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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



way above the flow line on the west side of the valley, as well as 

 the removal of the villages named. The total area below the flow 

 line is 12.4 square miles, and the entire area proposed to be taken 

 for reservoir purposes, including a strip 10 feet vertically above 

 the flow line, is 13.7 square miles. The project also includes the 

 removal of several cemeteries, the building of highway bridges 

 across the reservoir, and the construction of a roadway entirely 

 around the same. 



Without having made a detailed canvass, it is estimated that 

 the present population of the proposed Portage reservoir site, in 

 the villages and on the farms, is about 1200. In reference to dis- 

 possessing this number of people of their homes for the purpose 

 of creating a large storage reservoir, it may be said that such a 

 proceeding is not only not uncommon in this State, but that the 

 population to be removed in the case of the new Croton reservoir 

 is far greater than at the Portage reservoir. According to maps 

 furnished by the Croton Water Department, it appears that the 

 new Croton reservoir includes the taking of either the whole or 

 parts of something like three large villages and nine or ten ham- 

 lets. The total population to be removed from the submerged area 

 of the new Croton reservoir is not given, but actual inspection of 

 maps of the proposed sites indicates that it must % be several times 

 larger than the number to be dispossessed at Portage. The vil- 

 lages of Katonah, Purdy Station, and Croton Falls are much 

 larger than any of the villages in the Portage reservoir site. The 

 main line of the New York and Northern railroad passes for sev- 

 eral miles through the valley and requires relocating above the 

 flow line, the same as is proposed for the Pennsylvania railway 

 along the Portage reservoir. It appears, therefore, that the City 

 of New York has recently done under State laws everything in 

 the way of so-called radical change which it is proposed to do at 

 Portage. In both cases the sufficient reason for these changes 

 may be found in the better meeting of public necessities. 



The original estimated cost of the proposed Portage reservoir, 

 including land damages, dam, reconstruction of railway, removal 

 of cemeteries, the cutting of all timber within the catchment 

 areas, the construction of highway bridges, etc. is #2,600,000, the 

 storage to be provided by this expenditure amounting to 15,000,- 



