704 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



The purest joys that friendship yields, 



We here in rich profusion taste, 

 While busy thought roams o'er the fields 



Of memory, brightening from the past ; 

 Sweet recollections crowd the mind, 



With former scenes of purest bliss ; 

 While now, a sweet delight we find 



In musing o'er past happiness. 



Now is the hour of tranquil peace, 



While gliding o'er thy fair expanse ; 

 All fierce, trumultuous passions cease, 



And heavenly joys the sou! entrance ; 

 The hallowed fellowship of friends 



We here with rich delight partake, 

 Nor o'er, till this existence ends, 



Shall we its memory dear forsake. 



But list ! the hour sounds to depart, 



And thy bright shores we leave with pain ; 

 Thou ever shalt be near my heart, 



While life or thought or hope remain ; 

 The friends I here have found, shall be 



Dear to my heart till life forsake ; 

 And often shall I think of thee, 



Thou mildly beauteous Croton Lake. 



The supplies of the Croton are derived exclusively from the elevated 

 region of the Highlands, in Westchester county and Putnam, being 

 furnished by the pure springs which so remarkably characterize the 

 granitic formation of this region. Many of the ponds and lakes from 

 which it is maintained, are, three or four hundred acres in extent, and 

 as large as 1,000 acres; all these ponds are surrounded by clear upland 

 shores, which furnish soft and clear water. Half a gallon of water 

 taken from the Croton at Wood's bridge, yielded by evaporation, 2,333 

 grains residuum, in the following proportions: — Vegetable matter, 133; 

 Carbonates of lime and magnesia, 1,200 ; Muriate of magnesia, 1,000; 

 Total, of grains," 2,333. 



Prior to the erection of the dam, shad fish annually ascended the 

 river some miles above the present lake. The fishing is now entirely 

 confined to trout, perch, and other fresh water fish. 



In 1800 it was proposed to render the Croton river navigable, from 

 its mouth to Pine's Bridge. The following report of the engineers is 

 entitled : — 



a See Corporat, Doc. of N. Y., No. xxxvL 409. 



