Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

by F. B. Tower

By substituting inverted syphons instead of maintaining a uniform declivity in the conduit, would not give the requisite discharge of water at the elevation of the terminus of the Aqueduct, and perhaps they preferred, rather than diminish this elevation of the supply of water, to incur the expense of high structures across valleys. The Roman Emperors, with all their power and the wealth which was at their command, knew how to perpetuate the glory of their reign by the erection of Temples, Palaces and other public buildings, and what is more natural than to suppose that in the construction of these Aqueducts, which were considered so essential to the public welfare, they should encourage works of such architectural magnificence? Whatever the reasons might have been for maintaining the elevation of their Aqueducts over valleys by such expensive structures, we have no right to charge them with the want of that knowledge which the plan of some of their Aqueducts clearly proves them to have possessed.

Trusting that it will be interesting to the reader, I shall present an account of some of the principal Aqueducts built by the Ancient Romans,—some of the modern Aqueducts of Italy and France; also of Aqueducts in other parts of the world. This account might be enlarged, to embrace a description of more of the modern Aqueducts of Europe; but sufficient will be presented, it is thought, to interest without detaining the reader too long in arriving at the principal object of this work,—a description of the Croton Aqueduct.

A view is given of the Aqueduct of Spoleto, in Italy. The bridge supporting this Aqueduct is remarkable for the slender form of the piers and their great height; being only ten and a half feet thick and two hundred and fifty feet high to the base of the arches. This Aqueduct was built by the Goths, a people who gave a model for Church Architecture which is much admired at the present day. It is said that they borrowed the idea of the form of their arch from the opening beneath an arbor of trees.

The plan of the bridge for the Croton Aqueduct at Harlem River has been criticised on account of the small thickness of the piers as compared with their height, and because they were not made piers of equilibrium; that is to say, having their bases broader, so as to include the line of thrust of the arches, so that if a portion of the bridge were removed, the remainder of the arches and piers would maintain their position. By the present plan the permanency of any one individual arch may be considered to depend upon that of the whole structure.[1]

The Aqueduct of Spoleto, has been standing about eleven hundred years and is still in a perfect state of preservation.

With proper care in preparing the foundations of the bridge at Harlem River, there is no good reason to fear that it will be less durable than that of Spoleto.

Aqueducts of Ancient Rome.

The largest and most magnificent Aqueducts of which we have any account, were the work of the Romans; and the ruins of several of them, both in Italy, and other countries of Europe, remain to the present time monuments of the power and industry of that enterprising people.

For 440 years from the foundation of Rome the inhabitants contented themselves with the waters of the Tiber, and of the wells and fountains in the city and its neighborhood. But at that period the number of houses and inhabitants had so augmented, that they were obliged to bring water from distant sources by means of Aqueducts. Appius commenced this scheme of improvement. About 39 years after him, M. Curius Dentatus, who was censor with Papirius Cursor, brought water from the neighborhood of the city of Tibur; and applied towards defraying the expense, part of the sums taken in the spoils of Pyrrhus. After them Lucius Papirius, Caius Servillius Cepion, Lucius Longinus Crassus, Quintus Marcius, (who brought water to Rome from a spring at the distance of nearly sixty miles,) Marcus Agrippa, Augustus, and others, signalized themselves by their noble Aqueducts. Even Tiberius, Claudius, Caligula, and Carracalla, though in other respects not of the best character, took care of the city in this useful article.

In the remains of these ancient Aqueducts, some are elevated above the ground upon a solid mass of stone work, or upon arches continued and raised one above the other; other portions are subterraneous, passing through deep excavations, and in many instances piercing through mountains of rock; such is that seen at Vicovaro beyond Tivoli, where a tunnel of about five feet deep and four broad, pierces a rock for a distance of more than a mile.