Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

by F. B. Tower

In 1831, the Common Council of the city, impelled by a sense of the importance of a supply of pure and wholesome water, began to take more decided steps towards the accomplishment of the object: a Committee of the Board of Aldermen on Fire and Water, consisting of James Palmer, Samuel Stevens and William Scott, to whom were referred various communications and resolutions on the subject of supplying the city with water, presented a report adducing facts and arguments sufficient to prove the practicability of the project and the ability of the Corporation to meet the expense; and prefaced that report as follows:—“That they approach the subject as one of vast magnitude and importance to an already numerous and dense population, requiring our municipal authorities no longer to satisfy themselves with speeches, reports and surveys, but actually to raise the means and strike the spade into the ground, as a commencement of this all important undertaking.”[2]

Their attention was drawn, at that time, to the Bronx River, with the ponds at its head, as the source for supply; but appended to their report is a letter directed to the Corporation and signed Cyrus Swan, “who is President of the New-York and Sharon Canal Company,” in which it is asserted, “it has been ascertained that that River (the Croton) can be carried into the city of New-York, and that without it, a supply which shall be adequate to the present and future wants of the city cannot be obtained.

This Committee drafted an Act for the Legislature to pass, which was approved by the Common Council, and presented to the Legislature in the session of 1832, but failed in becoming a law. That Act provided for the appointment of a Board of Commissioners of three persons, by the Common Council, to superintend the execution of the plan and make contracts for introducing water into the city of New-York.

In November, 1832, a report was made by Timothy Dewey and William Serrell to Benjamin Wright, Esq. They had examined the sources of the Bronx River and other streams, and the practicability of introducing the water of the Croton by connecting it with the Sawmill and Bronx Rivers;—they did not consider it possible to bring the Croton water to mingle with those of the aforesaid rivers without the aid of expensive machinery, from the great height it would be necessary to elevate the water. They finally recommended the Bronx as a sufficient source, with some artificial reservoirs, to answer all the city purposes.

The frightful ravages of the cholera, during the summer of 1832, gave to the subject of a supply of pure water a deeper interest, and the minds of the citizens were again aroused to the importance of it. The Committee of the Board of Aldermen, on “Fire and Water,” James Palmer, chairman, pursued the subject with energy; exhibiting on all occasions perseverance and industry in their researches.

Myndert Van Schaick, Esq., being a member of the Board of Aldermen at that time, was familiar with the question of a supply of pure and wholesome water, and holding the situation of Treasurer of the Board of Health, became deeply interested in the measure, and urged it as a matter of the deepest importance to the permanence, welfare and financial interests of the city, that every method should be taken to investigate and probe the subject which cautious men could adopt, and his efforts in the subsequent measures and provisions of law in relation to it are of the same character.

In December, 1832, De Witt Clinton, Esq., of the United States Corps of Engineers, made a report pursuant to a request of the Committee on Fire and Water, in which, after stating the substance of the several reports in favor of the Bronx as the source of supply, he arrives at the conclusion, that an adequate supply can only be obtained from the Croton River.

He proposed to take the waters of the Croton at Pine’s bridge, which he stated to be 183 feet above the level of the Hudson; to conduct the water in an open Aqueduct, following the line of the Croton and Hudson Rivers, and cross Harlem River on an arch of 138 feet in height, and 1,000 feet in length. The whole cost he estimated at $2,500,000.

It does not appear, however, that any levels were run, or survey made by Mr. Clinton, of the route he recommended; but, that he depended on the information of others, together with his personal observation, for the subject matter of his report.

In a report made to the Board of Aldermen in January, 1833, it was suggested that the failure of the law asked for the year previous, was in consequence of a want of sufficient information to warrant the opinion of the feasibility of the project, and it recommended that immediate application should be made to the Legislature, asking for the appointment of a Board of Commissioners, with full powers to examine all the plans proposed, to cause surveys, and to estimate the probable expense of supplying the city of New-York with water.