1887.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 87 



of Edgewater, the facilities presented on Staten Island, and had 

 no hesitation in advising that a contract might be safely made 

 with the Crystal Water Co. for all the water which would prob- 

 ably be needed for a long term of years. Such a contract has 

 since been made, and the water supply for the towns referred to 

 may be considered assured. 



Perhaps my own interest in this subject is derived partially 

 from some of the earlier associations of my life. In the State of 

 Michigan, where I passed my boyhood, there is a tract of country 

 20 or 30 miles broad, bordering on the river and lake St. Clair, 

 the Detroit River, and Lake Erie, which is low and heavily 

 wooded, and in wet seasons almost swampy. The settlers of this 

 region had little difficulty in finding water a few feet below the 

 surface, but there were few surface streams, and I have known the 

 farmers to be obliged in very dry seasons to drive their stock 

 several miles daily to water. A belt of country north of this, and 

 stretching from Lake Huron in a southwest direction quite across 

 the state to Lake Michigan, is covered with the most beautiful 

 little lakes of pure and sparkling water, which never be- 

 come stagnant and never dry up. 



Farther north again, toward the northern part of the State, 

 are found extensive pine barrens, where again there are but few 

 rivers and streams ; but I have seen wells driven there from 6 

 to 10 feet only to an abundant supply of water. The little lakes 

 I have referred to are replenished from the exposed outcroppings 

 of gravel beds, and while they are often linked together so as to 

 constitute the sources of considerable streams, the water from 

 most of these lakes seems to sink away slowly again and to flow 

 underground in broad sheets toward the great lakes. Nearly 

 everywhere in this State, water in abundance can be found by 

 driven wells; and I am told that in the regions where the early 

 settlers suffered so much from swamps and mud in winter, and 

 drought in summer, surface drains and tube-wells have created 

 an entirely new condition of things favorable to the farmer. 



An objection has been frequently urged against the use of 

 water from these shallow sub-surface deposits that there is 

 danger from pollution or contamination of the water by sewage 

 and surface drainage, the drainage from cemeteries, etc. 



