Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

by F. B. Tower

The Principal Modern Aqueducts of Italy, France, Etc.

Aqueduct of Caserta.

This Aqueduct was built by the order of the King of Naples, Charles III., for conducting water to his residence which he had at Caserta, a town situated about fifteen miles north of Naples.

This Aqueduct was commenced in 1753. It is twenty-seven miles long, from the sources which supply it to the gardens of Caserta. The sources are at the base of the mountain called Taburno; the principal one is called Sorgente de la Sfizzo; it is afterwards joined by streams from many other sources, which are in the country called Airola.

These waters are all joined in one Aqueduct, crossing the river Faënza, upon a bridge of three arches, built in 1753. Again, in the valley of Durazzano, there is another bridge of three arches, upon which the Aqueduct crosses the valley, passing over the river, and extending from the mountain called Santa Agata de’Goti, to the mountain of Durazzano.

This Aqueduct afterwards crosses a deep valley, which it meets between Monte-Longano and the hills Tifata, where ancient Caserta is situated, about the place called Monte di Gazzano. The crossing of this valley required the most important of all the constructions connected with the work. It was accomplished by an Aqueduct bridge, 1724 feet long and 190 feet in height, composed of three tiers of arches, one above another. The lower range has nineteen arches, the middle twenty-seven, and the upper one forty-three; making in all eighty-nine arches.

The labor of constructions under ground for this Aqueduct was more than that above; it pierced through five hills or mountains, making an aggregate length of tunnel of about four miles, and most of this was through rock.

To give air and light to the channel, they made pits or wells; some of which were 250 feet deep, 10 feet diameter at the bottom, and 4 at the top.

Aqueduct Bridge of Castellana.

This Aqueduct was built in connection with an ancient Causeway, which led to Civita-Castellana.

This Causeway was about 820 feet long and 32 feet wide; the greatest height was about 130 feet. It was pierced in the middle of this extent, by nine large arches; three of which were 86 feet span, and the others were each 64 feet span. Above these arches of the bridge the Aqueduct is built, the height of which is about 57 feet, and it is sustained upon a series of arches of about 19 feet span each.

Aqueduct of Montpelier.

This Aqueduct is one of the most beautiful works of the kind, which exist in France. The length is about 3,200 feet; it conducts to Montpelier the waters of Saint Clement and du Boulidou. It was built by M. Pitot, engineer and member of the Academy of Sciences. He was thirteen years constructing it. This Aqueduct is formed by two ranges of arches; those in the lower tier are seventy in number, and each 28 feet span; the piers of these arches are each 12 feet thick. The arches of the second or upper tier are much smaller, and are arranged so that three of them come within the space occupied by one of the lower arches. They are 9 feet diameter; their piers are 4 feet and a quarter thick.

The greatest height of this Aqueduct is 90 feet.

It is constructed entirely of cut stone. The quantity of water furnished by it is about 300,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.

Aqueduct of Spoleto.

This Aqueduct was constructed in the year 741, by Theodoric, King of the Goths, to communicate with the town of Spoleto, situated upon the summit of a mountain. It is composed of ten grand Gothic arches each 71 feet diameter, supported upon piers of 10½ feet thickness. The middle arches which are over the river de la Morgia, are about 328 feet high.

Napoleon Gimbrede. sc.

AQUEDUCT OF SPOLETTO, ITALY.

On the top of this bridge is the Aqueduct which carries the water to Spoleto.

This structure was difficult to execute, and being built of a very hard stone, remains entire at the present day.

The total length is 800 feet, and the breadth is 44 feet.

The greatest height of this bridge is 420 feet.

Aqueduct of the Prince of Biscari.

This Aqueduct was constructed by the Prince of Biscari, in Sicily, at his own expense, across the river Saint-Paul, the ancient Symète. It conducts a pure stream of water to the estate of the prince, and at the same time serves as a public bridge over the valley. This bridge is composed of thirty-one arches, the largest of which, over the river, is 90 feet span. This arch is of Gothic form, while all the others are semi-circular. The bridge has two tiers or ranges of arches; the roadway is upon the first range, and the channel for the water, upon the second or upper range. The length of the bridge is 269 feet. The height to the top is 120 feet. It is said that this magnificent structure was accomplished in two years.

Aqueduct of Arcueil.

The Emperor Julian built this Aqueduct to bring water to Paris, A. D. 360; it supplied the palace and hot baths, but was destroyed by the Normans. It was above nine miles and a half long, and was entirely under ground, except the stone arcade over a deep valley at Arcueil. After its use had been suspended 800 years, a new and beautiful arched Aqueduct was built by the side of the ruins of the old one, and its final restoration to public use was completed in 1634.

Part of this ancient construction, consisting of two arches substantially built, still exists, near the modern Aqueduct.

The Aqueduct bridge over the valley of Arcueil has twenty-five arches, is 72 feet high and 1,200 feet in length.

In the interior of the Aqueduct on each side is a parapet which forms a walk. On the outside along the whole line are various openings, called regards.

This Aqueduct was thoroughly repaired in 1777; and fresh sums of money have lately been devoted to the same purpose by the city of Paris. It supplies 36,000 hogsheads daily.

Aqueduct of Maintenon.

This work, had it been completed, would have been one of the most remarkable of modern times. The project was one of the noblest examples of the enterprise which characterized the reign of Louis XIV., and had it been carried out would have presented a work equal in grandeur to any of the kind constructed by the Romans. It was projected by Vauban, and the work was commenced in 1684, but was abandoned in 1688.

It was intended to conduct water from the river Eura to Versailles; a distance of over seventy miles; and it was also contemplated to continue the work to St. Cloud and to Paris; had this been done it would have been over ninety miles in length. It was intended to be of a mixed construction; partly by a canal formed by excavations and embankments, and partly by a channel of masonry.

One of the most remarkable structures connected with it, was the Aqueduct bridge across the valley of Maintenon. This was designed to be entirely of masonry, having three ranges of arches, one above another. The length of this Aqueduct bridge would have been three and a quarter miles, and the height from the lowest part of the valley would have been 234 feet.

The whole number of arches designed for this bridge was 685.

Some of the piers and arches of the lower tier were constructed, but have since been suffered to crumble and fall. Many deep valleys were filled with embankments, and the canal was completed for a portion of the distance, but the course of the work is now but faintly marked by the remains of these structures.

Aqueduct of Lisbon.

The site of Lisbon, as well as the ground in its vicinity, consists chiefly of limestone and basalt, which render it necessary to obtain good water, at about three leagues distance, for the beverage, and other uses of the inhabitants. The source consists of several springs that are near to the village of Bellas, and their produce is conveyed to Lisbon by an Aqueduct, constructed of a kind of white marble, and finished in 1738. In some parts its course has been excavated through hills; but near to Lisbon it is carried over a deep valley, for a length of 2400 feet, by means of several bold arches, of which the largest has a height of about 250 feet, by a breadth of 115. The arches being pointed have an interesting aspect, particularly when viewed from below, the interior of the spacious vaults being not only majestic in appearance, but reverberating every sound. The water flows through a stone tunnel, or covered arch-way, about 8 feet wide, formed in the middle of the structure; and on each side there is a foot-path, with a parapet wall, having a sufficient width for two persons to walk. The Aqueduct enters the town on its northern side, at a place called da Amoreira, where it branches into several others, in order to supply the different fountains, from which the inhabitants are supplied. Persons, denominated gallegos, obtain a subsistence by selling the water, which they procure at the fountains in small barrels, and afterwards cry it through the streets.

Aqueducts of Mexico and the adjacent States.

The people who, in remote times, inhabited the region of Mexico, were advanced in civilization and in the arts; they had regularly organized states and established forms of government, and their immense cities, their roads, Aqueducts and other public works, give evidence of the advanced state of the arts among them and their knowledge of the sciences.

The location and great population of some of their cities required a familiar knowledge of hydraulic operations to supply them with water; and hence it would seem as if they had cultivated this department of the arts equally with others, for some of their Aqueducts were of a character that would have done honor to Greece or Rome. Nearly all the ancient cities of Mexico were supplied by them.

“The city of Mexico, which was built on several islands near the shore of the lake, was connected to the main land by four great causeways or dikes, the remains of which still exist. One of these to the south, the same by which Cortez entered, was nearly two leagues long—another to the north about one league, and the third at the west somewhat less. The fourth supported the celebrated Aqueduct of Chapoltepec, by which water was conducted from springs, upon an insulated hill of that name, at the distance of from two to three miles.”

The Aqueduct of Chapoltepec was the work of Montezuma, and also the vast stone reservoir connected with it.

This Aqueduct consisted of two conduits formed of solid mason work—each five feet high and two paces broad—by which the water was introduced into the city for the supply of various fountains.

Olid and Alvarado commenced the siege of Mexico by attempting to cut off this supply of water, an enterprise which the Mexicans endeavored to prevent. “There appeared on that side,” says De Solis, “two or three rows of pipes, made of trees hollowed, supported by an Aqueduct of lime and stone, and the enemy had cast up some trenches to cover the avenue to it. But the two captains marched out of Tacuba with most of their troops, and though they met with a very obstinate resistance, they drove the enemy from their post, and broke the pipes and Aqueduct in two or three places, and the water took its natural course into the lake.”

Humboldt says, there are still to be perceived the remains of another Aqueduct, which conducted to the city the waters of the spring of Amilco, near Churubusco. This Aqueduct, as described by Cortez, consisted of two conduits composed of clay tempered with mortar, about two paces in breadth, and raised about six feet. In one of them was conveyed a stream of excellent water, as large as the body of a man, into the centre of the city. The other was empty, so that when it became necessary to clean or repair the former, the water might be turned into it; which was the case also with those of Chapoltepec, “of which one was always in use, whenever the other required cleaning.”

The gardens of Montezuma were also adorned and nourished with streams and fountains, and appear to have rivalled those of Asiatic monarchs in splendour.

The ruins of the city of Tezcuco, which with its suburbs was even larger than Mexico, and according to Torquemada, contained one hundred and forty thousand houses, still betoken an ancient place of great importance and magnificence. Without the walls, tumuli, the sepulchres of the former inhabitants, may yet be observed, and also the remains of a fine Aqueduct in a sufficient state of preservation for present use.

Two miles from Tezcuco, the village of Huexotla, situated on the site of the ancient city of that name, which was considered as one of the suburbs of Tezcuco, exhibits signs of ancient civilization, in the foundations of large edifices, in massive Aqueducts, one of which, covered with rose-colored cement, still exists in a perfect state, and in an extensive wall of great height and thickness. A covered way flanked by parallel walls proceeds from the ancient city, to the bed of a stream now dry, over which there is a remarkable bridge, with a pointed arch 40 feet high, and supported on one side by a pyramidal mass of masonry.

Tlascala was furnished with abundance of baths and fountains, and Zempoala, like the city of Tezcuco, had every house supplied with water by a pipe.

Iztaclapa, which contained about ten thousand houses, had its Aqueduct that conveyed water from the neighboring mountains, and led it through a great number of well cultivated gardens.

Among the ruins of the city of Zacatecas, are found the remains of an Aqueduct; and at Palenque is found an Aqueduct of stone, constructed with the greatest solidity.

Among the hieroglyphical ornaments of the pyramid of Xochicalco are heads of crocodiles spouting water, and much proof may be found that the ancient Americans were acquainted with that property of liquids by which they find their level; and applied it not merely to fountains and jets d’eau, but to convey water through pipes to their dwellings.

Aqueducts of South America.

The ancient inhabitants of Peru, Chili, and other parts of South America were undoubtedly a refined, civilized and agricultural people; they constructed extensive cities, roads, Aqueducts, &c. Though they constructed many and extensive Aqueducts for the supply of towns and cities with water, yet the object of the greater part of the public works of this kind was for the encouragement of agriculture.

“The Peruvians and some of the neighboring nations carried the cultivation of the soil to a higher stage of perfection than any of the American nations. In consequence of the narrow extent of land intervening between the mountains and the sea, the rivers in this region are usually of small size, and the soil, being arid and sandy, needs the aid of artificial irrigation. To such an extent did they carry their ingenious efforts, that the sides of the steepest mountains were converted into productive fields, by being encircled with terraces, supported by stone walls, and watered by canals.”

“Upon the sides of some of the mountains,” observes Mr. Temple, “were the remains of walls built in regular stages round them, from their base to their summits, forming terraces on which, or between which, the Indians, in days of yore, cultivated their crops.”

“Frezier says the Indians were very industrious in conveying the waters of the rivers through their fields and to their dwellings, and that there were still to be seen in many places Aqueducts formed of earth and stone, and carried along the sides of hills with great labor and ingenuity.”

“I have had various opportunities,” says a recent traveller, “of closely examining one of these canals, which is formed at the source of the river Sana, on the right bank, and extends along a distance of fifteen leagues, without reckoning sinuosities, and which consequently supplied a vast population; particularly one city, whose ruins still remain in the vicinity of a farm now called Cojal.”

“These Aqueducts were often of great magnitude, executed with much skill, patience and ingenuity, and were boldly carried along the most precipitous mountains, frequently to the distance of fifteen or twenty leagues. Many of them consisted of two conduits, a short distance apart; the larger of these was for general use; the other and smaller, to supply the inhabitants and water the fields, while the first was cleansing; a circumstance in which they bear a striking resemblance to those of Mexico.”

Molina, in his “Natural and Civil History of Chili,” observes, that previous to the invasion of the Spaniards, the natives practised artificial irrigation, by conveying water from the higher grounds in canals to their fields. Herrera says, many of the vales were exceedingly populous and well cultivated, “having trenches of water.”

The Peruvians carried the system to a great extent. “How must we admire, (says Humboldt,) the industry and activity displayed by the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians in the irrigation of arid lands!

“In the maritime parts of Peru, I have seen the remains of walls, along which water was conducted for a space of from 5 to 6000 metres, from the foot of the Codilleras to the coast. The conquerors of the 16th century destroyed these Aqueducts, and that part of Peru has become, like Persia, a desert, destitute of vegetation. Such is the civilization carried by the Europeans among a people, whom they are pleased to call barbarous.” These people had laws for the protection of water, very similar to those of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and all the older nations; for those who conveyed water from the canals to their own land before their turn, were liable to arbitrary punishment.

Several of the ancient American customs respecting water, were identical with those of the oldest nations.

They buried vessels of water with the dead. The Mexicans worshipped it. The Peruvians sacrificed to rivers and fountains. The Mexicans had Tlaloc, their god of water. Holy water was kept in their temples. They practised divinations by water. The Peruvians drew their drinking water from Deep Wells, and for irrigation in times of drought, they drew it from pools, and lakes, and rivers.

There is reason to believe that Peru, Chili, and other parts of the southern continent, were inhabited by a refined, or partially refined people, centuries before the time of Manco Capac, the first Inca; and that a long period of barbarism had intervened, induced, perhaps, by revolutions similar to those which, in the old world, swept all the once celebrated nations of antiquity into oblivion. The ancient Peruvians had a tradition respecting the arrival of giants, who located themselves on the coast, and who dug wells of immense depth through the solid rock; which wells, as well as cisterns, still remain.

There is much uncertainty respecting Manco Capac. Who he was, and from what country he came, are equally unknown. According to their Quippus, or historical cords, and the opinion of the Inca, who was uncle to Garcilasso, and who communicated to the latter all the knowledge of their ancestors then extant, he made his appearance in Peru about 400 years before the invasion of the Spaniards. It is said he was whiter than the natives, and was clothed in flowing garments. Awed by his presence, they received him as a divinity, became subject to his laws, and practised the arts he introduced. He founded Cusco, and extended his influence to all the nations around. He taught them agriculture and many useful arts, especially that of irrigating land. His son succeeded him, and without violence greatly extended the limits of the kingdom; prevailing with the natives, it is said, by a peaceable and gentle manner, “to plough, and manure, and cultivate the soil.” His successors pursued the same mode, and with the same success. The fifth Inca, we are informed, constructed Aqueducts, bridges and roads in all the countries he subdued. When the sixth Inca acquired a new province, he ordered the lands to be “dressed and manured;” the fens to be drained, “for in that art (draining) they were excellent, as is apparent by their works, which remain to this day; and also they were (then) very ingenious in making Aqueducts for carrying water into dry and scorched lands, such as the greatest part of that country is; they always made contrivances and inventions to bring their water. These Aqueducts, though they were ruined after the Spaniards came in, yet several reliques and monuments of them remain unto this day.”

The seventh Inca, Viracocha, constructed some water works, which, in their beneficial effects, perhaps equalled any similar undertakings in any other part of the world. “He made an Aqueduct 12 feet in depth, and 120 leagues in length; the source or head of it arose from certain springs on the top of a high mountain between Parcu and Picuy, which was so plentiful that at the very head of the fountains they seemed to be rivers. This current of water had its course through all the country of the Rucanas, and served to water the pasturage of those uninhabited lands, which are about 18 leagues in breadth, watering almost the whole country of Peru.”

There is another Aqueduct much like this, which traverses the whole province of Cuntisuyu, running above 150 leagues from south to north. Its head or original is from the top of high mountains, the which waters falling into the plains of the Quechuas, greatly refresh their pasturage, when the heats of the summer and autumn have dried up the moisture of the earth.

“There are many streams of like nature, which run through divers parts of the empire, which being conveyed by Aqueducts, at the charge and expense of the Incas, are works of grandeur and ostentation, and which recommend the magnificence of the Incas to all posterity; for these Aqueducts may well be compared to the miraculous fabrics which have been the works of mighty princes, who have left their prodigious monuments of ostentation to be admired by future ages; for, indeed, we ought to consider that these waters had their source and beginning from vast, high mountains, and were carried over craggy rocks and inaccessible passages; and to make these ways plain, they had no help of instruments forged of steel or iron, such as pickaxes or sledges, but served themselves only with one stone to break another. Nor were they acquainted with the invention of arches, to convey the water on the level from one precipice to the other, but traced round the mountain until they found ways and passages at the same height and level with the head of the springs.”

“The cisterns or conservatories which they made for these waters, at the top of the mountain, were about 12 feet deep; the passage was broken through the rocks, and channels made of hewn stone, of about two yards long and about a yard high; which were cemented together, and rammed in with earth so hard, that no water would pass between, to weaken or vent itself by the holes of the channel.

“The current of water which passes through all the division of Cuntisuyu I have seen in the province of Quechua, which is part of that division, and considered it an extraordinary work, and indeed surpassing the description and report which hath been made of it. But the Spaniards who were aliens and strangers, little regarded the convenience of these works, either to serve themselves in the use of them, or to keep them in repair, nor yet to take so much notice of them as to mention them in their histories, but rather out of a scornful and disdaining humor, have suffered them to run into ruin, beyond all recovery. The same fate hath befallen the Aqueducts which the Indians made for watering their corn lands, of which two thirds at least are wholly destroyed, and none kept in repair, unless some few which are so useful that without them they cannot sustain themselves with bread, nor with the necessary provisions of life. All which works are not so totally destroyed but that there still remain some ruins and appearances of them.”

In describing the temple and gardens at Cusco. Garcilasso observes, “there were five fountains of water, which ran from divers places through pipes of gold. The cisterns were some of stone, and others of gold and silver in which they washed their sacrifices, as the solemnity of the festival required.”