Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

by F. B. Tower

The Committee recommended that the Commissioners should be appointed by the Governor and Senate, and that their number should consist of five, “inasmuch as the object of their appointment is to settle conclusively the plan to be adopted, and the amount requisite for its performance.” This report was concurred in by the Board of Assistants, and approved of by the Mayor, January 17th, 1833.

In compliance with the request of the Common Council the Legislature of the State, on the 26th of February, 1833, passed an Act,[3] providing for the appointment by the Governor and Senate, of five persons, as Water Commissioners, whose duty it was by said Act declared to be “to examine and consider all matters relative to supplying the city of New-York with a sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome water for the use of its inhabitants, and the amount of money necessary to effect that object.”

In pursuance of this law, the Governor and Senate appointed the Board of Water Commissioners, consisting of the following named gentlemen:—Stephen Allen, William W. Fox, Saul Alley, Charles Dusenberry and Benjamin M. Brown. They were directed to make their report to the Legislature, by the second Monday of January, 1834, and to present a copy thereof to the Common Council of the City of New-York on or before the first day of November, 1833.

The Commissioners proceeded in the discharge of their duties, employed as Engineers Canvas White, Esquire, and Major D. B. Douglass, of the United States Corps of Engineers, and made all necessary examinations so as to determine, whether a sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome water could be obtained for present and future purposes, whether its introduction into the city would be practicable at an elevation precluding the use of machinery, and also what would be the probable cost of completing the projected work. Their report satisfied the Legislature that a supply of pure and wholesome water was of great importance to the city—that its introduction was feasible, and that the expense was within the financial ability of the citizens. Accordingly an Act[4] was passed by the Legislature, on the 2d of May, 1834, which provided for the appointment of five Water Commissioners by the Governor and Senate, and they were required “to examine and consider all matters relative to supplying the city of New-York with a sufficient quantity of pure and wholesome water; to adopt such plan as in their opinion will be most advantageous for securing such supply, and to report a full statement and description of the plan adopted by them; to ascertain, as near as may be, what amount of money may be necessary to carry the same into effect; to report an estimate of the probable amount of revenue that will accrue to the city, upon the completion of the work, and the reasons and calculations upon which their opinion and estimates may be founded; such report to be made and presented to the Common Council of the city on or before the first day of January, 1836.”

It was further provided, that “in case the plan adopted by the Commissioners shall be approved by the Common Council, they shall submit it to the electors to express their assent or refusal to allow the Common Council, to instruct the Commissioners to proceed in the work.”

The Commissioners who were appointed in 1833, were re-appointed under the Act of the 2d of May, 1834. They immediately entered upon the duties of their office, thoroughly re-examined their former work, and decided that the Croton River was the only source that would furnish an adequate supply of water for present and future purposes. In making these examinations they employed, as Engineers, David B. Douglass, John Martineau and George W. Cartwright, Esquires. Various plans were proposed for conveying the water to the city, and estimates made of the cost of the work constructed by either of these plans, but the one recommended by the Commissioners, and that for which a preference was expressed by the Engineers, Messrs. Martineau and Douglass, was a closed Aqueduct of masonry. These gentlemen each made an estimate of the cost of bringing the water of the Croton River to the city of New-York by a closed Aqueduct of masonry, and the Water Commissioners offered, as the true cost of the work, an average of the two estimates. The cost of the work, as estimated for this plan and presented by the Water Commissioners, (including the cost of the city mains and conduits,) was $5,412,336.72.

The report of the Water Commissioners was referred to a Committee, who reported to the Common Council, on the 4th of March, 1835, two resolutions, the first approving the plan adopted by the Commissioners as described in their report; and the second referring the subject to the electors at the ensuing annual election, as required by the Act of May 2d, 1834. These resolutions were adopted by the Common Council, and at the election in April, 1835, the subject having been duly submitted to the electors of the city and county of New-York, a majority of the voters were found to be in favor of the measure. On the 7th of May following, the Common Council “instructed the Commissioners to proceed with the work.”

Thus authorized, the Commissioners immediately commenced the preparatory measures for the construction of the work. David B. Douglass was employed as Chief Engineer; he proceeded in the location of the line for the Aqueduct and in preparing plans, until October, 1836, when he was succeeded by John B. Jervis, who continued at the head of that department during the construction of the Aqueduct.

The construction of the work was commenced in May 1837; and on the 22d June, 1842, the Aqueduct received the water from the Fountain Reservoir on the Croton:—on the 27th of June, the water having been permitted to traverse the entire length of the Aqueduct, entered the Receiving Reservoir at the city of New-York, and was admitted into the Distributing Reservoir on the 4th of July.

The Commissioners who were appointed in 1833, and re-appointed in 1834, continued in the performance of their duties until 1837—in March, of which year Thomas T. Woodruff was appointed in the place of Benjamin M. Brown, who resigned his office, and the Board of Commissioners thus constituted, continued until March, 1840, when they were succeeded by Samuel Stevens, John D. Ward, Zebedee Ring, Benjamin Birdsall and Samuel R. Childs. This Board of Commissioners remained in office until February, 1843, when they were succeeded by the gentlemen who composed the former Board.