10 



A STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 



xnanent bridge, were obstructed by apart of one of those 

 boats which had been accidentally sunk in 1777, 28 feet 

 below common low water. It occupied part of the area 

 of the dam, with one end projecting under two of the 

 piles of the inner row; and had nearly rendered the erec- 

 tion abortive. It was first discovered on pumping out 

 the dam ,in 1802 ; and was perfectly sound, after a lapse 

 of 25 years. The iron work had not the least appear- 

 ance of rust, or the wood (which was common oak) 

 of decay. The taking this boat to pieces, the straining 

 the dam, and the leaks in consequence, were the chief 

 causes of an extra expenditure, by the company of more 

 than S 4000, hardly and perilously disbursed in pump- 

 ing (which alone cost from S 5 to 700 per week) and 

 other labour, during forty one days and nights, in the 

 midst of a most inclement winter ! 



The privations of supplies from the country on the 

 western side of the Schuylkill^ had always been causes 

 of regret, and too often of increased expence, to the in- 

 habitants of the City. These were most severely felt, 

 as the population increased. It would be perhaps irk 

 some, to attend to a recital minutely, of all the schemes 

 suggested, for a permanent passage, through a period of 

 near seventy years. It will be sufficient, shortly to men- 

 tion some of them. To those who have been actively 

 concerned in the present structure, most of these pro- 

 jects appear to have been impracticable, or unadvisable. 

 If they could have been executed; the funds were unat- 

 tainable. 



Some would have the river filled with a dam and 

 causeway ; after a bridge had been built on the flats of 

 the fast land, and a channel cut through these flats. 



