NEW YORK (CITY). 



are hereby authorized, empowered, and directed to 

 carry out the provisions of this act, in the manner 

 hereinafter provided, for the purpose of supplying 

 said city with an increased supply of pure and whole- 

 some water. They shall be known as the Aqueduct 

 Commissioners. Said commissioners (other than the 

 Mayor, the Comptroller, and the Commissioner of 

 Public Works) shall each receive a salary, to be fixed 

 by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of the 

 city of New York, not to exceed $8,000 per annum. 

 They and their successors shall hold no other Federal, 

 State, or municipal office except the office of notary 

 public or commissioner of deeds. 



At the time of the passage of this act, Frank- 

 lin Edson was the Mayor, Allan Campbell was 

 the Comptroller, and Hubert O. Thompson 

 was the Commissioner of Public Works of the 

 city of New York, and these three gentlemen, 



duct, and dams and reservoirs and other appurte- 

 nances as contemplated, set forth and described in 

 section 2 of chapter 490 of the act of the Legislature 

 of the State of New York, entitled "An act ,to pro- 

 vide new reservoirs, dams, and a new aqueduct, with 

 the appurtenances thereto, for the purpose of supply- 

 ing the city of New York with an increased supply of 

 pure and wholesome water, and the said Commis- 

 sioner of Public Works is hereby directed to include, 

 set forth, and embody in said plan or plans : 



1. Such a system or systems of water-supply as 

 will when perfected secure all the water that can be 

 obtained from the Croton Lake and river and its 

 tributaries for the use of the city of New York, with a 

 proper and suitable aqueduct and reservoirs for tho 

 same, to the end that an increased storage and sup- 

 ply of water can be provided for the present aqueduct 

 at the earliest time practicable, and tor the new aque- 

 duct to be constructed at an early day. 



2. A plan for the immediate construction of a res- 



A HEAD-HOUSE AT SHAFT. 



with James C. Spencer, George W. Lane, and 

 William Dowd, the three citizens named in the 

 law, became by the foregoing section "The 

 Aqueduct Commissioners." The body was 

 permanently organized Aug. 8, 1883, when the 

 Mayor was elected President of the Commis- 

 sion, William Dowd, Vice-President, and Jas. 

 W. McCulloch, Secretary. The following reso- 

 lution, which was adopted at this meeting, 

 sets forth in a general way the views of the 

 commissioners at the time as to the proposed 

 sources of water-supply, and system and plans, 

 and the line of the aqueduct : 



Resolved, That the Commissioner of Public Works 

 be and he is hereby requested to submit to the Aque- 

 duct Commissioners, as soon as practicable, a plan or 

 plans, together with maps, specifications, estimates, 

 and particulars, for the construction of a new aque- 



ervoir or reservoirs and dams for the storage and re- 

 tention of the water- supply of the cast branch of the 

 Croton river and its tributaries at a point near Brew- 

 ster's Station, and known to the said commissioner 

 and the engineer of the Department of Public Works 

 as the Sodom reservoir. 



3. A plan and surveys and maps of the proposed 

 line of the aqueduct that will provide for two routes 

 or lines in the northerly portion thereof, one of which 

 will reach or terminate at the Croton river below the 

 Croton Dam and near the proposed site of a dam 

 known as the " Quaker Bridge Dam," and the other 

 route to reach or terminate at the Croton Dam, and 

 near, yet above, the terminus of the present aque- 

 duct. 



On Aug. 15, 1883, Benjamin S. Church was 

 unanimously appointed Chief Engineer of the 

 Aqueduct Commission. On the 24th of the 

 same month the Board of Estimate and Appor- 

 tionment fixed the salaries of Commissioners 



