EXPOSITION OF ERRORS 
 
 119 THE CALCULATION OF THE 
 
 BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 WHEREOF THE 
 
 CORRECTION 13 NECESSARY TO BE MADE BY VOTERS, 
 
 SOUND JUDGMENT CAN BE FORMED ON THE QUESTION, 
 
 WHETHER THE 
 
 Present Flan for bringing in tlic Croton Water Forty Miles. 
 
 SHALL BE ADOPTED 
 
 tPEClAI.LV A1>HRKSSEJ> 
 
 TO OWNERS OF REAL ESTATE, MERCHANTS, AND MECHANICS. 
 
 WITH SO.MK 
 
 REMARKS ON THE ERIE RAIL ROAD, 
 
 AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM. 
 
 BY J. JL. SULLIVAN, A. HI. 
 
 CIVIL ENGINEER. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 PRINTED BY GEORGE P. SCOTT AND CO. 33 ANN STREET. 
 1835. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 Showing, on the contrary, from Facts, 
 
 admitted in their first report, that for about the expense of one million, and 
 in one year, this city might be supplied generally with Rock Water, instead 
 of waiting four, five, or six years, and expending six millions. 
 
 Moreover proving, 
 
 1. That, if it be ultimately expedient to bring in water from the Croton, 
 the present plan of doing it in one duct, cannot be free from liability to 
 interruptions : — 
 
 2. That, if the Croton is ever necessary to this city, it should be brought 
 in on a plan the least likely to fail ; and one is suggested : — 
 
 3. That, the adoption of the Croton project is the neglect of a present 
 certainty, for a remote uncertainty. 
 
TO THE 
 
 OWNERS OF REAL ESTATE, 
 
 Having for some time past been led to bestow attention on the sub- 
 ject of supplying water to this city from the sources present in the island, 
 and being of that profession within whose province the construction of 
 aqueducts happens to fall, the writer asks leave to lay before you a few 
 plain reasons, Why the plan of the Water Commissioners to bring in the 
 Croton is at the sacrifice of near and pure sources, immediately at com- 
 mand, and essentially necessary without loss of time. While, on the 
 contrary, their plan, with a view to bring the expense within limits that 
 might not be insurmountably repugnant to public sentiment, involves the 
 dangerous delay of a number of years ; and some uncertainty, after all, 
 of its answering the purpose, in our climate, in the mode of structure 
 proposed. 
 
 The distance of the source, which is a reason for the surest possible 
 method, is thus made the reason for an experimental work in hydraulic 
 masonry. 
 
 And why do the engineers and commissioners say, that iron pipes, as 
 at Philadelphia, are "out of the question ?" It is because the board has 
 determined to bring in six times as much water as the city wants ! 
 
 This city has reached that criiical period of its history, when the least 
 mistake will turn the scale of commercial ascendency in favour of Phi- 
 ladelphia ; and yet the commissioners, instead of advising the Common 
 Council to make use of the ample sources present, to purify the air, and 
 prevent the interruption of business, have, ki the face of experience, 
 depreciated this source, which no human mind can limit, and postponed 
 the defence of health an uncertain number of years, till the Croton wa- 
 ter can be brought in ! Can this be humane ? Is this political economy ? 
 
 You thus perceive, that the three great classes of the community ad- 
 dressed are, separately as well as collectively, interested in this ques- 
 tion : the owners of real estate, because the island springs are a perpe- 
 tual appurtenance of property, and do away the reproach that New- York 
 has no good water ; the merchants, because an immediate provision may- 
 save the interruption of trade ; the mechanics, because they, least of all, 
 can afford the public calamity of a cessation of business. 
 
 It is a question submitted to the good sense of every one, Whether the 
 moment it is decided to make immediate use of the waters we have, and 
 then to bring in as much more as we need, every inhabitant will not feel 
 that this is his permanent home — that this city, in respect to health, 
 surpasses Philadelphia. — On the contrary, defer this practical defence to 
 the uncertain time and result of a forty-mile aqueduct, which, to be tight, 
 
I 
 
 depends on tli<: fidelity of man y thousand hands ; and it leaves an ineei 
 tainty on the mind as to where will Dually bo the triumphant emp orium. 
 
 The internal improvement of the state having been confined to the cen- 
 tre, is found to he incapable, however useful, of preventing the effects of 
 the works of Pennsylvania to concentrate the commerce of the interior 
 on her capital. 
 
 The defence o» the metropolis of New- York is mainly left to the public- 
 spirit of its inhabitants, who will unite funds in the construction of the 
 Erie rail-road i and I do not know but that it may not have occurred to 
 others., that it would obviate one of the greatest objections to a general 
 subscription to the stock, if dividends were paid equal to interest, from 
 the beginning chargeable, with perfect propriety, to cost. For if the 
 division of sections were at once such as that each would open a source 
 of revenue, and all be doing at the same time, there would soon be enough 
 for interest. This defence of the city will be ultimately effectual, if we do 
 not give Philadelphia the advantage of her water- works a number of 
 years. Why ? BfeCttttSe the line ol road touches the Alleghany, where 
 it enters our state, and SOWS towards Pittsburg; indicating that route to 
 the west which Mr. Gallatin, in his Report, describes as turning the 
 Appalachian barrier on the notth at a thousand feet less elevation than 
 that part of the mountain crossed b\ the Canal to Philadelphia. 
 
 Tiiis noble stream, known to the writer from observation, while on the 
 Board of Internal Improvement and Subsequently, is at Hamilton OH) 
 feet higher than at Pittsburg; and Hows, while there is a good run of 
 water, in one inclined plane 280 miles. The valb y of the Ohio then ex- 
 tends eleven hundred miles, through the most settled part of the west. — 
 Whatever Canada may do on the one side, or Pennsylvania on the other, 
 we thus command the evn're. For, although generally known that the 
 Alleghany is a rapid and obstructed stream, all do not know of the exist- 
 ence of an invention which enables steam-boats to ascend its swift < 
 current, by an application of the power, by apparatus, to the bottom of 
 the river. Many, as well as myself, may know that there are upwards 
 of fifty-three rapids below the Pennsylvania line, and we cannot expect 
 that state to assist us to remove them : but few know that mechanical 
 ingenuity has already made that river, in a stale* of nature, a high way of 
 commerce. And the writer deems it fortunate for New-York that some 
 one should have anticipated this occasion, and secured t lie right of this 
 improvement by contract, as an instrument without which this essential 
 branch of our trade could not be enjoyed. But it is obvious that with it, 
 and with the rail-road carriages, (which have been the subject of a con- 
 tract by the Baltimore company with the writer,) our trade direct with 
 the west will reach the Alleghany shore in 36 hours and Pittsburg in 12 
 more, whence this class of steam-boats can proceed throughout the west- 
 ern waters. In 48 hours we shall cut across the Pennsylvania line of 
 communication. So that if the Ohio state canal is joined to that of Penn- 
 sylvania, (as no doubt it will be) at Pittsburg business will divide. 
 
 The tendency of all the central west is now to that point. The valley 
 o f the Ohio actually contains three-fourths of all the western population ; 
 and great as is the object of reaching Lake Erie, to reach the Ohio will 
 for a long time be greater. 
 
 These remarks are applicable to the present occasion here in this way. 
 The same invention alluded to, not yet applicable there, nor to the coun- 
 teraction of Canadian canals by saving much in the cost of our canal to 
 Lake Ontario, is applicable now to the navigation of the New Jersey ca- 
 
s 
 
 nat, and to lessening the difference to the Western merchant, whether h< 
 purchase in Philadelphia or New- York. Let us suppose a company form- 
 ed among the merchants of New-York to lessen the expense of trans- 
 portation between the two cities, to the utmost economy, consistent with 
 dispatch and regularity, the effect of it must be to make the Pennsylvania 
 Canal nearly as useful to us as to Philadelphia herself*. And when the Erie 
 Rail Road shall be made, the consequence of such cheap conveyance 
 must ultimately be to bring freight from Philadelphia here to go west: 
 because it will save jive days in the passage to Pittsburg. 
 
 Thus in effectextending the Pennsylvania Canal to New-York, we (now,) 
 at once want to be on a footing with her in respect to water, and the 
 means of preserving the purity of the air of the city. This therefore is 
 not a precaution to be postponed for years. 
 
 We have reached that point in this great competition, in which we 
 contend, and must for some years contend, at so much disadvantage, 
 that we cannot spare one, nor the least one of our natural advantages. 
 Much of our trade must come to us through her from the west, and must 
 not be repulsed by danger, into the lap of our rival. 
 
 If she has the Schuylkill at her side, from which she pumps her millions 
 of gallons, and which we do not envy her ; we have our pure subterra- 
 neous streams, which we can easilv raise to the several eminences in 
 this city. Bo any doubt the actual presence of a great body of fine 
 water ? 
 
 To elucidate the question now pending before the community to be 
 settled in the novel mode of a vote at the polls, the facts must he stated 
 which prove the value of the island springs. Perhaps it were presump- 
 tuous to hope to remove the prejudice that has been industriously dis- 
 seminated against the value of this remarkable gift of nature, which 
 seems to render a costly work unnecessary, but some may be convinced 
 that this mode of supply has not been advocated without some reason ; 
 whether to delay the supply four, five, or six years might not be a 
 public calamity — it is for you to judge ! 
 
 Admit for a moment, before I shall have proved it, that there is in the 
 stratified rock of this island, and northern range of hills a natural aqueduct, 
 giving an abundance of such fine water as that which has been produced 
 by borings, and is known through the city as Rock Water ; and suppose 
 that every advocate of the temperance cause were able to refer to the 
 salutary effects of the habitual use of this pure water, if these benefits 
 should last but five years, till a substitute could be brought in from the 
 Croton, would it not have been worth while to open forty fountains, even if 
 they were then by ordinance to be closed for ever, that the Croton aqueduct 
 might receive a revenue ? But would the water drinkers be willing to 
 have them closed ? Is the temperance cause to be promoted by exclu- 
 ding rock water and introducing brook water, such as the inhabitants of 
 Putnam will not drink? The rock water is soft, light and cool, it re- 
 quires no ice and filtration. The success of the temperance cause in 
 New-York does not depend alone on having this pure water, but would 
 it not be greatly aided by its diffusion ? 
 
 Why has the city been always so insensible to the value of this gift of 
 nature, certainly a very remarkable one to an island city? The reason 
 has been that some influential individuals have had an interest contrary 
 to its reception, and the people at large have not understood its value. 
 And because the instrumental nfeans were the invention of a mechanic 
 But where do we see any very useful improvement, that is not likewise 
 
6 
 
 the invention of some mechanic I 'J'lus should rather have been a reason 
 for encouraging it into general use. The Committee of the Common 
 Council will appear to have been ill advised. 
 
 Will the inhabitants of New-York be content with other than the finest 
 ■priog water since it has been given them? Will thev, because the peo- 
 ple of Philadelphia make the best of their Schuylkill, and London of her 
 Thames, see reason to give it up and be content with brook water after 
 it has drained populous districts ? 
 
 Does not the good sense of the people teach them that water to be 
 wholesome must be cool and soft. Has not the Creator taught this in 
 the manner in which he has beneficently prepared it by evaporation and 
 condensation, sending it from the mountains down to the habitations of 
 man in the channels of the rock or earth, beyond reach of the causes of 
 contamination on the surface, and the dangerous deposition therein of the 
 eggs of insects, which are known to be left in running water in the warm 
 months in immense numbers. These being swallowed, are absorbed 
 into the blood, the warmth of which hatches them out. A c se is stated 
 in the New-York Medical and Surgical Journal for August last, describ- 
 ing a person attacked with fever, in whose blood (that is, in the few oun- 
 ces drawn,) there were found 28 active worms from one half to three- 
 quarters of an inch in length. Mr. Rhinde, a naturalist in the vicinity, 
 found them to be the larva? of the tupula fly, of which the ova had been 
 swallowed in drinking the water of a small river. And it is very likely 
 that this is among the unknown causes of fever in many instances. 
 
 To understand the subject of water, it is of use to advert to the provi- 
 sion which originally and spontaneously existed here. 
 
 In the central valley there were two ponds, one of which the Collect, 
 between the Park and the Bowery, was a mile in circumference, and very 
 deep, the rains which fell on the island could not account for it : and the 
 quality of the water was that of a spring, and not of a rain-water pond. 
 Its coolness was the popular objection to its being abandoned and rilled 
 up. in order to bring in the running water of the Bronx. Lispenard's 
 pond, half a mile north west of it, was of the same quality. The former 
 was calculated to be sufficient to supply the whole city : 
 
 Whence came this body of cool water? 
 
 The geological survey made by Professor Eaton, by order of the Hon. 
 Stephen Van Rensellaer, from Syracuse to Boston, ascertained the fact, 
 that the primitive rock, always in layers, spreading down from the west, 
 after underlaying the valley of the Hudson, slopes up, and forms an ex- 
 tensive range of hills beginning with the island of New- York, and ex- 
 tending north through West Chester, Putnam, Columbia and Berkshire, 
 pouring out innumerable springs from between the layers. The like 
 spontaneous outpouring formed those basins. 
 
 Now, as this range of stratified hills, was the explanation of the natural 
 basins of water in this city, I would ask every man of reflection whether 
 the samp, springs that fed them, must not continue to flow 1 Wliether it is 
 possible by filling up to suppress a living spring ? 
 
 That they still flow is proved by finding water in the rock when bored, 
 rising with much energy 20 feet higher than their surface, and 30 feet 
 higher than tide. 
 
 And that a great quantity of this fine water still flows out of this ex- 
 tremity of the rocky range underground, is proved by its being found 
 in quantities that no pump can reduce nor fire engine exhaust, as often 
 as an iron tube is set down 100 feet in the earth any where at the foot of 
 
7 
 
 this under ground hill of rock. There are sixteen or twenty such in- 
 stances. How natural it would have been to supply the southern wards 
 from the base of the northern hill ! 
 
 The boring in the rock at Shaw's garden near the Deaf and Dumb 
 Asylum, is 112 feet, the water rising freely 94 feet, is the most elevated ; 
 but the most useful is Mr. Underwood's in the ninth ward, about 100 feet 
 deep, 2^ inches diameter, which with some springs in that neighbourhood, 
 continually supply the city with table water. And in the same neigh- 
 bourhood that of Mr. Richards in Perry Street, 200 feet deep, of which 
 130 is in rock, has given a constant supply to his establishment night 
 and day of about 20,000 gallons in 24 hours, cool and delightful to 
 drink, its very purpose requiring it to be soft. Why should there not be 
 any number of such ? 
 
 That of the Manhattan Company, at the corner of Broadway and 
 Bleecker-street, is the most remarkable for its depth and size. There is, 
 first, a well 12 feet in diameter and 40 feet deep, down to the rock : this 
 well has a considerable quantity of hard water. The boring is com- 
 menced on its rock bottom, and is carried down 400 feet 7 inches dia- 
 meter. Water was found at 282 feet, and successively nine times. The 
 full quantity it will afford has not been ascertained, but it is certain it 
 keeps a six-horse engine at work for weeks together, or as long as they 
 please ; and that the quantity which this power raises, with temporary 
 works, is 90 gallons a minute, or 129,000 in 24 hours. It is of a soft 
 and fine quality, precisely like that at Perry-street, and has been used 
 in families for washing clothes. But not being got easily separate from 
 the hard water of the well, because the latter must be previously pumped 
 out, the commissioners must have inadvertently given some of this min- 
 gled waler to Mr. Chilton to analyze. 
 
 This boring will yield enough for one ward. It actually cost 10,000 
 dollars, 15 would cost 150,000 dollars. 
 
 But why has not the water been distributed ? The answer may be, that 
 as there has not been, for a long time, any cessation of effort or project to 
 bring in water, in violation of the charter of the company, they may have 
 felt at liberty to pause in their expenditures. There surely can be no 
 better object of capital than an inexhaustible source of pure water in the 
 midst of a dense population. It is not to be believed, that if they had the 
 rock water in Philadelphia, they would drink even the filtrated Schuyl- 
 kill. Why should we not feel a pride in our superior quality of water? 
 
 The incorporation of that company, to bring in the Bronx, when it 
 was determined to fill up the Collect, necessarily gave them a control 
 over that and other streams beyond the island, and a perpetual existence. 
 The powers of a bank were made incidental, and since confirmed by the 
 Supreme Court. But as there was not then known to be any source of 
 pure water in the island capable of supplying the inhabitants, the inten- 
 tion of the act is manifest : and possessing no exclusive privilege in the 
 city, the ground they have not occupied is the proper field of enterprise 
 for another company. 
 
 The rights of parties being admitted, according to law, then the inha- 
 bitants of New- York have a resource in the rock water, independent of 
 litigation. It would have been only requisite that the common council 
 should have given leave, as petitioned, to lay down pipes, and the Rock 
 water would have been distributed ; and the common council might have 
 raised as much as public purposes required, as they now can, at small 
 expense. 
 
s 
 
 The two objects should alv*i\s be distinct, because for public u-< "M the 
 demand is at times excessive. For private nee, the suppl) require* to 
 be steady and calculable. No plan can better assure an uniniei i mpfc id 
 product than a number of sources and engines combined, \ et s< parable. 
 They would be like the numerous water wheels at Philadelphia, and 
 their parallel main pipes and separate rc>cr\oir>; but w hen a city de- 
 pends on one duct, only of great length, there is, in our climate, great 
 liability to interruption. 
 
 Besides, you perceive that in filling up the Collect, which was esti- 
 mated at two millions of gallons a day, tin y 'lid, in fact, protect this 
 water from contamination. The pond was very deep ; on both sides the 
 valley there were high gravel hills which were to be dug down to fill it 
 Up ; and as the embankments advanced into deep water, they were high, 
 so that the stones among the earth must have separated and rolled down, 
 covering the whole bottom of the pond many feet deep, surmounted with 
 earth perhaps fifty feet. 
 
 Now, can any one doubt, that if an iron tube had been set vertically 
 in the middle of the pond, and surrounded by the filling, that, the water 
 would have stood in it at the original level ; and that a pump or 
 steam engine would have found an inexhaustible source, because the 
 springs which had fed the pond must have then flowed among the 
 stones to the tube ? 
 
 If then, one or more pipes be placed in by the process of boring, the 
 city has recovered that water as effectually as if they had been previously 
 set in. Here we might have four millions of gallons a day ; for that the 
 same command of the waters, now subterraneous and protected, of Lis- 
 penard's pond may be had, is evinced by the boring and tube at Cram's 
 distillery, where, on taking off the upper joint to bring the top lower 
 than the ancient level, the water continually overflows, cool and pure. 
 
 If the city then, still possesses these original sources, why may not 
 water be raised from them to the high ground near the Park, and near 
 Chatham Square, in abundance for the fire engine service, and the 
 cleansing of the streets ? 
 
 Th< foundation of boring for water in the middle states, is the geological 
 formation of the country, the position of the rock, the parting of the strata 
 which must have been for many ages the channels oj water j rom the 
 mountains to the sea. The expectation of finding much water at Boston 
 by this means, was not justified by the geology of that part of New Eng- 
 land, as the inspection of Eaton's map will show ; and the reference by 
 the commissioners to little success there, is answered already by great 
 success here. 
 
 This want of accurate information has, indeed, been the cause here of 
 the prejudice which has been implanted and propagated. The Commit- 
 tee of the Common Council, on providing water for the fire engine ser- 
 vice, desirous jf establishing a tank on high ground, addressed a respect- 
 ful inquiry to the New-York Lyceum of Natural History, as a society, 
 whether boring for water could be relied on to fill their tank ? 
 
 It was respectful in the committee, that, instead of inquiring of expe- 
 rience, at the several places above mentioned, they submitted the ques- 
 tion, not to a geological society, but one cultivating a different branch of 
 science, but so composed that it might be assumed, that, like their great 
 predecessors, Newton and Bacon, they must not only know facts, but 
 respect experiment. 
 
9 
 
 Looking, as they must have done, at the surface of the island, there 
 may be an obvious apology for their opinion, that boring for water could 
 not be relied on, because the strata seem to stand upright. 
 
 Thereupon the committee of the common council proceeded to exca- 
 vate the corporation's fire tank well, 16 feet diameter, at 13th street, the 
 surface of the rock being 13 feet under ground. But the excavation had 
 not proceeded more than one diameter before it was plain that the strata 
 was not vertical, but at an angle of 35 deg. — much as had been descri* 
 bed in Professor Eaton's survey, which was probably not then known 
 to those gentlemen. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this mistake, the opinion of the learned commit- 
 tee has been quoted in the commissioners' report, as of authority, contrary 
 to fact ; though, we presume, not with their consent. 
 
 The principle on which boring for water is founded being true, it is a 
 resource for pure and cool water of inestimable value to our cities in the 
 middle states, since the invention of apparatus to reach it. 
 
 The committee on fire and water next directed the late Gol. De Witt 
 Clinton (Nov. 183^) to survey the country, from White Plains to Croton 
 river, and give his opinion of the best mode of conducting the same to 
 the city : and on the 22d December they received his report, recommend- 
 ing an open aqueduct, estimating the expense at two and a half millions. 
 — His opinion, in rejecting the Bronx, expresses disapprobation of the 
 hrick tunnel proposed from that river, and gives some striking objections, 
 (page 238) to this kind of structure, applicable to the present Croton 
 project. 
 
 The Committee having reported in favour of obtaining the appointment 
 of a Board of Commissioners, to ascertain the best plan of the work as 
 the basis of their application for leave to borrow the sum requisite, the 
 first board was appointed. They (the second board being appointed by 
 the Legislature without application), procured a mature plan and estimate 
 of an aqueduct from the Croton ; and had not the Board thought it ne- 
 cessary to the acceptance of that plan, to depreciate the island sources, 
 and consider the city as having no good water, there would have been no 
 occasion for comment ; but it has become incumbent to point out in what 
 respect they have done injustice to the owners of real estate ; and may 
 have deprived the city of a timely resource in the present exigency. 
 
 The obviously proper mode of proceeding would have been to inquire 
 into the cost and products of the several borings in the city : and if for 
 example they had asked Mr. Richards, they would have found the cost of 
 his to have been about twelve hundred dollars, and the product 18, to 
 22,000 gallons a day, more even than the Corporation's well that had 
 cost eight times as much ; but they pass it over slightly as a " well," 
 and do not draw the favourable inference they evidently might from this 
 instance as a boring of the rock. But they wish to find some occasion 
 to discredit this art and resource. When they came to that of the Man- 
 hattan Company they found evidence that it was arable of giving at least 
 120,000 gallons a day; and they might huvc learnt the expense of 
 working their six horse engine, and thus have had accurate data. 
 
 But their mode of proceeding was, to imagine the great well of the 
 Corporation, a horing, and to say against borings all they could say 
 against this work. Whether this was judicious or candid you will be 
 best able to judge. 
 
 On this plan they gravely proceed, and say, page 371 — " the well sunk 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 by the Corporation on 13th Street, although a very useful project, has 
 been a very expensive one to the city, having cost, including the land, 
 57,972 dollars." It must have seemed to the Board wonderfully costly, 
 as by mistake they had swelled the amount no less than 15,7139 dollars. 
 
 Nor would it be now worth while to have mentioned this trifling error, 
 if it had not been in their calculations against the island sources, after- 
 wards multiplied 42 times! and if they had not in their recent report 
 referred the Common Council to all they had said in the first, on this sub- 
 ject, as being true. 
 
 Having thus established the principle of their computation, and deter- 
 mined that a work made for the special purpose of holding in readiness 
 to extinguish fires '233,000 gallons, not comprehending (then) a boring, 
 must be a proper example of a simple station to raise and allow the 
 water quickly to flow to the consumer, they proceed to calculate, but 
 premise that " the Commissioners have no data by which to estimate 
 the cost of the Manhattan well (i. e. boring), if put in a situation to dis- 
 tribute the water with engine, reservoir, &c, similar to the well of 13th 
 Street, but they have no reason to think that it will be less than that be- 
 longing to the Corporation." 
 
 If the Board then were of this opinion, what were the items of its cost? 
 Will they justify that opinion ? They were as follows — 
 
 Eleven lots were bought partly on speculation, of which 
 
 two only were essential to the establishment — • - 812,250 
 
 The cost of blasting out the well 9,000 
 
 The iron tank 44 feet diameter, 20 feet deep 4,200 
 
 The foundation 4,415 
 
 The building 5,041 
 
 Its foundation 1,377 
 
 The steam engine _ 5,200 
 
 The shed 750 
 
 making 842,233 
 
 It is plain to every mind, that among all these items there is no other 
 applicable to a station but the steam engine ; and that if the board had 
 been very anxious to be accurate, in a matter not strictly within their 
 commission, but interesting to the owners of real estate, they might have 
 said that one lot is alone necessary, 
 
 cost, say 1200 dollars. 
 
 The engine and pump 5200 
 
 Its shed 750 
 
 To this they might have added 
 
 The cost of the Manhattan boring 10,000 
 
 And a cistern and building 2,850 
 
 making 20,000 
 
 This surely is very different from the accidentally exaggerated sum 
 they state ; for it cannot be supposed that gentlemen of character design- 
 edly made such a mistake. 
 
 And now, wanting a number wherewith to multiply the said 57,972 
 dollars, they assume that there actually is 720 water in the island at all fit 
 for even a horse to drink ; and there must be provided 5,240,000 gallons 
 a day — (which demand being now, however, answered from some source 
 or other, seems to prove that the city is not really so destitute as has 
 
11 
 
 been supposed.) To ascertain, however, how many borings would sup- 
 ply the whole, they take the product of the Manhattan at 120,000, and 
 divide it into the above quantity, and get 42, as the number of boring sta 
 Hons necessary for the whole city. 
 
 They then multiply 57,972 dollars by 42, and find it 2,434,824 dollars, 
 the amount of capital required, according to them. Finding, even with 
 all this exaggeration, (accidental no doubt) that the amount was not half 
 so much as the Croton aqueduct, they bethought them, in the face of ex- 
 perience, of saying that because one boring or 100 borings succeed, that 
 therefore another will not. But can there be any reason for doubting 
 success when the geological formation of the country itself promises it, 
 as surely as that the branches of the Croton will continue to flow? They 
 come from the same rock. 
 
 A proper comparison would have been, to take the aforesaid 20,000 
 dollars as the fair cost of a station, and multiply that by 42, which makes 
 840,000 dollars, as the utmost capital for the whole city, were there no 
 good water in it. About one third the sum they compute 4o be necessary 
 for the 42 stations, and about one sixth as much as the Croton aqueduct 
 will cost, exclusive of distribution. 
 
 But finding their own calculations would not justify the rejection of 
 the island springs, they assert that the annual expense of them would be 
 greater than the interest and management of the Croton aqueduct. 
 
 And how do they make this calculation ? First, they state the interest 
 
 on the exaggerated amount, at 5 per cent, is 121,741 
 
 They then calculate the annual expense of a 12-horse engine to 
 
 be 5569 dollars, which they multiply by 42 stations, making 233,937 
 
 Together $355,678 
 
 But here again they make another great mistake. It was a six horse 
 engine which raised the 120,000 gallons, by which they divided the 
 whole demand. Therefore the last of these large sums is nearly twice 
 too large, on their own system. On their side, they assume that the 
 aqueduct will cost five millions, and that five per cent, will cover not 
 only interest, but repairs and management. But when and where was 
 it ever known that the expenses and interest of this kind of property was 
 covered by less than eight per cent ? So that if it cost no more than 
 five millions, the annual requisite income must be 400.000 dollars. 
 Indeed including the distribution 6,200,000, would be 496,000 per annum. 
 
 We do not see where this revenue is to come from, unless by direct 
 taxes, whether the inhabitants want the water or not. 
 
 The calculation of the expense of raising water by the steam engine 
 depending on the height, to which it is raised in a given time, and 
 there having been various modern improvements, I am sure it would fall 
 materially below the following estimate which I make in this way, 
 as in some relation to the Erie Rail Road. 
 
 For example, the locomotive known on the Baltimore road as Cooper's 
 of New-York, would do one third more work as a stationary engine. 
 
 Its performance is forty miles out and back in four hours, carrying 
 fifty tons : though near the summit the rise being thirty-six feet in a mile, 
 the rate is but ten miles. It consumes one ton of anthracite coal in that 
 time, so that the cost of fuel is three-tenths of a cent a ton a mile. This 
 engine is calculated to be at least a thirty-two horse power. 
 
 Now such an engine employed in pumping, would raise at least 850 gal- 
 
12 
 
 Ions every minute, 100 feet high, which is above one million in twenty-four 
 hours : we shall however probably not require it to be raised more than 
 fifty feet high, in which case it will raise two millions. 
 
 If it consumed six tons a day it would be $30 
 double hands wages 
 charges 4 
 
 $40 
 
 Allow the work to be 305 days, the amount is.- $14,000 
 Interest on the establishment ^0,000 at 6 per ct 1,000 
 Supervision 300 
 
 10,500 
 
 As much water is thus raised as 10,000 families 
 require, and the aqueduct will average $40 a 
 house, or $400,000 ; the Interest at 8 per 
 cent, on which is 32,000 
 
 Making 848,500 
 
 which is for cost of this mode of supply, $4 85 cts. a house per annum. 
 
 For public uses, fire, and health, the capital actually invested need 
 not exceed 50,000 dollars. To provide water for the streets and fire 
 tanks, derived from the Central Valley, the annual expenditure of 3.3,000 
 dollars will raise two million gallons a day, for public uses, one hundred 
 feet high. This would be less burdensome to the people than the 
 interest of the public debt proposed to be created. 
 
 It is reasonably doubted whether a general water tax can be constitu- 
 tionally enforced. The Corporation may supply water at common 
 charge for fire and streets, but not for families. To receive water must 
 be optional, because there are many who have excellent wells, and 
 who have shared in the expense of borings and tubes. Many may be 
 content with the Manhattan Water Company, when they distribute the 
 rock water. Like bread, it is aliment, and an ordinance may regulate 
 the weight ; but no man can be compelled to buy. 
 
 As the natural sources cannot be suppressed, it is probable that those 
 who wish to give the greatest value to estates eligibly situated, will pro- 
 vide them with the pure and cool water of the rock. 
 
 I have thus shown that the commissioners, not feeling that the sources 
 within the city were strictly a part of their commission, did not go into the 
 examination thereof, as if it were a subject in which the inhabitants felt 
 any interest ; but as agents of the Legislature, pass it slightly over, and 
 leave the impression that it is not worthy of any acceptance as a gift of na- 
 ture, while, in truth, as I have demonstrated, if properly understood, it must 
 prove an obstacle to any extravagant plan of supply from the Croton. 
 
 They fear the influence of a just estimate of this resource, and there- 
 fore fall into the erroneous calculations which have been exposed 
 to view. The injury is to the owners of real estate ; unless their good 
 sense should seasonably correct it, in rejecting that plan. 
 
 And if the plan of the Commissioners were rejected, would the city 
 have the power to substitute a better ? It appears to me so, because 
 there can be no positive certainty of the delivery of the water from such 
 
13 
 
 a distance continually, in any other than in iron pipes. But commis- 
 sioners and engineers have said that theSe are out of the question, 
 because they would cost twelve millions. But why out of the question ? 
 because they have assumed that the city now wants twenty millions of 
 gallons a day ; but why should more be brought in at present than is 
 necessary ? 
 
 They estimate the expense of forty miles of thirty inch pipe to be 
 2,796,400 dollars, and deliver about three millions of gallons in twenty- 
 four hours, with a fifty feet head : a higher head will deliver much 
 more. This method would be unaffected by climate or time and, would 
 be worth the cost ; but an aqueduct in hydraulic masonry, subject 
 bsides uncertainty to repairs from year to year, would not be worth cost ; 
 and how else is the debt to be redeemed 1 
 
 I would not be understood to say, that the plan of the work is not the 
 best which engineers could, under such constraint as to expense, have 
 devised ; but it may be said, that there are objections on principle to the 
 conduit of water for the supply of a city in one duct only, if that one be 
 liable to interruption ; also, without example, that an aqueduct be made 
 in masonry in such a manner as to be liable to disturb its own founda- 
 tion, or settle in the least degree, because the consequence is, that the 
 trunk necessarily cracks ; leaks may occur to disturb the ground ; much 
 of it will be on embankments, which we know settle for years on rail- 
 roads and canals. The route is on and in stratified rock, and the aque- 
 duct may leak without its being detected. 
 
 It may be urged that we know from experience in our country and 
 climate, how generally works in hydraulic lime are more or less leaky. 
 The degree of leak, which would not be regarded in a lock or canal 
 aqueduct, becomes of serious consequence in an aqueduct of supply 
 from so great a distance ; in forty miles thousands of minute leaks may 
 reduce the water too considerably. There ought to be no leaks, because 
 not being out of the reach of frost, ice may form externally, and press 
 the masonry out of place. The trunk being laid in many places imme- 
 diately on embankments, there is no certainty that settling will not 
 combine to disturb the good order of the work ; and Col. Clin- 
 ton says, in his objection to Mr. White's proposed brick aqueduct, 
 that in case of any break in winter, it could not be repaired till the 
 ensuing summer ; none of these objections apply to iron. 
 
 Having seen the aqueducts of Rome, I venture to say that no point is 
 more scrupulously guarded than that the foundations of the trunk shall 
 not be disturbed by any accidental break or leakage. 
 
 If we had perfect certainty of our masonry, perfect guaranty against 
 the climate, sometimes severe, and against heavy rains, baffling skill, 
 and involving great damage, a trunk of masonry might do. 
 
 Were there no good water in the city, and it were desirable to bring 
 in four millions for drink and culinary uses, and that eight millions more 
 were wanted for the use of manufactories and horses, and for washing 
 streets, the former might be brought in one iron pipe, laid in an open 
 walled canal, serving to bring on the rest ; and when the city should 
 require another pipe, it could be laid by the side of the first. This 
 would be a sure way to accomplish each object at a moderate expense. 
 
 This would provide the greater proportion for common purposes at so 
 much less expense, that it could be afforded much lower to all the 
 manufacturing establishments. There is no difficulty in delivering them 
 separately from distinct reservoirs. 
 
14 
 
 In regard to the revenue of the Croton aqueduct, it cannot be lost 
 sight of, that the Manhattan Company is a perpetuity, and that its charter 
 rests on delivering good water to those who desire it along their aque- 
 duct ; and it may be presumed that they will make their works extensive 
 •enough to yield a revenue equal to the expense and interest. This insti- 
 tution must supply, therefore,^, considerable number of customers out of 
 those the Commissioners have calculated on. 
 
 We must deduct, also, those families who are willing to pay for a full 
 quantity of rock water, which can be afforded by the barrel daily per 
 annum, at about double the expense by pipes. If, however, some want 
 to economize still more, a rock Water hydrant may be at every corner of 
 a square of which the occupants unite to take it, if pipes are used. 
 
 As a temporary precaution, it would be easy to contrive that every 
 pump in the city should discharge a gallon on the street, every time a 
 bueket is pumped. 
 
 It seems imprudent to defer a system of cleanliness, so essential, till 
 we can bring in the Croton water. 
 
 It is disadvantageous to the manufacturing interest of this city who are 
 solicitous to be supplied, to postpone that accommodation from four to 
 eight years. If the water be on tiic island, why should they not have it 
 immediately? time is every tiling in business. 
 
 That an immediate attention to cleansing the streets is of far more 
 consequence than is generally suppsoed, will be at once seen by advert- 
 ing to the latest and most philosophical doctrine on the subject cl malaria. 
 The necessity we are under of converting the streets into sewers, makes 
 the true understanding of cause and effect interesting to every one. 
 
 Malaria hi s been mentioned, in Professor Dunglison's recent work on 
 human health, as being well described as to its origin by Dr. Caldwell, in 
 his prize essay, who considers this source of danger, not as putrefaction, 
 or the separation of bodies into their elements ; but from vegetable and 
 animal matters in a state of dissolution. " Bilious fever in all it» 
 varieties of tyne end degree, often prevails in places where no putrefac- 
 tion is discoverable ; but dissolution, by which I mean the decomposition 
 of dead organic substances, and the reunion of the elements producing 
 new compounds, is present. In no otner way can malaria be formed." 
 
 Now, as the streets of this city are the receptacles of such substances 
 continually, it would avail little to let on water in the expectation of 
 sweeping it away. This might cause much filth from the higher streets 
 to lodge°in the lo\ver ; but as the broom always leaves the most dissolved 
 and dangerous substances,, some water is wanted to naturalize their pro- 
 ducts. The broom cannot be dispensed with ; but if the sweepings were 
 towards and into the gutter, and forthwith removed, the fresher dirt 
 would absorb the dissolved and jioisonous part, and take it off more effec- 
 tually than the broom alone ; we should then escape also the annoy- 
 ance of dust. Little water then following would neutralize the remainder. 
 
 When it is recollected by every one what great numbers are carried 
 off by pulmonary consumption, and how many of these cases originate in 
 preceding intermittent or bilious fevers half cured, the state of the atmos 
 phere of 'the city, it would seem, demands the most immediate remedy. 
 
 It seems to have been from the beginning an error in this branch of 
 public economy, that the present has been sacrificed to the future. And 
 it is to be rather expected, that the public authorities will not be con- 
 vinced of the existence of the island sources, till they see either the 
 Manhattan Company or associations of private citizens availing exten- 
 sively of the rock water. 
 
15 
 
 Although nature, theory, and practice, combine to establish the fact, 
 that the water is here ; yet the Board, appointed mainly to investigate 
 hoio the Croton water should be brought in according to the predetermi- 
 nation of the first Commissioners, have found it to be their duty to merge 
 this primary branch of the inquiry under the weight of their great influ- 
 ence. The commissioners know that the city would never consent 
 to bring in the Croton, unless the work were believed necessary. Hav- 
 ing persuaded themselves in the way I have explained to think it so,, 
 they have endeavoured to persuade others ; but the main facts on which 
 alone the community can form a correct judgment, were not stated at 
 their value. 
 
 It may be hoped that the Corporation, anticipating the improvement of 
 Central valley into the great Erie Rail Road landing, whence level ground 
 leads to both rivers, convenient positions will be assigned for raising 
 the recovered spring water to embellish and protect this future thronged 
 mart of the great west ; and at once provide for the fire and health de- 
 partments, the manufactures and shipping. If in 1798 this source would 
 give two millions of gallons a day, it will do the same now. 
 
 Without interfering with the Manhattan Company, the inhabitants of 
 the southern and shore wards might form a water company. 
 
 The northern central wards another, in order to give the best quality 
 of water to the quarter of the town enjoying naturally the purest air ; 
 and of which the eligibility for the most costly dwellings is equalled by- 
 no other place in the Union. To give perfection to this elevated part of 
 the city, it seems only wanting that they should unite to command an 
 independent source of supply of water of the finest quality. 
 
 Let us however admit that it may possibly be found desirable that 
 there should be a more free command of water for health, fire and 
 manufactories ; it is plain that for these purposes an open walled aque- 
 duct from the Croton would be admissible ; and would cost about half 
 as much as the proposed aqueduct in hydraulic masonry, while families 
 would be supplied at small expense from the natural aqueduct of the 
 rock. A work of this magnitude should not be experimental, but on 
 some sure principle. 
 
 In summing up the advantages of this natural course of proceeding ; 
 the effect is that the public respects the chartered rights of a company 
 earned by the investment of 400,000 dollars, and which probably stands 
 ready to make it available when it shall be decided that those rights are 
 not to be infringed. This Bank is left in a position to countervail as is 
 requisite, by the credit which attaches to a perpetuity, as soon as the 
 Erie Rail Road shall be made, the previous adoption of the capital of 
 the United States Bank into the internal commerce of Pennsylvania ; 
 for there is no doubt that to maintain our commercial and political 
 influence as a city and a state, the banking capital of New-York must 
 bear some proportion to the relations of this port with the interior. 
 
 Another advantage will be, that instead of a great public debt prema- 
 turely and unreasonably bearing hard on real estate by taxes, which must 
 be levied to make up the deficient revenue, the public debt will be small, 
 and substituted by private capital, to which the Common Council will add 
 as much as they please to give the Corporation proper influence in the 
 affairs of the companies ; and that every encouragement may be given 
 to the manufacturing classes : 
 
 Another is, that if it be determined at some future time to bring in for 
 
16 
 
 them, and for health and fire a duct from the Croton, it may be executed 
 
 more economically. Thus inviting the fullest confidence that any num- 
 ber of manufactories to be possibly expected, will be accommodated 
 one way or the other, present and future. 
 
 Another, is the great point that we shall in one year be on a fooling 
 with Philadelphia in respect to safety. 
 
 In conclusion, the inherent difficulties of executing the law appointing 
 the second Board of Commissioners, have at the outset made it neces- 
 sary to depart from the condition of its validity that the cost should not 
 exceed two and a half millions — and that this should be ascertained by 
 contracts, which they admit no one would make. The law being passed 
 without request of the Common Council, is of doubtful constitutionality. 
 Can it be consistent with the city charter ? Does it not institute an 
 agency of the Legislature to execute a trust which should be done by an 
 agency of the Common Council? As it now stands the legislature has 
 commanded the Common Council to raise money for this agency, which 
 is in no respect responsible to the city or its oflicers, and is moreover a 
 permanent body for ci'y affairs existing at the will of the Legislature. 
 
 Is this the commission which the Common Council reqested ? The 
 Fire and Water Committee evidently did not intend to surrender any part 
 of their delegated authority, nor had they the power to do so. The 
 charter belongs to the Corporation of the city ; and if the Councils occa- 
 sionally need special powers, as that of raising money, it by no means 
 follows that the Legislature, because it can enlarge, can also diminish 
 those powers vested by charter. Such are the writer's own impressions. 
 If the water commission be not consistent with the charter, it mate- 
 rially affects the rights and interests of the city, as such, without any 
 reference to persons or party. 
 
 Should not so large and wealthy a community, necessarily governed 
 by councils vested by charter with all competent powers, be jealous of 
 the first encroachment on it ? Is it not the ark of our safety ? 
 
 The Legislature having refused to aid the Erie Rail Road Company, 
 it may become a question whether there are not good grounds for be- 
 lieving that this work would be an investment worthy of a full sub- 
 scription by private capitalists ? 
 
 If every section opens some peculiar source of revenue, and if the road 
 leads directly to the centre of the west, as well as to the northern inter- 
 nal coast of our country, growing rapidly in improvement, it would seem 
 that there should be no doubt. 
 
 The first section includes the manufacturing establishments of the 
 Ramapo valley, of which the neighbouring mountains abound in iron. 
 After passing half through this remarkable gorge in the highlands, there 
 opens a direct valley to Newburg, to which a branch would be easily 
 made ; and perhaps in time be prolonged to Albany for a winter road. 
 
 From the Ramapo the route inclines north west to the centre of Orange 
 Co. To the west through Sussex and Warren, the ground is favourable 
 for a rail road instead of the canal formerly projected to the Delaware. 
 These counties abound in iron, limestone, marble, and produce. The Dela- 
 ware here breaks through the Blue Ridge, and from this place to the 
 Susquehanna a rail road has been authorized and the company formed : 
 the surveys and estimates made. It crosses elevated but favourable 
 
17 
 
 ground, and descends into the lower part of the coal valley of the Lack- 
 awana and of Lyoming, ten miles above Wilkesharre ; at the great turn 
 of the river from the north-west to south-west. The execution of this 
 work will give great accessions of business to the first and second sections. 
 
 The third section reaches the Hudson and Delaware Canal, and during 
 winter the rail road would receive coal to be brought east, and all the 
 year to go west. The trade in lumber would also be considerable from 
 this section in the winter months. 
 
 The fourth reaches the north east branch of the Susquehanna, meets 
 and accommodates the trade and travel of Otsego County, and passes 
 along the southern border of the state, facilitating the business of the 
 country on the upper branches of that river for two hundred miles. 
 
 The fifth section reaches three objects, the winter trade of the Genesee 
 Valley as low as Rochester ; and the bituminous coal region of the 
 Alleghany ; and the direct navigation to and from Pittsburg. 
 
 The sixth, leaving the Alleghany valley, reaches Lake Erie through 
 a rich tract of country. 
 
 In relation to the comparative expense of transportation from New- 
 York to the river Ohio, by the way of the Erie Canal, or by the way of 
 Alleghany River and the Erie Rail Road, the recent report of Mr. 
 Johnson, published in the Rail Road Journal, leaves room for a supple- 
 ment. He expresses the opinion, that the Rochester canal, lately sur- 
 veyed and reported by Mr. Mills, will not interfere with the interest of 
 the State, in which he is no doubt correct, nor will the Erie Rail Road, 
 though capable of affording much cheaper conveyance. 
 
 The distance from Olean to the Erie Canal is 90 miles. 
 
 From Rochester to Albany is 260 miles. 
 
 350 
 
 at the same rate as on the Erie Canal (though no doubt it must be more, 
 from the greater lockage,) is 817 70 
 
 New- York to Olean 400 miles by Rail Road at 1^ cent is 6 00 
 
 The statements in his report seem to require to be carried out in their 
 respective ratios, and the expense of transportation on rail-roads, when 
 iu good operation, added. 
 
 It requires that each rate should be extended from 1000 lb. to that for 
 a ton, in order to conform to the established standard of measure. 
 
 Taking the rates therefore as stated by him as the customary charge, 
 we have from New-Y~ork to Albany 145 miles, 82 37 per ton for 
 hcaw goods. 
 
 By Erie Canal 363 18 37 
 
 To Cleveland bv Lake 190 7 98 
 
 Ohio Canal 308 15 58 
 
 4 
 
 Making 844 30, deducting the 
 less ratio practically on Ohio Canal, and we have their customary charge 
 of 81 86 per hundred lbs., which is 839 66 per ton to Portsmouth. 
 
 Let us now calculate what the expense will probably he from New- 
 York by the Erie Rail Road and Alleghany River also to Portsmouth. 
 
 The expense of carrying on a Rail Road depends in some measure on 
 there being full business. At first, as at Baltimore, when the extent is 
 small and the landings to be attended at as much expense to the Com- 
 pany, as if the business were full, the charge is rather what people are 
 content to pav, than what the transportation could be afforded for. But 
 
 3 
 
IS 
 
 on the present occasion we may state what the Erie Rail Road will proba- 
 bly be able to afford when in good operation at maturity. 
 
 If we refer to Kooth's report on the Liverpool road, page 85, it will be 
 seen that the expense per ton per mile, is the equivalent of one third of 
 a cent. If we ask what is experience at Baltimore, the answer is, that 
 their locomotives carry forty tons eighty miles, for one ton of coal in four 
 hours, which may be called the third of a day, coal 86, wages §1, oil 
 25 cents, interest on capital and repairs according to experience in 
 England, 40 cts, making 87 GO cts ; plus water stations 82 50, together 
 $10 10 cts ; divided by 3200 tons one mile, the work done, is £ of a 
 cent a ton a mile. 
 
 But lest practically in general this should be too small, let it be called 
 one-half a cent, and the result will be as follows. 
 
 From New- York to the navigable head of the Alleghany is 415 miles, 
 at £ a cent a ton a mile, is . $2(fi 
 
 Allow at maturity that the toll is one cent a ton a mile. 4 15 
 
 Alleghany River has a fall of 21 feet a mile, which causes a 
 current varying in velocity witli depth, and if we assume the mean 
 depth to be five feet, and the fall 010 feet to Pittsburg, may be 
 calculated at about the average of two miles an hour. But with- 
 out making any account of this advantage, 280 miles, at the same 
 ratio as from New-York to Albany, which is giving up also the 
 cheapness of coal on that river, and it will be to Pittsburg 
 
 From Pittsburg to Portsmouth 355 miles down the Ohio, at the 
 same ratio as on the Hudson, is . 
 
 1 5«i 
 
 10 2 
 
 Cost from New-York to Portsmouth 
 
 821 03 
 
 If we extend this calculation to Lake Erie, 154 miles further, it re- 
 sults, that 569 miles at 1^ cent per ton per mile, is $8 53- 
 
 while by Erie Canal it is 820 75 cents. 
 
 Now the inference is very fair not only that the Kail Road will coun- 
 tervail the works of Pennsylvania, but will go far towards balancing the 
 canals of Canada. We must expect that market to be supplied, but 
 when wo offer a facility in time, at moderate expense, there must be a 
 great difference in the markets to carry much more thither than the or- 
 dinary demand will draw. 
 
 In adverting again to Mr. Johnson's report, it is perceived that from 
 Philadelphia to Pittsburg, the charge in heavy merchandise is 81 25 cts. 
 per 100 lbs., or 828 a ton. Light goods, 81 50 cts. per 100 lbs., or 
 833 60 cts. a ton. 
 
 Now as the ascent of Alleghany River by steamboats, properly con- 
 structed, will not be much more expensive than the descent, we will add 
 one half to that estimate, making 80 88 cts, and add to this the Rail 
 
 Road charge . — 22 
 
 Making 813 10, and we have less than half 
 
 the expense to Philadelphia. 
 
 If the question arise whether the rail road will have full business, 
 there are two or three general considerations which answer affirma- 
 tively. First, the prevalent demand for expedition in our country. This 
 requisition has sprung from the circumstance of the great extent of the 
 United States. To men of business who come a thousand or two thou- 
 sand miles to our sea-ports, the intermediate country has little to interest 
 them, and their thoughts are either in the market to which they gc, or 
 
 l . -. 
 
19 
 
 the home to which they return. Nor is the wish to get over the ground 
 soon, much less urgent with all ; for however commodious steamboats 
 and carriages are, they cause for the time idleness and restraint. Com- 
 mercial calculation also always includes time, and all a merchant saves, 
 in getting his goods home, is effectively an extension of credit, or use 
 of capital. 
 
 On these grounds we see that the calculation of all New England, 
 which must also come in for a share of the western trade, will be to join 
 Erie Rail Road. It will be useless for Boston to make a Rail Road to 
 Albany, when after reaching the Connecticut they can turn down through 
 Hartford to New Haven, and by a steamboat transit of three or four 
 hours, be on the Rail Road to the west. All New England is no small 
 accession of business to that which the City of New-York will furnish, 
 and the central west add to the north west. 
 
 It also seems to me that Mr. Johnson in his report has not quite done 
 justice to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. 
 
 The elevation of the summit 3215 feet above tide, may be considered 
 as balanced by the nobler dimensions of that canal, which permits of more 
 than usual speed, and even the use of steam power, and it is probable 
 that the summit will be crossed by perpendicular lifts instead of locks, 
 which may save three fourths the time. This method is not indeed in 
 practice, nor was that of inclined planes before the Morris canal was 
 made. Nor is it certain that twenty feet allowed to be equivalent to a 
 mile, relates to lockage alone ; the tunnel will not be more than one mile. 
 
 New-York being as a commercial city also interested in that route, 
 and it being very easy to adapt steamboats of considerable burthen to 
 that and the other canals leading hither, we may compute the expense 
 on the real distance in this instance as on the others. 
 We shall then have the Raritan 40 miles for navigation. Raritan canal 43 
 Delaware River 70 Delaware canal . 1G 
 
 Chesapeake bay to Potomac 100 > 
 
 the Potomac 95 $ Chesapeake and Ohio canal 342 
 
 305 401 
 
 The Hon. Andrew Stewart in his report to the Convention at Baltimore 
 states that the dimensions of the canal, compared to Erie and Pennsylva- 
 nia, are such as to make the effect of power as 171 to 100, therefore we 
 must reduce the preceding rates in this ratio, which make it about three 
 cents a ton a mile : 401 miles at 3 cents is $12 
 and 305 miles at the same rate as on the Hudson, is 7 26 
 
 819 26 
 
 It is thus less expense from Pittsburg to New-York, than from Buffalo 
 to New- York ; and much less than from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. 
 
 We thus see that the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Erie Rail 
 Road, are to be the cheapest commercial routes to the west, and the 
 latter, the cheapest of the two. 
 
 It is evident that the Erie Canal cannot be a protection to the city of 
 New-York against the policy of Pennsylvania. Her political economy 
 held by public opinion above the vortex of party, has left the power of 
 the state free to effectuate works of internal improvement general] v. 
 
20 
 
 They appear to havo realized in their counsels, that useful as her canals 
 must be to the commerce of her metropolis, they are far more beneficial 
 to the heart, of the state through which they are laid. It is the cheapness 
 of conveyance to market which Eric canal affords to the districts through 
 which it passes, that has built up the villages on its borders, and given 
 increased value to lands, and not the transit of merchandise, lo and from 
 the west, in any considerable proportion. A raifroad through the south- 
 ern counties must have the like effect, without diminishing the business 
 of the canal. It creates and opens the sources of its own rev enue. 
 
 Some are of opinion that the refusal of the legislature is no misfortune, 
 because the work is worthy of its whole capital, and if so the whole will 
 be filled up. Hut suppose not, and still more money should be wanted, 
 is it not better to relv on Congress to subscribe enough to complete the 
 work ? The western states are deeply interested in its useful effect*, 
 and there will be ample funds from the sale of the public lands. 
 
 iEx ICtbrtfl 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
 When you leave, please leave this book 
 
 Because it has been said 
 "Sver'tbing comes t' bim wbo waits 
 
 Except a loaned book." 
 
 6*< 3 6