ; also, his opinion of the best mode of 
 conducting the same to the city, and the probable expense as well 
 as the practicability of bringing the water across Harlaem River, 
 and the most suitable point where the same shall be, and the best 
 mode of doing it, and that he be authorised to employ two assis- 
 tants to aid him in the undertaking. 
 
 JAMES PALMER, Chairman, 
 CHARLES HENRY HALL, 
 WILLIAM MANDEVILLE. 
 GEORGE W. BRUEN, 
 PETER S. TITUS, 
 DENIS M'CARTHY. 
 
 At a meeting of the Committee on Fire~and Water, Dec. 22, 
 1832, the following report was received from Colonel De Witt 
 Clinton, and five hundred copies were directed to be printed. 
 
To Alderman James Palmer, 
 
 Chairman of the Committee on subjects relating 
 to Fire and Water, ' 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I fully concur with your Committee on the practicability 
 of obtaining for the city, a copious and inexhaustible supply of 
 pure and wholesome water, at a reasonable expense, when com- 
 pared with the utility and importance of the object. I therefore 
 submit, in compliance with your wishes, the following report on 
 that subject, embracing all matters connected either with its im- 
 portance or feasibility. 
 
 2. I must howevei, remark, that in presenting the results of my 
 labours and researches for the consideration of your Committee, 
 mv opinions are formed under great perplexities and doubts, arising 
 from the contradictory statements, and from the want of proper 
 surveys, the intricacy of the invesiications, and from the number 
 of plans that have been in contemplation, and from a wide differ- 
 ence of opinion among our fellow-citizens, on the proper source 
 to procure the water, and the manner and the route by which it 
 ought to be conducted to the city. I should therefore, under all 
 the circumstances, have declined the confidence of your Committee, 
 if I had not been cheered by a faint hope that my investigations, 
 in some small degree, might assist you in placing the question 
 fully before your constituents, in order to secure their cordial co- 
 operation in a work so essentially connected with their prosperity, 
 
 3. It is allowed by all, that the source from which the supply of 
 water ou^iit to be taken, should not only be equal to the present 
 consumption of the city, but in sufficient quantities to provide for 
 a dense and compact population over the whole island. Not that 
 it is proposed at this day to construct works of sufficient capacity 
 
193 [Doc. No 61. 
 
 for that purpose, but so to arrange the plan as to admit of its ex. 
 tension with the increase of population, revenue and demands of 
 the city. 
 
 4. It is evident that if our prosperity, as a nation and a state, 
 should continue uninterrupted, and our country augmenting in 
 wealth, and in population, in the same ratio as during the last fifty 
 years, sixty years will not elapse from this period, before this island 
 will be inhabited by one million of souls. This remark will not 
 appear exaggerated, when we reflect that in 1697, this city con- 
 tained but four thousand three hundred and two persons ; that 
 Philadelphia, in 1800, exceeded it fifteen thousand; and at this 
 time, its population is more than two hundred and twenty thousand. 
 That the value of all kinds of property on the island, has increased 
 within the last year, over twenty millions of dollars ; and that it is 
 now assessed at one hundred and forty-five millions of dollars ; 
 and that it is only since 1800, that New York has been ranked the 
 first commercial emporium of the country. 
 
 5. If this city has been so eminently prosperous in the last few 
 years, what greater augmentation of her wealth and extent may 
 not be reasonably anticipated, from the enterprize of her merchants, 
 the skill of her mariners, the ingenuity of her manufacturers, 
 the industry, patriotism and economy of her citizens ; and also 
 from the facilities, cheapness and despatch which tiie various ave- 
 nues of inter-communication, natural and artificial, in the different 
 states, have opened to her, and in the completion of new channels 
 of communication ; many of them in progress, and others in con- 
 templation, tending to unite her more permanently, and more 
 advantageously, with all parts of our improving and diversified 
 country. 
 
 6. With such evidence of an augmenting and multiplying 
 wealth and population in the increase of her ships, her manufac- 
 tories, and the permanency and splendour of her public and 
 private dwellings ; and with the most conclusive evidence from 
 her geographical position, and her proximity to the ocean, and 
 the security of her harbour, that she must be to this country, what 
 London is to England. It must not only be a matter of surprise 
 and of profound regret, that she is destitute of a supply of good 
 and wholesome water, and that there should exist any hesitation 
 to grant her power to obtain an element so essentially connected 
 with the prosperity, health and comfort of her citizens. 
 
Doc. No, 61.] 
 
 194 
 
 7. But why lias this important measure been so long delayed b^ 
 the city ? Will it he found in the opposition of our fellow-citizens ? 
 It is believed not, as it is said a large majority of them are in fa- 
 vor of the introduction of water ; but then, why has all former 
 efforts of the city authorites been unsuccessful ? Is it not owing 
 to causes over which they have no control ; from an extraneous 
 but powerful influence, which uot only exerts itself in this wide 
 community, but in our legislative halls ; from the powers and im- 
 munities granted to the Manhattan Company ; and from the di- 
 versity of opinion among the friends of the measure on the 
 supply of water, the plan of the work, and the expense of the 
 undertaking ? 
 
 8 In 1799, a Company was incorporated, styled the New- York 
 Manhattan Water Works, with a view to supply the City with pure 
 and wholesome water. The Capital of the Company is over two 
 millions of dollars ; the Charter is perpetual, granting the Com- 
 pany the control over the Streams and Springs on the Island of 
 New-York and the County of West Chester J for the above ob- 
 jects. It must, however, be recollected, that when the Charter 
 was granted, that the population of the City was a little over 
 sixty thousand persons ; that the year previous, the Yellow Fever 
 had visited the City with all its horrors and virulence, and the 
 minds of all were filled under their calamities with great dread j 
 that the Corporation evinced no disposition to embark in the 
 work, and the character of the Well Water was generally good. 
 It was also supposed, that good water could be procured from the 
 Bronx, within a distance of twelve miles of the Old City Hall, for 
 $200,000, and the supposed consumption of the City was 300,000 
 gallons. We are now, however, informed by the Water Com- 
 mittee, in their Report of 1831, That the Manhattan Company, 
 u have been more intent in making money by their banking op- 
 erations, than accomplishing the avowed objects of their Charter 
 and have left the City totally unsupplied with Water, which can 
 be called pure and wholesome, and over four fifths of the paved 
 parts of the City, without any supply whatsoever." With their 
 Report, they give the following Analysis of the Manhattan Wa- 
 ter, " By which it will appear, it is unfit for the use of Man." 
 
 9 One wine quart was slowly evaporated to dryness. The 
 dryness weighed 31.45 grains, equal to 125.80 solid matter in the 
 gallon, consisting 
 
195 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 Of Muriate of Soda, - - - 45.20 
 
 " Muriate of Magnesia, - 40.00 
 u Sulphate, of Magnesia, - - 6.00 
 
 " Carbonate of Lime, with a little Carb. of Mag. 12.80 
 " Sulphate of Lime, - - - 4.00 
 
 " Extractive matter combined with water, 17.80 
 
 Mass in a gallon of water, - - 125.80 
 
 10. The works of the Manhattan Company consists of a Welt 
 in Cross-street, twenty-five feet in diameter, and two Steam En- 
 gines of eighteen horse power each ; a Reservoir on Chambers- 
 street, and one or two small wooden Reservoirs. In a Circular, 
 signed by John Lozier, Esq. in 1 823, he states, that the Steam 
 Engines work sixteen hours in the day, and raise in twenty four 
 hours, 691,200 gallons, which is more than one fifth greater than 
 the capacity of the Reservoir ; that twenty-five miles of pipes 
 were then down, and the Company supplied two thousand houses,, 
 excluding manufactories, &c. He also remarks, " That the wa- 
 ter was pumped very clear from the Well, and the Reservoirs so 
 constructed with Strainers, that impurities of any kind, cannot 
 pass into the pipe of Conduit." That the Company had not ex= 
 pended less than $400,000 in constructing the Works, and that 
 the Well from which the water is obtained, was the Old Tea Wa- 
 ter Pump, and was called Tea Water, and was considered the 
 best on the Island. 
 
 11. The Manhattan Company since 1823, have employed Mr. 
 Dinsbrow to construct a Well, near the corner of Bleecker-street 
 and Broadway ; its diameter is eight inches, and its depth is four 
 hundred and forty-two feet. 
 
 12. The conclusions which we can draw from Mr. Lozier's 
 Circular in 1823, are these,— That the Manhattan Reservoir 
 on Chambers-street, does not contain a quantity equal to the daily 
 consumption, or it is five times filled and emptied in every twen- 
 ty-four hours, and the water when distributed for use, is in the 
 same state as the water in the pumps and well ! That the Com- 
 pany have, on an average, laid one mile of pipe, mostly of wood, 
 every year since its incorporation to 1823, and that the best pump 
 water on the Island, by having a dense population collected 
 around its sources, has lost its goodness 7 and now contains foreign 
 matter destructive to health. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 DIG 
 
 13. The Manhattan Water Company have, however, the ability 
 from their Charter, if not fo defeat, at least to procrastinate ihe 
 introduction of water by the City for many years. A contention 
 with that Company, may, therefore, result in a vexati »us suit, 
 and defer the accomplishment of a measure so materially blended 
 with the welfare of our fellow citizens for years, and be destruc- 
 tive to the prosperity of the Ci^y. But this subject is peculiarly 
 the care of your Committee, and your views when once expressed, 
 ought to guide the opinions of our joint < ity Council, and your 
 determination in this matter ought to be well considered, and then 
 followed up with energy, as it must rest with you to decide whe- 
 ther you will recommend coercive measures, or amicably adjust 
 the difficulties, and cordially co-operate with tliat institution to 
 secure the accomplishment of the subject of our investigations. 
 
 14. In 1823, the Legislature of New-York incorporated the 
 Sharon Canal Company, with the power to make a Canal from 
 the western boundary of the State of Connecticut to the City of 
 New- York. The grant secures to the Canal Company all the 
 water on its route for the use of its works, and to supply the City 
 with pure and wholesome water. 
 
 15. The route of the Sharon Canal commenced in the State of 
 Connecticut, at the junction of the Oblong River, with a small 
 stream, which flows from the Mudge and other ponds. It followed 
 the course of the Oblong River to the town of Dover, descending 
 thirty-two feet below the starting point ; it then entered the val- 
 ley of Swamp River, and passed through the towns of Pauling, 
 Patterson, and southeast to Crawford's Mill, on the east branch of 
 the Croton River. The length of this part of the route is forty 
 miles, and the fall from the dividing ridge, between the Croton 
 and (he Ten Mile River is fifty-six feet ; making a total fall from 
 the starting point of eighty-eight feet. 
 
 16. On the Sharon Canal Level, the greatest depth of cutting 
 between the Ten Mile River and the Croton Valley, is fourteen 
 feet, which extends for one hundred rods. The country is flat, 
 and it would require a distance of one and a half mile before the 
 level of the Canal would be entirely free of digging between the 
 vallies. The level of the Canal, however, determines the fact, 
 that the Oblong River may be turned into the valley of the Cro- 
 ton. 
 
197 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 17. From Crawford's Mills the route followed the north bank 
 of the Croton River, and within one hundred rods of Sodom Cor- 
 ners it crossed that river in an aqueduct to the south bank. From 
 thence it continues in a southwesterly course on the level of the 
 Aqueduct to North Salem on Titicus River; then to South Salem 
 Academy, and to Cross River Village, and down the valley of 
 Cross River to Governor Jay's, and then to, or near North Castle 
 Corners ; it then crossed over into Mill and Saw-Mill Rivers, and 
 enteied the valley of the Bronx, and passed by West Farms, and 
 maintained an elevation of ninety-seven feet above tide, within 
 one mile of Macomb's Dam. 
 
 18. Crawford's Mills, on the east branch of the Croton, is fifty- 
 two miles from Macomb's Dam, and is four hundred and eight 
 feet above it The greatest obstructions appear to be on the part 
 of the route between the head of the Saw Mill River and Craw- 
 ford's Mills, and between that point and the Titicus River. On 
 the route surveyed by Mr. Young, there are two Tunnels — the 
 first is thirteen hundred and twenty yards in length, and the ridge 
 is fifty four feet above it ; the second is seventeen hundred and 
 sixty yards long, and the hill is eighty four feet above its level. 
 From Crawford's Mill the Canal is continued on a level for thirty 
 miles, until it has passed into the valley of the Saw Mill River. 
 Mr. Young estimated the expense of constructing the Canal be- 
 tween the Mills and the Harlem River, at §965.862, or $18,575 
 per mile. The dimensions of the work were twenty-eight feet 
 bottom, water line forty feet, and the depth of water four feet. 
 If this survey is to be considered accurate, it demonstrates the 
 practicability of uniting the east branch of the Croton, the Titicus 
 and Cross River, and Beaver Brook, and the upper branches of 
 the Ciscoe Brook with the Saw Mill Valley, but at a great ex- 
 pense, and under great difficulty in execution. But this subject 
 will be again examined, when I consider the supply of water. 
 
 19. In 1825, a new Company was incorporated, styled the New- 
 York Water Works, with powers to supply the City of New York 
 with pure and wholesome water from the County of West Ches- 
 ter. In 1826, a report was made, and a plan submitted by Can- 
 vass White, Esq. Civil Engineer to the then Board of Directors ; but 
 owing to the difficulties in which the Company was placed by the 
 opposition of the Sharon Canal, and the Manhattan Company ? 
 nothing was done, and the Company voluntarily gave up their 
 grant, which by its own duration would have expired this year, 
 
Doe. No. 6 1. J 
 
 198 
 
 20. In 1 827, t^e Legislature incorporated a fourth Company, 
 styled the New- York Well Company. The water was to be pro- 
 cured on the Island, by sinking wells on the most elevated 
 grounds. The Company made several attempts to procure water, 
 but being satisfied by their experiments of the impractibility of 
 the undertaking, the concern fell through. 
 
 21. Having shown all the Companies that have been legally 
 authorized by law, and the condition of the Manhattan Works, 
 and their defects ; I now turn with pleasure to the description of 
 a work, that does the City and its projectors much and deserved 
 credit ; T allude to the City Reservoir in Thirteenth-street. 
 
 22. The diameter of the Well from which the water is procured 
 is sixteen feet ; its depth is one hundred and twelve feet — ninety- 
 seven of which is excavated in solid rock ; its bottom is sixty two 
 feet below common high tide. On the East side and within 
 twelve feet of the bottom of the well, there is a horizontal passage 
 which extends into the rock seventy five feet, it is four feet wide 
 and six feet high ; on the west side there is a similar passage se- 
 venty-five feet long, and with a branch twenty-five feet. They 
 are both four by six feet The object of these horizontal excava- 
 tions was to increase the quantity of water, and to provide room to 
 store it, in case of any sudden or unexpected demand being made 
 on the yield of the well. The water rises in the well to within 
 twelve feet of the surface of the ground, and it contains, with its 
 horizontal passages, 175,150 gallons. 
 
 23. From the well the water is raised by a steam engine of 
 twelve horse power, into an iron tank in a building of an octago- 
 nal form. The bottom of the tank is eighty-three and a half feet 
 above tide. It is forty-four feet in diameter, is twenty and a half 
 feet high, and will contain 233,169 gallons. From the tank the 
 water is conducted into the mains by curved pipes of twenty in- 
 ches diameter. 
 
 24. The cost of these works appears to be, from a statement 
 made to me by Mr. Wenman the late superintendant, as follows. 
 Cost of eleven lots of ground on which the works stand, .$12,250 
 Tank, $4,200. Building for tank, ,$5,041. } 
 
 Foundation of building and well, $1,377* > 15,033 
 
 Foundation of tank including arching, $4,415. j 
 Excavating well and passages, - 9,000 
 
 Steam engine and fixtures, $5,250. Building over ) ~ Q - n 
 steam engine, $700. - - > D,yDU 
 
 Total cost of works. 
 
 $42,233 
 
199 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 25. Since the purchase of the lots on which the buildings stand, 
 real estate in that part of our City has very much increased in va- 
 lue. Mr. Wen man states, that the value of the eleven lots is now 
 equal to $20,000, which would make the present value of the 
 works $49,983. 
 
 26. The annual expense of keeping the above works in repair 
 and in operation will be equal to the investment of a capital of 
 #53,000, drawing an interest of five per cent ; as will appear by 
 the following calculation. 
 
 The Salary of an .Engineer and Firemen for 12 months, $ 960 
 Fuel of Engine, oiling, picking, and packing same, 1,368 
 Averaged annual decay of boiler, - 354 
 Averaged annual decay of balance of machinery, - 383 
 Contingent expenses, - - - - 100 
 
 Total annual expense, $3,1 65 
 
 27. It therefore appears that the total averaged expense of 
 building the reservoir, and maintaining the works and keeping 
 them in repair, is equal to an actual expenditure of a capital of 
 $113,283. 
 
 28. From a statement now before me, it appears, that the City 
 has laid the following extent of pipes. 
 
 Pipes twenty inch diameter, connecting bottom of tank with the 
 mains in Thirteenth-street, 80 feet cost $600. 
 
 Pipes twelve inches diameter, commencing in Thirteenth-street, 
 to Third Avenue down to Bowery, Chatham and Pearl and Wil- 
 liam street, and between William and Stone Streets, 20,194 feet, 
 cost $46,546. 
 
 Pipes ten inches diameter, from Grand-street to Broadway and 
 Bowery, from Bowery to Houston, to Bedford, through Bedford 
 to Christopher ; also from Chatham to East Broadway, and 
 through East Broadway to Sheriff, making a length of 10,232 
 feet, the cost is $18,746. 
 
 Pipes six inches diameter, from Bowery to Delancey and to 
 Cannon, making 4,220 feet in length, the cost is $4,960. 
 
 20. The aggregate lengths of the pipes is thirty-four thousand 
 seven hundred and twenty-six feet, and the cost is seventy thousand 
 nine hundred and fifty dollars, or two dollars, four and a half cents 
 per foot as the mean cost of the whole. 
 
 2 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 200 
 
 30. It also appears that the following quantity has been ordered 
 by the city, and delivered, but not laid, viz : — 
 
 For the Broadway line, Hudson and Chambers-street, twelve 
 inch diameter, nine thousand four hundred and sixty -four feet 
 cost eighteen thousand one hundred and seven dollars. 
 
 For Stanton-street, two thousand two hundred and one feet cost 
 one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine dollars, ten inches 
 diameter. 
 
 For Sheriff-street, seven hundred and seventy-five feet cost six 
 hundred and thirty-four dollars, six inches diameter. 
 
 31. The pipes which are laid in the city, are in pieces of nine 
 feet length : the lap of the pipe is six inches, or when laid, one 
 piece enters the other six inches, and makes each length of pipe, 
 when laid, equal to eight and a half feet: the joints or laps are 
 soldered with lead, &c. they are laid four feet deep in the ground. 
 
 32. The following table will show the expense of laying pipes 
 of different dimensions — the quantity of lead used — the cost of 
 ditching and covering — the expense of melting lead — and the 
 cost per foot of pipes, as ascertained from Mr. Wenman, the late 
 Superintendent; when the pipes are curved, an additional allow- 
 ance is made for casting them ; curved pipes are frequently neces- 
 sary to avoid vaults, wells, drains, &c. 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 Diameter of 
 Pipes. 
 
 Cost of Pipe 
 per foot. 
 
 Pounds of 
 lead required 
 for each joint. 
 
 Cost of Ditch- 
 ing, Unpaving 
 and Repaving 
 &c. of streets, 
 per foot 
 
 Cost of Fuel 
 for Lead, per 
 mile. 
 
 Cost of one 
 mile of Pipe. 
 
 12 inches. 
 
 $1 57 
 
 20 
 
 28 
 
 10 00 
 
 $11,345 67 
 
 10 do. 
 
 1 38 to 
 
 16 
 
 23 
 
 9 50 
 
 8,997 29 
 
 
 1 50 
 
 
 
 
 6 do. 
 
 80 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 6 00 
 
 5,253 76 
 
 4 do. 
 
 50 
 
 7 1-2 
 
 13 
 
 5 00 
 
 3,759 15 
 
 20 do. 
 
 4 08 
 
 79 
 
 56 
 
 43 50 
 
 27,295 65 
 
 33. Stop valves are necessary in case of any derangement of 
 the pipes or leakage ; there ought not to be less than five in the 
 mile. Fire Plugs are also necessary, and also branch pipes from 
 the mains, and on the cross-streets, will occasion an additional' ex- 
 pense. In the table they are divided into double and single 
 branches ; there are also branches leading the water into the fire 
 plugs, and bonnets at the ends of the pipes ; to prevent the dis- 
 charge of water. The following Table embraces all those items 
 and their cost. 
 
201 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 5 
 
 The Plugs each 
 Extra Pipe 
 
 $28 50 
 11 48 
 
 f Total Cost $39 98 
 
 h leading I 
 re Plugs. | 
 
 Extra cost of 
 each Branch 
 
 Dols. Cts. 
 
 GO 
 GN CO 
 
 
 Diameter 
 of Pipe. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 9 by 4 
 6 by 4 
 
 
 
 
 OO OO K 
 CO CO CO 
 
 nnets. 
 
 Cost 
 
 Dols. 
 
 rH rH 
 
 Bo\ 
 
 Diameter 
 of Pipe. 
 
 £ 
 
 3 
 _c 
 
 CN O <© 
 »H r- ( 
 
 inch Pipes. 
 
 Extra cost of 
 each Branch 
 
 Dols. Cts. 
 
 K'J HO 
 CO 'O |>- O 
 
 cjo<o© 
 
 I— 1 rH 
 
 
 
 
 I Single Brc 
 
 Diameter of 
 Branches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 (NOOK! 
 
 -O -O -Q -Q 
 
 GN © O CO 
 
 -H i— 1 rH rH 
 
 i 
 
 Extra cost of 
 each Branch 
 
 Dols. Cts. 
 
 OO rf CO 
 CO i-i i>- t>- CO «-H 
 
 (N " M H M 
 
 Double Brai 
 
 Diameter of 
 Branches. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 N N N OOO 
 rH 1-1 r- rH 
 
 -Q -Q J ,0 -O. ^ 
 
 CM O O O O O 
 
 1— i 1 H H 
 
 8 
 
 Cost of 
 each Valve. 
 
 Dols. Cts. | 
 
 111 19 
 
 94 19 
 61 19 
 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Diamel 
 of Pip< 
 
 QQ 
 
 0* 
 
 -a 
 
 u 
 a 
 
 <N o <o 
 
 r-l rH 
 
 
 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 202 
 
 34. My object in thus presenting the expense of laying pipes 
 is with a view to remove any doubts of the practical part of that 
 operation, and to show that the expense is not so great as mnny 
 persons suppose. It is also proper to observe, that by an experi- 
 ment which lias been made, that the water from the City Reser- 
 voir can be thrown from the fire plugs over the bouses in any 
 of the lower parts of the city, or south of the reservoir, or in its 
 vicinity; and Mr. Wenman in a communication, says, " The 
 effect and advantages of the City Reservoir, bas already been 
 seen and acknowledged by our citizens, in the stopping of fires, 
 and in the saving of property. I may venture to say, that the few 
 pipes already down has been the means of saving more property 
 than the whole amount of expenditures on the^ reservoir and the 
 works attached thereto." 
 
 35. It is well known to all, that our city and county is situated 
 on an Island surrounded by salt water. On the east it is bounded 
 by the East River, and on the west by the Hudson. Those 
 streams unite at its extreme southern point, tfie Battery. It is se- 
 parated from West Chester by the Harlem River, through which 
 the tides ebb and flow. The greatest length of the island, as 
 measured on the plan of the city, from the Battery to Macomb's 
 Mill at Kingsbridge, is 71,700 feet, or 13 miles 1,7^0 feet, and a 
 mean of fourteen transversal measurements gives an average 
 breadth of 8,500 feet, or 1 mile 3,220 feet. ' The greatest breadth 
 is on the line of 88th street, and is 12,200 feet, and the least is at 
 15. r >th-street, and is 3,200 feet. The area of the island is about 
 1 4,000 acres. 
 
 36 The outline of the Island is not more irregular than its sur- 
 face. The ground within two miles of Kingsbridge, at Fort 
 Washington, and on the line of 183d-street is the most elevated. 
 It is a source of much regret, that the elevations of that part of 
 the Island have not been ascertained. From my own investiga- 
 tions, I am satisfied that the highest lands on the Island bolder on 
 the Hudson, and are in the vicinity of the Tenth Avenue. The fol- 
 lowing Table contains the elevations of different parts of the City, 
 and are taken from the maps in the Street Commissioner's office; 
 they demonstrate the fact, that unless the works are taken to the 
 Tenth Avenue, there will be in the upper parts of the City sec- 
 tions of it which will be deprived of all participation in the bene- 
 fits which will arise from the introduction of water, unless it is 
 elevated by machinery to those parts of the Island. 
 
203 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 Jvenue No. 1 , 
 
 Avenue No. 3. 
 
 Avenue No. 5. 
 
 Avenue No. 8. 
 
 Avenue No. 10. 
 
 First 
 
 Column 
 
 First 
 
 Column 
 
 First 
 
 Column 
 
 First 
 
 Column 
 
 First Col. shows 
 
 shows the -treet 
 
 shows the street show s the Street shows the Street 
 
 the St. 
 
 or Point 
 
 or Point at whic h 
 
 or Point at which or Point at which or Point at which 
 
 at which the le- 
 
 the level istakeu. 
 
 the level is taken, the level was the level was 
 
 vel was taken. 
 
 The 2d Column 
 
 1 he 2d Column, taken. 
 
 The 2d taken. 
 
 The 2d 
 
 The 2d Col., the 
 
 th*> height above 
 tide water 
 
 thf height above Col , the height Col., the height 
 
 height above 
 
 tide waier. 
 
 above tide water, above tid** water 
 
 tide wafer. 
 
 Street. Feet. 
 
 Street 
 
 Feet \Street Feet. 
 
 Street Feet. [Street. Feet. 
 
 
 «i 
 
 12f 
 
 125 
 
 4 
 
 135 
 
 23 
 
 125 
 
 37 
 
 J 54 
 
 153 
 
 111 
 
 105 
 
 
 125 
 
 25|- 
 
 112 
 
 26 
 
 139 
 
 165 
 
 91 
 
 l6i 
 
 96 
 
 66^ 
 88! 
 
 122 
 
 103 
 
 105 
 
 130 
 
 132 
 
 85 
 
 84 
 
 66* 
 
 88 
 
 117 
 
 53^ 
 
 85 
 
 130| 
 
 123 
 
 50i 
 
 r« 
 
 Slf 
 
 77 
 
 53± 
 
 101 
 
 68 
 
 58 
 
 87| 
 
 117 
 
 146 
 
 68 
 
 671 
 
 67 
 
 100? 
 
 90 
 
 114 
 
 41 
 
 491 
 29| 
 
 105 
 
 103 
 
 57 
 
 613 
 
 57 
 
 513 
 
 70 
 
 88! 
 
 13 
 
 91 
 
 115 
 
 51 
 
 A( 3 
 
 38 
 
 47 4 
 
 51 
 
 84s 
 
 
 
 77 
 
 112 
 
 40 
 
 79 4 
 
 17 
 
 461 
 
 36 
 
 83| 
 44f 
 
 
 
 58 
 
 95 
 
 22 
 
 29 
 
 6 
 
 44| 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 57 
 
 North 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 
 The greatest elevation of the Fourth Avenue is one hundred 
 and seventeen feet above tide. At the intersection of 23d-street, 
 it is fourteen and a half feet. The highest ground on the Sixth 
 Avenue is one hundred and eleven and a half feet. The road at 
 Manhattanville is twenty-six feet. 
 
 37 It is evident from the Table, the general slope of the 
 Island is from the west to the east, and at points it is much broken 
 by insulated and connected ridges and hills, and that there is an 
 elevated range of high ground running from west to east, which 
 slopes towards the northern and the southern parts of the Island. 
 This fact is invaluable, as it will enable the Reservoirs to be so 
 located, as to command at an elevated head, the whole City. 
 
 38. The general character of the soil of this Island is open, 
 through which the rains that fall freely percolate. A small por- 
 tion of its area consists of salt marsh and exposed rock. It is, 
 however, commonly sand and gravel intermixed with pebbles and 
 loose rock, resting on a stratified mass of gneiss, which exists at 
 various depths, and at places appears on the surface. The depth 
 of soil has no regular uniformity, as ascertained by the boring of 
 Mr. Dinsbrow's. At the Well on Thirteenth-street it is fifteen 
 feet ; at Bleecker-street it is forty-eight feet ; at the Dry Dock it 
 is one hundred feet ; at Greenwich it is seventy feet ; at Wash- 
 ington Market, and at Crane's Distillery it is seventy-two feet, 
 We may, therefore, safely conclude, that in the lower Wards, the 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 soil is the deepest on the rivers, and the rock rises with the slope 
 of the island on both sides, until it nearly approaches the surface 
 of the ground in the lower wards. 
 
 39. It has been asserted by some, that the rock on which this 
 Island rests is in uniform strata, dipping almost perpendicularly ; 
 and by others, that it dips in all cases towards the west, and be- 
 comes gradually less inclined, and assumes a horizontal position. 
 Both of these theories, are in truth but the common deductions of 
 speculative geology, and apply only to the interior structure of our 
 globe, when considered as a whole. They cannot, therefore, be 
 properly applied to the internal arrangement of the rock on this 
 Island, as it is evident from an examination that the rock on the 
 surface has no uniformity in the angle of their ,dips, and in fact 
 the strata preserve no harmony in their arrangement, as some are 
 more inclined than others ; and in different parts of the Island 
 some incline to the south, and others to the west and the east. 
 The rock does not also exist in strata of an uniform thickness. 
 Take as an example, Mr. Dinsbrow's borings in Bleecker-street, 
 the layers of rock are from nine to sixteen feet in thickness. 
 
 40. Among the different plans proposed to supply the city with 
 water, is the one contemplated by Levi Dinsbrow. His scheme 
 is to perforate the rock by boring until good water is obtained, 
 and to exclude the bad by tubing. The water from the well to be 
 raised for distribution by steam engines, and also reserved for use 
 in a suitable reservoir. He, as I have before stated, has made 
 several perforations on the Island. The most important is the 
 one of the Manhattan Company on Bleecker-street. He has also 
 made several others varying from 250 to 72 feet in depth. 
 
 41. That such perforations, as contemplated by Mr. Dinsbrow, 
 will intersect veins and springs of water, which have their origin 
 on higher land, is no novelty. It is true r that this fact was acci- 
 dentally discovered by a common drainer in England many years 
 ago, who applied it to the drainage of lands. By this discovery 
 he realized a splendid fortune, and obtained great fame. His 
 whole theory consisted in the position and densities of the strata. 
 That the water in a porous stratam, being confined by denser 
 ones, and by penetrating through the compact layer would be re- 
 leased and come up to the surface in the form of a spring or jet. 
 
 42. That the plan of obtaining water in the above manner may 
 succeed on a small scale, and for the supply of families, and ma- 
 
205 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 nufactories, in which the quantity consumed is inconsiderable, is 
 not problematical, But when you extend the system, so as to 
 embrace a whole community, it presents a different aspect, and 
 becomes by the extent of the proposition, in the broad sense of 
 the word, an experiment of very doubtful character, and as such 
 1 1 propose to investigate it. 
 
 43. It is a fact that a perforation, if sufficiently deep, will pro- 
 duce water, and by tubing out the bad springs and veins, it may 
 be of excellent quality, soft, cool, and palatable. But it does not 
 follow as a necessary consequence, that the rush of water into the 
 well will be equal to the depth, as the water may be all bad, and 
 excluded, except one vein, or it may be the whole quantity enter- 
 ing may be good and fit for use. The diameter of the well in 
 Bleecker-street is 8 inches. The City reservoir well is 16 feet. 
 The first is 442 feet deep, and the latter 112 feet. 
 
 The well in Bleecker-street contains, - 1,154 gallons 
 " City Reservoir Well, - 175,150 " 
 
 Difference in capacity 373,996 
 It must be evident to all that the chances of meeting with wa- 
 ter, and augmenting its quantity, is increased by the extent of the 
 excavations, and if we compare the circumferences of the wells 
 together, we will find that the perimeter of the city well is twen- 
 ty-four times greater than the other. That the area of the circle 
 in the first case, is five hundred and seventy-eight more than the 
 other, and that the united area of the sides of the horizontal pas- 
 sages have sixty-two and a half chances of intersecting water, over 
 any difference in depths of the well. It is also generally asserted 
 as ti fact, that there are veins of water between each stratum of 
 rock. If this is so, it does not alter our position ; as there would 
 still remain all the chances of the greater excavation encountering 
 water, over the smaller one. 
 
 44. The Water Committee, in their report in 1831, state that 
 it would require two hundred similar perforations with' the city 
 well, to supply four millions of gallons. It would therefore require, 
 when this Island is densely inhabited, over one thousand wells to 
 supply one million of people. Those excavations would also pe- 
 netrate through the same rocky strata, and the water would be 
 drawn from the same sources. Ill such a number of deep wells, 
 supplied from the same interior fountains, have we any evidence 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 206 
 
 that their supply would be equal to the demand ; or, from the hi- 
 clioation of the rock, that the lower wells would not diain the more 
 elevated ones, or cut off their supply. This powerful and subtile 
 agent, originating in greater distance and on more elevated lands 
 than on this Island, may by some submarine convulsions of na- 
 ture, or by causes produced by its own power in its subterraneous 
 routes, be diverted from its present courses, and its virtues lost. 
 Also the numerous perforations, the constant suction of the pumps, 
 and the accumulation of inhabitants in the vicinity of the wells, 
 may completely change the character of the water, and what is 
 now good may become very bad. 
 
 45. There is one striking advantage in the city well over the 
 perforations proposed by Mr, Dinsbrow. That work is in fact a 
 reservoir in itself, and in which the water is storing while the ma- 
 chinery is at rest, while in the plan of the latter, it is necessary 
 that there should be a quantity of water entering, equal to the 
 daily consumption of the part of the city in which it was situated, 
 and would render it necessary that the engine should be in con- 
 stant operation during the twenty-four hours ; and as ti e princi- 
 pal consumption would be during the day, it is therefore evident, 
 that the capacity of his tanks would have to be greater by 163,096 
 gallons than the city well, if the perforation supplied a quantity 
 equal to that work. 
 
 46. I have no experiments of my own to show the quantity of 
 water a well or bore is capable of supplying in twenty-four hours 
 on this island. It is, however, certain that the quantity may vary 
 from local causes. The well on Thirteenth-street supplies 20,000 
 gallons. The one on Bleecker-street, Mr. Sullivan states, yields 
 44,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, u but it could be made to 
 supply 120,000 gallons, which would be equal to the necessary 
 supply for a ward." 
 
 47. It will be recollected that Mr. Dinsbrow's plan was to sup- 
 ply the city by a well and reservoir in each ward. It therefore 
 appears, that if each ward required 120,000 gallons, it would ren- 
 der it necessary, from the actual experiment made at the Bleeck- 
 er-street well, to have three wells of equal depth and yield, to 
 supply each ward ; and if we take the result of the city well, it 
 would require six of equal capacity to supply the demand. But 
 the question would naturally be asked, which of these experiments 
 are to be relied on. To solve it we must recollect, that the ex- 
 
207 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 periment made on the city well was by a steam engine of twelve 
 horse power ; and the water was not only raised from the well, 
 but deposited into the iron tank for distribution ; while in the lat- 
 ter experiment, the water was pumped from the perforation by a 
 six horse power engine, but not elevated, and for no considerable 
 space of time. 
 
 48 The city at this time, contains fifteen important wards, and 
 when this island is covered with houses, it will contain forty-eight 
 or forty-nine wards. The following calculation will show the ex- 
 pense that the city would be put to by adopting Mr. Dinsbrow's 
 plan, and providing the works should be as equally expensive as 
 the City Water Works. — 1st On the supposition that one well 
 would be sufficient for each ward : 
 
 } $ 719,745 
 
 Fifteen Wells, Steam Engines, Pumps, Reservoirs, 
 and houses at $49,983 each, 
 
 Maintaining fifteen Wells and Machinery, equal to ^ 
 
 an investment of a capital of $63,300 lor each, > 949,500 
 at 5 per cent. j 
 
 $1,769,245 
 
 On the second supposition that three wells will be necessary to 
 supply each ward. 
 
 Forty five Wells, &c. at $113,283. (Cost of ) 
 
 Wells and investment of capital for each > $ 5,097,735 
 
 work) . - - ) 
 
 On the third supposition that six works would be required by 
 each ward. 
 
 Ninety Wells &c. at $113,283 each, - $10,195,470 
 
 Now if we extend this calculation to the whole Island it would 
 stand : 
 
 On the first supposition — Forty-nine wards — Cost 
 
 of supplying same, - $5,437,584 
 
 On the second supposition — Forty -nine wards, 16,652,701 
 On the third supposition — Forty-nine wards, - 33,305,402 
 It is true, that by having the reservoirs so conveniently located 
 that something would be saved on the pipes and the mains. 
 There might also be something saved on the iron tanks and build 
 ings. The steam engines would be a constant source of annoy , 
 ance to the neighbourhood in which they were located. And ii 
 
 3 
 
J)oc. No. 61.] 208 
 
 must also be evident, that if the island consumed^ for all its uses, 
 with one million of inhabitants, 20,000,000 gallons of water, it 
 would require on the first supposition (well to yield 120,000 gal- 
 lons each) 167 Wells, which would cost, - Sl8,9l8,261 
 On the second supposition (44,000 gallons each well) 
 
 4j6 Wells, which would cost, - - $50,527,048 
 
 On the third supposition (well to yield 20,000 gallons 
 
 each) 1,000 Wells, which would cost, - $113,283,000 
 
 49. From the above remarks and calculations, it appears that 
 the result of the experiment is so doubtful, its expenses so great, 
 and the inconveniences which would result from it so many, thnt. 
 it would be unwise for the city to embark in the project. 
 
 50 At an earl} 7 period in the history of the £ity, it was found 
 that the well water was deteriorating in goodness. Mr. Weston in 
 an able report in 1799, notices this important fact, and at this day 
 it is too evident to be denied. I cannot, therefore, place this sub- 
 ject in a stronger light than to quote the words of a report made 
 to the Lyceum of Natural History in 1831, by several highly lite- 
 rary and scientific gentlemen. 
 
 51. " The sand bed of this Island may be regarded as a filter, 
 or sponge, which under ordinary circumstances, is filled with 
 fresh water from the atmosphere. If this spongy mass was itself 
 originally free from any mineral impregnations, and its surface al- 
 ways open, the water woula 1 of course remain pure for any definite 
 period, when this filter itself contains any foreign ingredients, 
 and the free transmission of pure water is prevented, its quality 
 must be impaired ; from actual data, the obstacles to the trans- 
 mission of water from the surface of dwellings and pavements, are 
 estimated to carry off to the river, nearly one half of the water 
 from the atmosphere. In the neighbourhood of large open squares, 
 it is constantly observed that the wells are more pure, but they 
 must sooner or later partake of the same deterioration. The 
 water in the immediate vicinity of the Park, although very im- 
 pure, is nevertheless of a better kind than that of more distant 
 wells, and we have been informed that the well of the Manhattan 
 Company is mostly supplied from that quarter. It has also been 
 observed, that wells in the Vicinity of grave yards, communicate 
 a ropy appearance, and the water of such wells, become in very 
 warm weather very offensive in the course of a few hours. If the 
 above tacts be well founded, we must naturally anticipate a dete- 
 
209 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 rioration of our waters pari passa with the increase of our City ; 
 and we accordingly, find this to be the case. Until the last few 
 years, the water on the most elevated ground in Broadway, 
 which are now supplied through the year with water carts from 
 the country, and in the direction of Laurens-street, we have been 
 informed that this foreign supply is required still further north of 
 Broome street. But we are now to allude to another cause, which 
 must greatly impair the purity of our waters, into the sand banks 
 underlaying our City, are daily deposited quantities of excremen- 
 titious matter, which were it not susceptible of demonstration, 
 would appear almost incredible ; with our present population, 
 there is put into the sand, about one hundred tons of excrement 
 in twenty-four hours. In these deposits, we may find all the in- 
 gredients detected by analysis, and which destroy the purity of 
 our waters. 
 
 fi The coldness of our pump water conceals the impurities 
 when swallowed ; this may be tested by allowing it to stand until 
 it acquires the ordinary summer temperature Its various ingre- 
 dients then become manifestly palpable. These impurities are 
 not caused by the additional heat, they exist at all times in the 
 water, their presence is only disguised for the moment by its 
 coldness, and its injurious properties are in no wise diminished. 
 
 "From whatever quarter the supply is obtained, it must be 
 from places beyond all possibility of ever being surrounded by a 
 dense population. It must also be secured in sufficient abund- 
 ance to provide for the wants, not only of the present, but future 
 generations." 
 
 52. I have been informed that the pump water is generally very 
 bad and deleterious in character, in a line from the Hudson River 
 to Spring-street, and from thence to the Bowery, to the Third 
 Avenue, and thence to Thirteenth-street and the East River In 
 the remaining parts of the city, it is generally indifferently good, 
 but ityis also annually losing its purity. 
 
 53. Many parts of the City are now supplied with water, brought 
 from the upper wards. On the East and the North River, in some 
 instances, it is pure, and in others its goodness is but little better 
 than the present well water. The tables of the wealthy are sup- 
 plied from this source, while our poorer classes have to resort to 
 such wells or pumps as are in their neighbourhood. I therefore 
 considered it important to ascertain what the present supply is : 
 
Doc. ]No, Gl.] 
 
 210 
 
 careful and minute inquiries were made, and the result was, tha* 
 there is now daily brought to the City by drays or water carts, 
 six hundred hogsheads, for which there is paid one dollar and 
 twenty-five cents, (or about two cents per gallon) for each hogs- 
 head, or $750 per day, or $273,730 per annum, for water from 
 that source. There is also much inconvenience in obtaining the 
 above supply, which frequently leads to an increased expense, and 
 difficulties in procuring it. The sum paid for water, is also an- 
 nually increasing, owing to Wells and Springs, which are now 
 pure, losing their goodness. It is also proper to remark, that our 
 City as it augments in population, the sources from which it is 
 now supplied, will also become impregnated with foreign matter, 
 which will render it necessary to resort to mote distant Springs, 
 w hich must very much increase the expense of providing water. 
 
 54. Many of our large hotels at this time, pay from $200 to 
 $450 annually, for water ; and our smaller classes of boarding 
 and private houses, pay from fifteen to fifty dollars for the same. 
 
 55. I am informed that our shipping are now principally sup- 
 plied with water, procured on Long-Island at Brooklyn, and a 
 small quantity from the Jersey shore and from Staten Island, and 
 some of the steam-boats and small coasting vessels, from the Man- 
 hattan Works and the Pumps and Springs on the Island. Other 
 coasting vessels and foreign packets and ships, provide themselves 
 with a sufficient quantity abroad, to serve them for the trip, and to 
 avoid the expense and detention of obtaining it in our harbour. 
 The daily averaged supply as ascertained from careful inquiries 
 from Brooklyn for three hundred and thirteen days, (no water is 
 delivered on Sunday,) is equal to three hundred and seventy five 
 hogsheads, (or 23,625 gallons.) On this there are two prices. 
 The first is thirty one cents per hogshead, when the water is de- 
 livered opposite to the City. The second is fifty cents, when it 
 is carried to vessels laying at the Quarantine. It is stated that 
 two-thirds of the quantity is delivered opposite to the harbour, 
 and the balance, one-third, is taken to the Quarantine. To the 
 above quantity is to be added the supplies delivered at our piers 
 and wharves This is supposed to be, from the best information I 
 can obtain, equal to forty hogsheads per day, and is probably be- 
 low the true amount. The following table will show the actual 
 quantity and cost of the same for a year. 
 
211 
 
 [Doc. No. 61, 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 ~ Ho 
 
 s-i Gallon? 
 
 >gS-i 
 
 heads de-jper day 
 Hvered 
 per day 
 
 Hogsheads 
 delivered 
 per year. 
 
 Gallons per 
 year. 
 
 Cost ot'i Amount 
 hogshead, paid per 
 Cents, day 
 
 I Dollars 
 
 Amount paid 
 per year. 
 Dollars. 
 
 250 
 125 
 40 
 415 
 
 15,750 
 7,749 
 2,520 
 
 26,019 
 
 78,250 
 39,125 
 12,520 
 
 129,895 
 
 4,929,750 
 2,464,875 
 788,760 
 8,183,395| 
 
 31 
 50 
 50 
 
 77 50 
 62 50 
 20 00 
 |160 00 
 
 24,257 50 
 19,562 50 
 6,260 00 
 
 50,080 00 
 
 56. Among the plans which have been urged on the City to 
 obtain a supply of water, is one from the Passaic River at Patter- 
 son, either above or below the falls. There is in possession of 
 your Committee, two memoirs on that subject, by John L. Sulli- 
 van, Esq, Civil Engineer ; also, an overture from Rosevvell Colt, 
 Esq. the governor of the Manufacturing Company, stating the 
 conditions and the price at which he was willing the City should 
 have the water, and a proposal from Francis E. Phelps, Esq. for 
 the construction of the works ; the water to be delivered through 
 twenty eight inch iron pipes for $1,932,263. The water, in his 
 proposals, was to be taken above the falls, and passed under the 
 Hudson River by pipes laid on its bed. But if we admit the 
 practicability of such a n undertaking, the time which would be 
 necessary to construct the work, and the great expense which 
 would attend it, (as the proposal of Mr. Phelps is only for two 
 millions of gallons, and the City now requires five millions,) and 
 with the objections stated by that gentleman, such as the source 
 of supply being within another State, the danger of the pipes be- 
 ing ruptured from drawing anchors, and the impurity of the water 
 of the Passaic, condemns the whole scheme. 
 
 57. A plan similar in every other respect with the Passaic project, 
 except the supplying point, and equally objectionable, has been 
 proposed. It is to take the water from the Morris Canal, in the 
 vicinity of the inclined plane near Newark. 
 
 58. it has been strangely asserted, by a few otherwise intelligent 
 and scientific men, that it was practicable to introduce into the city 
 the water of the Hudson river, at some point above Poughkeep- 
 sie, by laying a train of mains on the margin of the Hudson river. 
 In this case there is not over a few feet fall in the whole distance, 
 and not sufficient to overcome the friction in the pipes for one 
 mile. The pipes would also have to be laid on the beds of many 
 streams near their mouths, and passing by rivulets and streams of 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 212 
 
 water of great purity. The ice of the Hudson river would also 
 sweep away or injure the works in the spring. I think we may 
 therefore pronounce the whole plan to be very visionary. 
 
 59. The investigation of such plans may be interesting to scien- 
 tific and enquiring minds, but must result in a complete demon- 
 stration of their impracticability. I now, therefore, turn to an 
 examination of the true sources from which this city must be sup- 
 plied with water, if the plan is intended to meet the expectations 
 of the public and the consumption of the city. 
 
 60. It is in the county of West-Chester ; and from its streams, 
 its lakes, and its springs, that the supply must be procured. The 
 water in that county is generally soft, and of chrystaline purity, and 
 great coldness. It is on those sources we must /ely, as the water 
 obtained must possess great salubrity in its character to ensure its 
 use for all the purposes of the city. 
 
 61. The Byram, the Bronx, the Saw-mill, and the Croton rivers, 
 with their numerous tributaries and lakes, are the sources from 
 which it has been proposed, at different periods, to supply the city 
 with water ; and as there exists much diversity of opinion among 
 our fellow-citizens respecting those streams, I shall endeavour to 
 place this subject correctly before you. I only regret that the limit- 
 ed facts in my hands, will prevent me from placing it as distinctly 
 before you as 1 could have wished. 
 
 62. By^am and Wampus ponds are the head of the Byram ri- 
 ver. The outlets of those ponds unite within three miles of their 
 origin. The stream then flows in a south westerly direction : it 
 then changes its course and enters the state of Connecticut, and 
 before it passes into the Sound, forms a part of the boundaries be- 
 tween that state and New-York. It discharges into the Sound within 
 a distance of twenty-three miles of Little Barn Island, situated near 
 the mouth of the Harlem river. On this stream there is much 
 valuable hydraulic machinery. The outlet of the Byram pond, I 
 have been told; is, in some seasons, almost dry, and, in others, en- 
 tirely so. This is not, however, often the case. The lands around 
 the pond are generally elevated, except at the outlet : at this point 
 the valley is low, swampj and wide. It is singular that the water 
 in the northern parts of the pond is clear, and at the outlet, it is 
 thick and muddy. The Wampus pond is also surrounded by high 
 grounds, except at its outlet ; and the discharge from the pond is 
 much more permanent and equal than the other. The water at 
 
213 [Doc. No 61. 
 
 the upper or northera end is thick and muddy ; at the outlet it is 
 clear and pure. The first pond contains an area of one hundred 
 and twenty acres ; the second, fifty -five acres. 
 
 63. The valleys of the Byram and the Bronx are separated 
 from each other by a ridge of high ground, varying considerably 
 in its relative elevation An opinion of the proximity of those 
 streams may be better formed, when I mention the fact, that the 
 Wampus pond, which lies the most westerly of the Byram waters, 
 is within a distance of one and a quarter miles of the source of 
 the main branch of the Bronx. They, however, keep diverting 
 or lengthening the distance between each other, until they dis- 
 charge into Long-Island Sound ; at which point they are eleven 
 miles apart. Between their mouths, on the line of the Sound, 
 there are several streams, such as the Hutchinson river, which 
 rises from a pond in the vicinity of White Plains, and enters 
 the Sound between East Chester and Pelham. Those streams, 
 with their branches, make the country more or less broken, be- 
 tween the principal vallies I have before mentioned. 
 
 64. The Bronx river is formed from three principal branches. 
 The most southerly is the Sprain, or Valentine's Brook; and the 
 main stream, (which rises in a swamp situated on the high-lands, 
 which separate the waters flowing into Long-Island Sound, and the 
 valley of the Croton,) and the branch which flows from the Rye 
 ponds. There are also numerous other rivulets and springs flow- 
 ing into the Bronx, which, although discharging within themselves 
 but small quantities, augment considerably its waters. It is pro- 
 per here to mention, that owing to a depression in the ridges, it is 
 practicable to introduce the waters of the Byram river into the^ 
 Rye ponds. The Bronx, after passing through a rich agricultural 
 and improving country, the surface of which presents to the eye 
 an alternate succession of low valleys, and elevations, and level 
 lands, flanked by ranges of higher grounds on the east and the 
 west: it discharges into Long-Island Sound, neaVly opposite to 
 Flushing bay, # and distant about four miles from Little Barn Island. 
 The Rye ponds united, contain about two hundred and forty-five 
 acres : they are distant about thirty-four and a half miles from 
 the City-Hall. These ponds present two handsome sheets of wa- 
 ter, surrounded by moderately elevated lands, and with principally 
 rocky shores, except at their upper ends, where there are a few 
 acres of low ground, which would be liable to be overflown by 
 
 ( 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 214 
 
 the water. There are also indications that the ponds have once 
 been many feet higher than they are now. The water flowing in 
 the outlet is clear, pure and soft, and is principally supplied by 
 submarine springs. 
 
 65. The face of the country which lies between the Bronx and 
 the Hudson river, is very much broken by the valleys of different 
 streams. The southern slope of the ridge on the Harlem river is 
 indented by the Morrissenea and Mill creeks ; and the continua- 
 tion of the ridge westerly is again separated by a creek, which 
 lies nearly in a parallel line with the course of the Bronx, and en- 
 ters the Harlem river a short distance west of Macomb's mills. It 
 rises on a low piece of ground, within seven hundred and fifty 
 yards of the Saw-mill river, and in fact separates those streams. 
 On the east side of the first stream are the high grounds which 
 border on the Bronx ; and on the west, the more elevated lands 
 which lie on the Hudson river. The small creek therefore des- 
 troys the connection of the ridge between the Bronx and the Hud- 
 son as far as the Saw-mill valley. If we trace the high ground 
 which lies on the west side of the Bronx, from that point we will 
 find the first break in it near the Unionville church, through which 
 it is proposed to turn that stream into its valley ; from this point 
 the ridge becomes less elevated, and is at last lost among the high 
 grounds which are on the south bank of the Croton river. 
 
 66. The first considerable stream we meet, in ascending the east 
 bank of the Hudson river, is the Saw-mill : that stream discharges 
 within four miles of King's bridge : its valley lays for a considerable 
 length of its course nearly parallel with the Hudson : it then turns 
 abruptly to the wesT, and flows into the Hudson river. The sources 
 of the Saw-mill originate on the high grounds on which the Cis- 
 coe, a branch of the Croton, likewise rises. On the west and north- 
 west side of the Saw-mill, extends a range of elevated and broken 
 lands, in which originate many small streams, which run in a west- 
 erly course : the largest is the creek that enters the Hudson in the 
 vicinity of Sleepy-hollow. On the Saw-mill river, there is much 
 valuable hydraulic machinery ; and I am informed, that in dry 
 times, they have not more than enough water for the present use, 
 and that the volume of the stream has very much decreased within 
 the last twenty years. 
 
 67. The Croton river is one of the largest and most durable 
 streams in Westchester county : its water* are uncommonly pure, 
 
215 (Doer No. 61. 
 
 as they are principally formed from springs and from lakes ; and 
 its branches and the main stream flows over gravel and sand beds, 
 or over broken masses of rock and compact sand stone. The 
 banks of the stream are also generally high and elevated, and un- 
 forbidding in character to the settlement of a dense population on 
 its borders. The Croton river enters the Hudson near Teller's 
 point : the principal branches are the Muscoot, which rises in the 
 Mahapook pond, seven miles in circumference, the Ciscoe river, 
 the Cross river- the West Branch, with it numerous tributaries, the 
 Titicus, and the East Branch, which rises in very low grounds in 
 the town of Patterson. There are also numerous lakes and ponds 
 which lie at the head of most of the streams, and many spring 
 branches of very pure and crystal waters. 
 
 68. The streams which fall into the Croton on the southern 
 bank, generally head opposite to branches of the Saw-mill, the 
 Bronx, and the Byram rivers, and opposite to the sources of several 
 other streams, which rise in Westchester county, and flow through 
 the state of Connecticut into Long-Island Sound. 
 
 69. In the above description having given a full account of the 
 streams from which water must be obtained, I shall now turn to 
 the various plans which have been at different times recommended 
 or suggested, to obtain water from them to supply the city. 
 
 70. In 1798, Doctor Joseph Brown submitted to the Common 
 Council a plan for supplying the city with pure and wholesome 
 water. This report is accompanied with many profound remarks, 
 exhibiting his varied talents as a mathematician, a mechanic, and 
 careful observer of the hydraulic works then existing in Europe. 
 But in the practical demonstration of his plan, he was far from 
 being successful, and his opinions on the expense of the under- 
 taking, and the quantity of water then required by the city, are 
 very erroneous, as will appear. He says in his report, " about half 
 a mile below Williams' Bridge is a piece of low meadow ground, 
 in which rises two springs, one of which runs easterly and empties 
 itself into the Bronx, and not more than four hundred yards from 
 its origin. The other spring empties itself into the Harlem river 
 traversing a distance of about six miles. The place on which those 
 springs originate, are not more than five feet above the level of 
 the Bronx ; and sometimes part of the river, when raised by a 
 considerable freshet, has run over part of this meadow and emp- 
 tied itself into ^the Harlem river. From these reasons then it is 
 
 4 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 216 
 
 obvious, that by building a dam five feet high across the Bronx, 
 and below where the first mentioned spring empties itself into, and 
 by digging a canal four hundred yards in length through the mea- 
 dow, the whole of the Bronx might be if necessary diverted from 
 its old route and thrown into Harlem river, and about eight miles 
 distant from the City-Hall." The spring to which he alludes, is 
 the Morrissenea creek. The point at which the work was to com- 
 mence is fifty feet above tide, and the City-Hall was the old build- 
 ing in Wall-street. He also says, " when I first interested myself 
 on this subject, I was in hopes a place sufficiently high might have 
 been found, from whence the waters of the Bronx could have been 
 conducted to New York, in pipes of conduit, without any previous 
 machinery ; but I am now satisfied no such place exists, for al- 
 though water in an open acqueduct will run with tolerable fluency, 
 having only six inches fall in the mile, yet in a pipe, or conduit, 
 it requires five feet fall to produce the same effect ; and even this 
 fall is insufficient where the pipe of conduit are of considerable 
 length, and of small diameter, for the friction that is occasioned 
 by the sides of the pipe of conduit, is in a quadruple ratio with 
 its length. Now as the ground in the city of New-York, to which 
 water ought to be conveyed to a principal reservoir, is about forty 
 feet above high tide, which is ten feet Only below the level of the 
 river Bronx, where it may be diverted, I consider it a fall perfectly 
 inadequate to any design of conveying the water in a line of pipes : 
 it then becomes necessary, that the water of the Bronx should be 
 elevated by the means of some machinery " 
 
 71. By his plan, the water was to be elevated eighty feet above 
 the level of the Harlem river. The machinery was to be propelled 
 by the surplus water from the Bronx, which discharged twelve 
 hundred cubic feet in a minute. He was to have one water wheel 
 and four pumps of six inches bore, which was to supply 362,880 
 gallons of water in day, a quantity which he supposed was amply 
 sufficient for the city. His reservoir was to be at a place called 
 the Dove, which then was five miles from the city. He estimated 
 the expense of all the works at $200,000. 
 
 72. I have now to call your attention to a report made in 1799, 
 by William Weston, a civil engineer of great reputation, to the 
 Honorable Richard Varick, then Mayor of our city. 
 
 73. His plan was to take the water of the Bronx river at Loril- 
 lard's snuff factory ; to raise a dam six feet high, which would 
 
217 x [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 turn the water through a low swamp into Mill brook ; to follow the 
 north bank for three miles, and then to cross in an acqueduct to its 
 opposite side, and continue that level to the Harlem river. He 
 states the distance to be from the Bronx to the Park 14 miles and 
 7 furlongs, and the descent at twenty-three feet. He says, " It ap- 
 pears from examinations that have been recently made, that the 
 Bronx is sufficiently elevated above the highest parts of the city 
 to introduce its waters therein without the use of machinery, and 
 the intermediate ground, though very irregular, presents no obsta- 
 cles which art and industry may not surmount." He also says : 
 " An absolute necessity to preserve a regular and uniform descent, 
 leaves us little room in the choice of our route, which will be 
 chiefly along the shore of the North river. 
 
 74. Mr. Weston estimated that the city would require 3,000,000 
 of gallons of water a day. He states that the Little Rye pond 
 contained fifty acres, and the Big Rye pond, five hundred acres ; 
 those ponds he proposed to convert into reservoirs, by building a 
 dam six feet high, which would make more than six hundred 
 acres, and would contain 959,713,920 gallons, and would afford an 
 annual supply of 8,000,000 of gallons for one hundred and twenty 
 days, and leave a surplus of 5,000,000 of gallons for the mills, 
 It will however be remarked, that he estimated the area of the 
 ponds double what -they actually are. His water was to be brought 
 into an open canal to the Harlem river : that stream was to be 
 crossed by a cast iron cylinder of two feet diameter, with a descent 
 of eight feet. His reservoirs were to be divided into three parts, 
 and two again of them subdivided. The first two divisions he 
 called the reception apartments, which were to be filled with the 
 water from the cylinders ; while one was filling, the other would 
 deposit the impure particles contained in the water. In every 
 twenty-four hours, one of these chambers was to be drawn off in 
 one of the subdivisions, which he called the reservoir of filtration, 
 and from thence into the the division of distribution, after perco- 
 lating through a bank of gravel and loose sand : this last division 
 of the reservoir-was to be arched over. 
 
 75. There was also another plan considered by Mr. Weston. I 
 allude to proburing a supply of water for the city from the Collect 
 pond. That measure he condemned, and as that part of the 
 island is now covered over with a compact population, it must be 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 •21b 
 
 unnecessary to mention his opinions or calculations on the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 7<>. The late Robert Macomb, in 1810, proposed to procure a 
 supply of water for the city, by using the Bronx river at Williams 5 
 bridge The distance, as stated on his map, is four miles. The 
 elevation of the Bronx is fifty-five feet. The rout followed the 
 Morrissenea and Mill creek to the Harlem river. The ridge be- 
 tween those creeks was to be tunneled, its length was five hundred 
 and twent) yards, and the ground was fifty-two feet above the bot- 
 tom of that work. His plan is in the office of the Street Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 77. Since 1S19 5 surveys have been made by the authority of 
 the City, and by the New- York Water Company, and as many 
 plans were presented, I consider it my duty to place them all be- 
 fore you, as I am anxious that they should all come under the 
 consideration of your Committee, to secure the City from under- 
 taking works which must eventually lead to ^disappointment, and 
 to unnecessary expense in their execution. 
 
 7$r If we commence at the Manhattan Reservoir, and follow 
 the line of mains proposed by Mr. White to a reservoir marked 
 number four on his map, and located between the Fifth and Sixth 
 Avenues and 42d and 39th streets. The distance is three and a 
 half miles, from that point to reservoir number one, at Devoe's 
 Point in West Chester County, the distance is five and three 
 quarter miles, or nine and a quarter miles from the point of com- 
 mencement. The distance from reservoir number one to the cotton 
 factory, on the Bronx river is twelve miles, and the elevation of 
 that place above tide, according to a late survey made by Mr. 
 Dewey, is one hundred and one and three quarter feet, and ac- 
 cording to Mr. White, at Underbill's mill, is one hundred and 
 thirty-two and a half feet ; at Davis' bridge, one hundred and 
 ninety-eight feet; at the junction of the Bronx with the branch 
 from Rye Ponds, two hundred and twenty-four feet ; at the Little 
 Rye Pond, two hundred and eighty-eight feet ; and at Big Rye 
 Pond, two hundred and ninety and a half feet above tide. You 
 will understand that the above elevations are taken from a plan 
 made by Mr.- White in the Street C jmmissioner's Office, and I 
 suppose are accurate. ' 
 
 79- The survey was extended from Rye Pond to the Byram 
 Pond, in Connecticut. Mr. White_ says, alluding to the Byram 
 
219 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 River, w This river can be easily turned into Rye Pond with little 
 expense, being separated by a swamp, and a ridge of gravelly 
 soil, through which a tunnel has been constructed for the purpose 
 of draining a swamp, and by this means the water is conveyed 
 into Rye Pond, and in high floods, some of the waters of Byram 
 River passes through this artificial outlet." In his report, in 
 1826, he says, " Byram Pond is the head of Byram River, al- 
 though Wampus Pond is the principal source. Byram Pond lies 
 much higher than Rye Pond, and a communication can easily be 
 made between them ; the distance is about six miles, principally 
 over bottom lands." He also says, u The country has been ex- 
 amined, with a view to connect Cross River with the Bronx, and 
 also to connect the main Croton with the Bronx ; but the inter- 
 vening ground has been found too high and rocky to accomplish 
 this object." The examinations, therefore, as far as they go, set- 
 tles the question of the practicability of uniting directly the main 
 branch of the Bronx or the Byram, or the Wampus Ponds with 
 the Croton River. 
 
 80. In the report of Mr. White in 1824, he remarks, " A route 
 has been surveyed from the Bronx River to the Saw Mill River, 
 near Unionville church, and found practicable to turn the waters 
 of that river into the Bronx, at a moderate expense ; the deepest 
 excavation necessary between the two streams will be about eight 
 feet ; the route passes through a swamp, and is designated on the 
 map by a ied line." 
 
 81. The distance from the Chambers street reservoir, on Mr. 
 White's map to the point where he was to take the waters of the 
 Saw Mill River, is thirty-four and a quarter miles. He also re- 
 marks, " that considerable time has been expended in examining 
 the country for the purpose of connecting the Croton with the 
 Saw Mill River ; but no route has yet been found to accomplish 
 this at any reasonable expense. The examination has been ex- 
 tended as far up as the Cross River, which unites with the Croton 
 about thirteen miles from Sing Sing; perhaps a route may be 
 found to connect the Croton with the Bronx or the Byram Rivers. 
 But if this cannot be effected, the Croton can be taken out at a 
 sufficient elevation, and conducted along the bank oj the Hudson 
 "River to the City." As I have before stated the routes which he 
 suggests in the above remarks, were examined by him and pro- 
 nounced unfavorable. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 220 
 
 82. The reason why Mr. White was unsuccessful in his plan to 
 unite the Croton and the Saw Mill rivers, is owing to the great 
 height of the dividing lidge between those waters, and the lowness 
 of the Croton valley, and to the fact that he struck the Croton 
 river, at a point which must be more than two hundred feet below 
 the summit of the ridge. In the commencement of the examina- 
 tion of the Sharon Canal Company they meet with the same dif- 
 ficulties with Mr. White's survey ; and it was only after repeated 
 attempts that they succeeded in finding a route, which presents 
 great difficulties and expense, on account of the rugged character 
 of the lands over which it passes ; and in truth, those obstructions 
 are so great, that Mr. Young the engineer, I am informed, for a 
 a long time hesitated to give an opinion on its practicability. But 
 if that survey can be relied on, it demonstrates the fact, that the 
 Croton and the Saw Mill valleys may be united, by taking the 
 waters from Crawford's Mill, and continuing the works on the 
 southern slope of the Croton river, by embankments, tunnels, and 
 deep cuts, &c. until it enters the valley of the fiiscoe Creek. 
 
 83. The height of the dividing ridge between the Ciscoe and 
 the Saw Mill rivers, above tide, is probably 420 feet. From a se- 
 ries of levels made by Mr. Cartwright of the Croton valley, and 
 politely furnished by him, it appears that the Croton river, at 
 Pines' Bridge is 183 feet ; at the Muscoot Hill 207 feet ; at Titi- 
 cus River Bridge 247 feet ; at Owen's Mill 268 feet, and at So- 
 dom 400 feet above tide. By examiming these elevations, and 
 comparing them with the height of the ridge, we will find it is ut- 
 ti f ly hopeless to expect any other point of departure than the one 
 fi\ed on by the Sharon Canal Company ; or, unless we resort to 
 very deep cutting, a long and expensive tunnel, or raise the water 
 by machinery from the Croton River, which would be accompa- 
 nied with great expense, as at the mouth of the Ciscoe, it would 
 be necessary to elevate it four hundred feet. The levels also de- 
 monstrate what before was stated, that it is impracticable to join 
 the Croton River either with the Wampus or the Byram Rivers, 
 unless we resort to the same expedient, and pass into the ponds 
 on a very elevated level. 
 
 84. The first plan presented by Mr. White, in his report of 
 1824, to the Hon. Stephen Allen, was to take the waters of the 
 Bronx ftiver, at Williams' Bridge, or at a point about one mile 
 below, by constructing a new dam. The route as delineated on 
 his map, commences at the first point and follows down the valley 
 
221 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 of the Bronx for about one mile ; it then diverges up the outlet 
 of a swamp for ten rods, and by a cut of forty-two rods enters the 
 valley of the Morrissiuea Creek ; it then pursues the west bank of 
 that stream and to a spring brook, the valley of which it follows 
 to a ridge of rocks which seperate the Morrissenea and the Mill 
 Creek vallies. His route then passes under the ridge by a tunnel 
 seventy-two rods in length ; by an embankment the line crosses 
 over to the west bank of the last stream ; it then follows its val- 
 ley, on steep side lying ground, to a reservoir, number one, in the 
 vicinity of Macomb's Dam. 
 
 85. Mr. White makes the following remark; "The distance 
 from Williams' Bridge is about five and a half miles, and by de- 
 ducting the proposed declivity, will leave the water at the termi- 
 nation of the canal near Macomb's Dam, five and a half feet above 
 the Park, and must be raised to the necessary elevation of fifty 
 feet above the Park, which will make forty-four and a half feet 
 to be raised by machinery." 
 
 86. Mr White proposed to have four reservoirs, the location of 
 number one and four have been stated, the other two are not de- 
 fined in his plan. He states, that the surface of the reservoirs 
 on the island could be raised nearly equal to number one located 
 opposite to Macomb's Dam in West Chester, and the increased 
 height in the reservoirs could be used in case of fires. They 
 would also assist in relieving the friction of the pipes, and they 
 would serve as a receptacle for all foreign matter which might be 
 floating in the water. His first reservoir was to hold four millions 
 of gallons, and the water was to be conducted into the others by 
 mains of thirty inches, and into the Manhattan Reservoir by 
 mains of twenty-two inches. His total estimate of the expense of 
 number one was $953,011. 
 
 87- Mr. White's second plan was to take the water from the 
 Bronx in the same manner and route as the first plan to the Mor- 
 rissenea creek : the water was then to be permitted to follow that 
 stream, and be diverted from it on the same route and at the same 
 point into the valley of Mill Brook : it was then jo pass down that 
 stream to a dam near Devoe's house, and a canal was to be cut for 
 forty-five chains to the point opposite to the reservoir on the first 
 route. On this plan the water was to be raised seventy feet. His 
 estimate of the expense of the works was $920,811 ; and in con- 
 clusion, he remarks, H When we take int© consideration the addi- 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 222 
 
 tionaJ height which the water must be raised, I think the first plait 
 lias the preference." 
 
 88. In examining these two plans, we cannot but help being 
 struck with the surprising similarity between them and the one 
 proposed by Doctor Brown, in 1798, and Col. Robert Macomb, 
 in 1819. And we must also say, that even his third and fourth 
 plan has strong features resembling those of Mr. Weston in 1799. 
 The opinions therefore of those eminent men, as far as the prac- 
 ticability of the work is concerned, is most amply sustained by Mr. 
 White's examinations. 
 
 89. His third plan was, to take the water from the Bronx at the 
 West Chester Cotton Factory, and to introduce it into the city 
 without resorting to machinery. The water at that point was 
 fifty-six feet above the Park, at the City Hall ; 'but could be in- 
 creased six feet, by adding to the height of the Dam. The dis- 
 tance was twenty one and a quarter miles from the Park, and the 
 work was to have one foot fall in the mile. 
 
 90. On this plan the Sprain or Valentine's* Brook lies south of 
 the point of commencement ; its waters would therefore be lost, 
 unless it can be introduced by a dam, or a lateral cut. The 
 route, also, makes a considerable bend, when it comes to its val- 
 ley ; it then follows the course of the Bronx, and in a parallel 
 line with the same vallies and streams, and routes of number one 
 and two. Mr. White, in speaking of this plan, says, 41 Water 
 power is not as objectionable as steam, on account of the great 
 expense of the latter ; but both should be avoided if possible, in a 
 work of so much importance to the inhabitants of the City ; for 
 if the supply should fail, on account of unavoidable or unforeseen 
 accidents to the machinery, the consequence might be extremely 
 calamitous, situated as they are on an Island, surrounded by salt 
 water, and as the Wells now in use, would undoubtedly be dis- 
 continued after the introduction of good water ;" on account of 
 the difficult character of the ground, and to add to the security 
 of his works, Mr. White proposed to construct a brick tunnel five 
 feet diameter, and laid in hydraulic cement. He estimates the 
 cost of the works at $ 1 ,949,542 ; and he says, " the amount may 
 appear large, but it is for a permanent work, that is to endure for 
 ages, without a constant tax for repairs." 
 
 91. Mr. White's fourth plan, was for an open canal, on the ' 
 same route ; his estimate for that improvement, was #987>535. 
 
223 [Dog. No. 6L 
 
 He remarks, " for this sum the wateF can be delivered into the 
 Manhattan Reservoir without machinery ;" and " this plan is 
 much the cheapest, but whether it is the best, must be hereafter 
 determined." 
 
 92. In connexion with the above routes, Mr. White surveyed a 
 line from his reservoir number one to the Saw-Mill River. The 
 route followed the east side of the ridge, which lies between the 
 Bronx and the small creek which enters the Harlem River south 
 of Macomb's Mill at Kingsbridge ; this survey was commenced 
 at Danger's Mill on the Saw-Mill River, and one and a quarter 
 miles above the junction of that stream with the Hudson River. 
 Below the line in the Saw-Mill valley there are five dams, at 
 which hydraulic machinery is located ; the length of cutting be- 
 tween the river and the creek is one hundred and eight rods ; the 
 length of the route is nine miles, and the mill-pond by Mr. White's 
 levels is one hundred and three feet above tide. It is also sup- 
 posed that a higher level could be maintained from the Saw- Mill 
 River, as the route crosses many small streams within a short dis- 
 tance of their mouths. It also passes over a small stream, within 
 one mile of Macomb's Dam, and within thirty-two rods of the 
 Harlem River. 
 
 93. In 1826, Mr. White, after a careful examination of the 
 country, and re-viewing his lines of surveys made in , the year 
 1824, recommended to the then New- York Water Company, to 
 commence their works at Underbill's Bridge, which is one hun- 
 dred and thirty-two feet above tide, and about two miles above 
 Shaw's cotton factory. The water was to be conveyed in a stone 
 or brick tunnel, (forming a closed canal) laid in hydraulic cement, 
 as far as the Harlem River, and from thence distributed through 
 iron pipes. The canal or tunnel was to pass along the valley of 
 the Bronx for eight miles, and then westerly to the Morrissena 
 Creek, and passing along the declivity of the hills about two and 
 a half miles ; it then branched into two routes, one leading to 
 Macomb's Dam, or E^dge, near the termination of the Third 
 Avenue, and the other to Coles' Bridge. 
 
 94. The length of the tunnel was thirteen and a half miles, 
 and it was to have a fall of one and a half feet in the mile. There 
 was to be a large reservoir on the West Chester side, and the 
 Harlem River was to be passed by a permanent stone bridge to 
 support the pipes, and to form a good highway. His estimate of 
 
 5 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 224 
 
 the expense of the works was $1,321,000, exclusive of the sum 
 purchase water rights on the Bronx, and to pay damages for lands 
 used for the works. And he also says, "from the purchases al- 
 ready agreed to he made, it is not believed that all subsequent 
 ones will exceed $I25,000. In 1824, it will be recollected, that 
 Mr. W bite's estimate from Shaw's cotton factory, was $1,949,542, 
 or making a difference of $6l6,542 in favor of the last plan. 
 
 95. From the observations of Mr. Weston, and the surveys of 
 Mr White, and the location of the Sharon Canal by Mr Young, 
 it would appear that there existed difficulties ; but it was practi- 
 cable to conduct the water of the Bronx on a sufficient elevation 
 to supply the City, without resorting to machinery at the Harlem 
 River. But it appears from a recent examination and survey 
 made by Mr. Dewey and Mr. Serrell under the' direction of Judge 
 AV right, that considerable doubts exist on this subject. Those 
 gentlemen, in a report made in November last, say, Cl that on 
 proceeding from Macomb's Dam, upon the high land above, and 
 examining for a spot of Table land, one hundred and twenty feet, 
 containing three or four acres, and capable of being made a re- 
 servoir, no such spot could be found nearer than about one and 
 three quarter miles from the starting point. The distance be- 
 tween that and Macomb's Dam, is over a very rugged line ; mostly 
 of stratified gneiss rocks, dipping to the west, and interspersed 
 with hollows, requiring considerable embankments to maintain the 
 line of a tunnel or open canal, but not any where offering facili- 
 ties of earth, or other materials fit to aid in making such em- 
 bankments." 
 
 "From this point, the country for near two miles is tolerably 
 open, and such as does not offer any extraordinary difficulties in 
 the formation of a canal or tunnel ; continuing the level and en- 
 tering the valley of the Bronx on the west side, the required line 
 could only be obtained upon the face of immense rocky bluffs, 
 separated by deep ravines, without any supply of earth, or other 
 materials, within any reasonable distance; and this character of 
 country continues with little variation, tilr about a quarter of a 
 mile above Underbill's Bridge, where the land becomes so ex- 
 ceedingly abrupt and high, that it became requisite to cross to the 
 eastern bank of the stream, before the work of running the level 
 could be continued ; the level struck the Bronx at about one hun- 
 dred and thirty-six feet above tide, near Major Popham's Mill, in 
 Scarsdale, about sixteen miles from Magomb's Dam." 
 
225 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 f< From the character of the country it may be stated, that a- 
 3afe open canal, or closed tunnel descending one foot in the mile, 
 from a point on the Bronx, so as to arrive on the high land near 
 Macomb's Dam, at an elevation of one hundred and twenty feet 
 above tide, is wholly impracticable.'' 
 
 96 One of the most important facts of the whole subject is the 
 quantity and the permanency of the supply of water I shall 
 therefore enter into a careful investigation of that subject, and 
 shall present to your consideration, the guages made by General 
 Swift Canvass White, George W. Cartwright, and Messrs Dewey 
 and Serrell, and with the capacity and location of different reser- 
 voirs proposed by these gentlemen. The erroneousness of the 
 views taken of the quantity of water in the reports of Dr Brown 
 and Mr. Weston being palpable, it must be unnecessary to intro- 
 duce them here. 
 
 97- Mr. White, in his report in 1824, says, 11 No extraordinary 
 drought has occurred since I have been engaged with the exami- 
 nations, that would enable me to guage the streams when yielding 
 the least quantity of water ; but I think sufficient allowances have 
 been made for dry seasons." He also observes, in his report of 
 1826; " The long drought of the past season has been favorable 
 for guaging the streams, and ascertaining the quantity of water 
 that may be depended on during similar seasons." 
 
 98. In a report made in April, 1822, by a special committee of 
 the Common Council, consisting of Messrs. Allen, Hammond, 
 WyckofF, and Mead, they say, " That Mr. Canvass White, at 
 their request, made an actual estimate of the quantity of water 
 flowing from the Rye Ponds, which appears was equal to about 
 one million of gallons of water in a day ; that they had ascer- 
 tained that the ponds were never lower than at the time ; and that 
 by raising a dam at the outlet of the lake, any given quantity 
 could be contained for the use of the city." 
 
 99. In September, 1819, the outlet of the little Rye Pond was 
 guaged by General Swift, in the presence of C. D Colden, Doc- 
 tor Mitchell, and others, and by his measurements, it furnished 
 less than 2 779,920 gallons in a day. The ponds were then con- 
 sidered moderately low, but not as low as they sometimes were. 
 
 100 It appears by the report of Messrs*. Dewey and Serrell, in 
 November, this year, that they also made several guages ; and 
 they have likewise submitted several calculations on the drainage 
 
Doc". No 61. 
 
 of the country and the fall of rains, and the capacity and supply 
 of the reservoirs. But it must be a matter of extreme regret to 
 all. that their measurements, instead of confirming the labors of 
 their predecessors, throw much perplexity on the whole subject, 
 and unless we suppose they have guaged the streams after heavy 
 falls of rain, we can assign no satisfactory reason for the great dif- 
 ference between their statements and those of others. 
 
 101. The three gauges made of the outlet of Rye Pond appear 
 to be as follows: in 1819, by General Swift, 2,779,920 gallons ; 
 by Mr. White, in 1822, 1,000,000 of gallons ; by Messrs. Dewey 
 and Serrell 4,173,000 gallons. 
 
 102 The quantity of water which Mr. White stated as being- 
 available to his works, in 1824, and in twenty -four hours, and al- 
 lowing a drought for six months, was as follows : 
 
 From Bronx River, - - 3,000,000 gallons 
 
 Rye Ponds Reservoir, - 3,600,000 " 
 
 Byram River, - - 4 2,000,000 <c 
 
 Saw Mill River, - - 2,000,000 " 
 
 Saw-Mill Reservoirs, - 1,000,000 " 
 
 11,600.000 
 
 In speaking of the Saw Mill River, in 1826, Mr White says, 
 u in gauging the stream, it was found to be so reduced in conse- 
 quence of the drought, that no reliance can be placed on it for 
 any part of the supply." He also abandons his plan of taking 
 the Byram River direct into his works at Rye Pond, and proposes 
 " to cut a small independent canal so as to divert the reserved wa- 
 ters only, thereby avoiding any interference with the water rights 
 and mills on the Byram River." If we deduct the waters of the 
 Saw-Mill River from the above, it would leave the daily supply 
 8,600,000 gallons per day. 
 
 103. In 1826, he placed the quantity as follows per day, with 
 a drought of six months. 
 
 Bronx River, - - - 4,302,720 gallons 
 
 Rye Pond Reservoir, - - 4,798,000 " 
 
 Byram Pond, - - - 4,335,164 « 
 
 13,435,884 
 
 By this calculation it appears that the supply of running water 
 
227 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 in the Bronx, had considerably increased in 1826, by 1,300,000 
 gallons; but the total quantity of running water stated by Mr. 
 White, was nearly 3,000,000 of gallons greater in 1824, than at 
 the present time. The reservoirs had also been increased very 
 much in capacity. 
 
 104 The calculation of the supply of water as ascertained by 
 Messrs. Dewey and Serrell, with a sixth month's drought is as 
 follows : 
 
 
 Gallons, 
 
 Bronx River, at outlet of Little Rye Pond, 
 
 . 4,173,000 
 
 Bi^ Rye Pond Reservoir, 
 
 . 4,523,539 
 
 By ram River, . . . 
 
 . 13,571,000 
 
 By ram Pond, 
 
 . 2,756 : 191 
 
 Wampus Pond, 
 
 631,627 
 
 Ciscoe Pond, ... 
 
 . 7,895,340 
 
 
 33,549,597 
 
 105. Of this quantity, there is 17,744^000 gallons of running 
 water, and 15,805,597 gallons to be stored in reservoirs ; and if 
 we compare it with Mr. White's calculation in 1826, and deduct 
 8,527,617 gallons for the Ciscoe and Wampus Ponds Reservoirs, 
 which he did not embrace in his estimates, it makes the above cal- 
 culation 11,586,696 gallons greater than his amount of water. 
 There is also 13,441,280 gallons more of running water, than Mr. 
 White made in 1826, and the volume of the Byram River has 
 swelled from 2,000,000 of gallons, its minimum discharge, to 
 13,571,000 gallons- It must also be remarked, that Mr. Dewey's 
 reservoir in Rye Pond, falls 274,461 gallons short of the quantity 
 stated by Mr. White in 1826, although he raises the pond four 
 feet higher than the other, and his quantity exceeds his calcula- 
 tion of 1824, 923,539 gallons. It is true, that the ponds that 
 year, were only to be raised eight feet. There is a difference 
 also in the calculations in the areas of the reservoirs of twenty 
 acres. It must also be remarked, that the capacity of the Byram 
 Pond Reservoir is short of Mri-White's quantity by 1,577?973 gal- 
 lons, and the Byram and the Wampus Reservoirs united, fall short 
 of Mr. White's Byram Pond Reservoir, 946,346 gallons. I must 
 leave it to your Committee to reconcile the conflicting calcula- 
 tions of those gentlemen. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] ^28 
 
 106. The Ciscoe Reservoir, as introduced by Messrs. Dewey 
 and Serrell, is a new storing point, named by them, and I believe 
 never contemplated before. Mr. Dewey says, u I then proceeded 
 up the valley of the Ciscoe, which discharges its waters into the 
 Cioton near Pine's Bridge. This river has its main source in a 
 large pond in an extensive valley, at the outlet of which are 
 Kuby's Mills." " By raising the dam at the outlet seven fe ;t, I am 
 assured by the proprietor, that one thousand acres can be ponded, 
 and the water will fl nv near to the north easterly side of Wampus 
 Pond. I assume then, five hundred acres only may be overflown, 
 and all low wet land of little value n It would thus appear that 
 the owner of the (Mills conjectured the number of acres, and Mr. 
 Dewey reduces it one half. He also says, -'that the wafers of the 
 Ciscoe can be connected with the east branch of the Saw-Mill River 
 by a canal or tunnel of about two and a half miles in length The 
 ground is favorable ; but one deep cut will be necessary, about 
 six hundred feet long, and twenty feet deep." »But after the wa- 
 ter is once in the Saw-Mill Valley, it requires another cut and a 
 dam, or the continuation of the works from the Ciscoe Pond to 
 the Bronx River, which on the whole must increase the hazard 
 and expense of its introduction. How much easier, in all senses, 
 would it be to let this water pass into the Croton Vallev. through 
 its natural outlet, instead of attempting to divert it into new chan- 
 nels. 
 
 107. How much water could be procured from the Croton Ri- 
 ver Valley by continuing a work, to the east branch, I have no 
 means to determine. It is however certain, that the expense of 
 that operation would be very great, and the supply of water com- 
 paratively small, as the route would cross all the streams a great 
 way above their mouths. This plan would also be very destruc- 
 tive to mill property, and hydraulic sites. 
 
 108 It is evident if we should extend our works to the Rye 
 Ponds, we should cut off a very considerable supply of water from 
 other branches and springs of the Bronx River. And if we should 
 go to any point on the stream below UnderhilFs Bridge, we would 
 have to resort to machinery to raise the water at the Harlem Ri- 
 ver, to carry it to the elevated parts of the City and the Island. 
 If we agree that the last plan recommended by Mr White, would 
 be the proper course, our supply from the Bionx and the Byram, 
 Rivers would be as follows. By taking the minimum calculations 
 
22» 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 of Mr. White, and those of Messrs. Dewey and Serrell, and re- 
 jecting the running waters of the Byram River, which Mr. White 
 has shown we could not take, unless we destroyed immense hy- 
 draulic privileges and machinery. 
 
 Bronx River running water, . . 4,302,7?0 gallons^ 
 Rye Ponds Reservoirs, . . 4,793.000 " 
 
 Byram Pond Reservoir, . . 2,756,191 " 
 
 W ampus Pond Reservoir, . . 631,627 u 
 
 Quantity of water in 24 hours, . 12,488,538 
 
 109. But you may inquire, why I have not included the Ciscoe 
 and the Croton Rivers. To this I must reply, by stating, that it 
 would be much easier to take those waters at Pine's Bridge, than 
 to turn them into the valley of the Bronx ; and it must be appa- 
 rent, that although it may cost many hundreds of thousands of 
 dollais to mingle them together with the latter, that in the Croton 
 'Valley, they are the free offerings of Nature, without resorting to 
 artificial works to obtain them. 
 
 110. The above summary is a favorable view of the quantity of 
 water ; but it now becomes necessary to inquire if we could with 
 safety calculate on the whole amount. Suppose our low stage of 
 water should continue more than six months, or that any misfor- 
 tune should happen to the bulkheads at the outlets of the Ponds, 
 or derangement in the pipes, or any other parts of the work, or 
 that there should be a great loss of water during a drought, by 
 breakage, &c I would inquire, in what manner we could augment 
 our supply, until the Autumnal or Spring rains set in ? These 
 are contingencies that may happen ; and what I now propose to 
 examine, is the evaporation on the reservoir and the loss of water 
 which will take place in its flow from the reservoirs to the canal 
 or tunnel at Underbill's Bridge. 
 
 111. You must be aware of the nature of the artificial reservoirs 
 which are to be created in the ponds. They are to be filled with 
 water when the streams are full, and to be drawnoff when the na- 
 tural supply of the Bronx is not equal to the consumption of the 
 City. When the Bronx is thus low, and its branches and chan- 
 nels almost dry, the sluices are to be opened in the bulkheads of 
 the reservoirs and their waters permitted to pass down, until they 
 reach the dam at Underl ill's Bridge : it is then turned into the 
 canal or tunnel, and conducted to the City for its nses. At the 
 
Doc. No. 61j 
 
 230 
 
 time that the water will be drawn from the reservoirs, the cori- 
 sumption will be the greatest in the city, owing to its dusty con- 
 dition, to cleanse the streets and to puiify the air. There will 
 also be a diurnal loss of water, proceeding from the evaporation 
 from the surface of the reservoirs, and from the loss of the water 
 flowing through the sluices of the reservoirs until it enters the 
 pipes on the island, and the absorptions of the soils through winch 
 it passes. I suppose that this loss will be equal to a depth of two 
 feet on the surface of the reservoirs, and to a column of water in 
 its passage from each reservoir equal to four feet in depth and 
 fifteen feet wide, for the time that the reservoirs would be requir- 
 ed to be used, say six months in the year. On an acre of pond 
 the annual evaporation would be 162,926 gallons^ or 895 gallons 
 would be lost on an average daily for 182 days. In a mile of 
 channel the annual loss would be 296,228 gallons, and in the same 
 period with the other, 1,633 gallons per day. This calculation 
 would not properly apply to the works leading to Underbill's 
 Bridge ; in which section the loss would be much less. If we 
 suppose it equal to two feet in depth, it gives 815 gallons in each 
 mile of its length. 
 
 Gallons. 
 
 The distance to Underbill's Bridge from Macomb's 
 
 Dam, 131 miles X 815 gallons, - - - 11,102 
 From Underbill's Bridge to reservoir's outlet of Rye 
 
 Ponds, 12£ miles X 1,633 gallons, - - - 20,412 
 Surface of Rye Ponds Reservoirs, 245 acres X 895 
 
 gallons, 219,275 
 
 From Underbill's Bridge to Byram Pond Reservoir, 
 
 19| miles X 1,633 gallons, - 31,843 
 Surface of Byram Pond Reservoir, 120 acres X 895 
 
 gallons, 107,400 
 
 From Underbill's Bridge to Wampus Pond Reservoir, 
 
 19^ miles X 1,633 gallons, ... - 31,843 
 Surface of Wampus Pond Reservoir, 55 acres X 895 
 
 gallons, 49,225 
 
 Total loss by evaporation, soakage, &c. 471,100 
 
 If we subtract this from 12,488,538 gallons, it leaves us a cer- 
 tain quantity of 12,017,438 gallons, unless in case of an accident 
 eccurring to the works. 
 
231 [Doc. No. 6L 
 
 112. It may appear strange to some of your Committee, that 
 the minimum flow of water is taken as the criterion to predicate 
 our calculations on ; but if, for instance, our consumption should 
 be more, and we should take any quantity above the smallest 
 volume of the stream, it is plain, the moment it fell below the re- 
 quired quantity, we should have to draw from the reservoirs, or 
 they would have to make up the deficiency in the supply ; and 
 therefore, although the stream at certain periods might yield ten 
 times the quantity we required, if we had no means to collect 
 those waters, they would not in the remotest degree assist us, 
 when it fell below the quantity we consumed. 
 
 113. It must also be recollected, that although we have bv the 
 assistance of reservoirs, swelled our quantity to 12,027,438 gallons, 
 and we have only 4,302,720 gallons of running water, on which 
 we can depend in case of accidents to the reservoirs. It has been 
 suggested, that this quantity may be increased by constructing 
 reservoirs in the valley of the Bronx. It is true, that dams could 
 be built, and ponds formed, but they would all be shallow, owing 
 to the rapidity with which the bed of the stream rises. Those 
 dams would also necessarily be high, for if low, the capacity of 
 the pond will be small ; the expense of their construction, and 
 the risk of their maintenance would therefore be increased, and 
 the damage to private property be very great ; and if it should 
 unfortunately happen that one of the dams should be swept off 
 by ice or by floods, its fragments and the water collected in the 
 pond might sweep off the whole of the lower works. Accidents 
 of a similar nature, annually happen on most of all our mill 
 streams. 
 
 114. Mr. White in his report in 1824, says, "It has been as- 
 certained by experiments made at Philadelphia, that twenty-seven 
 gallons per day for each person/ is sufficient for the demands in 
 Summer, and this includes the amount used for all purposes of 
 manufacturing for brewers, tanners, livery-stables, and for washing 
 the gutters, &c." In 1826, he allowed twenty gallons on an ave ; 
 rage throughout the year, and I am perfectly satisfied of the cor- 
 rectness of the data, as it agrees with some investigations I have 
 made of the quantity of water consumed in other cities. 
 
 115. It must be recollected, that we cannot increase the supply 
 of running water in the valley of the Bronx, unless we commit 
 great mischief to the country, and pay immense damages for hy- 
 
 6 
 
I>oc. No. CI.] 232 
 
 draulic works. Our only course on that route, is, therefore, to re- 
 sort to the valley of the Croton. This plan must be attended 
 with great difficulties and expense; for to secure it, we have to 
 construct a continuous line of works, sixty-two and a quarter miles 
 in length between the City-Hall and the east branch of the Cro- 
 ton River. 
 
 116 Mr White states in his report of 1826, that the running 
 wnterinthe Bronx was equal to a supply for 215,130 persons, 
 which is below the present population of the city. If we add to 
 this the Rye Ponds, and the By ram and the Wampus Reservoirs, 
 it would be equal to a supply for 600,000 people, and will be suf- 
 ficient to provide for the demands of the City for twenty-five or 
 twenty-eight years to come ; after that period,,we must resort to 
 the Croton River. I now therefore propose to examine, if it is 
 not better to do it at this time, than to postpone it to a later pe- 
 riod. 
 
 117 If we turn our eye to the plan recommended by Mr. 
 White in i826, to secure the supply of water from the Bronx, we 
 find it necessary to construct a canal or tunnel, through a very 
 difficult and expensive country to Underbill's Bridge. The dis- 
 ance is thirteen and a half miles. At that point it would be ne- 
 cessary to construct a dam, and sluices, gates, &c ; At the Rye 
 Ponds, 34 miles from the city, we also find another dam, sluices, 
 &t\ following the line to Byram Pond, a canal or close tunnel 
 would have to be constructed seven miles in length, and a branch 
 to the Wampus Pond, three miles more; and at the outlets of 
 each of those ponds, dams and sluices would also have to be pro 
 vided. Those ponds are forty-one miles from the City Hall, as 
 measured on the route of the work. We have, therefore, twenty- 
 three and a half miles of canal, four dams, and four sets of sluices, 
 besides overflewing and destroying much land, and paying great 
 damages for diverting and using the waters. The. expense of all 
 these works, and unavoidable damages to property, must be very 
 great, and the cost of their maintenance and superintendance 
 equally so. A question more serious presents itself, in relation to di- 
 verting the waters of the Byram and Wampus Ponds into Rye Pond 
 reservoir. Those Ponds lay at the head of a stream which 
 flows through the State of Connecticut ; and it is questionable at 
 lea*t ; it we could change those waters from their channels, without 
 first obtaining the sanction of that State. 
 
233 [Doc. No. 61 
 
 118. In a former part of my communication,! have given a de- 
 detailed account of theCroton Valley, and its tributaries, and also 
 the elevations of the stream, as furnished by Mr. Cartwright I 
 shall now present his guages of the Main Valley, and many of its 
 branches. u The east branch of the Croton River, above Mill- 
 town, on the 1 6th of October, 1822, discharged 5,35^,800 gal- 
 lons of water in twenty-four hours ; but that stream, in a very 
 dry season, has been known to run through an aperture seven 
 inches square. The west branch of the Croton, at its euti ance 
 in West Chester, on the 25th of July, 1825, emitted 12,50o 000 
 gallons. The Mahapook Pond 2,000,000 gallons, and the 
 Mountain Pound 588,300 gallons, guaged 30th of August, 1825. 
 In the Croton River at Pine's Bridge, there is never less than 
 20,000,000 of gallons of water passing in every twenty-four 
 hours." The river at this point is therefore capable of supply- 
 ing one million of people, allowing a consumption of twenty gal- 
 lons to each person. This supply can be augmented by con- 
 structing reservoirs, and we have seen by Mr. Dewey's statement, 
 that one reservoir could be constructed which would supply more 
 than seven millions of gallons per day, within a few miles of Pine's 
 Bridge. But if it were necessary, more than seven thousand acres 
 could be ponded, and the water raised from six to sixteen feet on 
 it ; and also other supplies could be obtained, as I have betore 
 stated in alluding to the Sharon Canal route, and the east branch 
 of the Croton River. This supply may, therefore, be considered 
 as inexhaustible, as it is not at all probable that the City will ever 
 require more than it can provide. The character of the waters at 
 Pine's Bridge, I have no hesitation in saying, is equal to the 
 Bronx at Underbill's Bridge. 
 
 119. The elevation at Pine's Bridge by Mr. Cartwright's mea- 
 surement, is 183 feet above tide. I would propose at this point 
 to sink the bottom of the works below the bed of the stream, to 
 avoid the risks of a dam, and more fully to command the whole 
 volume of water, if necessary. Sluices with gates should be pro- 
 vided, and also other contrivances to prevent any impurities 
 from the stream passing into the works. 
 
 120. From Pine's Bridge the route would follow the elevated 
 and broken banks of the Croton, until it intersected the bank of 
 t he Hudson River. It would then continue on the rugged slope 
 of the lands in the vicinity of that stream to Tarrytown, about 
 
Doc. No, 61.] 234 
 
 eleven miles from the point of commencement. In this distance 
 it would be necessary to cross the Valley of Sleepy Hollow, and 
 several considerable ravines, and gulfs formed by springs and 
 brooks. The route would have to be conducted meanderingly 
 round them ; or they may be crossed in a straight line by em- 
 bankments, pipes, or aqueducts. From Tarrytown the ground 
 may be considered favorable, although principally a steep side 
 liil! to the mouth of the Saw-Mill River, a total distance of twenty 
 miles. From the Saw-Mill River, the route could either follow 
 the northern bank of the stream to Danger's Mill, a distance of 
 one and a quarter miles, and continue on, or in the vicinity of the 
 route surveyed to Macomb's dam, by Mr. White, a distance of 
 nine miles, and there cross the Harlem River ; or it would cross 
 near the mouth of the Saw-Mill River, and follow the bank of the 
 Hudson to the Harlem River, and cross that stream a short distance 
 above its mouth, and reach on the opposite side, very rocky, narrow, 
 and elevated ground laying, directly on the banks of the Hudson 
 River. This ridge is broken in a short distance in its continuation 
 south, by a ravine, or hollow, which crosses the road to King's 
 Bridge, near Crawford's tavern. The line would be forced to 
 pass over it, to reach the elevated lands in the vicinity of Fort 
 Washington ; and the first reservoir on the Island would be con- 
 structed near Madam Jumel's. The other reservoirs ought to be 
 placed on the elevated ground on different parts of the Island. 
 The distance from the Saw-Mill to the Harlem River, is about six 
 miles, and from that stream to the reservoir is four miles, making 
 the whole length of the route thirty miles to Madam Jumel's, and 
 the one to Macomb's dam is thirty miles and a quarter. 
 
 121. I must say, that the routes present great, but not insur- 
 mountable impediments. In some places the works may be very 
 expensive, and in others very cheap ; and I have seen nothing in 
 the character of the routes, but what perseverance and skill can 
 overcome. It will, however be necessary, that a minute and care- 
 ful survey should be made, to determine fully the difficulties of 
 construction. The expense of the work will also, in a great de- 
 gree, depend on the plan of crossing the vallies, some of which 
 are wide and deep. Many modes ought to be examined ; such 
 as stone, wood, and iron arches, supporting pipes or elevated 
 and open aqueducts ; low and high embankments supporting 
 pipes, or the embankments being sufficiently elevated to conduct 
 
235 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 the works over, without depressing them more than the required 
 fall ; and also carrying the works circuitously around the vallies, 
 and other matters connected with the construction of the works. 
 
 122. The elevation of the Croton at Pine's Bridge being 183 
 feet, and the bottom of the work being sunk six feet below the 
 bed of the river, it leaves 177 feet ; and if the line from that point 
 should descend uniformly one and a half feet in the mile, the 
 Saw-Mill River, on the first route, would be crossed at Danger's 
 Mill, at an elevation of 42| feet above that stream. On the low- 
 er route it would require, at the mouth of the Saw Mill River, a 
 work 147 feet high. At the Harlem River, on either of the routes 
 an aqueduct 138 feet high and 1000 feet long ; and over the low 
 ravine at Crawford's Tavern, a work 115 feet in height. It is ap- 
 parent that these elevations could be reduced by resorting to 
 pipes sustained on low arches, instead of the open aqueduct. This 
 plan would, however, much depress the heights of the reservoirs 
 on the Island, on account of the friction in the pipes. It is true, 
 a higher starting point on the Croton could be obtained, which 
 would, perhaps, obviate all fears on that subject. But it remains 
 to be seen if that would be the most economical plan. These 
 facts cannot be settled, and the height that the water from the 
 Croton can be delivered on the Island, must remain in some doubt 
 until after an actual survey. I have, however, strong confidence 
 in the practicability of delivering it at 138 feet above tide, and it 
 would admit of the bottom of the reservoir being 120 feet, pro- 
 vided it was 18 feet in depth. 
 
 123. It must be recollected, that although the elevations of the 
 aqueducts would be very great, to continue the works with an 
 uniform descent from the Croton, they would not be as expensive 
 asja canal aqueduct, or as a public stone or iron arched bridge ; for 
 although the lower parts of the piers would require solidity for the 
 first twenty or thirty feet, to withstand the pressure of the stream 
 and floating masses which would impinge against it. All the work 
 above that point, need not possess greater strength than to sustain 
 the thrust of the arches, and the weight of materials, and of the 
 water in the trunk of the work. The stone to be used would be 
 West Chester marble and granite, both of which are convenient to 
 the works. 
 
 124. If a medium level should have to be resorted to, on ac- 
 count of unforeseen difficulties in the execution of the work ,* the 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 236 
 
 water would then have to be elevated by machinery on the Island, 
 at the Harlem River. In such a contingency, you have the tide 
 power of that stream, the waters of the Bronx, on Doctor Brown's 
 plan, and steam engines. All tluse modes require careful investi- 
 gations to determine which is the best. If, however, the water 
 could be introduced on the Island, so as to supply parts of the 
 City, it might be raised by steam engines, situated at the reser- 
 voirs, to the more elevated sections. 
 
 125. The reservoirs ought to have capacity to contain a supply 
 of water sufficient for the consumption of the City for many days, 
 so as to have a quantity on hand to provide against any misfor- 
 tune happening to the works. These reservoirs ought not to be 
 confined to the Island but several should be ^located in West 
 Chester ; and many of the vallies on the route are admirably cal- 
 culated for that purpose. There will also be other benefits result- 
 ing from this system of reservoirs, which you must plainly see 
 
 126. It appears that many advantages are possessed by the 
 Croton plan over the Bronx. 1st. In its supply of running water, 
 which is five times greater than in the latter. 2d. In the capacity 
 of its reservoirs, which are seventeen times greater. 3d. In the 
 security of the works and expense of superintendance, as it re- 
 quires no dams and but one set of sluices ; while the latter re- 
 quires four dams and four sets of sluices. 4th. In the little injury 
 it does to hydraulic works and private property, compared with 
 the Bronx plan. 5th. The route also passes through a country 
 which can never, from its character, be densely populated or 
 much cultivated ; while the other route passes through a rich 
 country, susceptible of a dense population , and if we include the 
 whole extent of necessary canals or tunnels to obtain the full sup- 
 ply from the Bronx River with the plan of the Croton, the differ- 
 ence in the extent of the construction of the canal, is only six 
 and one half miles in favor of the former. The Croton River re- 
 quires a continuous work to introduce it on the Island ; while the 
 latter will be constructed in detached pieces. The waters of the 
 Croton are, however, three miles nearer the City-Hall than those 
 of the Byram or Wampus Ponds. And there can be no question, 
 that the waters of the Croton, when delivered on the Island, after 
 passing through its continuous and neat channel, will be much 
 purer than those of the Rye, and Byram, and Wampus Ponds, 
 which would flow, for a great part of their distances, through the 
 
237 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 natural channels of the Bronx, and become contaminated, by mix- 
 ing with inferior waters and other impurities, in their descent to 
 Underfill's Bridge. 
 
 127 It may be urged, that it would not be necessary for some 
 years to Come, to go beyond the Rye Ponds It must, however, 
 be recollected, that although it may not be necessary to construct 
 immediately the canal and bulkheads at the Byram and Wampus 
 Ponds, that prudence would call upon us to do it, to provide a 
 supply of water, in case of any accident happening to the Rye 
 Ponds Reservoir ; and it would also be necessary immediately to 
 secure those ponds, and the lands bordering on them. There- 
 fon , our plans and estimates would have to include at this time, 
 all those items 
 
 128. Various plans have been suggested to bring the water to 
 the City. On a lull examination, I am clearly of opinion, that it 
 would be the best to introduce it through an open canal ; that 
 m>;de being the most economical, the most secure, and permit- 
 ting the greatest quantity of water to flow through it at equal 
 spaces of time ; and the attainment of a greater head for our Re- 
 servoirs. 
 
 129. An open canal has been seriously objected to on account 
 of ice forming in the Winter on its surface. To avoid this, it 
 must be made narrow and deep, and direct ; and the fall being 
 eighteen inches in the mile, will cause a rapid current on its sur- 
 face If this should be found in very severe Winters to be insuf- 
 ficient, the discharge gates on the line must be opened to quicken 
 the current ; and the sluices on the Croton must pass into the 
 works a larger quantity of water than usual, or by passing through 
 the sluices a larger and a smaller quantity, thereby creating a 
 rapid alternate rise and fall of the level of the surface of the canai. 
 Mechanical contrivances could also be resorted to, to break the 
 ice and keep it open ; the floating ice, if any, could easily 
 be « emoved by labourers employed for that purpose. It is also 
 evident, that although the canal may freeze over, if we take that 
 subject into calculation, we can pass a sufficient quantity of water 
 under the ice for the supply of the City, by giving it depth. It is 
 also apparent, that at the time of ice, the consumption of the City 
 will be less than at any other periods of the year, as water will not 
 be required for the streets, yards, &c. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 130. It is said, that the water flowing in the canal, would be- 
 come adulterated by the washings of the surrounding lands, and 
 also that bars and shallows would form in the work. This objec- 
 tion would be tenable, if the works are badly built, or the plan of 
 constructions are not well considered. It is, however, an easy 
 matter to exclude the rains and wash, which would run from the 
 hills by digging drains, and providing suitable passages under the 
 works to pass it away. My time will not permit me to enter into 
 a full detail, as it will require different modes of construction to 
 apply to differently situated grounds. In respect to the perma- 
 nency of the plan, there can be no doubt, as on side hill, the 
 canal must be cut the full breadth of the water line in them, and 
 on the embankments stone walls, or thin iron plates can be re- 
 sorted to, as the former will have to be the \fhole extent of the 
 works, 
 
 131. A closed tunnel, as proposed by Mr. White, is very objec- 
 tionable, on account of the expense of its execution, and the dan- 
 ger of leakage or breakage. If an accident of this nature should 
 .happen in the Winter, it would be impossible to repair it, as 
 cement will not set in frosty weather. The work would also be 
 weak at the different angles made in the route, and the velocity 
 of the water would be very much retarded by friction, and collisi* 
 ons with the different crooks in the line. It must also be recol- 
 lected that the strength of the arch is its downward pressure, and 
 the head of water is applied under it, thereby tending to throw it 
 out upwards, and nothing but the adhesion of the cement and the 
 filling above the arch will prevent it from bursting. Other rea- 
 sons could also be assigned. 
 
 132. Pipes are also to be objected to, on account of the great 
 expense of procuring and laying them, as it would require pipes 
 of thirty inch diameter, and the friction of the water, in its pas- 
 sage through them, would not only render a greater head neces- 
 sary to overcome it, but it would diminish the quantity delivered 
 on the Island, and also the height of the reservoir. If pipes, or a 
 tunnel was adopted to provide against accidents, it would require 
 a double line for each. 
 
 133. Many persons have suggested that the water in the open 
 canal, by its passage through it, would become impure ; I cannot 
 see the force of the objection, as I have already stated the man- 
 ner that those impurities can be avoided. It must also be recol- 
 
239 [Doc. No. 6i. 
 
 iected that the principal supply of the city of London is procured 
 from the \'ew River and the River Lea, by the means of an open 
 canal. The canal, to maintain its level, meanders a distance of 
 thirty-nine miles, although the source of supply, in a direct line, 
 is not more than twenty miles from the city. Those united 
 streams supply 28,774,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, and pro- 
 vide for 177,400 houses. In 1816, there was on the canal, forty- 
 three sluices, and 215 public badges over it. There are also seve- 
 ral subterraneous passages under roads ; one is two hundred yards 
 long. At Islington the canal is fourteen and a half feet wide, and 
 four and a half feet deep. From the New River head reservoir^ 
 which is fifty-eight feet above the river Thames, the water is 
 raised thirty-five feet by steam engines, into two reservoirs. 
 One is situated near Pentonville, and the other near Tottenham 
 Court-House rond. They each contain five acres, and are ten 
 feet in depth. 
 
 134. On the north-west side of Loudon Bridge there are five 
 water-wheels, which raise- the water one hundred and fifty feet 
 high from the River Thames in a reservoir, for the use of the 
 city. It must be well known that the Thames River is the 
 receptacle, not only for the whole filth of the city of London, but 
 of its shipping, and of the villages and towns on its borders ; and 
 yet it is an indisputable fact that it is not only considered good by 
 its citizens, but that many of the packets and vessels from this 
 city supply themselves for their trip from that source, preferring 
 those waters to ours. Part of the city of Paris is likewise supplied 
 with the waters of the Seine, and the more elevated parts of the 
 city from springs which rise on the surrounding eminences. The 
 water works of the city of Edinburgh are too well known to re- 
 quire to be mentioned. 
 
 135. It is well known that the city of Philadelphia is supplied 
 with water procured from the River Schuylkill, and raised by hv- 
 draulic machinery, on Fair Mount ; that the stream rises in and 
 flows through one of the richest mineral regions of our country ; 
 its valley is filled with villages, manufactories, and farm houses ; 
 its lands are arable and cultivated to their fullest extent ; its cur- 
 rents are slackened by numerous dams ; many public roads are in 
 its vicinity ; it is crossed by numerous public ferries and bridges, 
 and there is a navigable canal in conslant use, while the season 
 permits, from one end of its valley to the other. Yet with all 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 240 
 
 these facts, which would be objections in the minds of the fastidi- 
 ous, those waters are not only considered wholesome and palat- 
 able, but are the pride and just boast of that city. 
 
 136. The vessels which navigate the Hudson River, to this day, 
 freely use its water above Poughkeepsie. The Delaware waters 
 are likewise used, and many of the citizens of New Orleans use 
 those of the Mississippi. At the City of Savannah, shipping sup- 
 ply themselves from the Savannah River, and give it preference 
 over any other The waters of those last streams, not only pass 
 through swamps and receive the stagnant waters from Cypress 
 ponds and Laurel thickets, but their currents are sluggish, and they 
 are contaminated with many impurities; and yet, when they have 
 time to settle, they are not only palatable, bu« pure. If we can- 
 didly take all these facts into consideration, we must b<* under no 
 apprehensions on the subject of % the purity oj the Croton River 
 waters. 
 
 137- The expense of distributing the water throughout the 
 City, cannot be accurately ascertained, until the height of the 
 reservoir, and the distance that the water has to run from it, are 
 known. Those are questions which ought now be determined, 
 to find the diameters of the mains and the cross branches, other- 
 wise it may be found, when it is too late to remedy the evil, that 
 the city have expended more money than necessary ; or that 
 pipes are not sufficient to provide for the consumption ; for the 
 more elevated the reservoirs are, and the more systematical their 
 levels are maintained, and the nearer they are to the place of dis- 
 trtb -tion, the greater will be the saving on the conduits and 
 blanches. These are considerations of great consequence, and 
 cannot be determined too soon. 
 
 138. The City of Philadelphia, before the adoption of then 
 present plan, expended, in futile experiments and expedients, 
 more than one million of dollars. This, on the part of our City, 
 may be avoided, by having careful and accurate surveys made of 
 all the difficulties of the undertaking, and a definite plan to work 
 on, and by employing a careful and intelligent agent to collect 
 practical information, not only in this country, but in Europe. 
 
 139. From the best opinion I can form, I am satisfied, that the wa- 
 ters of the Croton River may be taken at Pine's Bridge, and deliv- 
 ered on the Island, for a sum not exceeding $750,000, in an opeu 
 canal, and with stone linings, ditching, and walls, and includ- 
 
241 [Doc. No 61. 
 
 iag damages and other contingencies, it may swell the cost to 
 $850,000. The expense of distribution and reservoirs on the* 
 Island, may amount to $1,650,000 more, which would make the 
 whole cost of the work $2,500,000. 
 
 140 Having thus placed the whole subject, in compliance w ith 
 your wishes, in full view before you, nothing now remains to be 
 investigated, but the probable revenue, and the advantages which 
 would accrue to the city from the construction of the works. 
 
 141. It is admitted by all that an ample and pure supply of 
 water is one of the greatest blessings which can be conferred on a 
 dense community ; as it is one of the greatest conservators of 
 public health and morals ; as it is necessary for cleanness in our 
 houses, yards, sewers, and streets ; also for eulinary and other do- 
 mestic purposes, and for public baths, stables, manufactories, and 
 vessels; for purifying the air in summer, for embellishments in 
 public squares, gardens, and private residences, the extinguish- 
 ment of fires, and, if secured in sufficient quantities, it could be 
 used for dry docks and other valuable City objects. 
 
 142. The advantages of the City Reservoir in the extinguish- 
 ment of fires, I have before mentioned in another part of this com- 
 munication. It appears in a table now before me, that the de- 
 struction of property occurring to this City by fires, from 1825 to 
 1829, amounted to $1,753,633, and the average for those five years, 
 is over $350,000. The expense of supporting the Fire Depart- 
 ment by the City, for the same period, amounts to $J"3,627, or 
 over on an average, $14,700 per annum ; and during this period, 
 there were four hundred and forty-three fires. 
 
 143. The cost of supporting the Fire Department by the Ciry, 
 varies considerably. In 1830, the expense amounted to $22,96:.' ; 
 the actual number of fires that happened in that year, were one 
 hundred and nineteen, and the false alarms were one hundred and 
 twenty five, and the loss of property amounts to $157,135 In 
 1831, the expenses of the Department amount to $12,984 and 
 during the three first quarters of this year, to $13,981. On an 
 average, it may be estimated at $18,000 per annum This sum, 
 however, includes only the expense defrayed by the City, and not 
 the services of the firemen. This item embraces a new subject of 
 investigation, as it is well known, that the equivalent a fireman re- 
 ceives for his seven year's services, is an exemption from militia 
 and jury duties ; and although those services are rendered, they 
 still are a tax on the individual. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 242 
 
 144. Another serious consideration presents itself. The time 
 may come, when our militia laws may be very much modified, or 
 entirely repealed. In this case, the City will have to bear the 
 whole expense of the Department, unless some new equivalent is 
 granted to the firemen. To ascertain what the amount of the 
 expense, in such a contingency would be, I addressed a note to 
 Mr Wen man, who says, "Our Common Council would be under 
 the necessity of doing as they do in London and in Paris, that is, 
 of paying a sufficient number of able bodied men to take charge 
 of the Fire Department; in that case, it would be necessary to 
 have under pay twelve hundred men, that being the least number 
 it would take to manage the Engines, Hooks and Ladders, and 
 Hose Carts. If we say one dollar per man, for every actual fire, 
 the average number which, is one hundred and twenty-five an- 
 nually, it would make $150,000; and for every alarm of fire, 
 there should be fifty cents allowed to each fireman for attending; 
 and if there was only one and a half alarms to each fire, it would 
 amount annually to $112,000. For contingent expenses, such as 
 washing the engines and implements, and drying hose, which in 
 the Summer season takes one day, and in the Fall and tt inter 
 two days, besides overhauling and repairing machinery, $40,000, 
 it would make the total expense of maintaining the Fire Depart- 
 ment to the City, $302,500. These difficulties, I am certain will 
 all be obviated, and the above sum saved to the City, provided 
 our Common Council will provide throughout our City, a suffi- 
 cient supply of water for the extinguishment of fires." 
 
 145. From the calculations of Mr. Wenman, a very important 
 fact is developed ; that although it only costs the City Council at 
 this time about $18,000 to maintain the Fire Department, the in- 
 dividual firemen are taxed in their services $284,500 annually. 
 It is true, their labours are rendered voluntarily, and they have 
 an equivalent ; but it does not render it less imperative on the 
 City authorities, as the common guardian of this great commu- 
 nity, to diminish the labours and personal exposures and risks of 
 that meritorious, skilful, and patriotic class of citizens. 
 
 146 By introducing a copious supply of water into the city, it 
 will diminish the risk of fire, and the rates of insurance on all de- 
 scriptions of property, as it will provide the means always at hand 
 for their speedy extinguishment ; it will also prevent the spread- 
 ing ot fires in times of high winds, or great drought, as the water 
 
243 [Dog. No. 61. 
 
 can be thrown from the fire plugs in great quantity and velocity 
 on the exterior ; and also with facility in the interior of the build- 
 ing, and on the roofs of the adjoining houses. It is self evident 
 that as we lessen the chances of those calamities, the prices of in- 
 surance will fall. This saving has been estimated at fifty thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 147. It is well known, that until this year, the occupants of 
 buildings, and the owners of lots, have been required to collect the 
 filth and dirt before them in heaps, at stated periods, to be re- 
 moved by dirt carts employed by the city. This trial on the part 
 of the city authorities, may be considered as an experiment, and 
 its success must encourage them to persevere, or to discontinue it 
 at their option. But whether this service is rendered in labor, or 
 a dirt tax is levied indirectly on the lessee or owner of the pro- 
 perty, it amounts precisely to the same thing. In a table now be- 
 fore me, compiled from the Tax Book of 1832, it appears that 
 there are 20,944 buildings, and 9302 vacant lots, in fourteen 
 Wards of the city ; or, 30,246, exclusive of buildings and lots, in 
 the Twelfth Ward. If only twelve sweepings are necessary in the 
 year, opposite to each lot and building, and should cost twenty- 
 five cents, it amounts to 90,738 dollars. If we add to this sum the 
 expense of cleansing the public squares, sewers, and markets, by 
 the city, $20,000, it makes $1 10,738. 
 
 148. When our streets become dusty in summer, and our at- 
 mosphere warm, in many of our principle streets, our citizens, to 
 increase their comfort, and our merchants, to prevent their goods 
 from, being damaged by the dust, employ drays to sprinkle the 
 streets with water. This water is generally procured from the 
 East or the North River, and is supposed by many persons, to in- 
 crease, instead of diminishing, the impurity of the atmosphere. 
 The precise sum cannot be accurately ascertained, but it is be- 
 lieved, from the best information, that it varies between 6 and 
 $10,000 annually. 
 
 149. To maintain the pumps and wells is an annual tax on the 
 city, and on its citizens. From the 14th of May, 182 i, to the 
 26th of November, 1832, the cost to the city amounts to $30,863. 
 If we, however, suppose that the cost hereafter will not exceed 
 that of 1831, the annual tax on the City Treasury will be $3,115, 
 and will be lower than the amount paid for the same object in 
 1826 and 1829. If to this we add the expense of supporting and 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 244 
 
 constructing private cisterns, pumps, wells, and reservoirs, which 
 I am assured does not fall below $15,123, it makes the total cost 
 $ 18,238 for maintaining them. 
 
 150. All these objects are legitimate subjects connected with 
 our inquiry of the advantages and expense of introducing water 
 into the city ; and I now shall examine into the probable saving 
 which will result to the city on those items. 
 
 151. The cost of maintaining the fire department 
 
 to the City, is $18,000 annually, suppose 
 
 saving one half, .... - $9,000 
 Los* accruing to the City by Fire in 1830, $157,135, 
 
 suppose saving on this item one half, - - 78,576 
 Personal Tax paid by Firemen, equal to $284,500, 
 
 suppose a saving of one fourth, - 71>125 
 Saving on account of property insured against fires 
 
 in the City, 50,000 
 
 Amount paid for cleansing streets, $110,738 ; in 
 
 services, &c. suppose saving, ... 10,000 
 Money expended in laying dust, &c. - 6,000 
 Saving in maintaining pumps, &c. - 18,238 
 
 Saving to the City by introducing water, in services, 
 
 taxes, and money, annually - - - $242,939 
 
 152. The above amount may appear to many to be large, but I 
 am satisfied if a careful investigation should be made, it would be 
 much swelled beyond the sum I have named. » 
 
 153. To the above amount is to be added the actual expense of 
 the shipping, and the City in procuring wholesome and palatable 
 water. In a former part of my communication, I have stated the 
 basis of the calculations, except the Manhattan Works, which I 
 suppose is $10,000 ; and nothing now remains but to enumerate 
 them. 
 
 Expense of the supply brought to the City by water 
 
 carts, $273,750 
 
 Supposed revenue of Manhattan Works, . 10,000 
 Expense of supply ing vessels, &c. . . 49,945 
 
 Total cost of procuring water to the City, . $333,695 
 Add saving by its introduction, . . 242,939 
 
 Total amount of all items, .... $576 } 634 
 
245 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 7 54. If we take the whole s"m saved to the City by introducing 
 Water, it would be equal to an investment of a capital at five per 
 com, of jfl J, 532-700, or that amount could be expended for that 
 object. If we, however, limited our inquiry to the cost of the 
 present supply pf water, it would be more than a capital at five 
 percent, of $6,(i(39 980 ; and if we entirely excluded the Man- 
 hattan, and the supply for shipping, it is equal to a capital at five 
 per cent, of $5 475,000, and as the works are not supposed to cost 
 over $2,50(,,(>OO, the first statement is capable of paying twenty- 
 three per cent, interest on the cost, the second, over thirteen 
 per cent, and the last over eleven per cent. This must therefore 
 completely settle the question of the productiveness of the under- 
 taking. 
 
 J 55. Again, if we take the capital equal to an interest of five 
 per cent, on the saving, and the expense of introducing water, and 
 divide it by the number of lots in the fourteen Wards, it is equal 
 to an investment by each lot, of a capital over $381, or to pro- 
 vide for a tax to supply themselves with water, and maintain the 
 police of the City. The introduction of water wouid not amount 
 to more than an investment of $81 for each lot, and would conse- 
 quently save $299. Other calculations could be made, but are 
 deemed unnecessary. 
 
 156 My communication may appear unnecessarily long; but 
 as I could not with propriety and justice to others, make it shorter, 
 and also present my own views frankly, and give a fair statement 
 ot all questions connected with your wishes, it must render an 
 apology unnecessary for 4ts length. 
 
 157- 1» conclusion, I recommend that the supply for the City 
 be taken from the Croton River ; that minute surveys be made 
 before the plan of the Croton route is determined. 
 
 That the expense of the works will not probably exceed 
 $2,500,000. 
 
 That the advantages of the supply of water to the City would 
 not justify any expenditures exceeding $11,000,000; and the 
 works may be put in operation three years after their commence- 
 ment. 
 
 With my best wishes for the success of this useful undertaking, 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Sir, your very obedient servant, 
 
 DE WITT CLINTON, 
 
 U. 8, C. Engineer. 
 
INDEX TO THE REPORT 
 
 1. Remarks concurring with the Committee on the practicability 
 
 of introducing water. 
 
 2. Considerations in making Report. 
 
 3. Supply of water ought to be equal to the present and increas- 
 
 ing consumption of the City. 
 
 4. Increase of population toJ)e expected in sixty years. 
 
 5. Remarks on the enterprising character of the citizens of 
 
 New- York. 
 
 6. A source of regret that the City is not supplied with water. 
 
 7. Reasons why the work has been delayed by the City. 
 
 8. Manhattan Company. 
 
 9. Analysis of Manhattan Waters. 
 
 10. Description of the works of the Manhattan Company. 
 
 11. Manhattan Well, Bleecker-street. 
 
 12. Conclusions to be drawn from Mr. Lozier's account of the 
 
 Manhattan Works, in 1823. 
 
 13. Suggestions respecting a compromise with the Manhattan 
 
 Company. 
 
 14. Sharon Canal Company. 
 
 15. Route of Sharon Canal to Crawford Mills. 
 
 16. Height of ground between the Croton and the Ten Mile 
 
 River. 
 
 17 Sharon Canal continued to the Harlem River. 
 
 18. General views of the expense and distance of the Sharon Ca- 
 
 nal route to the Harlem River. 
 
 19. New York Water Works Company. 
 
 20. New-York Well Company. 
 
 21. Remarks on Incorporated Companies. 
 
 22. A description of the City Reservoir. 
 
 23. A description of the Iron Tank. 
 
 24. Cost of the City Reservoir Works. 
 
247 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 25. Rise in the value of property at the City Reservoir. 
 
 26. Expense of keeping the City Reservoir Works in operation* 
 27- Aggregate expenses of the same. 
 
 28. Extent of pipes laid by the City. 
 
 29. Aggregate length of pipes and cost of the same, 
 
 30. Quantity of pipes ordered, but not laid. 
 
 31. Description of pipes. 
 
 32. Expense of pipes. 
 
 33. Stop valves, and the expense of the same. 
 
 34. Advantages of the City Reservoir in extinguishing fires. 
 
 35. The boundaries of the Island of .New- York. 
 
 36. Various elevations of Islands. 
 
 37. Remarks on the elevations. 
 
 38. Soils and Rocks of Island. 
 
 39. Doubts on the subject of the uniformity of dips of rock. 
 
 40. Dinsbrow's plan of boring to supply the City with water. 
 
 41. His perforations may procure good water. 
 
 42. Plan of Dinsbrow may answer for families, &c. 
 
 43. Contrasting Dinsbrow's plan with City Well. 
 
 44. Number of wells necessary on his plan. 
 
 45. Advantages of City Well over Dinsbrow's plan. 
 
 46. Quantity of water to be obtained by perforations. 
 47 General remarks on that subject. 
 
 48. Expense of supplying City on Dinsbrow's plan. 
 
 49. Dinsbrow's plan condemned. 
 
 50. Well water losing its goodness. 
 
 51. Extract of a report on well water. 
 
 52. Boundaries of bad well water. 
 
 53. Quantity of water brought to the City by water drays. 
 
 54. Cost of water to hotels and boarding houses, &c. 
 
 55. Consumption of water by shipping. 
 
 56. Plan to procure water from Passaic River. 
 57 Morris Canal project of supplying the City. 
 
 58. Poughkeepsie project of supplying the City. 
 
 59. Plans unworthy to be investigated. 
 60 Supply, West Chester County. 
 
 61. Various streams have been proposed to supply the City. 
 
 62. Byram River and Byram and Wampus Ponds. 
 
 63. Country between the Byram and the Bronx Rivers. 
 
 64. Bronx River and the Rye Ponds. 
 
 8 
 
Doc. No. 61.] &48 
 
 65. Country between the Bronx and the Hudson Rivers. 
 
 66. Saw-Mill River, and ridges of land. 
 
 67. Croton River. 
 
 68. High-lands bounding Croton Valley. 
 69 General remarks in conclusion. 
 
 70. Doctor Brown's Plan in 1798. 
 
 71. A general summary of his Report. 
 
 72. Report of Mr. Weston in 1799. 
 
 73. Mr. Weston's Plan. 
 
 74. General summary of the Weston Plan. 
 
 75. Old Collect Plan by Mr. Weston. 
 
 76. Plan of Robert Macomb 
 
 77 Remarks on more recent Plans. 
 
 78. View of Mr. White's surveys in 1824. 
 
 79. Surveys made by Mr. Whife between Big Rye Pond and By-. 
 
 ram River. 
 
 80. Route surveyed by Mr. White between the Bronx and the 
 
 Saw-Mill Rivers. 
 
 81. Mr. White's examination between the Saw-Mill and the Cro- 
 
 ton Rivers. 
 
 82. General remarks account for the want of success of Mr. 
 
 White and the Sharon Canal Company, in the fiist at- 
 tempts to connect the Saw-Mill River and the croton Val- 
 lies. 
 
 83. Levels of the Croton River. 
 
 84. Mr. White's first Plan in 1824. 
 
 85. Water to be raised by machinery on his first Plan. 
 
 86. Number of Reservoirs proposed by Mr. White. 
 
 87. Mr. White's second Plan. 
 
 88. Remarks on Mr. White's first and second Plans. 
 
 89. The Sprain, or Valentine's Brook, lost on Mr. White's third 
 
 Plan. 
 
 90. Mr. White's opinion on the subject of hydraulic machinery. 
 
 91. Mr. White's fourth Plan. 
 
 92. Mr. White's survey to Saw-Mill River. 
 
 93. Mr. White's final Plan in 1826. 
 
 94. Mr. White's estimate and remarks on the same. 
 
 95. Messrs. Dewey and Serrell's opinion on the subject of a high 
 
 level from the Bronx River. 
 
 96. Quantities of water. 
 
24S> tt>oc. No. 6i, 
 
 97. Mr. White's explanation of the character of the seasons in 
 
 1824 and 1826. 
 
 98. Report of Stephen Allen in 1822, on quantity of water dis- 
 
 charged by Rye Ponds. 
 
 99. General Swift's guage in 1822, of Rye Ponds. 
 100. Remarks on guages in 1832. 
 
 101« Guages of the Little Rye Pond outlet. 
 
 102 Quantity of water made by Mr. White in 1824. 
 
 103 Quantity of water made by Mr. White in 1826. 
 
 104. Quantity of water made by. Messrs. Dewey and Serrell in 
 
 1832. 
 
 105. Comparing quantities together. 
 
 106. Remarks on Ciscoe Reservoir. 
 107 Troton River waters rejected. 
 
 108. Quantity of water that can be procured from Bronx and By- 
 
 ram Rivers. 
 
 109. Reasons why Croton waters are not included. 
 
 110 Quantity of water favourable. 
 
 1 1 1 Plan of Reservoir, and loss by evaporation, &c. 
 
 112. Reasons for taking minimum quantity of water. 
 
 113. Folly of making Reservoirs in the main valley of the Bronx. 
 
 114. Quantity of water necessary for consumption. 
 115 Supply of running water cannot be increased. 
 
 116. Probable time that the Bronx Plan will supply the City. 
 
 117. General view of the works necessary on the Bronx Plan. 
 
 118. Croton River supply of water. 
 1 19 Route from Croton River. 
 
 120. Route from Pine's Bridge. 
 
 121. Difficulties great on the route. 
 
 122. Elevations of Aqueducts. 
 
 123. Reasons why Aqueducts will not be very costly. 
 124 Medium level. 
 
 125. Remarks on capacity of Reservoirs. 
 
 126. Reasons why the Croton River should be selected. 
 
 127. Reasons which will be urged in favor of the Bronx, 
 
 128. Plans proposed to elevate the water on the Island. 
 
 129. Objections against an open canal replied to. 
 
 130. Objections to an open canal continued. 
 
 131. Plan of a brick tunnel. 
 
 132. Plan of iron pipes. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 250 
 
 133. New River water works, London. 
 
 134. Thames U ater used in London. 
 
 133 Character of River Schuylkill waters. 
 
 130 Hudson, Delaware, Mississippi, and Savannah River waters. 
 137 Remarks on disti iiuition of waters. 
 
 138. Money lost to the City of Philadelphia by experimenting. 
 139 Probable expense of Croton River works. 
 
 140. Observations introductory. 
 
 141. \ arious uses of water in a large city. 
 
 142 Loss to the City from fires, and expense of the department, 
 from 1H25, to 1829. 
 
 143. Expense of Fire Department, and loss by fires, in 1830. 
 
 144. The expense to the City to maintain fire department, with 
 
 the ->iilitia Law repealed. 
 
 145. Tax on Firemen. 
 
 14(3. Risks oi fire and cost of insurance lessened. 
 147 having in cleansing streets 
 
 148. Cost of sprinkling streets with water in the summer. 
 
 149. Lxpense of pumps and wells to the City and individuals. 
 
 150. Pre paratory Remarks, going to show the saving to the City 
 
 by introducing water. 
 
 151. Account ol saving to the City and its Citizens. 
 
 152 Remarks on the above 
 
 153 Summary of the expenses of the City, to procure water. 
 
 154. Calculations on the probable revenue which will occur to 
 
 the City, by constructing the works. 
 
 155. Final view on the subject of the revenue of the works. 
 
 156. Concluding remarks. 
 
Street Commissioner's Office, Oct. 29, 1832. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 You are hereby requested to take with you Mr. 
 Win Serrell and two rodmen, two axemen, if required, and a wa- 
 gon and horses and driver, and make an excursion, and take levels 
 for the purpose of bringing water to this city. 
 
 You will proceed first to Harlem River, at Macomb's Dam, and 
 make the tide water at high tide your starting point. 
 
 Proceed then to ascend the high ground, and gain a piece of 
 table ground, of at least three or four acres, which is 120 feet 
 above tide water ; there make some permanent marks which can 
 be found hereafter. 
 
 You may find this ground within half a mile, I hope, of the 
 river. It is desirable to find it as near Macomb's Dam srs possible. 
 
 W hen you have found this ground, then carry a level northward, 
 rising twelve inches in each mile, and trace out such a level as is 
 the easiest and cheapest to carry a canal or brick tunnel upon. 
 Pursue this between the Bronx River and Hudson River, and be- 
 tween Bronx and Saw- Mill ; and it is believed that this will bring 
 you out to the Bronx at the mill against the village of White 
 Plums ; at this point the Bronx is said to be 133 feet above tide. 
 However, puisue the level as above until you do strike the Bronx. 
 
 You will note all the ground you pass over, whether level, side 
 hill, rocky, &c. whether easy excavation ; and all the outlines to 
 enable us to estimate pretty fairly the expense. 
 
 All embankments are to be particularly noted, and the amount 
 in yards given, and also the place where earth can be obtained to 
 make this embankment, and of what quality it is, so far as to give 
 a little bearing upon the expense of it. 
 
 If you should be driven to pass any stream, which I think you 
 will, one in particular, Valentine's Brook, take a look to see how 
 this can be brought into our tunnel, if it is worth bringing in ; or 
 whether an artificial reservoir can be made at the head of it. All 
 reservoirs lor tins purpose should be made in deep ravines, so as 
 
Doc: No. 61. 
 
 to keep the water the greatest possible depth, and give the great- 
 est quantity with the least possible surface. 
 
 When your party are going on, and you see them fairly started, 
 and they can move on two or three days without you, I wish you 
 to examine Byram Pond and Wampus Pond, and see whether 
 they are favorably situated to raise them a few feet and hold on 
 upon their waters, to carry us over a dry time. 
 
 And when you are out on this examination, I wish you to go 
 over to Croton River and examine the Branch which comes from 
 IVhihopook Pond. I am credibly informed, that this stream gives, 
 in the driest time, thirteen million gallons; and that it is so situ- 
 ated, that it can be brought over the other branch of the Croton, 
 on a level 150 feet above it, and bring it round, and, by a short 
 tunnel, to bring it over into the head of Bronx or Saw-Mill River; 
 and w e know that Saw Mill * River, at Union Village, can be 
 brought into the Bronx, above White Plains, for four or five thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 As a general remark, I pray you to take a general look of the 
 country in every direction, and see whether artificial reservoirs 
 can be formed at the head water of the Bronx, or in any other 
 direction available ; so that we may be able to look hereafter to 
 such a source when we want it. 
 
 Wishing you every success in the expedition, and wishing you 
 good weather and as speedy a return as may be, 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 Timothy Dewey, Esq. BENJAMIN WRIGHT, 
 
 Street Commissioner, 
 
 Note, -Please leave Bench Marks at least every mile, made on 
 trees, door sills, or rocks, which can be easily referred to hereafter. 
 
New- York, 29th November, 1832. 
 
 To Benjamin Wright, Esq, 
 Sir, 
 
 In pursuance of your instructions, dated 29th October 
 
 last, 
 
 It is Respectfully submitted : 
 
 That, on proceeding from Macomb's Dam, upon the high land 
 above, and examining for a spot of " Table Land, 120 feet high, 
 containing three or four acres, and capable of being made a Reser- 
 voir," no such spot could be found nearer than about a mile and 
 three quarters from the starting point. The distance between that 
 and Macomb's Dam, is over a very rugged line, mostly of stra- 
 tified gneiss rocks, dipping to the west, and interspersed- with hol- 
 lows, requiring considerable embankments to maintain the line of 
 a tunnel or open canal ; but not any where offering facilities of 
 earth or other materials fit to aid in making such embankments. 
 
 From this point, the country, for near two miles, is tolerably 
 open, and such as does not offer any extraordinary difficulties in 
 the formation of a canal or tunnel. Continuing the level, and 
 entering the valley of the Bronx on the west side, the required 
 line could only be obtained upon the faces of immense rocky 
 bluffs, separated by deep ravines, without any supply of earth, 
 or other materials, within any reasonable distance, suitable for 
 the construction of sucli a work. This character of country con- 
 tinues, with little variation, until about a quarter of a mile above 
 Underbill's Bridge, where the land became so exceedingly abrupt 
 and high, that it became requisite to cross to the eastern bank of 
 the stream., before the work of running the level could be con- 
 tinued. The level struck the Bronx at about 136 feet above tide, 
 near Major Popham's Mill, in Scarsdale, about sixteen miles from 
 Macomb's Dam. 
 
 From the character of the country, it may be stated, that a safe 
 u open canal, or closed tunnel, descending one foot in a mile, from 
 a point on the Bronx, so as to arrive on the high-land near Ma- 
 comb's Dam, at an elevation of one hundred and twenty feet 
 above tide," is wholly impracticable. 
 
Doc. No. 61. J 
 
 254 
 
 There are other objections to taking the water out at a high 
 level ; one of the most important is, that by such a course nil the 
 supply coming from the Sprain, and other considerable stream* 
 and springs, which are sources of supply below, will be entirely 
 lost to the main object. 
 
 The levels, as shown by the accompanying field notes, are 
 herewith submitted. 
 
 The next point of inquiry, is, rt the sources of supply, and 
 whether these can be artificially rendered more effective n 
 
 The Rye Ponds exhibit the strongest evidence, that they have 
 been much higher than they now are. Every iWSfrtfatibn and 
 observation confirms the belief that these masses of water con- 
 tinue the whole year in a very pure state On the 1 5th Novem- 
 ber, on puagingtbe outlet, it appeared that 4,173,001) gallons ran 
 off every twenty-four hours. Y"he large pond m;iy be laised eight 
 feet, and the outlet reduced six, making fourteen feet of reservoir. 
 Thus a supply may be retained in the large pond, equal to 
 823,284,000 gallons. 
 
 From the north east corner of Rye Pond, the land rises very 
 gradually, until near the By ram River, when it falls again to the 
 Byram; presenting no obstruction worthy of notice to cutting a 
 small canal, by which the surplus water and freshets may be 
 turned into the Rye Pond, and would probably fill it eight feet in 
 one winter, after the dam is made. 
 
 From hence, to Byram Pond, the land rises considerably ; and 
 a large quantity of rain water (alls annually within this section. 
 The Byram stream, when guaged on the 1 6th November, above 
 the junction with the Wampus, gave 8,366,000 gallons passing in 
 twenty four hours. The Byram Pond, of one hundred and twenty 
 acres, may be raised ten feet above its present level, and drawn 
 down six feet below. The rise would only flood about twenty- 
 five acres of wet meadow land; and 501,626,000 gallons would 
 be reserved, beside the current supply, when the Pond is once 
 filled. From the quantity of water running off the surrounding 
 high-lands, this may be effected in twelve months. It would be 
 requisite to change a line of low road, on the north end of the 
 Pond, so as to bring it above the increased height of water ; the 
 cost of doing this, was estimated on the spot at $400 
 
 The Wampus Pond lies high, and has not any considerable sur- 
 rounding surface of land, whence the fall of rain would raise it if 
 
255 [Doc. l*o. 61. 
 
 embanked higher than it now is ; and by information derived 
 from the owners of the contiguous mills, it appears to vary very 
 little all the year. When gauged on the l6th November, the out- 
 let gave 1,735,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, and this quantity 
 is fuliy trebled from additional streams and springs by the time it 
 unites with the Bvram River. The two, jointly, will give 13,573,000 
 gallons daily. Wampus Pond can be lowered eight feet, and thus 
 furnish 1 14,956,lft) gallons of reservoir, as indicated in the ac- 
 companying table. 
 
 There is another course through which the waters of the Byram 
 and Wampus may be connected with the Bronx. The surplus 
 water may be taken south westerly, through a village called Mile- 
 square, about a mile and a half from Wampus Pond. Here a 
 short deep cut or tunnel, will bring it into the west branch of the 
 Bronx, by a course lying entirely within the State of New York. 
 
 Thus far, our labors and observations were continued jointly ; 
 Mr. Serrell returned to New York, to proceed with the report, 
 that it might be ready, as desired by the Committee, at the earli- 
 est convenient day. 
 
 My instructions required that I should proceed to the Croton 
 River, to examine if it was practicable to connect its waters with 
 those of the Saw- Mill and Bronx ; or if any of its tributary streams 
 could be given the same direction. 
 
 I was particularly directed to examine the Muscoot River, 
 which flows from the Mahopack or " Tomahawk" Pond, situated 
 in the town of Carmel, and learn if this stream could be conducted 
 near to the Croton, at so high a level as that it might be brought 
 over its valley by an aqueduct, and directed to the head waters of 
 the Saw-Mill River, and thus aid the general supply. 
 
 I found the Cross River, a branch of the Croton, flowiug, at a 
 level, near the village of u Cross River," sufficiently high to be 
 connected with the Kisco River, near Kirby's Mill Pond, in New 
 Castle ; and it may be united, by a long deep cut, with the Saw- 
 Mill River. The cost of a canal or tunnel about ten miles in 
 length, would be so great, that I consider it financially impracti- 
 cable. 
 
 I could not discover, nor do I believe, from an examination of 
 many miles of the valley of the Croton, that it is possible to 
 bring any of its waters to mingle with those of the Saw-Mill or 
 
 
 
Doc. No. 6L] 256 
 
 Bronx, without the aid of expensive machines, from the grea* 
 height the water must be elevated. 
 
 I found the Muscoot a very small stream, and running: nearly as 
 low as the Croton, three miles from its mouth ; the grounds on its 
 banks broken and mountainous to such an extent, as to render it 
 impossible to gain any thing from it. 
 
 I then proceeded up the valley of the Kisco, which discharges 
 its waters into the Croton, near Pine's Bridge. This river has 
 its main source in a large pond, in an extensive valley, at the 
 outlet of which are Kirby's Mills 
 
 By raising the dam at the outlet seven feet, I am assured by the 
 proprietor, that one thousand acres can be ponded, and the wa- 
 ter will flow near to the north-westerly side of ^Wampus pond. 
 I assume that five hundred acres may be overflown, and all low, 
 wetland, of little value. The* proprietor of the mills assures me 
 that he will not object to its use if his property is not injured, or 
 lie is fairly compensated for such of it as is used for this purpose. 
 
 By raising the dam seven feet, and reducing the outlet four feet, 
 we shall have an accession of 1,436,952,000 gallons, which added 
 to the stores of the Rye, Wampus, and Byram, will give an aggre- 
 gate available supply of 2,876,819,040 gallons, which ran be 
 held in reserve when once filled, (which i think they may be in 
 two years,) in addition to the ordinary flow of the rivers and ponds* 
 This quantity will be equal to 7,881,696 gallons, each day in the 
 year. 
 
 The water of the Kisco Pond can be connected with the east 
 branch of the Saw Mill River, by a canal or tunnel of about two 
 and a half miles in length. The ground is favorable, but one 
 deep cut will be necessary, about six hundred feet long and twenty 
 feet deep. The waters thus connected, can be easily and cheaply 
 conducted to a branch of the Bronx, from the Saw Mill River, by 
 a short canal, commencing near Unionville church. By this course, 
 the mills on the Saw-Mill River will not be injured, and additional 
 reservoirs can be formed in its valley, if ever needed. 
 
 It must be evident to those acquainted with the annual fall of 
 water in this climate, that there is a wanton waste, or loss of this 
 element in this section of country, from some cause ; and that it 
 will not be necessary to resort to other sources of supply, for many 
 centuries, if a small portion of what falls, is properly husbanded. 
 
257 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 Doctor Baxter lias" kindly furnished me with the quantity of 
 water which has fallen in this City for the last five years, as indi- 
 cated hy a rain-gauge kept by him. The annual average fall is 
 forty five inches. 
 
 By a careful inspection of the maps, and extensive travel over 
 the country from which the water flows into the Bronx, and can 
 be conducted to it, from the river and ponds I have enumerated, 
 I am satisfied that a flow from 75,000 acres can be depended on. 
 
 The annual fall of water would then be, 75,071,489,361 gal- 
 lons ; equal to a supply of 205,675,313 gallons daily. 
 
 Ttie quantity lost by evaporation, in so hilly and rocky a coun- 
 try as this, is comparatively small, to what it is in more even and 
 sandy soils. It is difficult to ascertain, or estimate, what the 
 amount of evaporation may be. It must be inconsiderable, com- 
 pared with the immense supply, as clearly shown by the great 
 floods which often sweep the narrow vallies, and destroy much 
 valuable property. 
 
 To the question, " What becomes of this immense quantity of 
 •water ?" I can answer in part. From the nature of the soil, and 
 rapid fall of the rivers and streams, it runs quickly to the sea, and 
 is lost in the ocean. The art of man has not arrested it in its 
 course, and stored it for his future use. 
 
 Should farther examinations prove it advisable to take the ac- 
 cumulated waters out of the Bronx, at some point below Under- 
 bill's Mills, other extensive reservoirs may be constructed in its 
 valley. The opinion is ventured, that by the arrangements indi- 
 cated in this Report, many millions of gallons may be preserved 
 for the daily use of the mills on the Bronx, when most needed, 
 by which they will be most materially benefited, not injured; at 
 the same time the city can command an ample supply for all pre- 
 sent and future uses. The examinations have been as extensive 
 and minute as the short time allowed would permit. The result 
 is a conviction, that a canal or tunnel on a high level is not the 
 best or safest mode of obtaining water ; and that it ought not to 
 be attempted. That the Croton River cannot be brought in by 
 this route, and cannot ever be needed ; that the quantity which 
 can be obtained, at a moderate cost, through the valley of the 
 Bronx, will be sufficient for all the city purposes ; that the water 
 is of the purest and best kind for all domestic and manufacturing 
 uses 5 that much more extensive and careful investigation is re- 
 
Doc. No. 61.] *5S 
 
 quisite, before a combined plan of operations can be formed, by 
 which all the details can be fully understood, and these important 
 objects accomplished. The experience of Philadelphia may af- 
 ford a useful lesson, to those who would come to hasty conclusions 
 about a work, that requires much consideration, and great skill to 
 perfect. 
 
 1 am gratified to find by examination, that the facts stated, and 
 positions assumed, by those eminent engineers, Judge Wright nud 
 Mr. Canvas White, both as to the quantity of water, and means 
 of connecting the different streams, are fully sustained, so far as I 
 have examined the same ground. The best feelings prevail 
 among the inhabitants with whom we have associated, and we 
 cannot do less than publicly thank them, for tUe ready and frank 
 manner in which they have answered all our inquiries, and aided 
 us to acquire correct, as well as useful information. 
 
 We are, with great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 TIMOTHY DEWEY. 
 WM. SERRELL. 
 
 Note. — On the 24th inst. there was flowing over the dam, at the 
 West Chester Cotton Factory, eight and a half inches by sixty 
 feet. The manager who has had the charge of the work, assures 
 me, that they have never wanted water in the past ten years, suf- 
 ficient to drive all the machinery. Measurements, taken previous 
 to the late rains, showed a flow of about 40,000,000 of gallons 
 every twenty-four hours. T. D. 
 
259 
 
 [Doc. No 61. 
 
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TO ALDERMAN JAMES PALMER, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE 
 ON FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 Chemical Examination of the Water of Rye Pond. 
 Specific Gravity, 1,004. 
 
 1. By Tests. — A solution of soap in alcohol, disturbed the 
 transparency of the water ; indicating the presence of saline mat- 
 ter. 
 
 2. Nitrate of Silver gave a milkiness, indicating muriatic acid. 
 
 3. Acetate of lead had a slight effect, owing, probably, to a lit- 
 tle carbonic acid, held in solution by the water. 
 
 4. None of the barylic salts had any effect. The water there- 
 fore contains no sulphates, nor indeed, had any other^ test that 
 was tried. 
 
 The water reduced by evaporation. 
 
 5. Nitrate of silver gave a* precipitate, more copious than that of 
 the fresh water. This piecipitate very soon turned purple brown, 
 owing to the action of light on the chloride, also indicative of the 
 presence of extractive matter. 
 
 6. Oxalate of ammonia gave a trifling precipitate, showing the 
 presence of lime. 
 
 7. Carbonate of ammonia had no visible effect, but when a lit- 
 tle phosphoric acid was added, a precipitate subsided, announcing 
 the existence of magnesia. 
 
 Evaporation to dryness^ 8fc. 
 
 8. One quart of the water was slowly evaporated in a silver basin, 
 until the reduced contents could be contained in a small platina 
 dish, weight 241 grains ; transferred to this vessel the evaporation 
 was continued to dryness. The dish, with the residuum weighed, 
 warm, 241.6 grains, having increased, in weight only, six-tenths 
 of a grain. The water, towards the lust, had a wine yellow color. 
 
 9. The dish with the residuum, which was brown, was exposed 
 to a red heat. The extractive matter was converted into char- 
 coal, and burnt off, leaving only three-tenths of a grain for saline 
 matter ; but as a little muriatic acid probably left the magnesia, 
 the vegetable extractive might amount to two-tenths only. 
 
261 
 
 [Doe. No. 6L 
 
 These experiments warrant the conclusion, that a gallon of the 
 Eye Pond water contains 
 
 Muriate of lime and magnesia 1*6 grains, 
 Vegetable extract, .... 0.8 
 
 2-4 
 
 G. CHILTON. 
 
 New- York, 1 1 th December, 1 832. ! 
 
 TO ALDERMAN JAMES PALMER. 
 
 hear Sir, 
 
 I have received your request to try the purity of the water 
 obtained from Rye Pond, the source of the river Bronx, and from 
 which it has been contemplated to supply this City with that arti- 
 cle. The experiments which I have already made, will perhaps 
 answer the desired purpose. 
 
 Some years since, I went to West Farms, and procured some of 
 the water of the Bronx, near where it was intended to divert the 
 stream as contemplated by the Water Works Company, and sub- 
 mitted it to the following experiments. 
 
 1. A quart of the water evaporated over a spirit lamp, left a 
 small residuum, being in weight about half a grain. Most of the 
 pump water of the City contains several times that amount of 
 earthy matter, as ascertained by myself and others. 
 
 2. Soap dissolved in the Bronx water without curdling, and it 
 made a fine soft lather, showing it to be a good and pure water, 
 without a perceptible quantity of foreign matter. 
 
 3. Caustic soda was added to a portion of the water, to precipi- 
 tate such earthy or other substance it might contain. It remained 
 one whole day without alteration, but finally a very slight precipi- 
 tate was observed, showing a small quantity of diffusible or soluble 
 substance in it. 
 
 4. Nitrate of silver is a test for common or sea-salt ; but on be- 
 ing added to the water, produced no change. This experiment 
 shows the absence of that article in the Bronx water, but it is very 
 common in our pump water. 
 
 5. The Muriate of Barytes on being added, produced no'change, 
 showing the absence of sulphate of lime, which abounds in our 
 City water. 
 
Doc. No. 61. j 
 
 6. The Nitrate of Bai ytes gave the same result, and afforded 
 the same conclusion. 
 
 7- These experiments were also tried on a portion of the water 
 after it was partly evaporated, and yet the test produced no 
 change, giving further assurance of its freedom from sulphuric salts. 
 
 8. The Oxalate of Ammonia, when added, produced no imme- 
 diate change ; but after a while, a very slight cloudiness, indica- 
 tive of a minute quantity of lime. 
 
 9- Tincture of Galls gave no indication of iron. 
 
 These and some other experiments made at the same time, 
 proved that the water of the river Bronx, was remarkably pure 
 and soft, containing a very small portion of lime, and a still smaller 
 one of vegetable matter, making together not more than two 
 grains in a gallon. Some of our City water contains several 
 grains of earthy matter in a tjuart, making it, in comparison with 
 that of the Bronx, a very impuie article I am inclined to be- 
 lieve, however, from experiments made last year, that the water 
 from the public Well at the Reservoir, in Thirteenth-street, i? 
 equally as pure as that of the Bronx. 
 
 1 am respectfully, your most obedient, 
 
 SAMUEL AKERLY. 
 
 Grand-Street, WtK mo. 27th, 1832. 
 
 TO ALDERMAN JAMES PALMER, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
 FIRE AND WATER. 
 
 Respected Friend, 
 
 I regret that the circumstance of being on the eve of a re- 
 moval of my residence from this city, and the cares if cident to 
 the needful prepartion ? do not leave me sufficient time to examine 
 the Rye Pond Water (a bottle of which I received from the Com- 
 mittee) with that scrupulous care, which the complete analysis of 
 a water always requires. 
 
 I have bestowed upon it, however, sufficient attention to prove 
 that is a remarkably fine water. Its specific gravity, ascertained 
 by several methods, is 1.00065 that of pure water, being 1.00000. 
 I took, at the same time, the specific gravity of water from a 
 pump at the corner of Reed and Elm-street, and found it 1.00228. 
 This, as well as the application of almost every chemical test 
 
263 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 shows a most decided and striking difference in the qualities of 
 the Rye Pond and our City water. 
 
 The tests which I applied to the Rye Pond water were, 
 
 Others might have been used, but these are sufficient to indicate 
 the nature of a water which is not decidely of a mineral character. 
 
 On the water of Rye Pond, as contained in the bottle sent me, 
 none of these tests have any sensible effect, except the second, 
 fifth, and sixth. 
 
 The second, when added to the water, produced no immediate 
 change, but after standing a few minutes, a slight cloudiness is ap- 
 parent. This indicates the presence of lime, but it must exist in 
 the water in extremely small quantity. 
 
 The fifth test produced, instantly, a bluish cloud, denoting 
 (when considered in connexion with the other tests) the presence 
 of vegetable extractive matter, (the presence of a sulphuric salt 
 would have produced a similar appearance, but the precipitate 
 was soluble in nitric acid, a result incompatible with the existence 
 of a sulphate) but, nevertheless, in very small proportions. 
 
 The sixth test is used to show the relative hardness or softness 
 of water, and its effect in the present instance, proves that the 
 Rye Pond is, comparatively, a very soft water. 
 
 The first test is to ascertain whether common salt, or any of 
 the muriates (now called hydrochlorates) is present in the water. 
 These are the most common ingredients in all our natural spring 
 waters. The delicacy of the test is such, that, although it has no 
 sensible effect on the Rye Pond waters, a few drops of our pump 
 water, being added to a wine glass of the Rye Pond, a cloud is 
 immediately produced. 
 
 I next evaporated a portion of the water, at a temperature be- 
 low boiling, to less than one half its quantity, and when cool, I 
 again applied the tests. It is obvious, that whatever foreign mat- 
 ters the water contains in its natural state (excepting those of a 
 gaseous nature) it would now contain in more than double the 
 
 both fresh prepared. 
 
 10 
 
Doc. No 61/J 
 
 proportion. On this concentrated water, the third and fourth 
 tests had no effect, demonstrating the entire absence of nil t'>e 
 sulphuric salts ; such as sulphate of lime (gypsum) winch so 
 abounds in our pump water, as to occasion an immediate precipi- 
 tate when a few drops of that water is added to a wine glass of 
 the Rvc Fond water. 
 
 On the concentrated water, the first test produces an effect but 
 just perceptible. 
 
 The seventh, no effect ; showing the absence of iron. It is not 
 likely, I think, that the water contains any metallic impregnation, 
 in quantities appreciable by the common methods. 
 
 The fifth and sixth tests produced increased turbidness in con- 
 centrated water. , 
 
 To ascertain the actual quantity of soluble matter, not gaseous, 
 I evaporated about a quart o/ the water over a lamp, in a clean 
 porcelain capsule, to dryness. This dry powder was collected 
 and weighed. The weight did not exceed half a grain. I ought 
 to observe, that when half evaporated, I filtered it, to get rid of a 
 little dust that had accidentally settled upon it. There was no 
 appearance of flocculi in either of my evaporations. 
 
 The powder remaining, was of a brown grey colour. It had a 
 sharp, saline taste, somewhat bitter, and as it effervesces both with 
 dilute sulphuric and muriatic acid, a considerable portion of it at 
 least, must be a carbonate. 
 
 Upon the whole, the inferences I should draw from this exami- 
 nation are, — First, that the Rye Pond water does not contain 
 more than two grains of foreign matter to a gallon ; a quantity 
 altogether too small to be perceived by the test, to operate inju- 
 riously upon health, or unfavourably upon any kind of manufac- 
 ture. Second, that the soluble matter of this water, consists of 
 vegetable extract, carbonate and muriate of lime, and, possibly, 
 a smali portion of magnesia combined with carbonic or muriatic 
 acid. 
 
 May I be allowed to close this account, with the expression of an 
 ardent wish, that the Corporation may apply itself in good earn- 
 est to the means of supplying this large and growing metropolis, 
 with copious streams of an article so essential to the health and 
 domestic comfort of its inhabitants, and which Rye Pond and the 
 adjacent streams will furnish in requisite purity. 
 
 I am, with great respect, &c. 
 
 JOHN GRISCOMB 
 
To the Corporation of the City of Vcw-York. 
 
 The following Memoir of the utility and means of furnishing the 
 City with Water from the river Bronx, is respectfully addressed 
 by their very humble servant^ 
 
 JOSEPH BROWNE. 
 
 West Chester, July 2d, 1798. 
 
 In a little treatise 1 have lately published, addressed to the citizens 
 of New- York on the yellow fever, I have endeavoured to show that 
 the disease is of a local nature, arising principally from a source 
 which is pietty much in our power to prevent or remove by an 
 unremitted attention to cleanliness, to which purpose it is obvious 
 that a plentiful supply of water is essentially necessary. It may 
 not be amiss here to recapitulate concisely the principles on 
 which I have founded my theory. 
 
 All animals and vegetables are in a perpetual state of decom- 
 position and renovation ; the organic principles of those two king- 
 doms are nearly the same, but differently modified, and which 
 mutually depend on each other for their vitality ; this reciprocity 
 is effected through the medium of the atmosphere, which instead 
 of being a simple element, is now well ascertained to be a com- 
 pound of two gasses or airs, unequally combined as to quantity ; 
 the smaller quantity which is only about twenty-eight per cent, 
 of the whole, contributes principally to the support of animal life, 
 by t!ie intervention of lungs or something corresponding thereto, 
 and may therefore be called animal vital air. The residue of 
 sevt:nty-two per cent, contributes to the support of vegetables, 
 through the agency of their leaves, and may therefore with pro- 
 priety be called vegetable vital air. It is to be remarked, that 
 both of those kingdoms, when in a state of putrefaction or decom- 
 position, furnish the latter species of air only in which animals 
 cannot exist, but in which vegetables thrive well. The putrefac- 
 tive state of vegetables takes place only after the death of the 
 plant ; but animals have a constant tendency to this state during 
 life, which is more or less strong, according to the temperature of 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 2m 
 
 the atmosphere, and which tendency is counteracted by the gaa 
 that is received by breathing into the lungs, and separated by 
 them from the atmospheric air, which is known to be the basis of 
 acidity, and has for this reason been called by the French Acade- 
 micians, Oxygen. Whenever, therefore, greater excess than se- 
 venty two per cent, of vegetable vital air prevails in the atmos- 
 phere, the animal vital air must decrease in the same proportion ; 
 consequently the proneness that animals have to a putrefactive 
 state not being sufficiently overcome by this acid principle, dis- 
 eases of a more or less putrid nature must be the result, in propor- 
 tion as the deficiency is more or less great, or the tendency more 
 or less strong. 
 
 If this theory be just, it is of the utmost imp6rtance to remove 
 from the houses, streets, and docks, every species of animal and 
 vegetable matter when in a putrefactive state, to which nothing 
 so effectually contributes as a plentiful supply of water. 
 
 Water is not only of infinite importance to the health of the 
 City, considered in a mechanical point of view, but from its known 
 constituent parts, it may also be made to contribute to the same 
 end chymically, being a compound pf eighty five parts of animal 
 vital air, and fifteen of hydrogen or inflammable air. Water, 
 therefore, appears to be Nature's great magazine, in which is locked 
 up an incalculable quantity of this most indispensable requisite to 
 animal existence, which is let loose in its aerial state, by abstract- 
 ing from it the hydrogen, with which it is combined. This pro- 
 cess is constantly performing by vegetables, when in a state of 
 verdure, whose leaves when moistened with dew, or sprinkled with 
 water, having a greater affinity or attraction for the hydrogen, 
 than hydrogen has for animal vital air, a decomposition of the 
 water takes place, the hydrogen becomes fixed in the plant, and 
 the animal vital air being thus disengaged, is poured into the at- 
 mosphere to be from thence again absorbed by animals, without 
 which, their existence ceases. 
 
 This fact suggests the propriety and utility of encouraging the 
 planting of trees in all such streets as are not too confined, which 
 trees should be frequently in warm weather sprinkled with wa- 
 ter. 
 
 On philosophical principles also, the air of a city may be ren- 
 dered more salubrious by frequently sprinkling the streets with 
 water in dry, hot weather, by which means a rapid evapora- 
 
267 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 tion takes place. In the East and West Indies, the cooling of 
 liquors by surrounding the bottles with wet cloths, and exposing 
 them to a current of air, is a practice well known ; the following 
 theory accounts for the fact. 
 
 The heat or caloric with which all bodies are combined, has a 
 a constant tendency to equalise itself with all surrounding bodies, 
 a process which is longer or shorter in its operation, in proportion 
 as those adjoining bodies have a less or greater affinity for calo- 
 ric The same body with different quantities of caloric, may be 
 either solid, liquid, or aeriform ; for instance, water with less calo- 
 ric becomes ice, with more it becomes vapour. Water is one of 
 those substances that has a peculiar aptitude to combine itself 
 with a surplus of caloric, which then assumes the state of vapour, 
 and flies off, leaving the body with which it was previously com- 
 bined, cooler in proportion as this new combination has taken 
 place. The sun itself is probably not hot, it may have only the 
 faculty of excitement, that is, of evolving caloric from a latent to 
 a perceptible state, and this excitement is generally in proportion 
 to the density and colour of the body on which it acts ; its effects 
 are therefore scarcely, if at all, perceptible in its passage through 
 the atmosphere, which can only be heated by coming in contact 
 with some more solid body that has felt its influence. 
 
 Since IN ew- York has been paved, the bricks in the streets, in hot 
 summer days, are frequently heated to 150 degrees of Fahren- 
 hiet's Thermometer ; the surrounding atmospheric air must, 
 therefore, slowly partake of this heat, and consequently, become 
 more rare, which is, I conceive, one of the causes of its insalubrity, 
 for the same volume of atmospheric air will not contain half as 
 much animal vital air when the Thermometer is at 90, as it does 
 when at 32. That is, a cubical foot of atmospheric air does not 
 weigh half as much in summer as in winter, which is probably the 
 reason why frosty weather is so sure an antidote to the yellow fe- 
 yer. Whatever then, will in any degree tend to cool the air of 
 the City, will, in the same proportion, render it more healthful. 
 
 I do not presume to say that the introduction of a large quantity 
 of water into the City, would alone prevent the rise and spread- 
 ing of putrid diseases, but I am well warranted in saying that, un- 
 der providence, it would more than all other things, contribute to 
 this most desirable end. 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 268 
 
 Next to pestilence, lire may be reckoned the greatest calamity 
 to which Cities arc subject. I need not take up any of your 
 time in mentioning the immense advantages of always hat ing at 
 hand a plentiful supply of water, on such a melancholy occasion. 
 Those two motives are alone, one would suppose, sufficient in- 
 ducements to procure, almost at any price, a permanent and plen- 
 tiful supply of water, as the principal means of preventing or at 
 least, diminishing such catastrophes ; but exclusive of those advan- 
 tages, there is another, though of a secondary nature, yet as a 
 source of comfort and pleasure, is well deserving attention. 
 
 Thers is nothing in warm climates that blends the useful and 
 agreeable so much as public fountains and private baths. In anci- 
 ent Rome, they were deemed not only luxuries, but became al- 
 most necessaries, for every garden had its fountain, and almost 
 every house its bath. The art of conducting waters from different 
 sources to their Cities, (but principally Rome,) and the distribution 
 made of them among the Citizens, was esteemed by the Princes 
 and chief Magistrates of sufficient importance to deserve every at- 
 tention. Rome was furnished with water from ten principal aque- 
 ducts, at the rate of nearly three hundred millions of gallons daily : 
 it was conveyed to large covered reservoirs, from whence it was 
 distributed by subterraneous tubes, to fountains in different parts 
 of the City, and from thence it was conveyed to their houses and 
 gardens. These fountains were one of the principal ornaments of 
 the City, being accompanied with statues of marble and bronze. 
 
 All these works were maintained with the greatest order and 
 discipline, which requiring great authority, the Consuls, and even 
 the Emperors themselves, made it a part of their immediate duty, 
 regarding the supplying of the City with water as a thing of the 
 first importance. The Consuls had, for a long time, the superin- 
 tendance of the aqueducts, but afterwards, this part of their duty 
 was consigned to the Ediles until the time of Agustus, who, to re- 
 compense Marcus Agrippa for the extraordinary pains he had 
 been at during his Edileship, who had caused to be made seven 
 hundred reservoirs, one hundred and thirty chateaux d'eau, and 
 one hundred and fifty pumps, magnificently decorated, created 
 him superintendant of the water works, and President of a com- 
 pany of 240 officers or commissioners. There was afterwards 
 another company established, consisting of 460 persons, both of 
 which companies were divided into different departments, whose 
 
[Doc. No. 61. 
 
 exclusive employment was the conducting and distributing water 
 through the City. The expense of those water works, as may 
 well be imagined, was immense, it amounted to upwards of one 
 million two hundred thousand dollars annually, including the sala- 
 ries of the officers, and the repairs of the aqueducts, basins, foun- 
 tains, &c. Each Citizen paid in proportion to the quantity of wa- 
 ter he was supplied with, and even this sum was some years ina- 
 dequate to the purpose ; an extraordinary tax, therefore, some- 
 times became necessary. 
 
 The principal Cities of modern Europe, to be furnished with 
 water, are obliged to have it brought to them at considerable ex- 
 pense, particularly London and Paris ; the former of those Cities, 
 exclusive of the immense quantity that is daily forced from the 
 Thames, by means of large water-wheels that are turned by its 
 current, and also by steam engines, is largely indebted to the pa- 
 triotic and great exertions of a single individual, a Mr. Hugh fvlid- 
 dleton, Citizen and Gold Smith of the City of London, who in the 
 year L6l4, having obtained an Act of Parliament for the purpose, 
 brought in an open canal to London, the water from the Am- 
 Well and Shad-Well, in Hertfordshire, a distance of more than 
 twenty miles. It is conveyed to a large reservoir near Islington, 
 from whence it is distributed in Elm pipes to most parts of the 
 City. This water is now called the New River, and is said to run 
 under near 800 bridges. 
 
 Paris is also supplied with water from the Seine, in a similar 
 manner as London is from the Thames ; but those parts of the 
 City that are distant from the Seine are supplied with water from 
 springs in the neighbouring eminences of Belleville, pres St. Ger- 
 vais, and Rungis, which is conducted to the City in subterraneous 
 tubes, to different reservoirs and fountains, accompanied with all 
 the works necessary to its goodness and proper distribution. But 
 the most celebrated Water Works now in the world, are those that 
 furnish the National Palaces and Gardens of Marly and Versailles 
 with water. They were constructed for Louis XIV. by a Mr. 
 Rannequin of Leige, and are a monument of the magnificence 
 and extravagence of that king. The water is taken from the riv- 
 er Seine and forced 500 French feet above the level of that river, 
 to a large reservoir, by means of three sets of pumps ; the first 
 set carries it up 150 feet, the other two carrying it up 175 feet 
 each ; the whole number of pumps employed ate 253. The 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 270 
 
 quantity of water formerly raised in a day was 1,500,000 gallons, 
 but at present, owing either to decay or neglect in the manage- 
 ment of the machine, it does not now raise half this quantity. 
 This famous aqueduct is said to have cost five hundred thousand 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 Were the preceding; purposes the only ones for which the City 
 of New-York wanted a supply of water, it might easily be pro- 
 cured in any quantity, by means of steam engines, from the rivers 
 that wash the shores 'of the city. But there is another, and of 
 more importance in the opinion of the majority of the citizens of 
 New* York, than all those that have been already mentioned, and 
 for which purpose, the river water adjoining the City cannot be 
 used, (to wit ) for the constant daily consumption of families, for 
 drinking, washing, cooking, &c ; for those occasions we must look 
 to some other source. < 
 
 The large stagnating, filthy pond, commonly called the Collect, 
 which now is, or soon will be, the centre of the City, has been 
 looked to by some people, as a fund from whence an adequate 
 supply might be obtained, by means of a steam engine,* for all 
 the purposes already spoken of. I cannot undertake to say, that 
 this source would, at present, be incompetent to all the preceding 
 purposes, for which a supply of water is wanted ; but if the quan- 
 tity naturally discharged from this pond, be the whole that is fur- 
 ni?iied by its springs, then I might say with propriety, it is infi- 
 nitely too small for those uses. But admitting, that at present 
 it might be competent, the time will come, and that very shortly, 
 from the growth of the city, when this source will most certainly 
 be \ery inadequate to the demand. And again, supposing the 
 pond to contain and furnish enough, it is a consideration well de- 
 serving attention, whether a pond, into which the filth from many 
 of the streets must, without very great expense and care, be con- 
 stantly discharged, and to which the contents of vaults, &c. will 
 
 * Tbe expense of a steam engine, of a cylinder sufficiently large to force up 300,000 
 gallons of water per day, a height of forty feet, with the house, apparatus, and pipes 
 of conduit to a principal reservoir, including the cost of such reservoir, would amount 
 to . r 50,000 ; such a steam engine would consume, daily, a chaldron of coals, or two 
 cords of wood, which may be deemed equal to another capital of $50,000; so that the 
 first cost of themachiue, inc. and its continual charges, may be deemed equal to a cap- 
 ital of $100,000, exclusive of risk, repairs, &c. 
 
271 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 continually drain, is a desirable source from whence we should 
 like to take water for drinking, cooking, &c. without taking into 
 the account its noxious qualities, medically considered ; although it 
 may be laid down as a general rule, that the health of a city de- 
 pends more on its water, than all the rest of the eatables and 
 drinkables together. 
 
 With respect to other sources from small springs, ponds, &c. 
 on the Island of New- York, some of the same objections may be 
 made to them all ; the City must then look to some other place 
 for a permanent and plentiful supply of good water. 
 
 The stream in the county of West Chester, known by the name 
 of Saw-Mill River, which empties into the North River, beyond 
 the nineteen mile stone has been mentioned by some as excellent 
 water, and capable of affording all that is wanted I have no ob- 
 jections to make to the truth of this assertion, but the expense of 
 bringing this water nineteen miles over so rough a country, would 
 be greater than could be probably raised for this purpose, even 
 admitting the necessary supply could not be had otherwise ; but 
 fortunately New-York is not in this dilemma, for there is another 
 source equally copious, and full as pure, that may with great fa- 
 cility be obtained for a quarter part of the expense, to wit : 
 
 The River Bronx, 
 
 Whose principal source is from a small lake, about four miles to 
 the northward of the White Plains. This lake is nearly three 
 miles in length, and half a mile wide. After meandering twenty 
 miles through a rocky part of the county of West Chester, it falls 
 into the East River, just above Hunt's Point. The nearest point 
 of its approach to the city of New- York is at present about twelve 
 miles from the City-Hall. 
 
 This water is remarkably pure and pellucid, and from a chy- 
 mical analysis which has been made of it, it may be relied on as 
 possessing no noxious qualities. The inhabitants who live near 
 its banks, are in the constant habit of using it in preference to 
 other water during cold weather, and experience no bad effects 
 from it It may not be amiss to mention a few tests that are the 
 only ones necessary to ascertain what is good water, — the first is 
 to boil leguminous vegetables in it ; the second to mix it with 
 soap ; for water that contains any of the faults with an earthly 
 base, such as nitrate of lime, and magnesia, muriate of lime and 
 magnesia, sulphat of lime, or carbonate of lime and magnesia, will 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 272 
 
 not do well for either of the above purposes, for having great affi- 
 nity to the musilage of plants, it extracts it and thereby renders 
 them hard nnd disagreeable to the taste. Soap is likewise an ex- 
 cellent test, which is known to be a chvmical compound of alkali 
 and oil, or fat. All salts with an earthly base, decompound soap 
 by a double exchange ; their earth unites itself with the oil or fat, 
 whilst their acid combines with the alkali of the soap, and by the 
 combination of the oil and earth is formed a soap, which is insolu- 
 ble in water, and makes those clots or curdles which we perceive 
 in mixing soap with what is generally called hard or crude water, 
 V» atei ihen that is clear and from a running source, that boils 
 le^cminous vegetables tender, in which soap readily dissolves, and 
 has no bad flavour, may be pronounced good water ; to all these 
 tesis, lhe water of the Bronx lias been submitted, and from whence 
 we cannot but pronounce it excellent. I shall now endeavour to 
 point out an easy method of carrying it to New York : it has al- 
 ready been mentioned, that its nearest approach to the City-Hall, 
 is about twelve miles distance ; but at about fourteen miles dis- 
 tance, which is half a mile below Williams's Bridge, is a piece of 
 low meadow ground, in which arise two springs, one of which runs 
 easterly, and empties itself into the Bronx, at not more than four 
 hundred yards from its origin ; the other spring runs southerly, 
 and empties into Harlem River, after traversing a distance of 
 about six miles. The place where those springs originate, is not. 
 more than five feet above the level of the Bronx, and sometimes 
 part of the river when raised by a considerable freshet, has run 
 over part of this meadow, and emptied itself into Harlem River. 
 From those reasons, then, it is obvious that by building a dam 
 five feet in height across the Bronx, below where the first men- 
 tioned spring empties itself into it, and by digging a canal four 
 hundred yards in length through the meadow, the whole of the 
 Bionx if necessary, might be diverted from its old route, and 
 thrown into Harlem River, at about eight miles distant from the 
 City-Hall. The place where the Bronx may be thus diverted, is 
 about fifty feet above high water mark. - 
 
 V» hen I fust interested myself on this subject, I was in hopes a 
 place sufficiently high might have been found, from whence the 
 water of the Bronx could have been conducted to New- York, in 
 pipes of conduit, without any previous machinery ; but I am now 
 satisfied, no such place exists ; for although water in an open 
 
273 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 aqueduct, will run with tolerable fluency, having only six inches 
 fall in a mile, yet in a pipe of conduit, it requires a five feet fall 
 to produce the same effect, and even this fall is insufficient, where 
 the pipe of conduit is of considerable length and of small diame- 
 ter ; for the friction that is occasioned by the sides of the pipe of 
 conduit is to a quadruple ratio with its length Now as the ground 
 in the City of New-York, to w hich water ought to be conveyed to 
 a principal reservoir, is about forty feet above high water, which 
 is ten feet only below the J evel of the river from where the Bronx 
 may be diverted, I consider it, as a fall, perfectly inadequate to 
 any design of conveying the water in a pipe of conduit only. It 
 becomes necessary then, that the water of the Bronx must first be 
 elevated, by means of some machinery, which I shall now endea- 
 vour to point out. 
 
 A simple mode of bringing the Bronx to within eight miles of 
 the City Hall, as we have seen, is within our reach ; let us sup- 
 pose it now at Morrisania, and emptying itself h o Harlem Ri- 
 ver, out of the little creek that divides the land of f'olone! Lewis 
 Morris from that of Mr. Gouverneur .Morris; it will then be about 
 forty feet below the height of the Park in front of the goal, &c. 
 It will therefore become necessary to elevate it, at least, as high 
 as this spot ; probably, it might be still better to give it a greater 
 elevation, for instance, as high as the Corporation land in the vi- 
 cinity of the Dove, about five miles from town, which is about 
 forty feet above the Park, or eighty feet from high water mark. 
 
 The first thing to be determined, is the quantity of water that 
 would be deemed sufficient for all the purposes already mentioned. 
 The supply ought to be a liberal one; it appears to me, it ought 
 to be, at least, 300,000 gallons per twenty-four hours ; one third 
 of which will be competent for all potable and culinary purposes, 
 washing, &c. ; there will then remain 200,000 gallons to be daily 
 made use of for washing streets, &c The principal reservoir 
 should contain at least the whole of this quantity, as a resource in 
 case of fire, which, with its permanent supply, is more than ten 
 of the largest fire engines could exhaust in six hours. Admitting 
 then, that 300,000 gallons are sufficient for the daily allowance, 
 the next thing to be considered, is the power to be applied to 
 force this quantity of water, a perpendicular height of eighty 
 feet ; for it is to be observed, that its perpendicular height is only 
 
 be regarded in the calculation, and not its horizontal distance. 
 
Doc. No 6L 274 
 
 except that distance be a great one ; for this reason it is probably 
 better to force water a perpendicular height of eighty feet, at the 
 horizontal distance of three miles, than to force it forty feet high at 
 the distance of eight miles. 1 do not say that in all cases, this is 
 correctly true. If water running in pipes of conduit, had no other 
 obstacle to surmount, than those occasioned by the friction of the 
 sides of the tubes, rules sufficiently correct for practice might be 
 deduced, but it is almost always the case, that in pipes of conduit 
 of considerable length, part of the course is zigzag, and part of it 
 over ascending and descending ground, from both of which 
 causes the velocity of water is greatly retarded. It is, therefore, 
 extremely difficult to apply with correctness any theory to prac- 
 tice It is always most prudent therefore, to make ample allow- 
 ances in all our calculations. 
 
 The power I propose to apply for this purpose, is the Bronx 
 itself If the whole of the river be diverted in the way I have 
 mentioned, in the driest seasons, it may be calculated that the 
 water issuing from it, is equal to 1,200 cubic feet per minute, which 
 at 62 * lbs the weight of a cubic foot of water, is equal to 135,000 
 hogsheads of 100 gallons each, per 24 hours. Near where this 
 water would enter Harlem River, is an excellent situation for a 
 mill seat ; suppose a dam then to be erected of six feet in height, 
 at this place, it would furnish a power to be calculated as follows : 
 
 From acknowledged and experimented principles of hydrosta- 
 ticks, the velocity of water is as the square root of its perpendicular 
 height; that is, the velocity of water spouting under a four feet 
 head is 16 feet per second nearly, (I purposely avoid fractions,) 
 consequently the velocity of spouting water from under a six feet 
 head will be nearly twenty feet per second, and if the aperture of a 
 penstock be twelve inches square, the quantity of water discharged 
 per second will be twenty cubic feet, which is the quantity that 
 the Bronx will continually furnish in the driest seasons ; this, then, 
 creates a power of 1,250 pounds per second, which is the weight 
 of twenty cubical feet of water. The velocity of a water wheel, 
 when loaded with its maximum, is one third of the velocity of the 
 water spouting on in. Admitting then we have a water wheel 
 of twenty feet diameter, which will be sixtv feet circumference, it 
 will nmke seven revolutions in a minute under a head of six feet 
 water with a penstock of three inches high and thirty-six inches 
 long, which must be the length of the float boards of the water 
 
275 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 wheel. On the water wheel shaft must be a cog wheel to drive 
 one or more wallowers, to move the pistons of the forcing 
 pumps ; the cog wheel should be six feet diameter, having 
 fifty four cogs in it; the wallower one foot diameter, with nine 
 rounds in it ; the wallower then makes six revolutions to every 
 revolution of the water wheel, consequently the pistons of the 
 pumps will make forty-two strokes in a minute. Admitting the 
 pipes of conduit leading from the pumps to the reservoir at the 
 Dove, to be six inches diameter, and fifty feet perpendicular 
 height, when full of water, its weight will be equal to fifteen square 
 feet or 937lbs. : this weight is to be overcome at each stroke of 
 the piston by the weight of water, as I have already mentioned, 
 that is perpetually operating on the water wheel, which is equal 
 to 1,250 pounds. The arms of the water wheel act as levers, 
 whose impulse is ascertained by multiplying their length by the 
 weight of water pressing on them ; 1,250 pounds then multiplied 
 by ten, the length of the arm from the centre of the shaft is equal 
 to 12,500 pounds, which must be divided by the length of the 
 arm of the cog wheel, which being three feet, leaves 4,166 pounds 
 as the actual power of the water wheel, five-ninths of which is lost 
 in overcoming friction &c. ; of course four-ninths can be calcula- 
 ted on, only, to produce its greatest product or maximum effect, 
 which leaves 1851 pounds as the efficient power of the water 
 wheel, which is equal to the power requisite to work four forcing 
 pumps, two of which will be in state of inaction whilst the other 
 two are forcing. As the water wheel makes seven revolutions in 
 a minute and the wallower six times as many, each pump makes 
 forty-two strokes in a minute, the four pumps will then make to- 
 gether, 1 68 in a minute. If the crank of the wallower be nine 
 inches deep it will give eighteen play to the piston, and if the pis- 
 ton works in a six inch bore, it will deliver, at each stroke, 436 
 cubical inches of water, equal to fifteen pounds, which for the four 
 pumps is equal to 315 gallons per minute, or 463,600 gallons 
 per day. As the pistons and valves of them are never perfectly 
 tight, it is usual to allow one-fifth wastage for this purpose, which 
 leaves 362,880 gallons to be delivered daily into the reservoir at 
 the Dove. 
 
 I have thus shown, that the Bronx itself may be made use of as 
 the only agent requisite to deliver at a reservoir, near the Dove, 
 all the water necessary for the daily consumption of New-York. 
 
Doe. No. 61.] 
 
 276 
 
 From the reservoir at the Dove, a pipe of conduit of six inches 
 diameter will be requisite to deliver the water to a principal reser- 
 voir in or near the City. 
 
 I shall next endeavour to calculate the expense. Below the 
 place meotioned as a proper situation for diverting the Bronx, are 
 four mills, one employed as a snuff mill, the next intended as a 
 mill for spinning of cotton, &c ; the next a grin mill, the last used 
 for a bleach mill and calico printing. For six months in iht* yeaE, 
 those mills will not be much injured by diverting part o the 
 stream ; for three months they may probably be used one half of 
 their time ; but for three months^they may be reckoned as to- 
 tally idle ; that is July, August and September. 
 
 The damages to those mills, which must be paid for, 
 
 may be stated at . $20,000 
 
 To building a dam across the Bronx, purchasing the 
 land adjoining, and paying damages for overflow- 
 ing lands above the dam, . . . . 2,000 
 To digging a canal through a meadow four hundred 
 yards in length at the Bronx, and widening the pre- 
 sent rivulet, with damages done to the lands from 
 the Bronx to Harlem River, .... 5,000 
 To building a dam across the rivulet at Morrisania ; 
 purchasing lands for the works to stand on, and for 
 overflowing land above the dam, . . . 4,000 
 To water-wheel, six pumps,* mill-house, and Over- 
 seer's house, 6,000 
 
 To 44,000 feet of pipes, of six inches diameter, and 
 laying the same three feet under ground, at four 
 
 shillings per foot, 22,000 
 
 To extra expenses in crossing under Harlem Bridge, 
 
 and securing pipe from frost, ... 2 000 
 
 To damages to land in laying the pipes, . . 1,000 
 To two covered reservoirs, each to contain 300,000 
 
 gallons of water, 10,000 
 
 To superintending, and a number of small charges not 
 enumerated, such as air pipes, regards, crossing 
 gullies, &c 28,000 
 
 $100,000 
 
 * 1 have calculated for two additional pumps, iu case of occasional repairs. 
 
277 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 The streets in the City through which the pipes will 
 be carried, will probably be about twenty miles in 
 length ; the expense for piping the same with fire 
 pki£;<. air pipes, one or two public fountains, &c. 
 
 may be estimated $100,000 
 
 I have thus estimated the whole expense to be $200,000. In 
 making my calculations, I believe this sum will be the outside 
 cost ; and considering the magnitude of the object, and the wealth 
 of the City of .New-York, the sum is very trifling. 
 
 The Corporation in considering this subject, will no doubt take 
 in vie w the rapid growth of the City, which must continue to in- 
 crease in a certain ratio with that of the State and the neighbour- 
 ing States, where there is no competitor city, for their commercial 
 concerns, Admitting that $300,000 gallons of water are at pre- 
 sent only sufficient for the present necessities of the City, in a 
 few years this quantity will be too small. The zeal of the Cor- 
 poration, as fathers of the City, will induce them to regard the 
 future, as well as the present welfare of the City. The river 
 Bronx contains more than forty times the quantity of water tnat 
 is now wanted ; and although the river is capable of forcing up 
 more than is at present required, yet in a short time it will not be 
 able to do so ; it may then be not amiss to inquire what other 
 mode may be adopted for this purpose. The river Bronx may at 
 an\ time, for a small additional expense, be diverted from the 
 place which I have suggested as the best at present to carry it to, 
 to the excellent bridge which has lately been built over Harlem 
 River, by John B. Coles, Esq. Under this bridge Mr. Coles is 
 authorised by act of the Legislature, to erect a mill-dam across 
 Harlem River, which, as a tide-mill will be one of the best in the 
 world ; it will be capable of carrying from sixty to eighty ton of 
 stones ; a part or the whole of this power may, if necessary, be 
 employed in forcing the Bronx to New- York, instead of grinding 
 grain This consideration will, no doubt, have some weight with 
 the Corporation. 
 
 I am under no apprehension that the Corporation will ever se- 
 riously think of forcing the inhabitants to drink the disgusting 
 water of the Collect ; but it is of considerable importance, that the 
 Corporation should speedily determine with respect to the Bronx ; 
 at present, the value of the mills that will be affected by diverting 
 the water is not great, but the excellence of the water, the heatthv- 
 
Doc. No. 61.] -27H 
 
 r.ess of the country, the goodness of the roads from New- York, 
 and its vicinity to that city, point it out as a most eligible situa- 
 tion for different manufactories, when expensive establishments of 
 this kind take place. It will be very difficult for the city to com- 
 mand a river, which will, one day or other, be found to be of infi- 
 nite importance to its interest. If the Corporation should not at 
 present, determine to have its water brought to the city, no time 
 should be lost in purchasing the right of doing it at some future 
 time ; it may never hereafter be in their power to do it, at least 
 without a very great expense. As the funds of the Corporation 
 are probably not adequate to an undertaking of this kind, I shall 
 beg leave to submit to their consideration, a plan of an association 
 for the purpose. The sum requisite, as already stated, is §200.000. 
 As a great majority of the inhabitants have an interest in such an 
 undertaking, and must feel a wish to promote it. I shall propose 
 that the stock should be divided into two thousand shares of one 
 hundred dollars each ; that three gentlemen should be appointed 
 to receive the subscriptions, but in such a way, that no man should 
 be entitled to more than one share, at least, not till after a given 
 time, and that the whole number of shares should not be sub- 
 scribed for by single shares. There can be no difficulty in pro- 
 curing, from the Legislature, an Act of Incorporation for such an 
 Association, at the request of the Corporation. The outlines of 
 the plan may be as follows : — 
 
 The Corporation of the City of New York, engage with A. B. 
 and C. and their associates, to procure an Act of the Legislature, 
 at their next Session, to incorporate as a body politic, the said A. 
 B. and C. and their associates, by the name of the Aqueduct 
 Company of the City of New York, with the authorities and 
 powers incident to such an establishment, on the conditions follow- 
 ing :— The said Company engage to supply the City of New- 
 York daily, at the rate of 300,000 gallons of water, from the river 
 Bronx, to be delivered into such reservoir or reservoirs as shall 
 be furnished, at least the ground thereof, by the said Corporation ; 
 that the said water shall be conveyed through the principal streets 
 of the City, in pipes of conduit, in which pipes, at convenient dis- 
 tances, shall be constructed fire-plugs, through which the whole 
 of said 300,000 gallons may at any time, in case of fire, be dis- 
 charged into any particular street, for which purpose a watchman 
 shall constantly attend at the priucipal reservoir ; the residue of 
 
279 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 water 'not otherwise wanted, shall be daily made use of, under the 
 direction of the Corporation, for washing such streets as they may 
 direct. 
 
 That every househoMer, in all the streets in the said city, 
 through which the said pipes of conduit shall be laid, shall be en- 
 titled to receive daily from (he same, a supply of at least thirty 
 gallons of water through pipes, to be provided by himself or 
 themselves for that purpose, to communicate with the pipes of 
 conduit. 
 
 That the said company shall, at their expense, cause to be con- 
 structed on the Battery or Bowling Green, as the Corporation shall 
 direct, an ornamental fountain and Jet d' Eau 9 from whence a 
 pipe of conduit shall be carried to some convenient wharf, from 
 whence the shipping in the harbour may be supplied with such 
 quantities of water as their owners may require. 
 
 As a compensation for all which, the said company shall be au- 
 thorized to receive annually from every house in the said City, 
 which is, or shall be built on any street, through which the said 
 pipes of conduit shall pass, a sum not exceeding an average of 
 two dollars. 
 
 That the said Company shall also receive from every house 
 from which a pipe shall communicate with the pipes of con- 
 duit, a sum not exceeding an average of eight dollars per an- 
 num, both of w hich sums shall be assessed, levied, and paid under 
 the direction of the Corporation. 
 
 That the vessels in the harbour shall not pay a greater sum 
 than per hogshead, for every hogshead they may be sup- 
 
 plied with. 
 
 Provided always, that the annual net-revenue of the said com- 
 pany, shall not in any year, exceed twenty per cent, of the monies 
 that shall have actually been expended in the construction, repairs, 
 and maintenance of the said works ; the surplui, if any, shall 
 be appropriated for such purposes as the Corporation shall direct. 
 
 The present revenue of such a company may be estimated as 
 follows : — 
 
 To an annual tax of two doiiars from 6000 houses, - $12,000 
 To annual payments of eight dollars from 3000 houses, 24,000 
 
 $36,000 
 
 Deduct for expenses of management, repairs, &c. - 10,000 
 
 12 
 
 .$26,000 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 280 
 
 Which is equal to an interest of thirteen per cent, on the original 
 stock. 
 
 In the above calculation, I have estimated, that as every house 
 is equally interested in whatever means can be made use of as a 
 preservation from fire and pestilence, each ought to contribute 
 towards it equally in proportion to its relative value ; for such 
 purposes an average of two dollars per annum, from each, must 
 surely be reckoned a trifling consideration. 
 
 As many parts of the City are contiguous to tolerable good wa- 
 ter from pumps, I have estimated one half the houses in the City 
 only, to be supplied from the aqueduct ; although as it supersedes 
 the necessity of having wells and rain water cisterns in the yards, 
 an average of eight dollars per annum, is probably less than the 
 interest of the first cost of wells and cisterns, and their constant 
 repairs, even though the teaavater, as it is called, should cost no- 
 thing. 
 
 If any ideas in the preceding Memoir, shall add to the useful 
 information the Corporation is already possessed of, I shall be 
 happy to have been their subordinate agent in contributing to the 
 health of the City, not by curing its diseases, but what is consider- 
 ably more meritorious, by preventing them. 
 
 Published by order of the Common Council, 
 
 ROBERT BENSON, Clerk. 
 
 * 
 
City op > 
 New York, / ss * 
 
 At a Common Council, held on Saturday the 1 6th day of Marc7t y 
 1799, the following REPORT of \V illiam Weston, Esq. (on 
 the practicability of introducing- the WATER of the River 
 Bronx into this City,) made at the request of this Board, was 
 read and ordered to be printed, viz. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 In compliance with the request contained in your let- 
 ter of the 18th of December last, I have taken the earliest oppor- 
 tunity, which my engagements and the state of the weather would 
 permit, to ascertain the practicability of introducing the water of 
 the Bronx into the City of New- York. The result of which in- 
 vestigation I have now the honor of transmitting to you, request- 
 ing that you will lay the same before the Common Council, who, 
 as the immediate guardians of the City, must feel peculiarly 
 anxious to possess such information on the subject, as may enable 
 them to determine upon the propriety of the measures necessary 
 to be taken to accomplish that important object. 
 
 I am sensible that Estimates of the expense attendant on the 
 execution, would have been a desirable piece of information ; 
 but a wish to render them as accurate as the uncertainty of the 
 business will admit, induces me to request a further indulgence of 
 time, to procure information on several material points, essential 
 to be known, previous to the completion of the necessary calcula- 
 tions, but with which I am at present unacquainted. 
 
 Though the amount of the expense, ought, and doubtless w\U } 
 have a proper degree of influence on the final decision ; yet, per- 
 haps it is not a disadvantage in the first instance, that the question 
 should be determined on its abstract merits alone. 
 
 In an object of this nature, the first point to be fixed, is the 
 quantity of water necessary to be delivered in a given time : was 
 nothing more required than a sufficiency for culinary and other 
 domestic uses, the matter might easily be ascertained But as the 
 principal object of this undertaking, is the introduction of a copi- 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 282 
 
 ous and constant supply, for cleansing and cooling the streets, it 
 becomes a question of importance to determine, as near as may 
 be, the annual amount of the required demand. Several spe- 
 cific quantities have been mentioned ; but in my opinion, they 
 are all inadequate to the contemplated purpose. In this, as in all 
 other undertakings, I conceive it to be an object of the first con- 
 sequence, to have the, effect dependent on the will, and where, 
 from the nature of the thing, no certain conclusions can be ob- 
 tained, it is safest to err on the safe side. 
 
 Whatever doubts may be entertained of this deduction, as a 
 general principle, I believe there can be none respecting the pro- 
 priety of it in the present instance ; for however great the amount 
 of the surplus water may be, there are a variety of useful and 
 productive purposes, to which it may be advantageouslv applied. 
 Proceeding on this ground, 1* have endeavoured to calculate as 
 near as the want of sufficient data would enable me, the mini- 
 mum quantity necessary to be introduced in twenty-four hours. 
 Though conclusions deduced from hydraulic principles of the ex- 
 pense of water issuing from pipes of given diameters, placed on 
 the summits of the several streets, would have been much prefer- 
 able to vague guesses ; yet the infinite variety of cases, arising 
 from different degrees of depression below, and distance from the 
 principal Reservoir, would have rendered the operation a very la- 
 borious one ; and from a variety of causes, the result very uncer- 
 tain. Indeed, every mode with which I am acquainted, may be 
 objected to on the latter principle ; but though it is perhaps im- 
 possible to ascertain the exact truth, we must endeavour to ap- 
 proximate as near, thereto, as possible. Conceiving it to be 
 the intentions of the gentlemen, who have recommended the 
 measure of washing the streets, as essential to the health of the 
 citizens, to have a regular and plentiful current of water running 
 at least twelve hours every day through all the streets, by means 
 of pipes placed at the respective summits, producing an effect 
 similar to what we may observe to be done, by a moderate shower 
 of rain of the same duration. Calculating, therefore, the area of 
 the City, the quantity of water usually descending in the time 
 above mentioned, and making due allowance for such parts of the 
 general surface, as are pervious to water, we shall obtain a result, 
 that perhaps on the whole, will be as near the truth as can be 
 done by any other mode, and sufficient to answer every purpose 
 
2^3 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 required. I find that the area of the City, bounded by the East 
 and North Rivers, and the intersection of them by Grand-street, 
 is upwards of seven hundred and fifty acres ; and making an al- 
 lowance of three hundred and fifty for public squares, gardens, 
 and other unpaved sui faces, we* have a remainder of four hundred 
 acres ; which being impenetrable to the rain, all that falls on that 
 surface, must be discharged by means of the channels of the dif- 
 ferent streets, into the adjacent rivers. I have made various in- 
 quiries, but have not as yet received any correct information of 
 the quantity of water produced by a moderate shower of twelve 
 hours continuance. I am, therefore, under the necessity of as- 
 suming, as a fact, what may hereafter be proved to be erroneous ; 
 though I have reason to believe, that my calculations will not be 
 found to be over-rated. Fixing, therefore, the depth, as shown 
 by the rain-gauge, at one fourth of an inch, we shall find the total 
 amount to be 363,000 cubic feet, or 2,22 1 ,5fi0 ale gallons ; and 
 adding to this, 778,440 gallons, as an adequate supply for domes- 
 tic consumption, we shall have 3,000,000 of gallons to be intro- 
 duced into the Reservoir every twenty-four hours. 
 
 I beg leave to observe, that an increase or diminution of the 
 above quantity may be effected by one of the plans submitted to 
 your consideration, without materially altering the design or en- 
 hancing the estimates, while by the other, the expense will be 
 nearly proportioned to the quantity required. I offer the preced- 
 ing calculation, merely as an essay to determine a point, which as 
 yet, has remained undiscussed, though of such importance, that I 
 deem it the basis of the whole work. I shall readily yield to any 
 valid reasons that may be produced in support of variations from 
 the above conclusions. 
 
 The quantity requisite being determined, the next point to be 
 ascertained, is from what sources it can be most conveniently de- 
 rived. I am acquainted with but two modes that deserve any 
 consideration. The first is the introduction of a part or the whole 
 of the waters of the Bronx. The second is a supply obtained from 
 the springs of the Collect. As this question has much agitated 
 the public mind, and each plan in its turn, been extolled or de- 
 cried by their respective advocates and opponents, it has pro- 
 duced, Svhat is frequently the effect of a collision of sentiments) 
 a more obstinate attachment to pre-conceived opinions. I do not 
 therefore expect, that any arguments which I shall produce, will 
 
Doc. No. 01.] 
 
 284 
 
 reconcile the jarring interests. Yet I trust that the statement I 
 shall offer, (and it is the result of some experience and reflec- 
 tion,) will enable those whose province it is to judge of the merits 
 and disadvantages of ihe different plans, to select that, which on 
 the whole shall be most conducive^ to the public welfare. 
 
 In order to form a correct opinion on the subject, it is necessary 
 to take into consideration, the efficiency of supply ; the quality of 
 water, as it respects the different uses to which it is to be applied ; 
 and the expense of execution. 
 
 On the first of these heads, I am aware that it has generally 
 been believed, and pretty confidently maintained, that at those 
 seasons when the demand will be greatest and most essential, that 
 the waters of the Bronx are wholly inadequate. These assertions 
 have been made with a degree of positiveness, that would induce 
 one to believe, they were founded on the most careful and accu- 
 rate experiments, which I have every reason to imagine, have as 
 yet never been made ; instead of which, I have no doubt, they 
 are the random guesses of superficial observation. The question 
 is of such importance, that we ought to be very careful, that we 
 proceed upon the most certain grounds. In a matter of this con- 
 sequence, I may be allowed to be a little diffuse. 
 
 It is evident that at the period, when the greatest supply of 
 water is wanted, there will, from natural causes, be the ieast quan- 
 tity furnished. This is a common principle, applicable to all 
 livers and springs ; the very few examples to the contrary, are 
 mere exceptions to the general rule. This circumstance, has 
 created doubts in the minds of many persons of the efficiency of 
 the Bronx. Previous to my examination of that stream, I had 
 regretted that proper experiments had not been made, at the sea- 
 son above alluded to, as then the fact would have been ascertained 
 beyond all dispute. It is universally allowed, that, for the great- 
 est part of the year, there is a superabundant quantity ; what the 
 diminution may be, is not easily ascertained ; we must rely altoge- 
 ther upon the information of those persons, whom a long residence 
 has afforded the best opportunities of judging of its usual decrease ; 
 but as not materially interested on the subject, we cannot expect 
 any considerable degree of accuracy in their observations. Allow- 
 ing for this circumstance, I have been careful to take the lowest 
 average of the results of three distinct cases, founded on the best 
 data I could procure, and applying to them well known Hydraulic 
 
285 
 
 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 laws, I am persuaded that the natural stream of the Bronx alone, if 
 conveyed without waste, would be fully adequate to the supply 
 bef >re mentioned, but fortunately a minute accuracy is not re- 
 quired, as will appear by the following account of 
 
 The Mliver Bronx, 
 
 Whose principal source is from a lake, about four miles to the 
 northward of White Plains, known by the name of Rye Pond. 
 This is a beautiful sheet of water, upwards of a mile in length, 
 containing, as appears from an old survey, upwards of 500 acres 
 of water ; which flowing from the outlet, is received into another 
 pond a short distance beluw ; whose area exceeds fifty acres. 
 I com this pond it descends with a rapid current, upwards of a mile, 
 to Mr. Rouen's mill ; a few rods below which, it unites with the 
 other branch of the Bronx. This last, which has its origin in a 
 swamp a few miles to the northward, retains the name of the 
 Bronx, to its source ; yet it is the least considerable stream, par- 
 ticularly in the summer, when it is reduced to a small current : 
 while the other branch is sufficiently large, to turn an overshot 
 wheel, twelve hours out of twenty-four, in the driest times. Rye 
 Pond is bounded by high and bold shores, which tending towards 
 each other at the outlet, are admirably calculated for the forma- 
 tion of an immense reservoir. This being filled during the winter 
 and spring, may be retained until the month of July, when the na- 
 tural supplies begin to diminish, it may then be discharged perio- 
 dically, so as to afTord any quantity of water that may be requi- 
 site for the use of the City. 
 
 This lake is supplied wholly by springs, many of which are in- 
 ternal, and few of the others originate more than a mile from the 
 head ; these are so constant and copious, that no doubt can arise 
 of their capacity to fill the reservoir to the contemplated height of 
 six feet, which may easily be effected by throwing a dam across 
 the outlet of the lower pond ; this would form a sheet of water of 
 more tham 600 acres in extent, containing 959,713,920 gallons of 
 water ; affording (independent of the natural stream of the Bronx) 
 a diurnal supply of nearly eight millions of gallons, for 120 days ; 
 three eighths of which quantity is surlicient for our purpose ; the 
 surplus five millions may be given to the mills below the point of 
 partition ; so that instead of injuring (and consequently recom- 
 pensing them for the dam mage,) the mills on the Bronx as has 
 been generally apprehended, they will derive essential benefits 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 286 
 
 from tlie measure. Having, I flatter myself, removed the doubts 
 of the most incredulous, respecting the efficiency of the supply to 
 he derived from the Bronx, it remains to examine tl e compe- 
 tency pi the waters of the Collect. The general bias of opinion 
 seems to lean in favor of this scheme ; and if it can be made sa- 
 tisfactorily to appear, that the required supply can be obtained 
 from this source,*! am ready to allow that it is a work, that would 
 be soonest accomplished and attended with the least expense. 
 But we ought to be extremely cautious in hazarding an expe- 
 riment, where the cost would be so great, and the event so doubt- 
 ful The question is of infinite importance, and, unfortunately, 
 one that can rot be determined by abstract reasoning. The capa- 
 city of the Collect, has been attempted to be proved, by its present 
 extent ; bu that, in my mind, is a most fallacious mode of reason- 
 ing ; for however great that may be, a powerful steam engine 
 would soon exhaust it, unless replenished with numerous and copi- 
 ous springs On these alone, therefore, it is evident we must de- 
 pend ; and I know of no other mode of estimating their combined 
 effect, than by calculating the quantity of water issuing from the 
 outlet of the Collect ; which even at this time is so inconsiderable 
 as scarce to deserve attention, and if my information is correct, it 
 ceases to flow altogether in the summer. I am sensible that we 
 should not too hastily conclude, that the above is the jtotal amount 
 of the supply that may be derived from this source ; I think it 
 very probable, that from the nature of the sui rounding ground, 
 (which is a coarse and porous gravel,) a considerable portion 
 thereof, may percolate through, into the adjacent rivers. Much, 
 and perhaps the greatest quantity, is also daily drawn off by the 
 Tea-Water Pump ; which from its vicinity, 1 have no doubt, is 
 supplied from the same source. 
 
 It is true, that by sinking deeper into the earth, an augmenta- 
 tion of quantity would be procured ; yet if we went lower than 
 the surface of the tide-water, I apprehend that the quality would 
 be materially injured. Leaving the question, as I fear it will re- 
 main undetermined, we next proceed to examine the quality of 
 the respective waters. To appreciate their merits fairly, we 
 should judge of their utility, by the extent of their application. 
 Proceeding on this ground, I believe it may be safely affirmed, 
 that the water of the Bronx, is at least equal to that of the Col- 
 lect ; though this is contrary to the general opinion. The only 
 
287 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 reason that I can perceive for the preference usually given to the 
 last mentioned, arises solely from its superior coolness. However 
 grateful this may be to our feelings, it does not follow that it is 
 equally conducive to our health ; for whatever degree of purity 
 it may now possess, the period is not very remote, when from the 
 natural increase of the City, these springs must be subject to 
 those contaminations which have already rendered so many wells 
 unfit for use ; an evil that is daily increasing, and to which no 
 effectual remedy can be applied ; this to me has ever appeared an 
 unsurmountable objection. The idea of supplying a large city 
 with pure water from a reservoir in its centre, has always been a 
 very strange one to me. From the representations made respect- 
 ing the water of the Bronx, I believe many persons have hastily 
 concluded that it was unfit for use. When it is considered that 
 the principal cities in Europe are necessarily supplied from rivers, 
 and with water generally taken from those parts, which from a 
 variety of causes are most impure, and yet that the experience of 
 ages has not evinced any known ill effects arising from the prac- 
 tice, I conceive that little fears will be entertained of the salu- 
 brity of the water of the Bronx, which is a collection of innumera- 
 ble springs, issuing from a rocky and gravelly country, and run- 
 ning with a rapid current over a bed of the same materials It will 
 be conveyed into the City without any additional impurity, and 
 ere it is distributed from the reservoir, will by a mode of purifica- 
 tion hereafter described, be rendered as clear as spring water. 
 
 The next object to be ascertained, is the practicability and pro- 
 bable expense of accomplishing the respective plans. And here 
 it may not be amiss to observe, that in a matter of such immense 
 consequence to the present and future convenience and welfare of 
 the City, every local view, every subordinate consideration should 
 yield to the general good ; that a regard to the primary object 
 alone should decide the question, regardless of a paltry difference 
 of expense, or the immediate emolument to be derived from the 
 undertaking. On the first of the above mentioned heads, there 
 have been a diversity of opinions, which previous to an actual sur- 
 vey, was not to be wondered at These doubts must now be re- 
 moved, as it appears from the examination that has been recently 
 made, that the Bronx is sufficiently elevated above the highest 
 parts of the City, to introduce its waters therein, without the aid 
 +i machinery ; and the intermediate ground, though very irregu- 
 
 13 
 
Doc. No. 61.] 
 
 288 
 
 lar, presents no obstacles which art and industry may not sur- 
 mount. A general view of the subject is all that I am able now 
 to present, and all that i9 necessary to be known in this stage of 
 the business. An outline of the plan I would recommend for 
 adoption, as best adapted to the varying face of the country, will 
 be sufficient to enable you to form a tolerable correct idea of the 
 eligibility of the measure. , 
 
 The best situation i have yet seen to draw the water from the 
 Bronx, is a short distance above Mr Lorillard's snuff-mill ; a break 
 in the western bank enables us to divert the stream (by means of 
 a dam thrown across it) without any difficulty. The water being 
 raised six feet above its natural level, will flow over a small swamp, 
 from which originates the little rivulet called Mill Brook. Fol- 
 lowing the direction of this stream, a canal may be drawn along 
 its northern bank at a small expense, for the distance of three 
 miles, when the ground falling off rapidly, renders it necessary to 
 cross the valley in which Mill Brook runs, by means of an aque- 
 duct, to 'he opposite rising ground ; along which the level may 
 be preserved to the heights above Harlem River. An open walled 
 canal will be the cheapest mode of conveying the water so far ; a 
 little loss is not material, as a small increase in the sections will 
 remedy such waste. 
 
 A declivity of six inches in a mile, with a section of 1,152 and 
 linear border of 89 6-IO inches, will occasion a velocity in the cur- 
 rent sufficient to introduce into the small reservoir at the extre- 
 mity of the canal, six cubic feet of water per second ; which is 
 more than the quantity required, supposing the daily supply to be 
 three millions of gallons The most difficult and expensive part 
 of the route, will be the conveyance of the water across Har- 
 lem River; the m«.st eligible mode of effecting this, appears to 
 me, to be by means of cast iron cylinders, of two feet diameter, 
 with a difference ot eight feet between the extremities. This de- 
 scent will produce a velocity of 22 3 4 inches per second, yielding 
 in that time 5 95-100 cubic feet, while the required quantity is 
 only 5 65-100. From the cylinder to the reservoir, it is a mat- 
 ter of consequence to preserve as much of the water as possi- 
 ble. To effect this object, the bottom and sides should be ren- 
 dered impervious to that element. An absolute necessity to pre- 
 serve a regular and uniform descent, leaves us little room in the 
 choice of our route ; whioh will be chiefly along the shore of the 
 
289 [Doc. No. 61 . 
 
 North River. The quality and make of the ground, vary much : 
 the greatest impediments are occasioned by the numerous ravines, 
 which intersect the line of the canal— over all these, aquedu^ ts 
 must be constructed. The level may thus be preserved upwards 
 of six miles, or within two miles of the City ; there it descends so 
 much, that unless higher ground can be found, it will again be ne- 
 cessary to have recourse to iron cylinders, to convey the water into 
 the Grand Reservoir, which may either be placed in the Park, or a 
 vacant piece of ground to the northward of the Hospital, either 
 of which are sufficiently elevated to distribute the water through 
 all parts of the City. — The total distance from the Bronx to the 
 Park, is fourteen miles seven furlongs, and the descent twenty- 
 three feet. It is to be observed, that the principal object of this 
 survey, being to ascertain the practicability of the plan, and nei- 
 ther my time or the season, permitting that minute investigation, 
 which is necessary to be made, previous to the commencement of 
 any operations, there is a probability that advantageous devia- 
 tions may be made from the route pursued. 
 
 Although the form and dimensions of the reservoir, are objects 
 of importance, it is now premature to point out the particular 
 mode of construction I would recommend to be adopted ; yet it 
 may not be improper to give a general outline thereof, as perhaps 
 it may tend to remove many of the prejudices which have been 
 entertained against the supposed impurity of the waters of the 
 Bronx. It is proposed to divide the reservoir into three parts, two 
 of which will again be subdivided ; each of these minor divisions 
 capable of containing a daily supply of water. The first division, 
 or reservoir of reception, will contain the water as immediately de- 
 livered by the cylinder of discharge ; while one of its subdivi- 
 sions is filling, the other in a quiescent state, will be depositing the 
 adventitious matter, with which the water may be intermixed. 
 After so remaining twenty-four hours, it will be drawn ofTby an 
 aperture near the bottom (so as to prevent any buoyant particles 
 from •ntering) into the reservoir of filtration, where it will still 
 further purify itself, by gradually depositing the remaining sedi- 
 ment, until it is finally received into the reservoir of distribution, 
 after percolating through a bank of washed sand and gravel, (in 
 imitation of that natural process to which all water owes its puri- 
 fication.) — This last reservoir it is proposed to arch over, so as to 
 nreserve the water pure and cool ; from hence it will be distri- 
 
Doc. No. 61.'] 290 
 
 buted in separate and distinct pipes, through every part of the 
 City. 
 
 The water destined to cleanse and cool the streets, may be taken 
 immediately from the reservoir of reception, as I conceive it is not 
 necessary that it should be very pure. 
 
 The surplus water which, for a considerable part of the year, 
 will not be wanted Tor washing the streets, may be applied to a 
 variety ot purposes, but none more useful or advantageous than 
 the supply of Dry Docks, which may be constructed to receive 
 the largest ships. 
 
 If the water in the Collect is deemed adequate to all the pur- 
 poses of domestic consumption, it must be raised by means of a 
 steam engine into a reservoir ; the situation before mentioned, 
 will in this case be very convenient. Although one engine might 
 be constructed, so as to raise* both the water for washing the city 
 and for family use ; yet, as from the quantity necessary to be 
 raised, it would be unwieldly in its parts and more liable to acci- 
 dent, and also as two thirds of its powers would be useless the 
 greatest part of the year, T believe it will be most adviseable to 
 erect two ; the first destined to raise the water for cleansing the 
 streets, placed at the foot of the hill, to the northward of the hos- 
 pital ; which would be supplied with water from a reservoir made 
 in the adjacent low ground. This would be replenished twice in 
 twenty four hours by the tide, by means of an open canal or cul- 
 vert, communicating wiih the reservoir. The small engine might 
 be placed near the other, the pump well being supplied with wa- 
 ter from the collect conveyed in a culvert or pipes. The follow- 
 ing calculations of the dimensions of the largest engine, will be 
 found sufficiently correct, to enable you to form a tolerable idea 
 of the annual expense attendant on it. Admitting the quantity 
 (as before calculated) to be sufficient, we find that 2,200,000 gal- 
 lons, or 359,640 cubic feet must be daily raised. Supposing the 
 engine to work sixteen hours out of twenty -four, we have 22,477 
 feet to be raised every hour, or nearly 375 every minute, estimat- 
 ing ten strokes to be made in a minute, each stroke must yield 
 27\ feet ; but as pumps generally fail in producing the calculated 
 quantity, say 40 feet per stroke ; and if the lengths of the strokes 
 are eight feet, it will require a pump of 30 T 2 /^ inches diameter ; 
 but a pump of that dimension would not answer in practice; it 
 will be necessary therefore, to diminish the diameter and increase 
 
291 [Doc. No. 61. 
 
 the number of pumps ; six of 12 T \ inches will be equal in area 
 to that before mentioned As the water would be raised about 
 fifty feet, the weight of the column would be 15,613 pounds, 
 which would require a cylinder of 44 T 2 inches diameter (allowing 
 the active power of Messrs. Bolton and Watts' engines to be eight 
 pounds on every circular inch) such an engine would consume 
 about 330 pounds of coal per hour. 
 
 Having thus given you every information necessary to be 
 known for your guidance, I shall conclude, by remarking, that 
 my objections to the Collect, being founded on the doubts I en- 
 tertain of its efficiency to supply the annual increasing demand of 
 this improving City, and to the contamination its waters will be 
 subject to) will be done away altogether, when it shall be made to 
 appear that they are groundless ; in such a case there can be no 
 question, which plan is most eligible, as it respects the time and 
 expense of execution. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 With Respect, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 WILLIAM WESTON. 
 
 The Hon. RICHARD VARICK. 
 NewTork, March 14, 1799. 
 
 Printed by order of the Common Council, 
 
 ROBERT BENSON, Clerk. 
 
* 
 
 4 
 
BOARD OF ALDERMEN, 
 
 DECEMBER 24, 1832. 
 
 The following Report was received, and Re- 
 ferred back to the Committee on Fire and 
 Water. 
 
 J. MORTON, Clerk. 
 
 The Committee on Fire and Water, to whom was re- 
 ferred the Resolution of Mr. Bruen, of the Board of As- 
 sistant Aldermen, requesting authority from the Legislature, 
 to contract a Loan of Two Millions of Dollars, for the pur- 
 pose of supplying the City with pure and wholesome water, 
 
 Beg leave to Report: 
 
 That they have, in addition to the information already in 
 the possession of the Common Council, obtained a Report 
 from Messieurs Dewey & Serrel, in relation to the Bronx 
 River and its tributary streams. Also, a Report of the 
 Chemical Analysis of the Water, from Messrs. Griscom, 
 Chilton & Ackerly, all of which demonstate, that from this 
 stream an ample supply of good water can be readily ob- 
 tained. 
 
 They also submit a Report of Col. Clinton, upon the 
 subject generally ; which demonstrates, that from the Croton 
 River an inexhaustible supply of wholesome water can be 
 obtained, and introduced into the city without the aid of 
 machinery. Upon the superiority of either of these plans, 
 they abstain from passing any opinion : enough, however, 
 has been ascertained, to prove to the satisfaction of the 
 
■i 
 
 Committee, that no time ought to be lost in obtaining au- 
 thority from the Legislature, to raisp by loan, such a Bum of 
 money a6 may be required for so desirable an object. They 
 therefore, upon a full investigation and deliberate examina- 
 tion of the subject, would recommend a concurrence wi'h 
 the Resolution of the Board of Assistants; and that the 
 Counsel for the Corporation be directed to prepare an ap- 
 plication to the Legislature, to carry the resolution int© 
 effect 
 
 JAMES PALMER. 
 GEO. VV. BKLEN, 
 CHAS. HENRY HALL, 
 g WM MANDEYJLLE, 
 
 New-York, December 22, 1832. 
 
The following Report and Law were presented, and Adopted 
 By the Hoard of Aldermen* January 7, 1833. 
 By the Board of Assistants, January, 14, 1833. 
 Approved by the Mayor, January 17, 1833. 
 
 J. MORTON, Clerk. 
 
 The Committee on Fire and Water, to whom were re- 
 ferred the annexed Report and Resolution, on the subject 
 of applying to the Legislature for the passage of an Act 
 authorizing the Corporation to borrow a sum not exceeding 
 two millions of Dollars to supply the City of New- York 
 with water, 
 
 Respectfully Report: 
 
 That, considering it as admitted on all hands that Legis- 
 lative aid vvili be required to enable the Corporation to 
 carry into effect any project which may ultimately be adopt- 
 ed, for procuring a sufficient supply of water, for the use of 
 the Inhabitants ofthisCi.y, the Committee have directed 
 their attention particularly to the nature and provisions of 
 the law which should now be applied for by the Common 
 Council and they have deemed it their particular duty to 
 de' ermine upon such course of proceeding as may procure 
 for the Corporation all the requisite powers for accomplish- 
 ing this great work, according to any plan hereafter to be 
 adopted, without forming or expressing any opinion as to 
 which of the various projects already proposed for that pur- 
 pose, should be preferred. 
 
 It is well known to the Common Council, that an Act of 
 the Legislature, intended to confer powers on the Corpo- 
 ration of this City for supplying it with water, has already 
 be^n applied for without success. Whether such should 
 have been its fate, it is not perhaps necessary to inquire ; 
 the fact that objections were made to it, which prevented 
 its passage, is sufficient to raise doubts as to the expediency 
 
1 
 
 of renewing the application in the same form ; and the 
 Committee, after much deliberation, and having b< stowed 
 their best judgment upon this point, have come to the con- 
 clusion, that a similar application would, in all probability, 
 again meet with a similar fate, and that good policy now 
 requires that a different course should be pursued. 
 
 The Committee have ascertained to their satisfaction, 
 that the ground upon which the law applied for at the last 
 session of the Legislature was defeated, was in substance, 
 that no law should be passed authorizing the Corporation to 
 borrow or expend money to such an extent as would be 
 needful for a project of this nature, until it should satisfac- 
 torily be shown that the object in view, both as to the quan- 
 tity and quality of the water would be attained by such ex- 
 penditure. In answer to this objection it might be urged, that 
 scientific men have already examined the subject, and that 
 their reports leave no room to doubt the practicability of 
 obtaining an abundant supply of pure water for the City in 
 different ways, and that they have made estimates of the 
 probable expense of carrying their plans into effect. It must 
 be admitted however, that the views of all the different 
 Engineers who have made reports on this subject do not 
 agree, either as to the fittest plan to be adopted, or as to the 
 probable cost of accomplishing the work ; and it is certain, 
 that even if the Common Council had all the requisite pow- 
 ers, no particular plan of operation has yet been definitively 
 settled or agreed upon by that body. 
 
 To obviate the difficulty therefore, which has already im- 
 peded this subject before the Legislature, it has been sug- 
 gested that a law should now be applied for, simply provid- 
 ing lor the appointment of a Board of Commissioners, who 
 should be invested with full powers to examine all the plans 
 which have hitherto been proposed — to cause actual surveys 
 to be made— to have the water tested — to estimate the pro- 
 bable expense, and generally to do whatever, in their judg- 
 ment, may be necessary to arrive at a right result, as to the 
 best mode of effecting the proposed object, and the amount 
 of money necessary to be obtained and expended for that 
 
s 
 
 purpose ; and requiring such Commissioners to make a re- 
 port of such result, not only to the Common Council, but to 
 the Legislature, for their information. 
 
 It will be perceived, that the object of getting such a law 
 past, is to put at rest all cavilling which might arise in the 
 Legislature, as to the feasibility of the project, or as to the 
 probable cost thereof, by having a report on the subject, from 
 a hoard of competent and disinterested men, who should not 
 only review the opinions of others, but exercise their own 
 judgments from actual examination, and who should have 
 the power to cali to their aid, the talents of such engineers 
 and men of skill as they might think fit ; and it will be obvi- 
 ous als >, that such law, being merely passed to obtain and 
 furnish to the Legislature correct information, must be fol- 
 lowed by an application for another law, which shall confer 
 upon the Corporation the necessary powers ; this would 
 appear to create some delay, but such would not, in fact, be 
 its operation : the Corporation want no powers until they 
 have determined upon their plan of proceeding; and this it 
 may /airly be presumed, would be settled by the report of 
 the Commissioners to be appointed by the proposed law. 
 Those Commissioners would have ample time to complete 
 their report, previous to the next session of the Legislature : 
 and the application for giving the necessary powers to the 
 Corporation could be then made, and would, it is confidently 
 believed by the Committee, meet with no opposition. 
 
 To enable the Common Council to examine the report of 
 such Commissioners, and to prepare in season for the neces- 
 sary application to the Legislature, founded thereon, the 
 Committee suggest that the law should provide for having a 
 copy of such report furnished to the Common Council, on or 
 before the first day of November next, and that the report 
 should be made to the Legislature, during the first week of 
 its next session. 
 
 Having determined upon the expediency of applying to 
 the Legislature, during its present session, for a law to this 
 extent only, in preference to renewing the application here- 
 tofore made, the Committee have deliberated upon the fittest 
 
6 
 
 mode of having such Commissioners appointed, and of what 
 number they should consist ; — various modes of appointment 
 have been suggested, viz : — by the Common Coun> ll, by the 
 Supreme Court, by the Legislature in the act itself, or by 
 the Governor and Senate. 7'hey have concluded to re- 
 commend the last mentioned mode of appointment as the 
 least objectionable ; and they are of opinion that the number 
 of such Commissioners should be at least five, inasmuch, as 
 the object of their appointment is to settle conclusively upon 
 the plan to be adopted, and the amount requisite for its per- 
 formance, and to satisfy the Legislature as well as the citizens 
 of New-York on these points, and it is therefore important 
 to give the report of such board of Commissioners, the 
 weight to be derived from the number, as well as the re- 
 spectability and intelligence of its members. 
 
 The Committee, with these views deem it inexpedient to 
 make such application to the Legislature as is specified in 
 the annexed report and resolution, but they have di'ected 
 the accompanying draft of a law to be prepared, which they 
 respectfully submit to the Common Council, and offer the 
 following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the Counsel cause the same to be laid 
 before the Legislature, with a suitable memorial for its pas- 
 sage, and that such memorial be authenticated in the usual 
 mode. 
 
 james palmer, 
 wm. mandeville, 
 charles henry hall, 
 d. McCarthy, 
 peter s. titus. 
 
AN ACT 
 
 To appoint Water Commissioners for the City of 
 New- York, 
 
 The People of the State of New- York, represented in 
 Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : 
 
 § 1 . The Governor shall nominate, and with the consent 
 of the Senate, shall appoint five persons to be known as the 
 Water Commissioners for the City of New- York. 
 
 § 2. It shall be the duty of the said Commissioners to ex- 
 amine and consider all matters relative to supplying the City 
 of New- York with a sufficient quantity of pure and whole- 
 some water, for the use of its inhabitants, and to the amount 
 of money necessary to effect that object. 
 
 § 3. The said Commissioners shall have power to employ 
 Engineers, Surveyors, and such other persons as in their 
 opinion may be necessary to enable them to fulfil their du- 
 ties under this Act. 
 
 § 4. The said Commissioners shall make a Report of 
 their proceedings under this Act. which shall contain their 
 opinion as to the best plan of furnishing the City of New- 
 York with a sufficient supply of pure and wholesome water, 
 and an estimate of the expense of carrying such plan into 
 effect. Also, the reasons and calculations upon which such 
 opinion and estimate may be founded ; and generally all 
 such information connected with the object of their appoint- 
 ment, as they may deem important. 
 
 § 5. The said Commissioners shall present a copy of the 
 said Report to the Common Council of the City of New- 
 York, on or before the first Monday of November, of the 
 year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, and their 
 said Report shall be made and presented by them to the 
 
8 
 
 Legislature, on or before the second Monday of January, 
 of the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four. 
 
 § 6. In case of the death or resignation of any of the said 
 Commissioners, the vacancy shall be supplied by the person 
 administering the government of this State ; and a majority 
 of the said five Commissioners shall constitute a board or 
 quorum for the transaction of their business. 
 
 § 7. All reasonable expenses to be incurred under this 
 Act, shall be paid by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common- 
 alty of the City of New- York.