Political Formation and Topography 17 



the armies of Washington and Howe. There is a tradition 

 that Admiral Lord Howe impressed some Americans familiar 

 with the locality to pilot his ships up the Bronx in order to 

 bombard Washington out of his entrenched camps on the west 

 of the stream. We can imagine a 74-gun ship-of-the-line 

 attempting to sail up the beautiful, romantic, but shallow 

 stream ! 



In the year 1798, a scourge of yellow fever visited the city 

 of New York, and, after its subsidence, the question was 

 agitated of furnishing the inhabitants with an abundant supply 

 of pure, fresh water. The Bronx seemed to the authorities 

 to have been provided by nature for the purpose, and an 

 engineer was sent to survey it and plan for its use; but upon 

 his report that the project would cost the city $1,000,000, 

 the corporation withdrew on account of the expense. Aaron 

 Burr, who was at this time, 1799, forming his Manhattan 

 Company, also probably helped them to an adverse decision 

 by holding out the hope of supplying the city with water 

 under the charter of his company. Until the Croton River 

 was selected as the source of New York's water supply, the 

 Bronx was the favorite with the authorities and engineers, 

 commending itself on account of the purity of its waters, its 

 nearness to the city, the feasibility of damming its waters 

 at Williamsbridge, and, especially, on the score of economy. 

 Its waters were impounded for the use of the Annexed District 

 in 1888 by building a dam at Kensico, above White Plains. 



The Bronx of to-day still retains many of the beauties that 

 inspired the pen of Drake; but, alas! its waters are no longer 

 pure and crystalline. What is to be done with it is a question 

 that has been discussed between the engineers of New York 

 and those of Westchester County; but when we see the river 

 converted into a lake after a spring thaw or a heavy rain, we 



