WATER SUPPLY. 



773 



was known as "the Conduit," which was a res- 

 ervoir about 12 feet square, located where now 

 is Dock Square, and to which water was con- 

 veyed by wooden pipes from springs in the 

 neighborhood, to be afterward used for domestic 

 purposes, and for the extinguishment of fires if 

 any should occur. No further steps toward a 

 water supply seem to have been taken curious 

 as it may appear until June 10, 1796, when 

 the Aqueduct Corporation was incorporated, 

 with a capital of $130,000, to bring water into 

 the town from Jamaica pond, in Roxbury, then 

 a suburb but now a part of the city of Boston. 

 This company had 4 mains of pitch-pine logs, 2 

 of 4-inch and 2 of 3-inch bore. The distribution 

 pipes were also of wood, with l-inch bore. The 

 first public supply of importance was introduced 

 Oct. 25, 1848, from Lake Cochituate, 19 miles 

 west of Boston, a body of water 3^ miles long. 

 This was increased in 1878 by an additional sup- 

 ply from Sudbury river ; while by the annexa- 

 tion of Charlestown, in 1874, Boston came into 

 possession of the Mystic water works, which had 

 been built in 1864, and which also supplied the 

 towns of Chelsea, Everett, and Somerville. 



The .second water- work* system for public sup- 

 ply built in the United States is believed to 

 have been at Bethlehem, Pa., where works were 

 begun in 1754 by Hans Christopher Christian- 

 sen, a Danish millwright. These works were 

 finished in 1761. The water was taken from a 

 spring which issued from magnesian limestone 

 near the banks of a contiguous creek. It was 

 conducted 350 feet through an underground con- 

 duit to a cistern or well, whence it was raised by 

 a 5-inch lignum-vitae pump, and through bored 

 hemlock logs to a wooden tank in the village 

 square, 70 feet above the pump. Larger works 

 were built in 1761, and an 18-inch under- 

 shot wheel was put in, driving 3 small force 

 pumps. The force main was of gum wood and 

 the distributing pipes of pitch pine. These were 

 renewed in 1769, having worn out, and in 1786 

 lead pipes were substituted and cisterns were 

 built at various points in the village. In 1803 a 

 stone tower was built, about 15 feet high, on 

 which a tank was elevated 112 feet above the 

 spring. In 1813 iron pipes were introduced, and 

 later large reservoirs were built. It was not un- 

 til 1885 that a Worthington pump was put up 

 and the present water facilities established. 



New York had its first general water supply 

 in 1799, when the city had a population of 60,- 

 000, and subscribed for 2,000 shares of the Man- 

 hattan Company's stock, a corporation which 

 was organized both for banking and supplying 

 water. This company constructed a well 25 feet 

 in diameter and 30 feet deep near the old Collect 

 (near what is now Center Street, between Reade 

 and Duane Streets). The water was pumped to 

 a reservoir on Chambers Street by 2 18-horse- 

 power steam engines. It is an interesting fact 

 that in the rear of the building of the Manhattan 

 Bank, 40 Wall Street, there still exists the old 

 water tank which had been in the original charter 

 of the banking company and which it was obliged 

 to retain during its existence. In 1823 there 

 were 25 miles of distribution pipe, of bored logs, 

 and engines working sixteen hours a day raised 

 691.200 gallons, being one fifth more than the 

 capacity of the reservoirs. Two thousand houses 



and several manufactories were supplied, the 

 population having increased to 1 50,000. About 

 1830 the same company sank an 8-inch well 442 

 feet deep, through rock, at the corner of Broad- 

 way and Bleecker Street. Water rose to within 

 29 feet of the surface, and 44,000 gallons were 

 pumped daily. In 1830 the city built works for 

 the fire department, consisting of a well at 

 Thirteenth Street, near Broadway. Water was 

 pumped into an iron tank 44 feet in diameter 

 and 20 feet high. At this time the supply of 

 water was so limited that 600 hogsheads were 

 brought in daily from wells in the country, and 

 sold at an average price of $1.25 ; and 415 hogs- 

 heads were sent daily from Brooklyn to supply 

 shipping. Hotels paid from $200 to $400 per 

 year, and boarding houses from $15 to $50 per 

 year for well water. 



The plan of procuring water from the Croton 

 river was adopted by the Common Council 

 March 11, 1835; and work on the Croton aque- 

 duct was soon begun. Water first passed 

 through it June 27, 1842, this being the first 

 efficient general water supply introduced in New 

 York city, whose population was then about 

 375,000. 



The earliest history of water supply in the 

 United States having been thus indicated, fol- 

 lowing will be found a brief synopsis, historical 



and descriptive, of the water supply of cities of 



ird, alpha 

 arranged. 



50,000 inhabitants and upward, alphabetically 



Albany, N. Y. Gravity works were estab- 

 lished here in 1813 by the city, the population 

 being 11,003: in 1830 by a company; and in 1851 

 new gravity works were built by the city, which 

 were re-enforced by pumping in 1872, and supple- 

 mented by pumping from the Hudson river in 

 1873. The first supply was from small streams 

 near the city ; and in 1830 from creeks, a dam 

 and reservoir being built and water conducted 

 to the city by a small brick conduit and a 20-inch 

 cast-iron pipe. Iron pipes and wooden logs 

 were used for distribution. In 1885 a special 

 water commission was appointed. Attempts 

 were made to secure 15,000,000 gallons daily 

 from driven wells, and in September, 1889, 390 

 2-inch wells had been driven, but the attempt 

 was a failure. Three reservoirs planned by the 

 commission and accepted by the city in March, 

 1890, store water from Patroon and Sand creeks 

 for gravity supply. The commission also recom- 

 mended a new gravity supply from Normanskill, 

 with a storage reservoir of 1,955,000,000 gallons 

 in the town of Guilderland. 



Allegheny City, Pa. The supply comes 

 from the Allegheny river by pumping to a res- 

 ervoir through 2 cast-iron' pipes. The daily 

 capacity of the pumping machinery is 34,000.000 

 gallons. The capacity of the reservoir is 18,- 

 000,000 gallons. The distribution is^by 70 miles 

 of mains: service pipes are lead. Surveys and 

 estimates were made in 1887 for a new water 

 supply, a most desirable source being found in 

 the Allegheny river, about 9 miles from the city. 

 Two plans have been proposed : the first con- 

 templated the construction of 2 connected res- 

 ervoirs with a capacity of over 100,000,000 gal- 

 lons, and the other by pumping through mains 

 to the wells of the present pumping statior. 

 The estimated cost of the first plan, including 



