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expense of this mode of cleansing the streets of New York city, would not 

 cost more than that of conveying the Croton into the city, after the mains are 

 laid and that will not be a tenth part of the cost of cartage alone. Thus the 

 richest materials of production, that now accumulate in our streets and 

 houses, invariably and inevitably tainting the air, and rendering it pesti- 

 lential, might be promptly removed, daily, and spread out on the surface 

 of the surrounding country, after having first enriched the Central Park 

 with inexhaustible fertility, and clothed its rocks with verdure, so that it 

 might everlastingly be maintained in a state of purity and richness. 



Sewers constructed and managed in the way that ours are, accumulate 

 great deposits, which are more noxious than they formerly were, from the 

 fact that cesspools from houses are now deposited in them, the gases from 

 which escape into the streets, as well as habitations where the drains are 

 not well trapped. The deposits in many street sewers are allowed to 

 remain several years, during which time the public are constantly exposed 

 to the poisonous emanations evolving from them. Moreover, at certain 

 periods the accumulations reach a certain point, when private drains 

 become choked ; then, for the first time, the foul state of the sewer mani- 

 fests itself, and the occupants of private dwellings are put to annoyance 

 and expense, gratuitously inflicted upon them by the authorities, who will 

 not adopt the proper system, which is to flush the sewers regularly, and 

 thus prevent them from becoming laboratories to generate poison on an 

 immense scale, and conduits to spread them abroad most effectually, to an 

 extent that may be actually measured by every inch of drain not regularly 

 washed by a stream of Croton, which is, in reality, the most essential part 

 of a good system of house and street drainage. 



And there is not the least difficulty in such a system, less, in fact, in 

 this city, than any other city in the world. All we require is good sewers, 

 proper shoots, and the ample supply of water always at hand. The height 

 of the Croton above the tide is 115 feet, 105 feet above the lowest, and 60 

 feet above the highest grade of streets, below Murray Hill, and the loss of 

 head by friction in the pipes is only about twenty-five feet, while the city 

 is drawing. At Harlem River Valley, a twelve inch pipe, with a six inch 

 jet, throws water 110 feet high, the city fountains throw from sixty to 

 seventy feet, and the water is kept on at high pressure in all the streets at 

 all times. Since we have had this abundant supply of pure water, I have 

 noticed that habits of cleanliness, not only inside but outside of the houses, 

 as well as the health of the people, has increased beyond comparison with 

 former times, besides perceptibly producing temperance among the lower 

 orders. And if I had the direction of Croton distribution, with the pre- 

 sent quantity to back me, which amounts to four times the supply to 600,- 

 000 persons, as enters London for 2,500,000, I would cleanse the surfaces 

 of the yards, streets and pavements, with water, in preference to the 

 broom, which only reduces the bulk of dirt without removing it, and when 

 it is wet, spreads it over the surface, stirs it up, and much increases the 

 extent of deleterious evaporation ; whereas, water would remove the whole 



