REPORT ON THE AT RDGSBRIDGE, WEAR THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. €x ICtbrta SEYMOUR DURST ~t ' 'Tort nt&iitv ^fn^erJa-m. oj> Je Manhattans FORT NEW AMSTERDAM. (HEW YORK), J651. When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has heen said " Sver'thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library REPORT ON THE AT KINGSBRIDGE, NEAR THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, BELONGING TO THE NEW-YORK HYDRAULIC MANUFACTURINC* AND BRIDGE COMPANY. PROFESSOR OF NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY AND OF CHEMISTRY IN COLUMBIA COLLEGE. PRINTED BY SAMUEL MARKS, NO. 63 VESET-STRStXV 1927.' TO THE OP THE AND BRIDGE COMPANY. Columbia College, August 1827. In compliance with your request, ] proceeded to Kings- bridge, on the 13th and 14th instant, and examined your pro- perty there, and also the water power, attached to that proper- ty, with a view of ascertaining the fitness of the situation for the establishment of manufactures. The momentum, or power of water, is made up, of the quantity and of the head. Where there is great head, little quantity is required ; where there is little head, greater quan- tity is required,, to produce a given effect* My first object, therefore, was to ascertain the quantity of water ; my second object, the head which that water had. In the case before us, the quantity depends on the extent of the water dammed up, by Macomb's dam, built across Hoerlern-River, at the end of the Eighth Avenue: which extent was ascertained by taking the distance between that dam and Kirigsbridge, from the of- ficial map of the city of New-York, and by measuring the breadth, in several places, so as to make a safe average. In. establishing the breadth, a liberal allowance was made, so as to keep certainly, within the truth. The depth to which I (4> think expedient to draw off the water, is six inches from the surface. On these data, is founded, Estimate No. 1. The head was ascertained by taking the level of Haerlem-Ri- ver, or the pond, at the high water mark, and the level of Spuytendeuvil creek, on the west side of the mill, at Kings- bridge, at low-water mark. This was accurately done, by levelling, on the days above mentioned. On the first of those days, the difference of the two levels, was four feet and eight tenths of an inch ; on the second day, four feet, three inches and nine tenths. The time was very favorable for determin- ing the minimum difference of level, or the head, as the tides were exceedingly neap. On the first day, the Hudson, rose little more than three feet ; which is a rise unusually scanty. The water of Hoerlem river, too, was discharging through the open spaces for the gates; (the gates being unhung) for which reason, it did not rise within some inches of its proper height. From these facts, I am of opinion, that four feet may be con- sidered, as the least difference of these two levels, or the least head, that, probably, will ever be experienced. On these data respecting the quantity of water, and the head, 1 have founded my calculations. The water-power of Kingsbridge, in its natural state, is a tide power ; and this kind of power being variable and ine- quable, is, therefore, unfit for manufactures requiring steady driving. To remedy this defect, it is proposed to render this power uniform and perpetual, by making use of Yonkers' ri- ver, as a reservoir, for the tail-water of such factories as may be erected, and by maintaining that river, always, at low-wa- ter mark. This river, is an inlet of the Hudson, and winds a very serpentine course of nearly three miles, through the val- ley, lying immediately west of Kingsbridge. For the purpose above described, a dam has been constructed across its mouth, with flood-gates, on the down stream side, so contrived as to (5) dam out the rising' tide, thereby maintaining its surface, always at tbe level of low-water. We, then, have, on the one side, Haerlem-river, or the mill-pond, at all times, kept at the level of high wafer, and, on the other si/////-///^ EL I X G.SBRU) €tB ts/sssiys>/s/ ■ f^u}^/A//rr//y/////r fOMPANY Mill Sites ar- iistiu^uisheil by Roman , - Bui Idingr Lot* ly Arabic Numerals. 3E a jks*r Hi, I« KFKHENCES p/ f/n-- Mi J* r , /», f ■ 7'rr-i/' J "'''"/• tSm.f' Zlixn Mat