Morning herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1837-1840, 1839-07-18

the whole Of the work, with the exception of the
high bridge at Harlem River, is under contract,
and the last contract expires the LIST Of October
1915 and 1t is thought by of the most able en-
gineers on the lice that the whole line of work. ex-
cept the high bridge, could be completed by the Isl
of October $780, if the Commissioners thought pro-
per to allow il to be dsnc by that time
The Croton Aqueduct, the noblest work OF art
undertaken in modern times, extends for AZ miles
country on the east bank Of the HUDSON that
is exceedingly rocky, hilly and uneven, and broken
at short intervals by deep ravines, containing wafer
courses running into the North river, besides innu-
merabc roads, lanes, and turnpikes traverslng the
country in every direction. The whole line OF the
Aqueduct is divided into SO sections, which have
been contracted for by about forty-eight hrms.-
Of these the NEST taken by any man is four Sec
tons, contracted for by Samuel Roberts, and one
firm Clarke, Strover Sumner, have also contract.
cd for four The sections Of the acqueduct are not
of equal length but vary according TO the nature OF
the work required to be performed on the line and
they are of various distances from 100 to 5000 feet
The first section commences with and includes the
dam about eight miles from Sing Sing, (where the
Croton river is damned back for than five
miles, together with small piece at the commence
ment of the aqueduct. The last section OF the
aqueduct proper terminates about l44th street. where
the receiving reservoir is TO be situated, and which
is to occupy thirty acres of ground. The water is
then conveyed down TO the distributing reservoir,
placed between 40th and AID streets, on Murray
Hill (Which less than ten acres in two sets
of three iron pipes in each. This reservoir is la
feet above tide water and hence the water is to be
conducted through the city in pipes at the expense
of the corporation for the distributing reservoir
the present contractors by agreement consider the
work completed. The line Of this distributing
vor will cut the cupoa of the City Hail. and there
fore water be thrown in the city that height.
The whole cost of the works, according to the
contracts including that for the low bridge at Har
lem (the first pan) is $500, 900; and now ad4i-
tiona 4OOOOO is added for the high bridge the
tracts for which to be completed the 18th Of this
month; making according to these estimates, little
less than So 600 OO0 exclusive of the pipes from the
distributing reservoir. There is little doubt how
ever, in the minds OF the contractors, that. before
the water is delivered in the houses Of citizens,
the sum of at least $4,000 900 will be expended
the work. The low bridge was estimated to cost
450,OoO; the high bridge, Ss50eOO, and the tunnel
under the river, (the entire breadth Of the stream
and not merely the channel,) differing from the
Thames Tunnel by being worked through Golfer
dam, was to cost $4,000 The whole of the iron
pipes carry the water the river have been
for by Mr.. Gouverneur Kemble, fer
$3.50, 900.
The water is 10 be carried over Harlem River in
two three feet pipes at present. which il thought
will suffice TO supply the city with water for fifty or
one hundred years to come, when they are tn DC
taken up and replaced by four feet pipes The high
bridge will be composed of fifteen arches, eight Of
eighty feet span and OF fifty feet span. The
aqueduct, where il crosses the Harlem River, will
be very nearly hundred and twenty feet above
the level of tide water At the dam above Sing Sing,
the surface Of the water Is forty feet above the
original surface Of the river, (Which rises IN Putnam
County and has several sources from ponds aud small
lakes in the mountains, and the bed OF which has
average width of hundred aud fifty feet The
grade of the aqueduct at the dam is one hundred
and sixty-siN feet above tide water AZ New York,
and the surface Of the dam is twelve feet above the
grade of the darn The pond Of water caused by the
dam will more than four hundred acres Of
ground; and the water will enter the aqueduet al the
dam through tunnel one hundred and fifty feet lsng
When the aqueduct is full, the water will move
through il a, the Of two feet mile the conduit
having uniform descent of thirteen inches to the
mile, from the dam 10 the distributing reservoir:
where il will be able TO discharge forty inc and a
half millions Of imperial gallons OF water every
twenty-fou hours. And calculating that every man,
woman, and child in this city will each consume five
gallons of water every twenty. four hours Ia fair
estimate) the aqueduct can supply population OF
ten millions, than the island Of Manhattan Will
contain at the day OF judgment.
Along the entire line Of this truly noble work, the
hydraulic cement Is erciusipeiy employed. This is
obtained from different parts OF the state along the
river and is made from species Of sub carbonate Of
iron, which il found in a state Of close echanical
mixture with suphate If lime magne STA, and small
portion Of slick This stone when found is burned.
like common limestone, and then ground instead Of
being Stacked with water, put in barrels, and care
fully excluded from the air; and Is allowed to
be used that has been ground more than month
The quantity of brick used along the line may he
estimated from the fact, that about 900 900
quired to form a mile of the Aquednct, making a
total Of sbout from s. 900 to 900 900 of brick for
the entire work The other description of material
used for the bridges and arches j. Of course found
in the immediate vicinity Of the works all along the
line, either in large detached Of rock, vari
ously constituted, in the body Of the hills them
selves There ~ not much granite proper used in
the protection walls foundation walls in the
bankmen thrown across ravines, or in the bridges
but the stone used generally contains all the const
tuents Of granite, lviz quartz, felspar and mca,)
varieusly blended. varousy proportional, and Of
different degrees Of texture. Probably the stone
most used is compact species of gneiss; there 10
also much greensboro, and some sienite employed,
and description of rock varying IN its external APP
pearance between the basalt and trap rocks found
in the ncighborhond OF the great Dudley coal
basin in England. Every species of horn-blende
and beautiful specimens of shori, axnie, ART
wedsonite. and every variety of felspar and mica,
met with in blasting the rocks between the dam
and the receiving reservoir.
The nature Of the wark ofthe Aqueduct 10 cant,in
the water may be gathered from the following dia-
gram. which is exact representation Of the
~ in all the open earth cuttings