July i6, 1896] 



NA TURE 



2^: 



sufficient, the Department of Public Works submitted 

 plans for new water-works. The reports on these plans 

 were submitted by the Mayor to the Legislature. The 

 Senate requested the Mayor to nominate five citizens 

 who, in conjunction with himself, were to report on the 

 best scheme to be adopted. After holding thirty-three 

 public meetings, at which eminent engineers and citizens 

 expressed their views with reference to the proposed 

 works, a scheme was approved and adopted, the source 

 of supply being the Croton River, from which the water 

 hitherto in use has been obtained. They also advised 

 that the works should be entrusted to " an unprejudiced 

 Commission selected from the best citizens of the city." 

 The Committee drew up a draft Bill embodying these 

 recommendations, which formed the basis of "An Act 

 to provide 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," which was passed by the 

 Legislature in 1883. An ".Aqueduct Commission" was 

 appointed, consisting of the Mayor, the Comptroller, the 

 Commissioner of Public Works ex officio, and three 

 citizens, the salary of each of the Commissioners being 

 fixed at 8000 dollars (^1680) a year. The works carried 

 out will be referred to later on. 



The book under notice, which has been prepared by Mr. 

 Wegmann, one of the engineers of the Water Commission, 

 gives the history of the water- works of the City of New 

 York from the sinking of the first public well in 1658 to the 

 present time, and full technical details of the new works. 

 This description cannot fail to be of interest to engineers 

 engaged in water supply, and the great number of illus- 

 trations of the details of the construction, as showing the 

 difference between English and .American practice, are 

 instructive, and may even give hints for the adoption of 

 new methods of carrying out works of a similar character 

 in this country. 



Within about 300 years the population of New York 

 has increased a thousand-fold, the number of inhabitants 

 in 1664 being 1500, and now 1,515,301. 



The first attempt at a public water supply was in 1658, 

 when "the Burgomasters resolved to communicate with 

 the Herr General relative to having a public well made 

 in Heere Street," and subsequently six public wells 

 were sunk. As the population increased, the well-water 

 became polluted, and the inhabitants had to send to 

 springs situated on the outskirts of the city for pure 

 water. One of the most noted of these springs was 

 known as the " Old Tea-water Pump," which is thus 

 described in the diary of a traveller in 1748. 



"There is no good water in the town itself, but at a 

 little distance there is a large spring of good water, which 

 the inhabitants take for their tea and for the uses of the 

 kitchen. Those, however, who are less delicate on this 

 point, make use of the water from the wells in the town, 

 though it be very bad." 



When the population had increased to 22,000, the 

 Conmion Council of the city accepted a proposal of an 

 English engineer, Christopher Colles, to construct a 

 reservoir on Manhattan Island for supplying the city 

 with water. The water was pumped up by one of Ncw- 

 comen's atmospheric engines, and distributed through 

 mains consisting of hollow logs. Owing, however, to 

 NO. 1 394, VOL. 54] 



the insufficiency of the supply, and the confusion caused 

 by the Revolution, this enterprise became abandoned. 

 The next scheme for supplying the city with water was- 

 due to an Act of the Legislature, which, under the guise 

 of incorporating a company for supplying the city with 

 pure water, really was for the purpose of establishing the 

 Manhattan Bank, the company being authorised by the 

 .Act to raise a large amount of capital, and employ it " in 

 any other moneyed transactions or operations not in- 

 consistent with the constitution and laws of the State." 

 Only enough was done in introducing water to maintain 

 the charter, the real object of the incorporation being the 

 formation of the bank, to which there had been very strong 

 opposition. For several years after this the water supply 

 of the city remained in a very unsatisfactory state, and 

 numerous schemes for providing a better supply were 

 brought forward. From documents published in 1832 

 it appears that the quality of the water then used diet 

 not conduce to temperance, as one of the arguments used 

 in favour of a new supply was : " By thus supplying the 

 inhabitants with fine pure rock water, it will remove the 

 popular pretext for using alcohol to correct the impuri- 

 ties of the water now in general use, and will be the most 

 effectual means of promoting the great and noble cause 

 of temperance in this city." The temperance cause 

 seemed to occupy a considerable amount of public atten- 

 tion at this time, as in one of the contracts made for the 

 construction of the new water-works was a clause to the 

 effect that the contractor should not sell or allow to be 

 sold any ardent spirits to their workmen, or to any personi 

 near the line of the works. 



In 1834 an Act was passed forming a permanent 

 Water Commission, and providing for the raising of 

 ^325,000 for constructing water-works. The Croton 

 River was decided on as the source of supply. This 

 river is situated thirty-three miles from the city. The 

 water-shed above the dam has a ridge line of loi miles, 

 and an area of 532 square miles. Within this area are 

 contained thirty-one natural lakes and ponds. The 

 length of the river is thirty-nine miles, and its minimum 

 flow above the dam 33,804,000 gallons. The average 

 rainfall is 42"68 inches, the minimum being 38^52 inches.. 

 The first, or " Fountain," reservoir was formed by con- 

 structing a dam across the river six miles above its mouth. 

 The lake is four miles long, and has a width of about 

 a quarter of a mile. Its area is 400 acres, and storage 

 capacity 600 million gallons. The water was conveyed 

 to the city by a masonry aqueduct a distance of thirty- 

 three miles. The masonry conduit is 7 feet 6 inches in 

 diameter with upright sides, and has an area of 53'34 

 feet. When the water was first admitted in 1842, a boat 

 containing four persons was placed in the current, and 

 arrived almost simultaneously with the water at the 

 Harlem River, the velocity of the current being at the 

 rate of one mile in forty minutes. The mean fall of the 

 invert is at the rate of o-6 feet per mile. The aqueduct 

 is capable of discharging ninety-five million gallons in 

 twenty-four hours. The distributing reservoir, situated 

 three miles from the city, was constructed almost entirely 

 above ground, by means of walls thirty-six to forty-nine feet 

 above the surface. This reservoir is 420 feet square, and 

 has a depth of water of thirty-six feet, the capacity being 

 twenty-four million gallons. After the works became in 



