A HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF THE 

 JERSEY CITY WATER WORKS. 



BY A MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE. 



Jersey City, 30M Sept., 1856. 

 Henry Meigs, Esq., Rec. Sec'y of the American Institute : 



Dear Sir — In compliance with your request, I have much 

 pleasure in furnishing you an account of the legislative proceed- 

 ings, preliminary examinations, construction and cost of the Jersey 

 City water works, with a short description of the works them- 

 selves, and some account of their present management and future 

 prospects. 



It may be proper to state by way of introduction, that a large 

 proportion of the lands lying within the chartered limits of Jersey 

 City, are a part of what was formerly an extensive marsh, the soft 

 mud of which reaches in some parts to a depth of seventy feet, 

 or more, and over which the high spring tides regularly ebbed 

 and flowed. From this marshy soil, no water fit for domestic use 

 could be obtained; nor was it found by boring the underlying 

 rocky strata to the depth of 300 feet; and in that part of 

 the city which in its natural state was above the reach of tide, 

 the formation is of such character that water found by sinking 

 wells was poor in quality, and the supply small and uncertain. 



In consequence of this peculiarity of the site upon which the 

 city is built, the want of good water began to be felt almost as 

 soon as it was occupied, and became more pressing and incon- 

 venient with every addition to the population; the few public 

 wells which afforded water fit for household purposes being, at 

 some seasons, surrounded from early dawn till a late hour in the 

 evening, with crowds waiting to secure a small portion of the 

 scanty supply which they furnished : and it became a trade to 

 transport water in casks from Bergen hill, and sell it in the streets 



