BOARD OF ALDERMEN, 
DECEMBER 28, 1831. 
The Committee on Fire and Wdter 'presented the following 
Report, relative to introducing into the City of New-York 
a supply of pure and wholesome Water, accompanied with 
a Law asking power to raise money by Loan to execute 
said work, which were read, laid on the table, and directed 
to be printed, together (with such Documents as the Com- 
mittee may deem necessary) for the use of the Members. i 
J. MORTON Clerk. 
The Committee of the Board of Aldermen on Fire and Wa- 
ter, to whom have been referred various communications and 
resolutions on the subject of supplying the City with water, 
RESPECTFULLY REPORT: 
That they approach the subject as one of vast magnitude and 
importance to an already numerous and dense population, re- 
quiring our municipal authorities no longer to satisfy themselves 
with speeches, reports and surveys, but actually to raise the 
means and strike the spade into the ground, as a commence- 
ment of this all important undertaking. 
Your Committee will not uselessly occupy your time in set- 
ting forth the advantages and necessity of this undertaking; 
they believe a great majority of the tax paying citizens are 
willing, and their representatives in the Common Council, ready 2 
fo concur in any plan which is feasible and within the 
able ability of the city to execute. The duty of presenting 
such a plan, your Committee will endeavor to perform in as 
concise manner as the subject will admit, and without travel- 
ling over more than can be avoided of an already much beaten 
path. 
The supplying cities with water for culinary purposes, for 
the extinguishment of fires, washing of streets and cleaning; 
sewers, is no new undertaking. Taxes have been imposed and 
expenses incurred, more or less, in all cities for the obtainment 
of this not only comfort, but luxury, and not luxury, but ne- 
cessity of life. The free citizens of Rome have left aqueducts 
not only in their own, but in their conquered provinces, as sub- 
jects of wonder and astonishment for even the present enlight- 
ened age; and how peculiarly appropriate is it that the Ameri- 
can Republics should emulate Rome in her best days in works 
so emphatically beneficial to the whole people. 
In modern times, at London, at Lisbon, at Versailles in 
France, and in still more modern, at Edinburgh in Scotland, 
and at Philadelphia in our own country, have been erected 
aqueducts highly creditable to the age, and contributing ex- 
tremely to the health and comfort of their inhabitants. In our 
own city the subject has not been entirely at rest, for as early 
as 1799, an association of gentlemen was incorporated under 
the name of the Manhattan Company, for the purpose of sup- 
plying the city of New-York with pure and wholesome water; 
who have been more intent on making money by their banking 
operations, than accomplishing the avowed objects of their 
charter, and have left the city totally unsupplied with water 
which can be called pure and wholsesome; and even four-fifths 
of the paved parts of the city without any supply whatsoever; 
in fact, all those parts of their charter which authorise them to 
take and divert streams to the city or to introduce water, have 
never been used* or in any manner acted upon by this Com- 
pany. The creation and existence n+" this monied incorpora- 
tion will at least, it'is hoped, be of this advantage—that it will 
prove, that the comforts and necessaries of life should never be 3 
placed under the control of individual associations or monopo- 
lies, ever intent to comply with so much of their charters as 
will make for themselves good dividends, while they generally 
disregard all the beneficial objects which induced the Repre- 
sentatives of the People to create their incorporations. 
In reference to this Company your Committee remark, that 
among the printed documents will be found an analysis of the 
Manhattan Water, by which it will appear that it is unfit for 
the use of man.; that as to their carrying on their banking 
business, under a perpetual charter, on the ground of their ren- 
dering the city a valuable service, your Committee only wish 
to disabuse the Legislature as to the supposed worth of the 
consideration, and to leave to their sense and judgment, ail 
which relates to this part of the subject. 
In 1825 the Legislature created another Company called 
u The New-York IVoter Works Company for the supply of 
pure and wholesome Water”—which Company was to intro- 
duce their water from without the city, and their charter was 
to become void, unless they supplied the city before the first 
of January, 1832. This Company has also failed to comply 
with the condition of their charter, and it is now therefore 
void, and the field is left open, as it always should have been, 
free from legal embarrassments, to the public authorities of the 
city. 
The first great desideratum is— 
That the water to be supplied be pure and wholesome, not 
containing mineral or other impurities. 
2d. That the supply be full and ample, for culinary pur- 
poses, for cleansing streets and sewers and extinguishing fires. 
As to how great this supply should be, we are taught by the 
experience of Philadelphia, were two millions of gallons are 
used per day. Their works can daily raise four and a half 
millions. The aqueduct at Edinburgh discharges 180 cubic 
feet per minute, which is equal to near two millions of gallons 
per day, for a populate %,of 150,000. 
3d. The supply to be made effectual in extinguishing fires, 
must be raised by a natural head or mechanical power, at least 
to the level of the tops of the highest houses. 4 
Several plans have been proposed to produce the above de- 
sirable results; and although your Committee do not intend to 
express any definite or conclusive opinion, with a view to bind 
the Corporation as to the adoption of either, yet they feel 
bound to consider them all, and to show that at least one is 
within the reasonable ability of the Common Council to execute. 
The first plan which they will consider, is the one for pro- 
curing water from springs on this island. 
Your Committee will not say that numerous excavations 
would not produce a sufficient supply, but they do apprehend, 
that four millions of gallons (the supply the works should be 
capable of furnishing,) of pure water to be procured on the 
island by excavations, would be more expensive than the in- 
troduction of it from abroad. The well in 13th street gives, 
at its greatest yield, 20,000 gallons per day, and this experi- 
ment is considered very successful; yet it would require two 
hundred such wells with steam power at each, to supply four 
millions of gallons, and this supply likely to be effected by 
heat and drought, at periods when the greatest quantity is re- 
quired. But a still greater objection arises from the fact that 
our island will be compactly built over, thereby diminishing 
the quantity, and destroying the purity of the water to be ob- 
tained from this source. This fact is founded not only| in rea- 
son, but is taught by our experience; for many of the wells 
which formerly gave good water, have now become, by the 
extension of the city, noxious and unfit for use. We also add, 
that the New-York Water Works Company, subsequent to 
1824, made repeated, and it is believed unsuccessful experi- 
ments, to procure water on the island. 
All the other plans proposed, look to the springs and rivers 
of Westchester county for the supply. 
The advocates for bringing the water from the Croton, base 
their argument mainly on the abundance of the supply to be 
obtained from that river. This important advantage must be 
yielded to the advocates of this plan, over that of all the others; 
and were it not for the distance which the Croton River lies 
from the city, it certainly would be the most desirable source 
whence to procure the supply. 5 
Some of the advocates for Croton River propose that the 
water be carried along the Hudson, while others show per- 
haps a more feasible plan, by connecting it with the Savraiill 
Creek ; but each of these plans growing out of the distance 
and the mountainous country through which you would have 
to pass, would be found more expensive than the procuring of 
the water from the source yet remaining to be considered, and 
in relation to which your Committee are united in opinion as 
to its being the least expensive and embarrassed with the few- 
est difficulties. 
The river Bronx has its main origin in Rye Pond, a beauti- 
ful sheet of water with an area of two hundred and twenty 
acres, situate in Westchester, about thirty-four miles distant 
from the city, and discharges into Long Island Sound, through 
West Farms Creek. 
Canvass White, Esq. in a report made to the Common 
Council in 1824, estimated the natural supply of the Bronx at 
three millions of gallons per day, in a dry season, and by a 
still more accurate measurement and survey made in 1826, 
for the New-York Water Works Company, he made the daily 
minimum quantity to be 4,302,720 gallons. Nature seems 
to have constructed Rye Pand, with its high hill embankments, 
for a beautiful reservoir to be made capable of containing even 
an additional supply of 7,000,000 of gallons by a short dam, at 
its outlet, raising the water ten feet higher, and there is on the 
spot an abundance of the best materials for the construction of 
the dam. 
The Wampus Pond and the Byram Pond lie about north 
from the Rye Pond, and distant four or five miles; their na- 
tural discharge is into the Sound, through the Byram River, 
which, in part, passes through Connecticut. The water from 
these two last mentioned ponds furnish an additional daily sup- 
ply of two millions, and might at a very small expense (as the 
Byram approaches Rye Pond within a mile and a half,) be 
conveyed into the Rye Pond, and made to mingle with the 
waters of the Bronx. 
One mill and factory only are supported by the water of 6 
the Byram, which rights would have to be extinguished, and 
perhaps some other privileges, before diverting the water of 
this river from its natural course. Several mill and factory 
privileges would have to be extinguished on the Bronx River. 
On the plan here proposed, you can certainly procure the 
waters of Rye Pond, the Wampus and the By ram Ponds, with 
the waters as they increase from lateral sources, in the Bronx 
and part of the Byram River; to which may be also added the 
Saw-mill River, if ever wanted, which of itself supplies two 
millions of gallons daily, which it now discharges in the North 
River. And it should not be forgotten that this plan does not 
exclude procuring the waters of the Croton, if at any period of 
time they should become necessary for our city’s use. An 
excavation might be made, and the water of the Croton intro- 
duced at the Wampus Pond, or an excavation might be made 
to intersect the line of the aqueduct, after it leaves the Bronx, 
in its route to the Harlaem River. 
But no individual after examining the subject, will, your 
Committee think, doubt the sufficiency of the supply of the 
Bronx, with the ponds at its head, independent of the Croton 
and Saw-mill; if they do, they must disregard the opinions 
of Surveyors, who have made it their business to ascertain the 
exact supply these sources furnish. 
As to the quality of the waters of the ponds referred to, and 
of the Bronx and Byram Rivers, your Committee concur in 
opinion with the gentlemen who have examined them, that 
they are pure and wholesome, possessing the quality usually 
described as soft. One branch of the Croton, it is said, is not 
entirely free from mineral substance, but the water of the 
Croton will not for centuries, if ever, be required. 
Having considered and pointed out the source, the quantity 
and the quality of the water to be supplied the city, it but re- 
mains for your Committee to suggest the general outlines of 
the several plans which to them appear practicable for the in- 
roduction of this water. 
The point at which it has been supposed it would be most 
advantageous to take the water from the Bronx, is near Under. 7 
hill’s Bridge, not far from Tompkins’ Factory, a distance from 
Harlaem River of about thirteen miles. The country along 
the contemplated route is such, that it might easily be brought 
to a regular declivity for the base or embankment of any work 
which might be projected, and the head at the intersecting 
point of the Bronx and aqueduct is such as to allow eighteen 
inches in the mile for the whole descent to the Harlaem River. 
The question first in order is, how this water shall be brought 
from the Bronx to the Harlaem River. 
Three modes have been suggested; the one an open aque- 
duct with walled sides, or clay embankments and bottom. The 
ancient aqueducts were all open masonry, and supported by 
arches, and of this description is the work at Lisbon, which is 
supported on magnificent arches, one of which is two hundred 
and thirty feet in height. This work was completed about a 
century ago. 
In support of the open aqueduct, with clay bottom and em- 
bankments , your Committee are referred to the modern workf 
introducing water into London, (where such a description of 
aqueduct is made for forty miles, of sixteen feet wide and five 
feet deep,) from the New River to Islington, on its way to 
London. But it is feared such an aqueduct might receive im. 
purities in its passage down to the Harlaem River, though it 
is believed it would not be so much exposed, as that near Lon- 
don. But it is doubted if our winter climate is sufficiently mild 
to render this mode of bringing water practicable; yet the fact 
should not be lost sight of, that the rapidity with which this 
water will pass through the aqueduct on a regular inclined 
plane, would much diminish, if not entirely overcome all effects 
from frost. 
The close tunnel of masonry has been the plan most generally 
approbated, but whether it or the iron pipes will be the plan 
eventually adopted for this part of the line, your Committee are 
at present unable to decide, and do not find it necessary to 
express, at present, an opinion in favor of the one or the other 
of these plans. In the valuable report of Mr. White referred 
to, he estimates a masonry tunnel of five feet diameter at but 8 
$31,174 per mile, including all expenses ; if this estimate is 
correct, masonry would be the cheapest. The tunnel of ma- 
sonry would have the advantage of being able to supply the 
greatest quantity which could ever be required. The cost of 
this masonry tunnel would be, at this estimate, $400,000. 
The plan of iron pipes has many advantages over that of all 
others, though to have them cast in this country (it is feared,) 
would be very expensive, costing nearly double what they could 
be purchased for in Great Britain. The cost (including the 
expense of laying down,) of our twelve-inch pipes was about 
$10,000 dollars per mile. The expense per mile of American 
casting, for an average twenty-two inch diameter, (which it is 
believed would discharge near 2,000,000 of gallons daily,) 
would cost $30,000 at the American price; and the laying down 
is estimated at $10,000 per mile, or for the whole distance to 
the Harlaem River at about $500,000. If two lines of pipes 
should be required, it would make the expense near a million 
of dollars to bring it to the Harlaem River. 
The two lines, it is believed, would discharge 4,000,000 of 
gallons; for though the distance is greater, and there woul 
not be the same head as at the Edinburgh works, (which daily 
discharge 2,000,000 gallons through a diameter, say twenty 
inches at the entering, and fifteen inches at the discharging 
end,) yet our line would not have the undulations of the Edin- 
burgh line, growing out of a very uneven hilly surface over 
which it passes. 
If the regular line of declivity should be found more expen- 
sive than has been supposed, the embankments and cutting 
could be avoided, and the same quantity of water introduced 
by a small increase in the size of the pipes, and following an 
uneven surface, the undulations of which would not, however, 
be great. 
In favor of this plan of iron pipes, your Committee remark, 
that the city might be supplied although one line was out of 
order; an advantage of vast importance in reference to the 
wants and necessities of our city, when once dependent on such 
an establishment. Having given the outlines of the expense and the different 
plans for bringing the water to the Harlaem River, the next 
cost to be incurred would be the passage of the river. If 
McComb’s Dam was not used, then a bridge would have to be 
constructed, and probably also a dam, as the head for the 
water would have to be procured near there; and it has al- 
ways been considered that the tide-water of the Harlaem might 
be used to lift the water, in whole or in part, into the proposed 
reservoir. 
The expense of this bridge and dam has been estimated at 
$50,000. It would have the advantage of passing travellers, 
and if free of expense, it is probable that other advantages 
would accrue to the city, more than equivalent to the receipt 
of the tolls from the bridge. 
Having shown the plans for introducing water on the Island, 
it is proposed to construct Store-housing Reservoirs on Har- 
laem Heights, with different compartments, both for the col- 
lection of water and the settlement of impurities, and that it 
should pass from one to another, until it is received in a pure 
state into the one, which will discharge it into the pipes to be 
brought to the city. 
These Store-housing Reservoirs, it is proposed to extend 
over ten or fifteen acres of the Corporation land, between 
Yorkville and Harlaem, selecting a spot between the Third 
and Eighth Avenues, with a rock bottom and clay embank- 
ments. These grounds are one hundred and twenty feet 
above tide-water, thereby giving an ample head. These 
reservoirs may be formed at but little expense. We have the 
experience of our sister city, Philadelphia, (where their reser- 
voirs are so constructed) as to this part of the work. 
Your Committee estimate this excavation at $25,000, and 
the lifting power and machinery at $25,000 more. 
From the Store-housing Reservoirs, three pipes of twelve 
inches diameter would, with the proposed head, bring to the 
city near 2,000,000 gallons daily, which would supply our 
present wants, and a fourth or fifth might be added, as the 
wants of the city increased. 
9 10 
The distance from the reservoir at Harlaem to the distribut- 
ing reservoir at Thirteenth street, does not exceed four miles, 
and the expenses of each line would not exceed $10,000 per 
mile ; the cost of these three lines of pipes would amount to 
$120,000. One of which lines to extend to the northern sec- 
tion of the city, and there to be connected with a distributing 
reservoir similar to the one in Thirteenth street, or immediate- 
ly connected wi}h the distributing pipes. The second to be 
connected with the present reservoir in Thirteenth street, and 
the third line to be led into the eastern section of the city. 
Your Committee do not enter into a minute consideration of 
the expense of distributing pipes throughout the city; the ex- 
pense of the seven miles of pipes now down, (generally of the 
largest class, for such purposes) has cost, including laying 
down, $65,800, Six-inch pipes can be laid at an expense in- 
cluding pipes, of $5000 per mile. 
The injury to proprietors, and the taking of land and water 
rights, your Committee have not the means of estimating. 
The pipes as well as the tunnel, if the tunnel was used, would 
be completely covered, so that any agricultural purposes might 
be carried on over them, and no fences required; and when 
once down, they would not injure the fields, streets or roads. 
The owners of land about Rye Pond consented to the Water 
Works Company using the water, and making a dam at the 
outlet of the pond without charge, and the only, -injury would 
be to four or five mill-seats on the Bronx, where the water is 
used, and which might probably continue to be used during 
all the winter and wet part of the season, and still leave water 
enough for all our city purposes. 
Your Committee think they have shown conclusively that 
this work is practicable, and within the ability of the Cor- 
poration in a moderate time to pay for ; for the best judgment 
they can form (assisted by the opinion of Mr. Canvass White 
and Judge Wright, our Street Commissioners) is, that the ex- 
pense of the work, including the extinguishing of rights, pur- 
chase of lands, mason work, tunnel, or iron pipes, connecting 
pipes from the store housing to the distributing reservoirs, re. 11 
servoirs and distributing pipes through the city, will not amount 
to $2,000,000. 
For this expenditure our inhabitants will have water pure 
and wholesome, not only as a beverage and for culinary and 
domestic purposes, but an ample supply for cleaning the streets 
and sewers of our city, and for the extinguishment of fires. 
And it must not be forgotten that the estimated loss by fire in 
the year 1828, was $600,000. 
Your Committee are of opinion that the expense of this un- 
dertaking, the advantages of which will be lasting and perma- 
nent in their character, should be provided for by a loan, and 
they view the present or coming season as one at which this 
money can be procured at a low rate of interest, probably not 
to exceed four per cent., redeemable in thirty years. It would 
be well secured, as due from a city whose taxable property is 
rated at $125,000,000, and is worth much more. To provide 
for the $80,000 interest, supposing the expense to amount to 
two millions, we should have a fair charge on our present 
citizens. 
It is believed that we have, or within a year or two will 
have, 35,000 houses and buildings, all of which are obliged to 
build and keep up cisterns, while may of our citizens purchase 
water, and all are at the expense of sinking wells and erecting 
pumps, at an average annual charge, including all these ex- 
penses, it is believed, of exceeding eight dollars per house. 
Now if we estimate that we can charge each house, on an 
average, four dollars, we have $140,000, nearly double the 
whole interest. If it should be thought that four dollars is 
too much for some houses, it may be remarked, that several 
families, in limited circumstances, generally reside in one 
house, and that this being the case, the landlord might well 
afford to pay four dollars, per annum; but as this calculation 
of four dollars per house, is an average charge, it will be seen 
that some houses can be charged more than double that rate, 
while the rate of others can be proportionably reduced. 
We should have also what might be chargeable on livery 
stables, breweries, dying establishments, manufactories of all 12 
kinds, making of mortar for building, and the supplying oar 
shipping, to create a sinking fund for the final liquidation of 
the loan ; and we should not forget that the income referred to 
is from nearly our present population, which is rapidly increas- 
ing, which increase the works would supply with little increas- 
ed expense. The New River establishment at London charges 
all dwellings at the rate of five per cent, on the rent of the 
same, which appears to be a good criterion to regulate the 
charge, and this rate would produce a revenue to the city. 
Your Committee have considered the description of the 
Edinburgh Water Works, (which they have procured from 
abroad, and to which they have referred,) as containing so 
much valuable information that they have caused it to be 
printed with the documents on the subject. It will be found 
that that city, not so populous nor so wealthy, it is believed, 
have overcome far greater obstacles than we have to contend 
with—having in one place passed for a considerable distance 
with their tunnel seventy or eighty feet below the surface, and 
at another place excavated a shaft through solid rocks six 
feet high by four and a half wide, for 700 feet, at some places 
at a depth of 120 feet below the surface, and have constructed 
a reservoir with an embankment of one hundred and twenty- 
four feet high. This work was finished in 1824, and is con- 
sidered by the people of Edinburgh, and probably correctly 
too, as the most complete of all the modern works of the kind. 
Their success should urge us forward to the commencement 
and completion of the proposed undertaking. 
Your Committee have also caused to be printed the Reports 
of Mr. White, referred to, and the our present Street 
Commissioners, each of which contain much valuable informa- 
tion, and from which many of the facts in this Report have 
been drawn. They also add to the printed documents, (that 
the Common Council may have the different views of gentle- 
men,) a Memorial and general statement from Francis E. 
Phelps, Esq. 
In reference to the question as to who should superintend 
the works, your Committee are of opinion, that as the mem- 13 
bers of the Common Council are constantly changing, that 
the execution of the plan should be entrusted to a Board of 
Commissioners, consisting of three persons, to whom a mode- 
rate salary should be paid. 
They accompany this Report with the draft of a Law to 
be presented to the Legislature, to authorize the undertaking 
of this work, the appointment of a Board of Commissioners, 
and the raising by loan, two millions of dollars. 
They offer the following resolution :— 
Resolved, That the Common Council approve of the accom- 
panying draft of a Law to be sent to the Legislature, and that 
this Corporation, on the passage of this Law, will undertake 
to supply the city with pure and wholesome water. 
All which is respectfully submitted. 
JAMES PALMER, 
SAMUEL STEVENS, 
WILLIAM SCOTT. AN ACT, 
Authorising the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the 
City of New-York to procure a supply of pure and 
wholesome water for the use of the said city. 
The People of the State of New-York represented in 
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:— 
1. The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of 
New-York, are hereby authorised to procure and introduce 
into the said city a supply of Water for the extinguishment of 
Fires, and for the domestic and other purposes of the inhabi- 
tants of the said city. 
2. The said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty are hereby 
authorised to appoint three discreet persons to be called Water 
Commissioners, who shall receive such compensation for their 
services as the said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty shall 
deem proper, and shall hold their offices during the pleasure of 
the said Corporation. It shall be their duty to recommend to 
the Common Council the source whence the water shall be 
obtained, the description of works for the introduction thereof, 
to make the contracts, and generally to superintend under the 
direction of the Common Council, the executing of the whole 
plan for the introducing of water in the city of New-York. 
3. The said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty, and all 
persons acting under their authority, are hereby empowered 
to enter upon and take possession of any land, to use any 
water, to make any survey, and to erect any works whatso- 
ever, which they may deem necessary for the said purpose, 
and to agree with the owner or owners of any property 
which may be required for the said purposes or affected by 15 
any operation connected therewith, as to the amount of com • 
pensation to be paid therefor to such owner or owners, and they 
shall have the like powers for the purposes of this Act, which 
by any former Act of the Legislature of this State have been 
granted to any person or or body corporate, for the 
purpose of supplying the city of New-York or the inhabitants 
thereof with Water. 
4. In cases of disagreement between the said Mayor, Aider- 
men and Commonalty, and the owner or owners of any pro- 
perty which may be required for the said purposes, or affected 
by any operation connected therewith as to the amount of com- 
pensation to be paid therefor, to such owner or owners, or in 
case any such owner shall be an infant, a married woman, or 
insane, or absent from this State, the Judges of the Supreme 
Court, or either of them, (not being an inhabitant of the said 
city,) may, upon the application of either party, nominate and 
appoint three indifferent persons to examine such property and 
to estimate the value thereof, or damage sustained thereby, and 
to report thereon to the said Court without delay. 
5. Whenever such report shall have been confirmed by the 
said Supreme Court, the said Mayor, Aldermen and Common- 
alty shall, within four months thereafter, pay to the said owner 
or to such person or persons as the said Court may direct, the 
sum mentioned in such report, in full compensation for the pro- 
perty so required, or for the damage sustained thereby, as the 
case may be, and thereupon the said Mayor, Aldermen and 
Commonalty shall become seized in fee, of such property so 
required, and shall be discharged from all claim by reason of 
any such damage, and they shall shall hold the lands and other 
property so taken, exempt from the operation of any statute 
of this State, authorising any other incorporation or company 
to take by process or otherwise, real estate, water or water 
privileges, for any purpose. And the said Mayor, Aldermen 
and Commonalty shall have the right to the use of the ground 
under any street, highway and road in this State, (on condition 
of their restoring the surface thereof to its original state, and 
repairing all damages,) which may be necessary to use in the 
introducing of water into the city of Newr-York. 16 
6. If any person or persons shall wilfully do, or cause to be 
done, any act whereby the present Reservoir in 13th street, 
the Hydrants, Stopcocks or any work, materials, property, 
matter, or thing whatsoever, erected or used, or hereafter to be 
erected or used by the said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty, 
or by any person or persons acting under their authority, for 
the purpose of supplying water, shall in any manner be injured, 
such persons or persons shall be considered guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and liable to be imprisoned not exceeding six months, 
and fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, by any Court 
having jurisdiction thereof within this State. 
7. The said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty are hereby 
authorised for the purposes of this Act, to raise money by loan, 
from time to time, and in such sums as they may by ordinances 
in Common Council direct, not exceeding Two Millions of 
Dollars in the whole, and to create a Public Fund or Stock, 
for the money to be raised, which stock shall be denominated 
the “ New-York Water Stock,” and shall bear an interest not 
exceeding five per cent, per annum, payable quarter yearly or 
half yearly. 
8. The provisions of the Act entitled “ An Act to regulate 
the Finances of the City of New-York,” passed June 8th, 1812, 
which are not repugnant to any provision in this Act contained, 
shall apply to the said stock. 
9. The money to be raised by virtue of this Act shall be 
applied by the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty to the pur- 
pose of supplying the said City of New-York with Water for 
the use of the inhabitants thereof, and the said Mayor, Aider- 
men and Commonalty shall have a right to dispose of the said 
Water at such rates and in such manner as they shall from 
time to time deem expedient. DOCUMENTS 
Accompanying the Report of the Committee on Fire and 
Water, relative to introducing Water in the City of NeW‘ 
York. 
No. 1. 
CANVASS WHITE’S REPORT. 
To the Honorable the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of 
the City of New-York. 
Gentlemen, 
Considerable time has elapsed since I had the honor 
of receiving a request from the Honorable Stephen Allen, late 
Mayor, to make an examination and estimate of the expense of 
furnishing the city with a copious supply of good and whole- 
some water. Agreeable to that request, I have made the ne- 
cessary surveys, levels and examinations, to ascertain the 
practicability of the project. Ill health and other engagements 
have prevented my making a return of the result of my labors 
before this time. 
I have extended my examinations to several routes and plans 
which are designated on the map accompanying this Report, 
and will be noticed separately. 
It will be recollected, that I received directions from the 
Committee of the Corporation, to arrange my plans so as to 
have the water delivered into the city, at an elevation of thirty 18 
feet above the Park, and in view of this object, the levelling was 
commenced in front of the City Hall, and continued along 
Broadway and Bloomingdale Road to 14th street, thence up 
that street to near the 5th Avenue; at the place the ground is 
elevated sufficiently high to form a Reservoir, from whieh the 
waters can be distributed to all the present populated parts of 
the city, also to a considerable district northerly. The Reser- 
voir is designated on the map by No. 4. From this point the 
level was continued along the 5th Avenue, Cross Roads and 
8th Avenue to McComb’s Dam. 
The intervening ground between the Reservoir and Harlaem 
Valley presents no obstructions to our pursuing the route 
through the 5th and 6th Avenues. Several other routes were 
examined, but the land was found to be too high, particularly 
through the 8th Avenue. From the dam the level was con- 
tinued through the valley of Mill Brook, thence across a rocky 
ridge to the valley of Monmissina Creek, following up the 
valltey to the source of the creek, which heads in a swamp, 
divide forming another outlet eastwardly. This route was fol- 
lowed to Bronx River; from thence the line was continued 
along up the river to Williams’ Bridge, which is designated ora 
the map. The water of the river was found to be eleven feet 
above the Park. 
The Bronx River has long been looked to as a source from 
which a supply of water could be drawn for the use of the city, 
doubts having frequently been entertained as to the capacity of 
this stream for that purpose, but from partial measurement and 
observation, it may be safely stated to give 3,000,000 gallons 
daily during the dry seasons. 
From Williams’ Bridge the level and survey was continued 
to Rye Ponds, which are about thirty-four miles from the city 
by the route surveyed, and are the head of one branch of the 
Bronx. These ponds form two beautiful sheets of water, sup- 
plied principally by springs, and are admirably calculated for- 
the formation of a reservoir, being principally rocky shores, and 
approaching near each other at the outlet of the smallest pond, 
which makes it very convenient to construct a dam and unite 19 
the ponds. When thus united, and the upper pond raised about 
six feet, and the outlet lowered about two feet, they will afford 
3,6004)00 gallons per day for six months of dry weather, mak- 
ing allowance for evaporation. This added to the natural sup- 
ply of the Bronx, as before estimated, will give a diurnal supply 
of 6,600,000 gallons; a quantity amply sufficient for double the 
present population. 
It has been ascertained by experiments made at Phila- 
delphia, 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 by brewers, 
tanners, livery stables, and for washing the gutters, &c. Cal- 
culating from the above, we have an ample supply for the pre- 
sent population, and for the future increase of the city for some 
years. But in order to ascertain what further supply could be 
procured, the survey was extended from Rye Pond to Byram 
River in Connecticut; the route is designated on the map by a 
red line. 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 the swamp, and by this means the water 
is conveyed into Rye Pond, and in high floods some of the 
waters of Byram River pass through this artificial outlet 
The surplus waters of Byram River could be advantageously 
used, if required, to replenish the reservoir of Rye Pond, with- 
out any injury to the hydraulic works on the stream below the 
point of separation, but in order to effect this, permission must 
be obtained from the State of Connecticut. It is presumed 
that no difficulty need be apprehended on this point, for the 
land holders would be perfectly willing to have a canal through 
the swamp. If it should hereafter be found necessary the 
whole of Byram River should be purchased, although it is small 
at the point of intersection, and is estimated at only 2,000,000 
gallons per day during the summer months, this stream heads 
in ponds which will serve as reservoirs; but as it is out of our 
State, and its common low waters being employed for hydraulic 
purposes, we shall not take it into account at this time, for a 
supply during the summer months. 20 
A route has been surveyed from Bronx River to Saw-Mill 
River, near Union Church, and found practicable to turn the 
waters of that river into the Bronx at a moderate expense ; 
the deepest excavations necessary between the two streams 
will be about eight feet; the route passes through a swamp, 
and is designated on the map by a red line. 
The water of Saw-Mill River is estimated at 2,000,000 
gallons per day. The country through which this stream 
passes, is well calculated to form reservoirs for retaining the 
flood waters until the dry seasons. I have not had an oppor- 
tunity of sufficiently investigating this subject, but think an 
additional supply may be obtained by this means, equal to 
1,000,000 gallons per day, making the whole supply within 
reasonable distance, and probably at command, exclusive of 
Byram River, 9,600,000 gallons per day; a quantity more 
than sufficient for 355,000 souls. The above quantities of 
water may undoubtedly be enclosed by means of reservoirs 
to 11,000,000 gallons. 
No extraordinary drought has occurred since I have been 
engaged with these examinations, that would enable me to 
gauge the streams when yielding the least quantity of water, 
but I think sufficient allowance has been made for dry seasons. 
Considerable time has been expended in examining the 
country for the purpose of connecting Croton River with Saw- 
Mili River, but no route has yet been found to accomplish this 
within any reasonable expense. The examinations have been 
extended as far up as Cross River, which unites with the Cro- 
ton about thirteen miles from Sing-Sing, perhaps a route may 
be found to connect the Croton with Bronx or Byram Rivers ; 
but if this cannot be effected, the Croton can be taken out at a 
sufficient elevation, and conducted along the bank of Hudson 
River to the city. This route has not been levelled, therefore 
no estimate has been made of the expense, as it is presumed 
that a sufficient supply can be had from the Bronx, much 
nearer, and of course at much less expense. 
Having now established beyond a doubt, that a sufficient 
quantity of water for the present demands, and for a very con- 21 
siderable increase of the city, is within reasonable distance 
and control, we shall next consider the several modes of con- 
veying it to the several reservoirs. 
PLAN FIRST. 
The water can be taken from Bronx River, either at Wil- 
liams’ Bridge, or by constructing a dam across the river about 
one mile below, and turning the water up the outlet of a 
swamp, and from thence by cutting a canal through the swamp 
to the valley of Morrissinia Creek. The canal can be easily 
conducted along the valley to a ridge of rock, which must be 
passed by a deep cut of forty-five feet, or by a tunnel—the 
latter would be preferable. The distance through the hill at 
the point to be perforated, is about twenty-three chains. Some 
embankment will be necessary to extend the canal across the 
valley of Mill Brook to the west bank. It must then be con- 
ducted along steep sidelying ground, considerable part of which 
is rocky at McComb’s dams. The water is there to be de- 
posited in a small reservoir. 
The canal from the swamp to McComb’s dam, should be 
well lined or puddled, in order to prevent leakage, and the 
banks faced with stone walls, well laid without cement, the 
object of which is to contract the surface of the water, which 
will render the volume passing up liable to be obstructed by 
ice. The diminished surface should be added to the depth. 
The walls will also serve as a protection to the lining, and 
would be better if laid in cement, but it would increase the 
expense. 
The route is designated on the map by a red line, with a 
profile of the ground corresponding to each mile, and is calcu- 
lated to have a declivity of one foot per mile. The latter 
part of the route as before stated, passes along the side of a 
steep rocky hill, which will make it rather difficult to construct 
a canal, but presenting no obstacles which cannot be overcome. 
The distance from Williams’ Bridge, is about five and a half 
miles, and by deducting the proposed declivity, will leave the 22 
water at the termination of the canal, near McComb’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 to 
reservoir No. 1. Two methods only can be adopted to effect 
this object—one by steam power and the other by water 
power—the latter is considered preferable. Mr. R. McComb 
has constructed a dam and road bridge across Harlaem River, 
by which means the flood tides are kept at their common ele- 
vation between the dam and King’s-Bridge, which forms an 
artificial pond about four miles in length, and at ebb tide can 
be used for pumping the water from the lower reservoir to 
the upper one, by means of water-wheels and forcing pumps. 
The water of the pond is now only used for mills at the 
outlet near King’s-Bridge. The quantity of water used by 
those mills does not appear to depress the pond very sensibly, 
and it is therefore presumed that sufficient water power can 
be obtained to answer the purpose. Objections have been 
made to tide power at this place, on account of the irregularity 
of the tides, occasioned by the wind when in a particular di- 
rection ; but this, however, does not often occur, nor continue 
long at a time. The inconvenience arising from this can be 
in a measure remedied by extending a dam or mole of earth, 
faced with stone, from near the north end of McComb’s dam, 
to the east shore of a bay which puts up some distance north- 
erly into the main land; thus forming a pond containing a 
number of acres. The embankment should be provided with 
tide and gates opening outwards, by which means 
the tide will be excluded, and the water from the main pond, 
after being applied to the wheels and pumps, can be kept at 
work during all times of tide, and the receiving pond will be 
discharged at every ebb tide. 
1 Perhaps some difficulty will occur in forming the mole, owing 
to’the depth]of the mud which generally accumulates in marsh- 
es, and which will probably allow the embankment to settle 
below its surface. If this should be the case, an increased 
quantity of stuff will be required, which makes it difficult to 23 
estimate the cost, as the depth of mud has not been ascertain- 
ed, but the depth of water only has been taken. The moles, 
with tide gates, stone work, &c. is estimated at twenty thous- 
and dollars. 
The canal from Bronx River to the reservoir should be 
fenced. Stone would be the best, and through that country 
probably the cheapest. The banks should be planted with 
trees or shrubbery, which will have the effect of cooling the 
water in summer, and diminishing the evaporation. The ex- 
pense of the canal is estimated at seventy-six thousand five 
hundred dollars, including the tunnel through the rocky ridge, 
stone walls, bridges, lining, &c. 
A new dam and bridge must be constructed across Harlaem 
River, of substantial stone work laid in cement, with arches to 
allow the flood tides to pass into the ponds, and provided with 
tide gates ; also arches for the purpose of drawing water from 
the pond for the use of the water-wheels attached to the pumps. 
It is necessary that the whole of the work should be done in 
such a manner as to require but little or no repairs. Cast iron 
water-wheels would perhaps be well calculated for this pur- 
pose ; they have been adopted at several manufacturing estab- 
lishments in this country, but as I am not sufficiently acquaint- 
ed with the effects of salt water upon cast iron, I have there- 
fore estimated the expense for wooden wheels. The expense 
of the bridge, dam, tide mill-house and vice, depend 
in a great measure on the plan and style of the workmanship; 
but to complete them in the best and most substantial manner 
the expense is estimated at one hundred and fifty-five thousand 
dollars, including mains from the pumps to the upper reservoir. 
It has not been thought necessary to give a minute descrip- 
tion of the machinery necessary for raising the waters, as the 
extracts which will be given to the report of the Watering 
Committee of the city of Philadelphia, are deemed sufficient to 
convey all the ideas necessary on this part of the subject, and 
also all the information necessary connected with the cast iron 
pipes, &c. 
The expense of reservoir No. 1, which is located on the 24 
high land north of McComb’s dam, and opposite to the small 
reservoir at the termination of the canal, is estimated at eight 
thousand dollars, though perhaps this estimate is rather liberal. 
The reservoir was calculated to contain about 4,000,000 gal- 
lons, and intended to be lined with stone laid in cement; this 
may not be found necessary, and perhaps the size of the reser- 
voir will be found larger than necessary at that place. 
From Reservoir No. 1, the water must be conveyed to Re- 
servoir No 4, in cast iron pipes ; and from all the examinations 
made on the Island, I am convinced that it is the only mode 
which can be relied upon, as combining utility and safety, and 
that pipes of thirty inches diameter, will be best adapted to 
this part of the works. The distance being so far that is 
necessary to make considerable allowance for friction. It has 
been before mentioned that a bridge should be constructed 
across Harlaem River, or McComb’s dam rebuilt, which will 
afford a safe mode of passing the river with the pipes, by en- 
closing them in the roadway. From the bridge, the tubes can 
be laid along the 7th Avenue to near the high land, thence 
through one of the cross streets leading to 6th Avenue, thence 
ascending the hill to a sufficient elevation to form a reservoir, 
which is called No. 2. This Reservoir is not designated on 
the map, owing to the exact location not being on the ground: 
the distance will be about three miles from Reservoir No. 1, 
the pipes can be continued along 6th, or between 6th and 5th 
Avenues to sixty-ninth street, from thence along 5th Avenue 
to some convenient point, for another reservoir, No. 3, from 
which they can be continued along 5th Avenue, to Reservoir 
No. 4. 
The reservoirs will be useful on several accounts, the sur- 
face of them can be raised to nearly the height of No. 1, which 
will allow the water to raise above the height fixed upon, 
when it is not drawn off by the conduit pipes leading from 
No. 4. The increase of height will be useful in case of fire, 
which is most to be apprehended in cold weather, and this is 
the time when the least quantity of water will be drawn off for 
other purposes. They will assist in relieving the friction of 25 
the pipes, and they will also serve as receptacles for all foreigh 
matter which may be floating in the water. The extra height 
of the reservoir has been taken into account in making the 
estimated expense. The form and size may be altered to con- 
form to circumstances, and the expense increased or dimi- 
nished. The three have been estimated at thirty thousand 
dollars. Reservoir No. 1 has an elevation of twenty-feet 
above the height required at the Park, for the purpose of over- 
coming the friction of the water in the pipes as much as possi- 
ble, and to give a current which will ensure an abundant 
supply. The distance from Reservoir No. 1 to No. 4, is 
about 5| miles, and the expense for laying 30 inch pipes, with 
stop cocks, air valves, &c. is estimated at seventy-five thou- 
sand dollars, per mile, making for this distance, four hundred 
and thirty-one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. From 
Reservoir No. 4, the waters may be conducted to the Man- 
hattan Reservoir, in 22 inch pipes. The distance is about 
miles, and the expense is estimated at forty-one thousand 
six hundred and seven dollars per mile, which amounts to one 
hundred and forty-five thousand six hundred and seventy-four 
dollars and fifty cents. Two twenty-one inch mains will 
undoubtedly be necessary to convey the water from Reservoir 
No. 4, if it should be distributed among all the houses in the 
city, one branch leading down Broadway and the other down 
the Bowery, 
RECAPITULATION OF EXPENSES. 
From Bronx River to small Reservoir, . . $76,500 00 
Reservoir No. 1, ..... 8,000 00 
Mole, Tide Gates, &c. .... 20,000 00 
Rebuilding Dam and for Mills, Pumps, &c. 155,000 00 
Iron Pipes from Reservoir No. 1 to 4, . . 431,250 00 
Three Reservoirs, 30,000 00 
From Reservoir No. 4 to Manhattan Reservoir, 145,624 50 
$866,374 50 
Add for contingencies, 10 per cent., . . 86,637 45 
Total amount on Plan First, . . . $953,011 95 26 
PLAN SECOND. 
'A - i 
The first part of this plan is the same as before described/ 
Until if passes the swamp at the head of Morrissinia Creek. 
The water can then follow the channel of the creek to near 
the rocky ridge, where it should be taken from its bed in a 
canal, and conducted to the ridge, which must be passed as 
before described, but the length of the tunnel will be a little in- 
creased, owing to the level falling nearer the base of the hill. 
From the tunnel the water will follow the bed of Mill Brook 
tb an old dam near Devoe’s house. The dam must be rebuilt 
and raised considerably higher than it was originally. From 
the dam the water must be conducted in a canal about fifty- 
five chains in length to McComb’s Dam, and deposited in a 
small reservoir. This line from near Devoe’s house, is desig- 
nated on the map by a yellow line. On this plan, the water 
must be raised seventy feet to Reservoir No. 1, which being 
twenty-five and a half feet higher than on the first plan, will 
require a very considerable increase of power. The expense 
of this line from Bronx River to the reservoir at the termina- 
tion of the canal, including clearing and enlarging the beds of 
the streams, bridges, &c. is estimated at forty-five thousand 
two hundred dollars, which makes the cost of this plan thirty- 
one thousand three hundred dollars less than plan first. But 
when we take into consideration, the additional height which 
the water must be raised, I think the first plan has the pre- 
ference. 
PLAN THIRD. 
From the commencement of my operations, I have consid- 
ered it of the utmost importance, that the city should be 
supplied with water without the aid of machinery, thereby 
avoiding all the perplexities and difficulties attending works 
of this kind. Water power is not as objectional as steam, on 
account of the great expense of the latter, but both should be 27 
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 
consequences 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 discontinued after the intro- 
duction of good water. It appeared to be the general senti- 
ment of the Committee, that machinery should be dispensed 
with if practicable. Considerable time was therefore taken 
up in exploring the country for this purpose, commencing at 
Reservoir No. 1, following along the hills which descend to- 
ward Mill Brook and Morrissinia Creek, thence along the valley 
of Bronx River to Westchester Cotton Factory. The route 
is designated on the map by a blue line, with a profile of the 
ground. If this route should be adopted, it will vary a little 
from the exact course as laid down on the map, on account 
of an alteration contemplated in the level, for the purpose of 
giving a greater elevation to Reservoir No. 1, than was cal- 
culated when the line was surveyed, the object of which as 
before mentioned is to overcome as much as possible the fric- 
tion of the water in the conduit pipes therein between Reser- 
voir No. 1 and No. 4. but as the genera] character of the 
ground on the higher level corresponds with the line surveyed, 
no great difference will arise as to the expense, and in some 
places the. line will be considerably improved. The distance 
is about twelve miles, and is calculated to have a declivity of 
one foot per mile. 
The principal part of this route passes along sidelying 
ground, at different points rocky and broken and crossing some 
ravines, which will require considerable embankments ; seve- 
ral culverts will be necessary to pass the streams and floods 
under the canal, but notwithstanding the roughness of the 
country no obstacle is presented which cannot be overcome. 
It is proposed to take the water from the Westchester Cot- 
ton Factory Pond, the surface of which is 56 feet above the 
Park, but can be raised six feet higher by constructing a new 
dam above the present one ; this will give an elevation of 62 28 
feet, which will provide for the declivity of twelve feet. 
The distance which this line passes over an uneven rocky 
country, and a considerable part of it a dry gravelly 
and earth, which renders something more necessary 
to prevent leaking and evaporation than a common canal, 
though constructed with the utmost care. It is therefore pro- 
posed to construct a brick tunnel the whole length, about five 
feet in diameter, the brick to be moulded to the proper form 
and dimensions, to be hard burnt and exposed to the operation 
of wet and frost during one winter previous to laying, as by 
this means the quality of the brick would be proved, and 
pone admitted into the work except those that were perfectly 
sound. They should be well laid in hydraulic cement, and 
the outside plastered with the cement. 
A or trench must be formed in the first place of suffi- 
cient capacity to receive the tunnel, including a foundation of 
stone properly laid to receive the brick work, and the whole 
should be placed sufficiently deep to prevent the action of 
frost. 
The expense of this plan to deliver the water into reservoir 
No. 1, is estimated at $1,073,687 00. The amount appears 
large, but it is for a permanent work that is to endure for ages, 
without a constant tax for repairs. 
RECAPITULATION OF EXPENSES. 
From Cotton Factory Pond to Reservoir No. 1. $1,073,687 00 
Bridge across Harlaem River, . . . 83,750 00 
Four Reservoirs, 38,000 00 
From Reservoir No. 1 to. No. 4, . . 431,250 00 
From Reservoir No. 4 to Manhattan Reservoir, 145,624 50 
$1,772,311 50 
Add 10 per cent, for contingencies, . . 177,231 15 
Total, . . . . . . $1,949,542' 65 29 
PLAN FOURTH. 
The expense has been estimated for an open canal the same 
as on plan No. 1 for the route before described from Reser- 
voir No. 1 to Westchester Cotton Factory, and by adding 
thirty-four thousand five hundred and twenty-four dollars to 
the first place, which will make $987,535 95, for this sum the 
water can be delivered into the Manhattan Reservoir without 
machinery. There may be a number of objections made to 
q.n open canal twelve miles in length, passing through so rough 
a country, but the estimates have been made to have the work 
constructed in the best manner that circumstances will permit. 
Some danger has been apprehended from the formation of ice 
on the surface of the canal, in such quantities as to check the 
current, thereby diminishing the supply; but by making it 
parrow and deep, this difficulty will probably be obviaLed. 
This plan is much the cheapest, but whether it is the best must 
be hereafter determined. Plan No. 2 can be accomplished for 
the least money, but is subject to too many contingencies. 
Another route was surveyed from Reservoir No, 1 to Saw- 
Mill River, and is designated on the map by a green line. 
This route was surveyed in anticipation of an additional sup- 
ply to Saw-Mill River from Croton River, but on further ex- 
amination towards the Croton this route was abandoned, on 
account of the scanty supply of water during the dry seasons, 
and the difficulty of increasing the quantity from other streams, 
and as the Saw-Mill can be diverted to the Bronx with but 
little expense, as before mentioned. 
In all great public works something is necessary to be done, 
in order to collect facts and information from which a regular 
plan and system can be formed ; I therefore consider the result 
of my labor as merely an outline for further investigation. 
From all I can learn, we have no experience in the United 
States of supplying a city with water, that will apply to New- 
York. 
The city of Philadelphia is the only one that has done any 30 
thing of importance by which any weight can be obtained, 
and I must acknowledge myself under obligations to the gen- 
tlemen having charge of those works for much valuable infor- 
mation relating thereto, and shall take the liberty of making 
some extracts from the Reports of the Watering Committee. 
“ On the 19th of April, 1819, the work was commenced by 
Captain Ariel Cooly, with whom a contract was made for the 
erection of the dam, the locks and canal, the head arches to 
the race, and the excavation of the race from a solid rock, for 
the sum of 150,000 dollars.” 
“ The whole length of the overfall of the dam is twelve 
hundred feet; the ——dam two hundred and seventy 
feet; the head arches, which will presently be mentioned, one 
hundred and four feet, making the whole extent of the dam, 
including the water pier, about sixteen hundred feet, and 
backing the water up the river about six miles. The water 
power thus created is calculated to be equal to raise into the 
reservoir by eight wheels and pumps, upwards of ten millions 
of gallons ; the lowest estimate of the quantity of water afford- 
ed by the river in the dry season is four hundred and forty 
millions per twenty-four hours, and as it is calculated, allowing 
for leakage, waste, &c. that forty gallons upon the wheels will 
raise one into the reservoir, the quantity raised would be 
eleven millions of gallons per day.” 
“ On the east side of the river the whole of the bank was a 
solid rock, which it wras necessary to excavate to the width of 
one hundred and forty feet to form a race as a site for the mill 
houses running parallel with the river. The length of the mill 
race is four hundred and nineteen feet, the greatest depth of 
excavation sixty feet, and the least sixteen feet. The gun- 
powder used alone cost the contractors upwards of $ 12,000. 
At the upper part of this excavation were erected the head 
arches three in number, which extend from the east end of the 
mound dam to the rock of the bank, thus forming a continua- 
tion of the dam.” 
“ On the west of the excavation are erected the mill houses 
forming the west side of the race, which is supported on the 31 
other side by the rock rising above it seventy or eighty feet 
perpendicular. The south end of the race is also of solid rock, 
and the mill houses are founded on rock, so that nothing can 
be contrived more secure in all respects.” 
‘ The race is about ninety feet in width and is furnished 
with water through the head arches, which allow a passage of 
Water sixty-eight feet in breadth and six feet in depth, to which 
the race is excavated below the overfall of the dam, and of 
course room is allowed for a continual passage of four hundred 
and eighty square feet of water; these arches are on the 
north of the race and the mill buildings being on the west, the 
water passes from the race to the wheels which discharges the 
water into The mill buildings are of stone, two hundred 
and thirty-eight feet long and fifty-six feet wide; the lower 
section is divided into twelve apartments, four of which are 
intended for eight double forcing pumps ; the other apartments’ 
afe for the forebags leading to the water wheels. The pump 
and forebag chambers are arched with brick, and are perfectly 
secure fiom the inclemency of the weather. Those now ini 
use are kept warm by means of two large iron stoves heated 
to great advantage and economy with Schuylkill and Leheigh 
coal.” 
“ has been from the commencement determined for the 
present to erect only three wheels and pumps, which are now 
completed, and with them the most important parts of the duty 
of the Committee. The first of the wheels is fifteen feet in 
diameter and fifteen feet long, working under one foot head 
and seven feet fall. This was put in operation on the 1st of 
July, 1822, and it raises l\ million of gallons of water to the 
reservoir in twenty-four hours, with a stroke of the pump of 
four and a half feet, a diameter of sixteen inches, and the 
wheel making eleven and a half revolutions in a minute. The 
second wheel was putin operation on the 14th of September, 
and is the same length of the first, and is sixteen feet in diam- 
eter ; it works under one foot head and seven and a half feet 
fall, making thirteen revolutions in a minute, with a four and 
a half feet stroke of the pump, and raises 1 £ million of gallons 32 
in twenty-four hours. The tiiird wheel went into operation oft 
the 24th December, 1822, and is of the same size as the 
second, and works under the same head and fall, making thir- 
teen revolutions in a minute with a five feet stroke of the pump; 
and raises million gallons of water in twenty-four hours. 
It is not doubted that the second wheel can be made to raise 
an equal quantity, thus making the whole supply upwards of 
four millions of gallons in twenty-four hours.” 
“ The wheels are formed of wood and put together with great 
strength, the shafts are of iron, weighing about live tons each. 
The great size and weight of the wheel give it a momentum 
which adds greatly to the regularity of its motion, so neces- 
sary to preserve the pumps from injury under so heavy a head 
as they are required to work, which is a weight of 7,900 lbs.j 
the height ninety-two feet.” 
“ The pumps are placed horizontally, according to a design 
of Mr. F. Graff, and are worked by a crank on the water- 
wheel, attached to a pitman connected with the at the 
end of the slides $ they are fed under a natural head of water, 
from the forebags of the water-wheel, and are calculated for 
a six feet stroke ; but hitherto it has been found more practica- 
ble to work with not more than live feet. They are double 
forcing pumps and are connected, each of them to an iron 
main of sixteen inches diameter, which is carried along the 
bottom of the race to the rock at the foot of Fair Mount, and 
thence up the bank into the new reservoir. At the end of the 
pipe there is a stop cock, which is closed when needful for any 
purpose. The shortest of these mains is two hundred and 
eighty-four feet long; the other two are somewhat longer. 
The reservoir next the bank is one hundred and thirty-nine 
feet by three hundred and sixty feet, is twelve feet deep, and 
contains three millions of gallons ; it is connected at the bot- 
tom with the old reservoirs by two pipes of twenty inches 
diameter with stop cocks. This reservoir contains four millions 
of gallons. All the waters being raised into the reservoirs 
one hundred and two feet above low tide, fifty-six feet above 
the highest ground in the city, is thence conveyed to the city, 33 
in a mode which will be pointed out when the Committee speak 
of the iron pipes. 
“ On the 24th October, 1822, the steam engines were 
stopped, and it is believed will never again be wanted. 
Expense of the present works, exclusive of iron 
mains of conduit purchases, of White & Gilling- 
ham, 8150,000 
Erection of the dam locks, head arches, races and 
piers, including estimate of damage for overflow- 
ing by the dam ..... 181,000 
Three pumps, 11,000 
Mill houses, mills, and other work connected with 
them, 71,250 
Iron raising mains, 4,480 
New reservoir,. 8,600 
Amounting together to 8426,330 
“ A comparative view of the advantage of water power 
•over steam power, will close this part of the Report.” 
“ By an estimate made by Mr. Graff, and exhibited to coun- 
cils with the report of the Committee on water power, on the 
5th February, 1818, it appeared that the cost of working one 
steam engine and pump for one year was 830,858, and it has 
been found with this expenditure not more than 1,600,000 
gallons could be raised in twenty-four hours. If therefore it 
were required at the same rate of expense to raise an equal 
quantity with that at present afforded by these wheels, the cost 
would be upwards of 870,000; but estimating the cost at only 
double that of one engine, it will amount to 861,716; from 
this is to be deducted the interest on the capital expended in 
erecting the water power and works, which was 8426,330, 
and was principally borrowed at an interest of five per 
cent, and amounts to 821,316 annually, amounting together to 
822,816, which being deducted from the sum of sixty-one 
thousand seven hundred and sixteen dollars, leaves a clear 
annual saving of thirty-eight thousand nine hundred dollars, 34 
equal at an interest at five per cent, to a capital seven hundred 
seventy-eight thousand dollars. As before stated, it is not 
doubted that the water power is sufficient to work five wheels 
and pumps, in addition to the three in operation, which would 
raise an additional quantity more than six million of gallons, 
and estimating the saving on this quantity, and the same ratio 
as before stated, the amount will be $103,000, more than equal 
to a capital of upwards of two millions of dollars, and showing 
the whole saving or profit to be $142,000, a sum nearly double 
the amount of the city taxes, exclusive of interest on the city 
debt, which will soon melt away by the operation of the sink- 
ing fund, the uses and importance it is impossible sufficiently 
to value ; the additional cleanliness of the city ; the great ad- 
vantages in cases of fire ; the ornament of fountains in the pub- 
lic squares, so wisely provided by our great founder; the benefit 
to manufacturers, and the establishment of water power in the 
city for various purposes, may be named among the advant- 
ages of this new work, but above all, we are to place its effects 
in the health of a great and growing community, which of it- 
self may justify a much greater expenditure. Necessarily 
connected with this subject, is a distribution of the water after 
it has been raised to the reservoirs. The former inadequate 
supply of water derived from the wooden pipes of the conduits 
from the Fair Mount, and the constant vexation and expense 
occasioned by the bursting of those in the streets, has long 
turned the attention of the Committee to the propriety of sub- 
stituting iron pipes, but the experiments which had been made 
were not encouraging, and therefore it became desirable to get 
information from abroad. Several attempts were made with- 
out success, until the summer of 1818, when through a respect- 
able house in London, Mr. I. Walker, an engineer of much 
eminence, made a report which was submitted to councils, 
with a report from the Committee on the 11th of November, 
1818, and both were ordered to be printed. 
At the same time some of the iron pipes were procured, and 
the information derived was so satisfactory, that it determined 
councils to commence the work of laying down a large 35 
iron main from Fair Mount to the junction of Chesnut and 
Broad streets, an appropriation was made of $70,000 for this 
purpose at that time, and other appropriations equally liberal 
have since been added for iron pipes. I shall now make some 
extracts from the report of Mr. Walker, and then continue the 
extracts from the reports of the Watering Committee. 
“ In regard to the thickness of the pipes I may state gene- 
rally, that three-fourths of an inch is quite sufficient for a pipe 
of twenty-two inches diameter; and as the tendency to burst 
decreases as the diameters of pipes of smaller sizes can 
hardly be cast too thin if they are sound, three-eights of an 
inch being upon the above principle, sufficient for a ten-inch, 
and three-sixteenths for a five-inch pipe, which is less than they 
can be cast with ordinary metal. Ample allowance is at the 
same time to be made for defects and inequalities in casting, 
but almost all accidents that have happened have been through 
faults in the pipes and not from their thinness. The pressure 
upon the square inch of a pipe with a head of one hundred 
and forty feet, is about sixty-two pounds, which is much less 
than one-tenth of a pressure which a good casting of one foot 
diameter, and a half an inch thick is capable of resisting ; the 
tenacity of a square inch of the best cast iron having been 
found by experiment to exceed 20,000 pounds. The best pre- 
ventive to accidents is to prove the pipes, particularly the large 
mains, before they are put down, which is easily done by 
means of a hydraulic press: the first cost of which is ffom 
thirty to forty pounds.” 36 
“ The following is, I believe, a correct list of the average 
weights of pipes nine feet in length, of different diameters.” 
DIAM. 
WEIGHT. 
DIAM. 
WEIGHT. -i 
Inches. 
Cwt. 
qrs. 
Zfa. 
Inches. 
Cwt. 
qrs. 
lbs. 
2 
0 
3 
6 
10 
6 
0 
24 
3 
I 
0 
20 
11 
6 
3 
27 
4 
1 
2 
12 
12 
7 
3 
26 
5 
2 
0 
19 
16 
10 
2 
0 
6 
3 
0 
0 
18 
12 
3 
27 
7 
3 
2 
16 
20 
15 
0 
0 
8 
4 
0 
7 
22 
17 
1 
12 
9 
4 
2 
27 
30 
25 
3 
26 
“ The pipes which are found to be the most convenient and 
best, are the spigot and faucet pipes. The joints are more 
easily made as well as more easily renewed or repaired in 
case of leakage. The depth and width of the faucet end for 
the different diameters of pipes, will be seen by the drawing* 
The spigot end is laid so as to go so far in, or give as much 
interlap as the faucet will admit, and blocked up so as to give 
nearly an equal width of joint all round, excepting where a 
small turn is intended, which is effected by an inequality of the 
joint, and which may be done safely, if at the most confined 
part sufficient width is left for the lead to meet around the 
pipe in a state of fusion, and to calk the joints.” 
“ Previous to the use of spigot and faucet pipes, the injury 
by frost was often serious, by the unaccommodating nature of 
the flange joints. I have heard that of a principal main of one of 
the water works line breaking at the flange, and leaving an 
opening of upwards of an inch where flange-pipes have been 
continued in use. This evil has been remedied by introducing 
occasionally a spigot and faucet joints ; but now that the flange 
joints may be said to be exploded, an accident from contraction 
is almost impossible, and the motion at each joint is so small 
that no leakage is likely to arise from it, particularly if the 37 
joint is of lead, as the variation even between summer heat 
(80w) and freezing (32®) in a piece of iron nine feet long, does 
not exceed one-fortieth of an inch.” 
“ The stop cocks are used for the purpose of shifting off the 
water from any part of the mains, for the purpose of repairs 
in case of accident, or when any part of the line requires to be 
extended. When the work is completed, all the mains will 
be united, thereby keeping up a constant circulation throughout 
the whole city, and by means of the stop cocks, any district 
may be closed without any inconvenience to others. Some 
improvement has been made on the construction of them in 
Philadelphia. Air valves are used for the purpose of prevent- 
ing the accumulation of air in the elevated parts of the pipes, 
when they are laid undulating. The construction of them are 
simple. A valve opening downwards is furnished with a piece 
of cork, which by its specific levity, is raised or floated by the 
water, and kept close shut when the pipe is full; but when any 
air accumulates, it displaces the water and allows the valve to 
open and discharge the air, which would otherwise stop the 
passage of the water in such places as were elevated above a 
horizontal line.’ 
By the foregoing observations of Mr. Walker, it appears 
plainly that the difficulty experienced in London arising from 
the contraction of the pipes by frost, or low temperature of the 
water in winter, is now entirely remedied by the improved 
method of forming the joints. The same difficulty occurred 
in this country; which induced the Watering Committee of 
Philadelphia to send abroad for information, and the utility of 
the improvement has been demonstrated by the operation of 
several winters on the water works in that city. It may 
therefore be considered fortunate for the citizens of New-York, 
that sufficient experience has been acquired on this subject, to 
enable them to prosecute the plan now in contemplation, with- 
out the constant perplexities which have heretofore attended 
works of a similar kind. 
“ The straight pipes are made in lengths of nine feet each, 
with what are called spigot and faucet joints: other pipes of a 38 
circular form to pass around corners, are made of different 
lengths as may be required, with easy turns by which it is ob- 
vious the'passage of the water is much facilitated. A drawing 
of the different kinds of pipes is annexed.” 
“ The laying of the pipes is very easy, care being taken to 
keep them firm in their bed. The hub or large end of one laps 
about four to six inches over the small end of the other, leaving 
a space of from one-fourth to one half an inch all around, 
which is first calked in with a ring of plaited hemp, to prevent 
the lead from running into the pipes. Then a pair of 
nippers with a joint in the lower part to fit all round the pipes, 
and having an opening on the top for the lead, and another 
for the escape of the air, which will be shown on the annexed 
drawing, is affixed next to the opening on the outer part of the 
pipe, so as to prevent the lead coming out in front, which is 
further secured by a ring of clay outside of the nippers, and 
formed into a cap at top into which melted lead is poured, 
forming a ring of lead three or four inches in depth. When 
the lead is cold the clay and nippers are removed, and it is 
then upset by a hammer and chissel, which completes the 
joints.” 
But when required by families, manufactories or for other 
purposes, to be more convenient they are compelled to pay 
such prices as shall be fixed by the Watering Committee and 
to be at all the expense of taking it from the mains. 39 
Dwellings, Manufactories and Institutions supplied with 
the Schuylkill Waters, for the year 1823. 
192 Horses, 
$1 00 
$192 00 
65 Houses in Courts, 
2 00 
130 Q0 
6 Do. do. .... 
2 15 
15 05 
16 Do. do. .... 
2 50 
40 00 
401 Baths in the city, 
3 00 
1203 00 
19 Do. do. county, 
4 50 
85 50 
3758 Dwellings, {Schools, Churches, &e. 
5 00 
18790 00 
5 Dwellings, 
6 00 
30 00 
3 Bakehouses, .... 
7 00 
21 00 
103 Dwellings in the county, 
7 50 
772 50 
24 Hatters, &c. .... 
8 00 
192 00 
5 Hydrants, Pumps, Vinegar Yard, &c. 
9 00 
45 00 
SI Inns, {Stables, Banks, &c. 
10 00 
810 00 
8 Soap Factories, Dyers, &c. 
12 00 
96 00 
12 Dyers, &c. .... 
13 00 
156 00 
54 Distilleries, Soap Boilers, &c. . 
15 00 
810 00 
32 Sugar Houses, Distillers, &c. 
20 00 
640 00 
1 Hatter, ..... 
17 00 
17 00 
1 Hydrant in Shield’s Court, . 
22 00 
22 00 
1 Do. Braner’s do. 
20 00 
20 00 
2 Livery Stables, do. 
24 00 
48 00 
16 Sugar Houses, Hatters, Inns, &c. 
25 00 
400 00 
ll Soap Factories, Dyers, and Prisons, 
30 00 
334 00 
2 Breweries, .... 
34 00 
64 00 
6 Tan Yards, Stables & Manufactories, 
35 00 
210 00 
7 Breweries, Stables, Dyers, &c. 
40 00 
280 00 
6 Breweries, Hospital, Dyers, &c. 
50 00 
300 00 
2 Breweries, .... 
59 00 
118 00 
1 Do. do. do. . 
70 00 
70 00 
1 Do. do. do. 
100 00 
100 00 
1 Bath House, .... 
80 00 
80 00 
1 Alms House, .... 
100 00 
100 00 
$ 
26191 05 40 
The whole expense of the water works has been defrayed 
by the City proper, containing a population of about sixty- 
thousand. And to which the above statement principally 
applies. The districts containing a population about equal to 
the city, are now7 making arrangements to take the water, and 
as they have borne no part of the expense, they will undoubt- 
edly be required to pay a considerable tax, which will very 
much improve the income from the water rents. 
The city has probably expended more than a million dollars 
in experiments and expedients previous to the adoption of the 
present plan. The expenses up to the present time, may be 
safely stated at one and a half million dollars. The recent 
funds have been obtained on loans at five per cent, and the 
interest paid by a general tax on the property included with 
the tax for other incidental expenses of the city. 
The city of New-York, with double the population of Phila- 
delphia, may be equally as well supplied with good water, for 
about the same sum that has been expended by that city, in- 
cluding the distribution of the water in iron pipes; but this 
estimate does not include the purchase of the Manhattan 
works, nor the damages for water rights, mills, lands, &c. for 
which expense, I have no for calculating, but pre- 
sume it will not be very serious, when compared with the vast 
importance of the object. 
I have noticed by a circular from the Superintendent of the 
Manhattan Water Works, in answer to a number of queries, 
that considerable difficulty exists in this present plan of opera- 
tions to enforce strict regulations, particularly as to the wraste 
of water. I shall add this document, for some statements are 
made, giving information which I think will be useful to be 
connected with this report. It will be seen by the remarks of 
the Superintendent, the difficulty and imposition to which a 
private company is liable. But these difficulties can be obvi- 
ated by the City Corporation; and with judicious manage- 
ment, the water works can be made a productive source of 
revenue. All which is respectfully submitted. 
CANVASS WHITE, 
New-York, January 28th, 1824 No. 2 
BENJAMIN WRIGHT’S REPORT. 
To the Honorable the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty 
of the City of New-York. 
Gentlemen, 
In obedience to a request from your honorable body 
communicated to me by Stephen Allen, Esq. late Mayor, in 
November last, desiring me to assist Canvass White, Esq. 
with my advice and counsel, as to the best method of supplying 
the city of New-York with plenty of good water. I beg 
leave to make the following 
REPORT. 
That I have examined and duly considered the subject, and 
endeavoured to bring all the experience and practical know- 
ledge I have been able to collect, which can in any way be 
brought in aid of the project. I find, however, very little has 
been done in the United States, worthy of great praise, except 
in Philadelphia, and there the localities are so entirely different, 
that what experience can be gained from their operations, ap- 
plies chiefly to the manner of distributing the water when 
once brought into the city. 
In a project so important and desirable as giving to the city 
a copious and abundant supply of good water, we should not 
only look to the present age, but to the extent which the 
imagination can reasonably give to the future population of 
this great commercial emporium ; and also, to such additional 
supply of water as shall be found necessary, should the present 
sources be found hereafter insufficient. 42 
Keeping these preliminaries in mind, and learning from Mr. 
White that his instructions were, so to form his plan of 
CONDUCTING THE WATER TO THE CITY, THAT IT COULD BE 
RAISED TO AN ELEVATION OF THIRTY FEET ABOVE THE PARK, 
WITH A VIEW TO THE USE FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES, I Set 
out with Mr. White, the first week in this month, and made 
an excursion into the county of Westchester, to examine the 
Bronx River, Rye Ponds, Byram River, and Saw-Mill River. 
The Bronx River has for a long time, been looked to as the 
source in the first instance, for water; and after looking at 
that stream, and also at Rye Pond, we passed on to Byram 
River and Saw-Mill River, both which streams had been pre- 
viously ascertained by Mr. White could be easily turned into 
the Bronx ; for a more particular detail and account of these 
streams, I refer to Mr. White’s Report. 
Mr. White had previously examined to find whether the 
Croton River could not be brought into the head of Saw-Mill 
River ; in this he was unsuccessful, and it was our intention 
to have examined to see whether Croton River could not in 
some way be turned into the head of Bronx or Byram River, 
and thereby forever secure a resource, if wanted for any event, 
required by time or circumstances—bad weather prevented 
this being done. 
Considering the Bronx, as before observed, the course from 
which a present supply could be had, we obtained all the in- 
formation we could, to find the quantity of water it would 
give in its lowest state, at or above the place where it is pro- 
posed to take it from its bed without machinery, and convey 
it the city. The result of these examinations Mr. White has 
also communicated in his report. I will, however, observe 
that I believe if Rye Pond is six or eight feet, and held as a 
reservoir to be used in drought, there may be safely calculated 
a daily supply at all times, equal to five millions of gallons or 
more ; a quantity ample for all the wants of the city for many 
years to come. 
Durability and permanency should be primary objects in all 
works of this nature; the more expensive at first, they are in 43 
the end cheapest. In this we have a strong instance in point 
in a neighboring city ; where I am informed neai'ly one million 
of dollars has been expended in projects to supply it with water, 
before the present useful and praiseworthy plan was adopted 
and carried into effect. 
Of the several plans proposed by Mr. White, that one which 
proposes to bring the water from the Bronx, near the West- 
chester Cotton Factory, without the aid of Machinery, appears 
to me to have a decided preference. After having raised a 
dam across the Bronx at that point, to convey the water from 
thence in a tunnel of masonry, to a reservoir near McComb’s 
Bridge, and from thence by cast iron passing into and 
out of several reservoirs on Manhattan Island. All which is 
calculated to preserve the water more pure and cool, to pre- 
vent evaporation, and secure it against any obstruction by 
severe and long continued frost. 
An open canal has been proposed through that part in West- 
chester county, as being cheap ; to this it is objected, that much 
of the water taken from the Bronx would be lost by evapora- 
tion, and more by filtration, and in severe and long continued 
frost the passage of the water would be obstructed. And it is 
certainly advisable to take all precautionary measures to secure 
and pass safely to the city what is taken from the Bronx, and 
permit what is not wanted to pass down the bed of the stream 
to the hydraulic works below. 
It has been believed by well informed men, that an open 
canal might be brought upon in high level over Harlaem River, 
and made to approach near the present built part of the city. 
An examination of irregularity of surface on Manhattan Island 
will show difficulties in such a project, owing to the ledges of 
rocks, but more so to the low ground which crosses the island 
in several places with less elevation than the Park; making 
high and long embankments necessary, which would interfere 
with and obstruct streets and houses, and in short could not be 
kept at an elevation to raise the water the height required at 
the Park. 
If the project spoken of as the best, should be once carried 44 
into effect, the reservoirs as proposed by Mr. White will cause 
a deposit of all impurities taken up by freshets, and deliver the 
water to the city pure, cool, and good at all times. If well 
executed, it will require little or no repairs, and will lay a per- 
manent foundation for a supply of water in abundance for the 
present and future ages. 
Respectfully submitted, 
BENJAMIN WRIGHT. 
New-YorJc, January 28th 1834, No. 8. 
EXTRACTS 
FROM MEMORIAL OF FRANCIS E. PHELPS. 
To the Honorable Common Council of the City of New-York. 
Your petitioner respectfully represents to your honorable 
body, that it has been for a long time contemplated to furnish 
the city of New-York with a supply of pure and wholesome 
water; but, from various causes, the execution of the work has 
been delayed until the wants of the community render it 
necessary something should soon be done. True it is, to the 
rich it is not a matter of necessity, their means enabling them 
at all times to provide a supply of pure water; but to the poor, 
who are compelled to make use of such as may chance to be 
near them it is an object of immense importance, inasmuch as 
the loss of health and the sacrifice of comfort, result from the 
use of impure and unwholesome water. Independent of any 
considerations of this kind, there are numerous advantages to 
be obtained, so obvious to the mind of every one, that your 
petitioner will not go into detail on the subject, but proceed to 
examine some of the various plans or modes which have been 
suggested for the accomplishment of the object. 
In the accompanying paper marked D, is the outline and 
estimate (so far as can be made without actual survey) by 
which it is proposed to vary from the plan suggested by the 
Engineer of the New-York Water Works Company, and 46 
bring the water the whole distance from Rye Pond througli 
a twenty-eight inch cast iron pipe. The estimated cost would 
be about $2,592,000. 
The paper marked E, contains the plan and estimate for 
bringing the water of the Croton River to the city by canal, 
and also by a cast iron pipe. The cost of the canal would not 
be less than $1,834,200. Of the cast iron pipe $3,059,800. 
In the paper marked F, it is proposed to bring the water 
from the Passaic River, taking it either at Paterson or some 
place above, and bringing it in cast iron pipes across the bed of 
the Hudson River. The estimated expense of this mode would 
be about $1,932,263. 
The paper marked G contains the proposition of your peti- 
tioner, in which he suggests the practicability of furnishing a 
full and complete supply of pure, wholesome and cool water, 
for a sum not exceeding $793,000. 
Your petitioner believes the above to be the principal prac- 
ticable plans for supplying the city with water, from sources 
without the limits of the Island of Manhattan. Suggestions 
have been made by several scientific gentlemen, some of them 
members of your honorable body, proposing to procure a sup- 
ply from the island. The importance of the subject, and the 
reasonable nature of these suggestions, would seem to call for 
an examination in relation to the quantity and quality of the 
water, and practicability of the plans proposed. 
Aware of its importance, your petitioner has devoted con- 
siderable time and attention to the subject, and has become 
thoroughly convinced the city of New-York can be supplied 
with an abundance of pure and wholesome water, for the sum 
named in G, and a trifling annual expense. 
The precise expense of the mode suggested by your peti- 
tioner, cannot be ascertained until accurate surveys have been 
made. The expense of these surveys will be moderate ; but 
still too great to warrant individual expenditure, where public 
favor might transfer to another the ultimate reward. Your 
petitioner would therefore suggest to your honorable body, the 
expediency of referring to a Committee, the examination of the 47 
various plans which have been suggested, as also the one 
named by your petitioner. 
As in duty bound, will ever pray, 
FRANCIS E. PHELPS, 
D. 
In this plan it is proposed to bring the water from Rye Pond 
directly to the city through a twenty-eight inch pipe, commu- 
nicating with one or more reservoirs, but discharging the water 
directly from stop cocks and fire plugs. A dam across the 
outlet of Rye Pond, it is thought, will increase the quantity 
sufficient to supply at least two hundred thousand inhabitants. 
The expense of this mode will be 
For 30 miles of cast iron 28 inch main pipe, in- 
cluding expense of transportation, &c. at 
$74,522, $2,235,660 00 
Dam at the outlet of Rye Pond, 1,160 00 
Distributing water in the city for 200,000 
inhabitants, including all south of 19th 
street 231,367 00 
Add contingencies, 5 per cent 123,908 85 
$2,592,085 85 
E. 
Two plans for bringing the water from the Croton River in 
the vicinity of Sing Sing have been suggested; the first by 
closed canal (an open canal being objected to, from its liability 
to receive impurities from the country through which it passes) 
—the other by cast iron pipes, as in D. No correct estimate 
can be made without survey, but the cost could not be less than 
the closed canal described in the Report to the Waterworks 
Company. The precise distance is unknown, but cannot be 
much less than thirty-six-miles. To gain a sufficient elevation, 48 
the water should be taken into the iron pipes at least eight, 
and probably ten miles from the Park. The cost of the closed 
canal would be, 
For 28 miles of closed canal, at $30,000, $840,000 00 
8 miles 28 inch cast iron pipe, at $74,522, 596,176 00 
Distribution below 19th street, including 
Hydrants, 231,367 00 
Add contingencies, 10 per cent. 166,754 30 
$1,834,297 30 
The cost of the cast iron pipe would be, 
For 36 miles of cast iron pipe at $74,522, ... .$2,682,792 00 
Distribution below 19th street, as above,.. 231,367 00 
Add contingencies, 5 per cent 145,767 95 
$3,059,866 95 
F. 
It is proposed in this plan, to bring the water in cast iron 
pipes from the Passaic River, at some place above the falls at 
Paterson. The pipe to be laid across the bed of the North 
River with the assistance of a diving bell. To take the water 
at the most convenient point; the distance from the Park would 
be about nineteen miles. The cost of this route may be 
estimated— 
For 18 miles of 28 inch iron pipe, at $74,522,... $1,341,396 
Pipe and laying across the bed of the river,. 183,840 
Distribution below 19th street, 231,367 
Add contingencies, 10 per cent 175,660 
$1,932,263 
The objections made to this plan are—1st. The impurity 
of the water.—2d. The source being within the jurisdiction of 
another State.—3d. And the continual danger of rupture of 
pipe on the bottom of the river, from drawing of anchors. 49 
G. 
It is proposed in this plan, to furnish the city a quantity of 
water, not exceeding one hundred thousand gallons per hour, 
or two millions four hundred thousand gallons per twenty-four 
hours. The water to be delivered at any place within one 
mile of the City Hall, at the discretion of the Common Council. 
The water to be pure and cool at all seasons of the year, and 
to be furnished with sufficient power to elevate the jet from the 
main pipe at least forty feet perpendicular. It would be pro- 
posed in distributing the water, to have one or more jets in 
each of the public squares, particularly in the Park, Bowling 
Green, Battery, &c. Also to provide an abundance for the 
Fire Department, and for washing the streets in dry weather. 
The reservoir in 13th street can be supplied from this source, 
and will be eminently useful in case of a sudden or extensive 
fire. 
The expense of this mode will not exceed $793,000, includ- 
ing every expense, with the exception of distribution, and a 
contract can be made for the delivery of the water within two 
years from the completion of the surveys. 
FRANCIS E. PHELPS. 
New-York, May 17th, 1830. No. 4, 
To the Honorable the Corporation of the City of New-York. 
Gentlemen, 
The subscriber, who is President of the New-York 
and Sharon Canal Company, believing that your honorable 
body is desirous of obtaining all the information in your power 
on the subject of obtaining a supply of water for the present 
necessities, and of making ample provision for the future wants 
of your city, has been induced to lay before your honorable 
body, the facts contained in this memorial. 
In the year 1823, a number of gentlemen in the counties of 
Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester, by the aid of your honor- 
able body, obtained an act of incorporation from the Legislature 
of the State of New-York, to make a navigable canal from the 
western boundary of the State of Connecticut to the City of 
New-York. The bill for the act of incorporation which passed 
the Legislature, was drawn by an agent of your honorable 
body, and secured for the use of the Canal Company, all the 
waters on the route of the proposed Canal, with a view of fur- 
nishing a supply for the city of New-York. For some reasons 
unknown to your memorialist, your honorable body has since 
declined taking any part in the promotion of the object con- 
templated by the act of incorporation. 
Your memorialist would further state, that the said Canal 
Company, soon after their incorporation, made thorough and 
expensive surveys of the country lying between the State of 
Connecticut and the City of New-York, and particularly of 
that portion of it below the Croton River, and it has been as- 
certained that that river can be carried into the City of New- 
York, and that without it, a supply which shall be adequate to 51 
the present and future wants of the city cannot be obtained, 
The Canal Company, by the misconduct of their first President, 
and by the failure of a number of the Directors, and by being 
involved in an expensive law suit, which has not yet ter- 
minated, have been prevented pursuing the objects contem- 
plated by their act of incorporation, but have by no means 
abandoned it. 
The Directors of the Canal Company are somewhat divided 
as to the route which the Canal shall pursue ; whether it shall 
go directly to the City of New-York, or follow the course of 
the Croton River to the Hudson; and their determination of 
this question will, in a great measure, be influenced by the 
course which your honorable body shall pursue in relation to 
the subject. 
A thorough examination of the country has shown the only 
route which can be taken, to carry the Croton River into the 
City of New-York, and to take with it all the waters in the 
neighborhood. 
If a conductor should commence at Cross River, at such an 
elevation as that the waters of the Croton could be hereafter 
introduced when it should become necessary, and should follow 
the route which has been accurately surveyed by the Canal 
Company, to a point a little north of McComb’s Bridge, and 
the waters which could be collected on the route, be there 
emptied into a large and deep reservoir, at an elevation suf- 
ficiently high to conduct them from that place to any part of 
the city, an adequate supply for all present purposes could be 
obtained, and hereafter, as the wants of the city should in- 
crease, the aqueduct could be extended upon the same level to 
the Croton. 
The practicability of this project has been ascertained by 
the surveys above mentioned, and the immense utility and 
importance of its accomplishment, will be obvious to every ob- 
server of the wants of the city. 
Your memorialist has not been invested with any authority 
by the Canal Company, to make any proposition to your honor- 
able body. There can, however, be no doubt that the Company 52 
will consent to such a modification of their Charter, as will 
enable your honorable body to carry into effect the foregoing 
plan, upon receiving an adequate compensation for the relin- 
quishment of their privileges, and with a view to bring the 
subject before your honorable body, your memorialist has been 
induced to detail the facts stated in this memorial, and would 
respectfully recommend their consideration to your honorable 
body. 
CYRUS SWAN. 
New-York, April 19th, 1830, No. 5. 
REPORT OF CANVASS WHITE, 
Of January 9th, 1826. 
To the Directors of the New-Yorli Water Works Company. 
To supply the city of New-York with good and wholesome 
water, is an undertaking of great public importance, and has 
been a subject of discussion for many years. 
Although much has been written, yet nothing effectual has 
heretofore been done towards accomplishing this important and 
desirable object. 
The delay may be attributed to a want of confidence in the 
success of the enterprise. Works of a similar kind have gene- 
rally been accomplished by the capital and enterprise of public 
spirited individuals, aided by acts of incorporation. The dis- 
tribution of the water, which has heretofore been the most 
complicated and difficult part of the work, has by recent im- 
provements, been rendered easy and simple, so that there can 
be no longer any doubts as to the practical result- 
Having heretofore been employed by the city to explore the 
adjacent country, with a view of ascertaining if a sufficient 
supply^of good water, for domestic consumption, could, be ob- 
tained, my attention at that time was directed to the Bronx, 
Byram, Saw-Mill, and Croton Rivers, also Rye Ponds. 
Although the examination did not extend as far into the 
country as was desirable, yet they were sufficient for the in- 
formation then required. 
I examined and reported several routes and plans for con- 
veying the water of the Bronx to this city, some of which 54 
depended on raising it to a sufficient elevation by tide power 
at Harlaem River; but any connexion with machinery is ob- 
jectionable, when it can be avoided. Therefore I have carefully 
surveyed the country, and extended the examinations from 
Rye Pond to Byram Pond, Wampus Pond, and the adjacent 
country, and particularly examined Bronx, Saw-Mill, Byram, 
Cross and Croton Rivers, Tisco, Peach and Long Ponds, and 
a number of small streams connected with them. The long 
drought of the past season has been favourable for gauging the 
streams and ascertaining the quantity of water that may be 
depended upon during similar seasons. 
The country has been examined with a view to connect 
Cross River (being a part of the Croton) with the Bronx, and 
also to connect the main Croton with the Bronx. But the 
intervening ground is found to be too high and rocky, to ac- 
complish this object. 
Saw-Mill River can be easily turned into the Bronx through 
a Ravine near Union Church, but on gauging the stream, it 
was found to be so reduced in consequence of the drought, that 
no reliance can be placed on it for any part of the supply. 
My examinations have resulted in a full conviction that a 
successful plan can be adopted by the Company, which is to 
take the waters of Bronx River, the main sourse of which is 
Rye Pond. 
The water is of a superior quality, and is fit for all domestic 
purposes. It is the opinion of many that the Bronx is wholly 
inadequate to supply the city at those seasons, when the great- 
est consumption will be required. This question may be 
considered as put fairly at rest; for by the repeated trials 
made during the driest part of the last season, near the point 
proposed to take the water from the river, the minimum quan- 
tity or flow was found to be 4,302,720 gallons every twenty- 
four hours. 
The supply can be increased by lowering the outlet of Rye 
Pond four feet, and raising the pond six feet above its present 
level, by making a dam across the outlet. 
The banks are very favourable; the rocks approach near to 
each other, and almost form a natural dam. 55 
The shores of the pond are also favourable, being principally 
rocky. Very little injury would be done to the land on the 
borders of the pond, the owners of which have no objection to 
its use; and have already entered into contracts to grant to 
the Company the right of so doing. By this arrangement an 
accession of ten feet on the surface of the pond will be at 
command, and may be considered as a part of the permanent 
supply, without interfering with the natural flow of the pond. 
The accession of water to the pond will amount to about 
775,000,500 gallons on the ten feet depth of its surface thus 
acquired. 
Connected with this a dam may be constructed to cross the 
outlet of Little Rye Pond, into which Great Rye Pond dis- 
charges itself, and raised to a level with the upper pond, which 
will give an additional quantity of about 89,000,000 of gallons. 
Surplus water may be drawn from these ponds, which will 
furnish a daily supply of 4,798,000 gallons, supposing a drought 
to continue six months in a year. 
No allowance is necessary to be made for leakage, or eva- 
poration. By adding the natural flow of the Bronx to the 
quantity which can be procured from the ponds, in the manner 
above proposed, there will be a daily supply at all seasons of 
the year, of 9,100,000 gallons. 
If we allow twenty gallons for the consumption of each 
person daily, we shall have a supply for a population of 450,000 
inhabitants ; the allowance of twenty gallons will be ample to 
cover the quantity that may be required for factories and other 
purposes. 
From the above, it appears that the Bronx, without the aid 
of reservoirs, will furnish a supply for a population of 215,000; 
and by the aid of reservoirs, a supply may be furnished to the 
city for years, without injury to the factories and mills on the 
Bronx. 
In order to guard more fully against long and severe drought, 
it is proposed to make a reservoir of Byram Pond, in case the 
same shall at any time be required, similar to Rye Pond, which 
can be easily done by lowering the present outlet, and erecting 
a permanent dam across it; the water is soft and pure. 56 
This reservoir, with little expense, may be made to contain 
about 789,000,000 gallons, in addition to the usual quantity in 
the pond. Byram Pond is the head of Byram River, although 
Wampus Pond is the principal source. Byram Pond lies much 
higher than Rye Pond, and a communication can be easily 
made between them, distant about six miles, principally over 
bottom lands. 
It is proposed to cut a small independent canal, so as to divert 
the reserved waters only, thereby avoiding any interference 
with the water rights, mills, &c. on Byram River. Condi- 
tional contracts have been made with the owners of the land 
bordering on the pond, for the privilege of converting it into 
a reservoir. 
The plan finally to be adopted, for conveying the water to 
the city, is of considerable moment to the Company, and par- 
ticularly so to the community. An open canal will be the least 
expensive, but very objectionable on account of the water being 
liable to become turbid during rains, and the quantity of foreign 
matter that would necessarily collect in it. It must pass along 
side-lying ground, sometimes near farm yards and dwellings, 
and must receive the wash from the higher grounds in many 
places. The same objection may probably be made by some, 
to the natural stream, but it does not apply in this case, for the 
Bronx is generally bounded by woods or meadow lands, and 
the impurities brought down from the adjacent hills are depo- 
sited on the bottom lands, before reaching the stream. 
Another objection to an open canal, is the liability of having 
the supply of water interrupted by the ice during the winter, 
if not entirely stopped by the formation of anchor ice, which 
would cause the water to flow over the banks of the canal, and 
follow the natural channel of the stream. 
There are many other objections that may be made to an 
open canal, which have induced me to recommend a plan by 
which the water can be conveyed free from all obstructions or 
objections. 
The water can be taken from the Bronx at Underhill’s 
Bridge, about two miles above Mr. Shaw’s Cotton Factory, 57 
and conveyed in a stone or brick tunnel, forming a closed 
canal, laid in hydraulic cement, to Harlaem River. The canal 
or tunnel will pass along the ravine of the Bronx, about eight 
miles; thence westerly to the ravine of Morrissinia Creek, 
passing along the declivity of the hills about two and a half 
miles, to a point where the lines divide, (as shewn on the map) 
one to McComb’s Dam or Bridge, near the termination of the 
8th Avenue, both offering about the same facilities. The se- 
lection will depend on some circumstances, to be taken into 
consideration hereafter. 
On the route to Cole’s Bridge, the canal will terminate near 
Mrs. Morris’, about three fourths of a mile from the bridge. 
The canal to McComb’s Bridge will terminate on the hill near 
Harlaem River. 
The line of canal which has been marked out on the ground, 
and laid down on the maps, herewith submitted, has a de- 
clivity of eighte en inches in a mile—and the surface of the 
water at the extremity of the canal or tunnel, will be at least 
forty-five feet above the Park. 
A reservoir will be necessary at the termination of the canal, 
or tunnel, at which the iron pipes for conveying the water to 
the city, will commence. 
In order to pass Harlaem River, it will be requisite to con- 
struct a permanent stone bridge, which will answer the double 
purpose of supporting the pipes and forming a good highway. 
A sufficienth depth of earth should be placed on the arches, to 
protect the pipes against frost; this precaution will be neces- 
sary with all the pipes, which should be placed about four feet 
below the surface of the ground. 
In making an estimate of the expense for constructing a brick 
tunnel, I procured the data for the calculation, from the work 
of a similar kind in the city, but thinking the estimate too large, 
I have been more particular on this point. By noticing the 
fine quality and workmanship of the bricks made at Philadel- 
phia, I engaged Mr. Samuel Fox to make four parcels of 
sample brick, (which are deposited in the office,) of different 
sizes, for the purpose of ascertaining the best form and size, by 58 
actual experiment. They are moulded to form an arch of 
five feet in diameter, each brick is a segment of a circle, and 
when put together with hydraulic cement, will form a very 
perfect work. 
It will probably not exceed three years, to get the work in 
a state to produce a revenue. 
The quantity of materials to be procured, particularly the 
cast iron pipes, must take up considerable time. Heavy con- 
tracts of this kind cannot be urged beyond a certain extent, 
without incurringa heavy extra expense, and in all probability 
there will be a depreciation in the price of some of the most 
expensive materials; it would, therefore, be prudent not to 
make large contracts at first, but only sufficient to insure the 
steady and regular progress of the work. 
The length of the tunnel will be about thirteen and a quarter 
miles, and it is estimated to cost $31,174 per mile, which in- 
cludes all the expense connected with that part of the work; 
making a reasonable allowance for the land transportation of 
the materials from the landing places to the line of the tunnel. 
It will be necessary to lay about nine miles of twenty-four inch 
pipe ; they will probably weigh from 17 cwt. to one ton each, 
length generally adopted is nine feet; and by putting 
them together, they overlap six inches, which will make six 
eundrhd and twenty-one pieces to a mile. Allowing them to 
weigh one ton each, at $70 per ton, they will cost $43,370 per 
mile, exclusive of the expense of laying; this has been found 
by experience to add fifty per cent, to the cost of the pipes. 
This increase of expense is occasioned by the quantity of 
lead required in securing the joints, digging and regulating the 
ground, transportation of the pipes from the nearest landing 
places, &c. which will make the expense of laying one mile 
amount to $65,205. 
The expense of a bridge across the Harlaem River will de- 
pend on the location; if McComb’s dam should be taken, the 
present superstructure must be removed, and the work com- 
menced on the foundation, at low water. Another position 
may be selected for the bridge, which would be between Cole’s 
and McComb’s, and very convenient for the works of the 59 
company; the expense about the same as Cole’s bridge; and 
would have an advantage over the others, by not interrupting 
the travel while the bridge was building, and would avoid a 
clashing of interests hereafter, in consequence of breaking up 
the road-way to repair the pipes, or to lay new ones. 
From Harlaem River the best route appears to be through 
the Third Avenue; the undulations of the surface are less on 
this than on any of the other avenues ; and the ground in many 
places on the side of the avenue is favorably situated for con- 
structing large reservoirs for containing many days’ supply of 
water; which, in case of a large draught of water, in conse- 
quence of fires or other causes, will allow the water to keep up 
a head sufficient for all the requisite purposes of the city, and 
render the supply sure in case of accident to the pipes be- 
tween the reservoirs ; and would be useful in rendering the 
water more pure, by giving it an opportunity to settle. 
The particular form and construction of the reservoirs, and 
their location, as well as several other subjects connected with 
the work, will be communicated hereafter. 
The estimated expense for delivering the water into a reser- 
voir within the city, will be as follows : 
For 13£ miles closed canal or tunnel, at $31,174 
per mile, $413,055 50 
Bridge over Harlaem River, 45,000 00 
Nine miles 24 inch pipes, at $65,205 per mile,. 586,845 00 
Four reservoirs, 38,000 00 
$1,082,900 50 
Add for contingencies 5 per cent 54,145 00 
Distributing water in the city, 187,954 50 
$1,325,000 00 
Making altogether $1,325,000, exclusive of the sums which 
may be necessary for purchasing water rights on the Bronx, 
and to pay damages to those whose lands the tunnel shall pass 
through. From the purchases already agreed to be made, it 60 
is not believed that all subsequent ones will exceed #125,000. 
The population of the city of New-York amounts to 170,000 
persons. Allowing six persons to a family, it will make 
28,333 families that may require a supply of water. 
The foregoing estimate of main pipe for the nine miles, car- 
ries it to the Park, and allows for several angles to connect 
with the reservoirs. 
The expense of distribution, as set down, I believe more 
than ample. 
Before closing this report, I must beg leave to express my 
acknowledgments to the inhabitants of Westchester county, 
for the information and assistance they have afforded me in 
my examinations and surveys, and who have uniformly evinced 
the strongest desire that the work should be carried into full 
and successful operation. 
I do therefore report it as my decided opinion— 
1st. That it is practicable, and in the manner above stated, 
to introduce into the city of New-York an abundant supply of 
pure and excellent water. 
2d. That the same can be done at a moderate expense, com- 
pared with the public utility of the measure, and 
3d. The foregoing estimate of costs and expenses, I believe 
to be over, rather than under, the probable amount. 
Respectfully submitted, 
CANVASS WHITE, Engineer. 
New-York, Jan. 9th, 1820. 
The subscriber having examined the ground and had ex- 
planations from Mr. White on all the particular details, upon 
which he grounds his calculation of expense in the foregoing 
report, I do hereby express my full confidence in the ample 
and liberal estimate made by him, and believe the work may 
be accomplished, for the sum he has stated, with the most per- 
fect prospect of success. 
BENJAMIN WRIGHT 
New-York, Jan. 14th, 1826. 61 
At a meeting of the Directors of the Water Works Compa- 
ny, Jan. 16th, 1826, r 
Resolved, That the Report of the Engineer be published for 
the information of the stockholder and the public. 
BENJAMIN WRIGHT, President. 
E. E. Weed, Secretary. 
The maps are at the office of the New-York Water Works 
Company, and open to the inspection of all persons. No. 6. 
ANALYSIS OF THE MANHATTAN WATER. 
The sample was obtained from the pump at the works be- 
fore its entrance into the cistern, sp. gr. 1011. 
One wine quart was slowly evaporated to dryness. The 
dry mass weighed 31.45 grains, equal to 125.80 of solid matter 
in the gallon, consisting of 
Muriate of Soda, 45.20 
Muriate of Magnesia, 40. 
Sulphate of Magnesia, 6. 
Carbonate of Lime with a little Carb. of Magnesia,.. 12.80 
Sulphate of Lime, 4. 
Extractive Matter with Combined Water, 17.80 
125.80 
GEORGE CHILTON. 
November 25, 1831. No. 7. 
ACCOUNT OF THE WATER WORKS 
FOR SUPPLYING EDINBURGH WITH WATER. 
The works connected with the supply of water, may be 
conveniently divided into three parts. 1. Crawley Spring, and 
the adjoining building for collecting its water, which we shall 
call the Fountain head. 2. The Compensation Reservoir on 
Glencorse Burn, for storing up the flood waters, to be given 
out during the dry season, as an equivalent to the mills for the 
loss of the spring. 3. The Aqueduct pipe, commencing at 
the Fountain-head, and extending to Edinburgh. 
CRAWLEY SPRING. 
Let us suppose a person to set out from Edinburgh with 
the view of visiting the works.—Proceeding by Hillend and 
Howgate, after he has passed nearly a mile beyond the latter 
he enters a very sweet little valley in which Glencorse Burn 
flows. Down on his left hand about one hundred paces from 
the road, he observes a building of hewn stone, without win- 
dows, and covered with flags. This is the Fountain head. 
Crawley Spring is situated about two hundred yards west 
from this. It issues from a bank of gravel at the upper edge 
of the small meadow, at several spots within a few yards of 
one another. The water rushes out at the rate of more than 
sixty cubic feet (370 ale gallons) per minute ; it is compara- 
tively cold, having a temperature of 46° ; and the supply is 
not much diminished during the droughts of summer—all 
proofs that it comes from a considerable depth. The water is 64 
uncommonly pure, containing, according to Dr. Hope’s analysis, 
only five and a half grains of foreign matter in a gallon, or one 
part in 10,500. The matter consists chiefly of carbonate of 
lime, with very minute quantities of muriate of soda, sulphate 
of lime, and sulphate of magnesia, all substances perfectly 
harmless. The original produce of the spring was much 
smaller, but it was increased by opening up the ground above 
and below it to some depth. The success of this operation 
induced Mr. Jardine to carry a trench or large tunnel at from 
ten to forty feet below the surface, up the middle of the valley, 
parallel to the burn, for about half a mile. The ground con- 
sists of a deep bed of gravel, through which the waters of 
various lateral springs percolate, and glide into the tunnel, the 
bottom of which is flagged, while the sides are built without 
lime, to let the water pass through. The tunnel terminates 
about half a mile below the Compensation Reservoir. Certain 
pieces of masonry consisting of large flag stones level with 
the surface of the ground, which may be observed near the 
side of the road, are the shafts or pits for descending into it for 
the purpose of ventilation and cleaning. By these operations 
the produce of the spring has been increased three-fold. It 
now averages about 180 cubic feet, or 1100 ale gallons per 
minute. When we visited the works in the middle of Septem- 
ber, the long tunnel yielded about twice as much water as the 
proper Crawley Spring. The water of the latter seemed to 
be perceptibly colder to the touch than that of the tunnel. 
The Fountainhead, as we have already shown, is of hewn 
stone, arched within, and roofed with flags, and it has a large 
door in each end. Its floor is entirely occupied by a stone 
cistern, (except a narrow path round its margin) six feet deep, 
about forty-five feet in length, and fifteen in breadth. Opposite 
the western door will be observed two small doors sunk below 
the level of the ground. These are openings into the two 
tunnels which convey the water into the cistern. The tunnel 
nearest the high bank conveys the water of Crawley Spring— 
the other conveys that of the smaller springs already described. 
You hear the water constantly pouring into the cistern. On 65 
the south side of the Fountainhead, at the west end, will be 
observed a trap door, beneath which also the ear will generally 
detect the sound of falling water. This is the outlet for con- 
veying the waste water to Glencorse Burn. When the springs 
yield more than is wanted, the excess is made to flow off by 
a lateral opening from the southern tunnel, so that the whole 
produce of the northern tunnel, that is, of the proper Crawley 
Spring, goes always into the cistern, and only as much is taken 
from the other as may be required—though, in point of fact, 
we believe both are equally good. For the purpose of clean- 
ing the cistern, there is also a direct opening from its bottom 
into this waste outlet. At the east end of the cistern is the 
head of the line of pipes which convey the water to Edinburgh. 
It is material to observe that not one drop of the water of 
Glencorse Burn or the Compensation Reservoir is, or can be, 
conveyed to Edinburgh. There is in fact no apparatus for con- 
veying it. The whole is derived from the large and small 
springs we have mentioned. 
COMPENSATION RESERVOIR. 
The reader must now accompany us to the Compensation 
Reservoir, a great and admirable work of its kind. Quitting 
the Fountainhead, we proceed westward about a quarter of a 
mile along the common road, and exactly at Glencorse Bridge 
we turn off to the right, and travelling up by the side of the 
Burn for more than half a mile, we come to an embankment 
with a large and beautiful sheet of water above it. The valley 
at this point is contracted by the neighboring hills to a nar- 
row gorge about 100 yards wide. Across this gorge a 
bank of earth has been raised about 450 feet thick, horizontally 
at the base, and about 120 feet high. To obtain a secure foun- 
dation, it was necessary to remove the porous gravel to the 
depth of fifty feet, till the solid rock was laid bare from side 
to side. It is a curious fact, though not new to geologists, that 
the surface of the rock thus exposed, was furrowed with chan- 
nels running horizontally in the direction of the valley, shew- 66 
ing that powerful currents had flowed here before the great 
bed of gravel was deposited. This removing of the gravel 
was a work of great labor and difficulty, in which two years 
were expended. To make the bank perfectly water tight, a 
bed of puddled clay, sixty feet thick, extends from side to side, 
and is carried up from the bottom nearly to the top. This 
forms the central part of the embankment; and before and 
behind it is placed a mass of earth, making up the mound to 
the thickness we have mentioned. The upper face of the em- 
bankment and the margin of the lake to some distance on both 
sides of it, is paved with causeway stone, which gives it a neat 
and clean appearance. The lake formed by the embankment 
is three quarters of a mile long, and covers about fifty acres. 
Its depth is, when full, sixty feet at the lower end. An elipti- 
cal tunnel of hewn stone, is carried through the embankment 
a few feet from the bottom, to afford a passage for letting out 
the water in proportion as it is wanted. The stone tunnel, 
however, does not pass through and through. As the bank of 
soft puddled clay in the middle would have afforded an inse- 
cure foundation for masonry, the tunnel is continued through 
it by a cast metal pipe of thirty inches diameter. Two cast 
metal pipes of a foot diameter, fitted with sluice cocks, join into 
the end of this large pipe, and deliver the water at the back 
of the bank, where it may be seen pouring down in a cascade 
about ten feet high. By means of a ladder we descended 
upon the two pipes, and walked upon them some yards up the 
interior of the tunnel. In this cavity the reverberating noise 
of the falling water is peculiarly grand and striking. Though 
the stream of water issuing from the pipe appears scarcely 
thicker than a pan’s leg, it rushes with such rapidity under 
the superincun/bent pressure, that it forms immediately a con- 
siderable rivulet. At the height of sixty feet from the bottom 
of the lake, there is a waste weir, or open canal, lined with 
hewn storye, for carrying off the surplus waters during extraor- 
dinary floods. With admirable taste, this canal has been car- 
ried forward nearly two hundred yards, and made to discharge 
the current over a precipice seventy feet high. Dashing from 67 
point to point of the rocks, the stream forms a sheet of foam 
as white as snow from the summit to the bottom. Its site is 
chosen most judiciously. At a turn of the road it bursts upon 
the eye at once, in front of the spectator, and at the distance 
of a furlong. If visited during a great flood, there is no doubt 
that this fall would be a finer object than some of those which 
our virtuosos travel a hundred miles to see. Close beside the 
waste weir, but about ten feet lower, there is another tunnel 
of hewn stone with two sluices. The use of this is to carry 
off the the surplus flood waters, if from an accumulation of ice 
or any other accident, the waste weir should be blocked up. 
This tunnel (when used) delivers its water over the broken 
surface of the rock also, and forms another beautiful fall about 
forty or fifty feet north of the first one. 
We should have mentioned that the natural cavity in which 
the bank or mound is placed, is of a funnel shape, being nar- 
rower behind and wider before: and the embankment itself has 
the form of a wedge lying on its side, presenting its thick end to 
the stream. Hence the force of the water tends only to com- 
press its parts more firmly together. The back of the embank- 
ment is covered with good soil, and bore this season a crop of 
oats, which had a very singular appearance in such a situa- 
tion. 
In explaining the use of the Compensation Reservoir, we 
must first give an account of an artificial stream, carried along 
its north and east side, and kept entirely separate from it, the 
use of which would puzzle a common observer. It is neces- 
sary to premise, that all the springs in the valley rise on the 
north and east side. The average produce of each of these 
springs or streamlets during the summer half year, was care- 
fully ascertained by measurement. A small weir or damhead 
was then made across each, of hewn stone, and a narrow 
plank placed on it, operating like a sluice, and turning all the 
water when the streamlet is in its usual state, into the artificial 
rivulet, by which it is conducted past the great Compensation 
Reservoir, and thrown into the bed of the Burn below. The 
weir or sluice is of such a size as to turn aside only the ascer- 68 
tained ordinary produce of the streams, and when this is ex- 
ceeded, as happens when heavy rains fall, the surplus flows 
over the weirs, and falls into the great Compensation Reser- 
voir. Thus it will be understood, that all the ordinary pro- 
duce of the streams in Loganhouse Valley, falls into Glencorse 
Burn below the reservoir, and goes to the mills as it did origi- 
nally, and it is only the flood waters that are collected in the 
reservoir. This simplifies the arrangement with the millers, 
and obviates any cavils they might raise as to what the streams 
really yield. They receive the produce of the streams above 
the reservoir exactly as they did before it was formed; and 
out of the flood waters which are stored up in the lake, the 
Company have merely to give them an equivalent for what 
the Crawley and adjoining springs discharge into the Fountain- 
head—which can be at all times easily ascertained. Accord- 
ingly, the quantity spouting from the pipes in the elliptical 
tunnel behind the embankment, is meant to be equal to what 
the great pipes convey to Edinburgh. The square channels of 
hewn stone in the bed of the artificial rivulet, are measures for 
ascertaining the quantity of water conveyed, and the wooden 
ones in the channel of the rivulet below the dam serve the 
same purpose. 
THE AQUEDUCT PIPE. 
The aqueduct which conveys the water from the Fountain- 
head to Edinburgh is about nine miles long, reckoning to 
Queen street. The elevation of the stone cistern in the Foun- 
tainhead, where the aqueduct pipe begins, is as follows : 
Above the sea at Leith, . - . . . . 564 
Above Prince’s street at the Mound, . . . 360 
Above Reservoir at Heriot’s Hospital, . . 270 
Above ditto, Castlehill, . . *• . . . 230 
Above the lowest point to which the pipe descends 
in its course, namely, at Libberton dams, . 350 
The distance from the Fountainhead to the Castlehill Re- 69 
servoir in a direct line, is six and a quarter miles; by the line 
of developement, or that which the pipe follows, it is nearly 
eight and a half miles. After the pipe leaves the Fountainhead, 
it passes down the valley by the east side of the Burn, about 
a mile, till it comes to Milton Mill. It then strikes eastward 
to the point where the Pennycuik Road joins the Peebles Road, 
near the seventh milestone from Edinburgh. From this point 
it passes along the line of the Peebles Road by Straiton, Bur- 
diehouse, fet. Catharines, Libberton Dams, to the Grange Toll, 
crossing the road five or six times, but seldom running at a 
distance of more than one hundred yards from it on either side. 
A little without the Grange Toll it leaves the line of the road 
and passes on the west side of it to the meadow. It is con- 
tinued obliquely across the meadow upon a basis of masonry 
raised above the surface, and covered with three feet of earth. 
It then enters a tunnel, which proceeds northwestward under 
the grounds of Watson’s and Heriot’s Hospital, passing near 
the west side of the latter, at the depth of about seventy or 
eighty feet below the surface. It then crosses the Grassmar- 
ket west of Heriot’s Bridge, and enters another tunnel at the 
Castle Wynd. This last tunnel is rather a singular work. It is 
about six feet high by four and a half wide, and passes obliquely 
through the solid rock of the Castlehill, from a point near the foot 
of the Castle W ynd,to another point at the west side of the Mound 
below Ramsay Gardens. This subterraneous passage is about 
seven hundred feet, or one furlong in length. It descends 
gradually to the north, passing under the reservoir at the depth 
of one hundred and twenty feet, and is continued by a tunnel 
of masonry along the Mound to Prince’s street, and thence on- 
ward to Queen street. The tunnel, though cut as we have 
mentioned out of the living rock, (sandstone) was made at the 
moderate expense of five pounds per fathom of length, including 
the laying of a bed of masonry for the pipe. It was found that 
the eighteen hundred or two thousand feet of pipe saved, ren- 
dered this a more economical mode of carrying the aqueduct 
to the New Town, than by taking it round the Castle. There 
is besides, the advantage of a greater discharge of water when 
the pipe is comparatively short and straight. 70 
From Heriot’s grounds a branch pipe passes off eastward to 
supply the southern districts of the town, and another comes 
up to the reservoir on the west side of the Hospital. A 
third ascends from the mouth of the tunnel along the side of 
the Castlehill to the reservoir there; and various branches pass 
off to other parts of the town. 
It is to be observed, that a pipe coming from the reservoirs 
at Heriot’s Green or the Castlehill, will carry the water no 
higher than the level of these reservoirs, but a branch from the 
main pipe has the pressure of the Fountainhead behind it, and 
easily makes the water ascend, not only to the top of the high- 
est tenements in the town, but even to the upper flats of the 
barracks in the Castle, which are still nearly one hundred feet 
below Crawley Spring. 
The pressure which the current of water exerts at the dis- 
tance of eight miles from the Fountainhead, though its force is 
greatly relaxed by the partial escape of the water through 
various branches, is beautifully showrn in the reservoir at 
Heriot’s Green. A pipe is brought from below here of the full 
size of fifteen inches. Its mouth points upwards ; and to close 
it effectually, and prevent the efflux of water, requires a pres- 
sure on the valve of a ton. 1 his is applied by a series of cast 
metal plates, twenty in number, lying above one another, and 
each weighing about a hundred weight. They are kept in 
their position by an iron pin passing through a hole in the mid- 
dle of each. When the plates are reduced to fifteen 01 sixteen, 
(three fourths of a ton) to allow water to flow into the reser- 
voir, the force of the water makes this gicat mass play up and 
down, somewhat like a cork in a spouting fountain, tut weie 
the escape of the water by branch pipes prevented, we know 
from calculation, that the pressure would raise a mass ten 
times as great. 
The pipes which compose the aqueduct, vary from twenty 
to fifteen inches diameter, are in lengths of nine feet, and aie 
joined by spigot and faucet. This means, that about foui 
inches of one end of each pipe is made wide enough to take 
the end of the next pipe within it—the wide or recipient 71 
end being called the faucet, and the other or intrant end, 
which has the common diameter of the pipe, being called 
the spigot. The mode of joining is this: the small end being 
put into the large one as far as it will go, a piece of rope-yarn 
is driven in between the enclosed and enclosing ends. An iron 
hoop is next clasped round the joint, leaving a small open space 
within all round, and the joinings are made tight with clay. 
Melted lead is then poured through an opening in the hoop, 
and forms a sort of ring round the joint, into which it is driven 
firmly by a staving chisel, the rope-yarn preventing any of the 
lead from passing into the cavity of the pipe. In this way the 
joints are made perfectly tight, and yet give no obstruction to 
the flow of the water. The pipes are from half an inch to 
one and a quarter inch in thickness, a great strength being re- 
quired in the latter and lower stages of the aqueduct, where 
the pressure is great. They are nine feet long when joined; 
and of course the aqueduct which, reckoning to Queen street, 
is nine miles in length, is composed of about five thousand in- 
dividual pipes. The cost of these pipes alone was between 
£40,000 and £50,000, or nearly £5,000 per mile. At the 
present price of cast iron, it would have been probably a full 
third more. 
The pipes were all proved before they were laid, by being 
made to bear a pressure equal to that of a column of from three 
hundred to eight hundred feet of water. This is rather a cu- 
rious process. The pipe is filled with water and plugged up 
firmly at both ends, except that a communication is left through 
one end with a small forcing pump. It may probably remain 
for days in this state without the smallest leak appearing; but 
after you have worked the forcing pump a few minutes, and 
created a pressure perhaps equal to ten or twenty tons upon 
every part of the pipe, you are surprised to see the water 
transude at one or more points, and if the casting has been 
very faulty, it probably bursts asunder. In either case the 
pipe is useless. It may be observed, that from the very small 
elasticity of water, the actual rending of the pipe is not attend- 
ed with any danger. It is of some value to engineers also to 72 
know, that the shaking or dinneling of pipes by carting, even 
without actually producing rents, tries the soundness of the 
casting in a very effectual manner ; and that of two similar 
parcels of pipes equally well cast at first, that which has been 
carted twenty miles before it was proved, will exhibit a gi eat- 
er number of defective pipes, than that which has been proved 
at the manufactory. Hence pipes should always be proved 
at the place where they are delivered—not where they are 
made. 
Care was taken in laying the aqueduct, that it should foim 
no sharp angles or sudden bends—as these diminish materially 
the rate of discharge. It begins with pipes of twenty inches 
interior diameter, and gradually diminishes to a size of fifteen 
inches. It scarce requires explanation, that as the aqueduct 
descends farther below the Fountainhead, the motion of the 
water is more and more accelerated by the superincumbent 
pressure, and that a fifteen inch pipe in the last and lowest 
stage of the aqueduct, will deliver as much water as one of 
twenty inches (that is nearly double the size) in the first and 
highest. The line of the aqueduct, considered with reference 
to a vertical plane, has neither a constant nor a uniform de- 
scent, but undulates considerably. There is a constant but 
varying descent from the Fountainhead to Burdiehouse. Ileie 
it rises a little, and then descends rapidly to Libberton Dams, 
where it is carried along an artificial embankment, thirty 01 
forty feet above the natural surface of the soil. From this 
point it ascends to the high grounds behind Grange House; 
then declines gently to the Meadow, and continues declining 
to Heriot’s Hospital, the Grass-market, and Prince s street. It 
may be proper to mention, that the aqueduct pipe is always 
covered with three feet of soil or more, to keep it out of the 
reach of frost and agricultural operation—that where it is laid 
at a depth not exceeding twelve or fifteen feet, it is simply 
covered with the earth, but where the depth much exceed 
this, a tunnel of six feet in height, with shafts for descending, 
has generally been built over it, that access might be had to 
the pipe afterwards for repairs without much digging. 1 her 73 
is a tunnel of this sort about a mile long across the ridge at 
Milton Mill. 
The following are the distances and levels of the various 
portions of the ground, reckoning from the Fountainhead. They 
are taken from the Report published in 1813, and are expressed 
in feet; but it is to be observed that the pipe undulates less 
than the ground, a part of the inequalities having been got rid 
of by cutting tunnels and raising embankments. 
Dist. 
Aggre- 
gate 
Dist. 
Fall 
or 
Rise. 
Foun- 
tain- 
head. 
To Noblehouse Road 
To a point a little beyond the 5th 
5830 
5,830 
11,6 
11,6 
milestone from Edinburgh, ... 
To the south corner of the Park of 
9385 
15,215 
30,6 
42, 
St. Catharine’s, 
To Libberton dam’s bridge, .... 
9245 
24,460 
93,8 
135,8 
8100 
32,560 
247 
Rise. 
382,8 
To Crouch’s Nursery, 
6623 
39,183 
73,8 
Rise. 
309, 
To Castlehill Cistern, 
5254 
44,437 
78,5 
230,7 
Thus the length of the aqueduct pipe is 44,437 feet, or eight 
and a half miles; but if we reckon to Queen street, where 
its proper termination is, the entire length is very nearly nine 
miles. Of these nine miles, the portion of the pipe’s track 
tunnelled through the natural rock from the Meadow to the 
Grass-Market, occupies about nineteen hundred feet; and the 
seven hundred feet tunnelled through the Castlehill added to 
this, makes half a mile, besides the tunnel at Milton Mill. We 
have mentioned that the size of the pipe varies from twenty 
inches to fifteen ; and it may be proper to add, that its con- 
traction is progressive from the Fountainhead, the size never 
being enlarged again after it has been diminished. 
The pipe delivers about one hundred and eighty cubic feet 
per minute at present—and hence we find by calculation, that 74 
the water travels at the rate of about two miles per hour 
where its motion is slowest, that is, in the parts of the pipe 
where it is ascending, and where the pipe is necessarily full. 
Of course the water passes from the Fountainhead to Edin- 
burgh in four hours or less. 
The cost of the Compensation Reservoir, Fountainhead and 
pipes, including value of ground, tunnelling and laying, but 
excluding all the smaller branches and service pipes in Edin- 
burgh, has been about £145,000, as stated in the evidence 
given last summer before a Parliamentary Committee. The 
works were begun in the latter end of 1819, and were finished 
at Martinmas, 1824. 
The Company, however, looking forward to the progressive 
increase of the town, secured under their Act a right to the 
property of the Black Springs. The produce of these, together 
with the other springs in the valley of Bavelaw Burn, which 
is about one hundred and twenty cubic feet per minute, will 
increase the new supply to three hundred cubic feet, or eigh- 
teen hundred and forty ale gallons per minute; and the pres- 
ent aqueduct has been made sufficiently large to convey the 
whole of this quantity. The Black Springs four in number, 
are situated entirely on the northwest side of the Pentland 
Hills, two miles south from Currie, at the height of eight hun- 
dred and fifty-four feet above the sea, and it is rather a remark- 
able fact, that this great mass of hills is traversed by a ravine 
(at the east end of the Black Hill) so deep, that not only the 
Black Springs, but those of Bavelaw and Liston Shiels, and 
even Bavelaw Burn itself, could be carried quite across the 
chain, and made to discharge their waters into the Esk. About 
three and a half miles of additional pipe, but of a smaller size, 
would be required to conduct the waters of the Black Springs 
to the present Fountainhead at the Crawley Spring, and about 
six and a half miles, if those of Liston Shiels are brought at 
the same time. When this is done, a new Compensation Dam 
will be constructed on Bavelaw Burn, at the point where it is 
joined by the Stream Burn, to store up the flood waters for 
the use of the mills on the water of Leith; and a part of the 75 
water used in Edinburgh will then have travelled in pipes the 
astonishing length of fifteen miles. 
Mr. Telford computes that a full supply of water for a 
town requires nine gallons for each inhabitant. The supply 
by the old works (which we have not thought it necessary to 
describe) is only about three and a half gallons a day for the 
present population of Edinburgh and Leith; by the old and 
new works together, it is about fifteen gallons a day, or two 
thirds more than Mr. Telford’s calculation. In this statement, 
the present population of Edinburgh (including St. Cuthbert’s 
Parish) and Leith, is assumed to be 153,000, of whom 23,000 
in the country parts are supplied from wells, springs or rivu- 
lets. 
Our narrow limits compel us to pass over a multitude of de- 
tails which would be necessary to give a complete idea of these 
works—by far the greatest and most perfect of the kind ever 
constructed. Among scientific men who have examined them, 
we believe there is but one opinion as to the consummate skill 
with which they have been planned and executed by Mr. Jar- 
dine. The merit of success in his case is so much the greater, 
because the hydraulic works of this description, previously 
formed, were generally so imperfect as to teach the engineer 
nothing but a distrust of the principles on which their efficiency 
depended. It required a scientific head as well as a skilful 
hand to bring a work attended with so many difficulties to so 
successful a termination. What he wanted himself, he has now 
furnished to those who come after him—a model, which at 
once exemplifies the most advantageous construction of such 
hydraulic works, and affords data on which the engineer may 
in future safely found his calculations. 
Edinburgh, October 19, 1825.