Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

98 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. of 360 square miles, exceeding in size there- fore the county of Middlesex. Previous to 1842 the citizens of New York had to depend for water on public wells situated at the street corners, and on a supply obtained from a well in a thickly-populated district, pumped by the Manhattan Water Company into a small reservoir, and thence distributed through storage capacity, for a depth of six feet, of 600,000,000 gallons. The most serious and troublesome part of the work, however, was the aqueduct. This, for a distance of 38 miles, was built entirely of masonry, with the excep- tion of two sections crossing the Harlem River and what was known as Manhattan Valley. Of these, the first was long regarded as a MAP SHOWING THE ROUTES OF THE OLD AND NEW CROTON AQUEDUCTS, THE BPÜONX RIVER PIPE LINE, AND THE WATERSHEDS OF THE CROTON, BRONX, AND BYRAM RIVERS, WHENCE NEW YORK DERIVES ITS PRESENT WATER SUPPLY. The First Croton River Project. hollow logs laid in some of the principal thoroughfares. The first effective step towards direct muni- cipal control was taken in April 1835, when a plan for bringing water from the Croton River was submitted to the popular vote, and carried by an over- whelming majority. Work on the project was begun two years later and continued until 1842, when water from the Croton was distributed to the city from a reservoir, the site of which is now occupied by a great public library, built on Murray Hill, fronting Fifth Avenue and 42nd and 40th Streets. Judged by mid-nineteenth century standards, the achievement was one of considerable magni- tude. It involved the construction across the Croton River, at a point where the latter was 120 feet wide, of a dam 55 feet high above the foundations. Behind this was formed a lake, covering an area of four hundred acres, with a The First Croton Aqueduct. masterpiece of engineering, for, as chroniclers of the time remind us, with many expressions of admiration, the river was crossed by fifteen arches, seven of 50 feet span and eight of 80 feet, the greatest height from foundations to the top of the masonry work being 150 feet. Over this bridge, for a length of 1,450 feet, the water was carried in cast-iron pipes. In crossing Manhattan Valley, where the aqueduct was carried on a siphon, iron pipes were also used. In some places, to avoid deep cuttings, the aqueduct was built in tunnels. Sixteen of these, varying from 100 feet to 1,260 feet in length, were excavated, the total amount of rock removed being 400,000 cubic yards. To us to-day this seems a small matter ; but it must have been a difficult task seventy years ago, when gunpowder was the only explosive employed, and the holes had to be driven by chisel and hammer to an average depth of