Newbern weekly progress., 1859-12-06

to flood the building at short notice, His whole
premises are lighted with gas made the
grounds; and can be watered at pleasure, by an
apparatus force pump through which flows a
bountltul supply of pure water. was met at the
outer gate by two servants who declined to admit
me, stating that Mr.. Bennett had 10 adopt this
rigid course account of the great annoyance
inflicted on him by hundreds of the curious from
the city. however insisted that / had heard
flf1elE0k PIE, mad a1oni,@
and handing my card to the servant bid him take
it to Mr.. B. The servant soon returned and in
vited me in on approaching the mansion I was
met by Mr.. Bennett. who kindly requested me
either to walk or drive through the grounds.
cepted his invitation; and had both drive and
walk. Mr.. Bennett is gentleman quite above
the ordinary size. His hair quite gray, and his
manner and general bearing quite gentlemanly.
He seems to be about so years of age. His man
sion and grounds are worth about one hundred
thousand dollars. The Right Rev. Bishop Ives,
formerly Bishop of your State lives here in fine
style. He is professor in a college for making
Catholic Priests. Ex-Mayor Wood, and Mayor
Tieman both live on the road to this place.
The next object of general interest to me, was
This Bridge was commenced in 1899 and finished
in I64S. 1t spans the Harlem river. The
cost is one million dollars and it is perhaps the
most durable structure of the kind to be found in
this country. Across this bridge two iron
pipes. each SO inches in diameter, for conveying
the water from Croton River across the Har-
lem into the city. The length of the aqueduct
by which the water is brought from the Croton
| 1Sl1 1nA
mile. The size of the acqueduct is q feet high
and u feet wide; arched at the top. and inverted
arch at the bottom. The Lake at Croton river is
6 feet deep and contains at one time FIVE hundred
million gallons water, thirty-ive millions of which
passes over the High Bridge" daily into the
city, and is thence distributed through the vari-
streets, through pipes reaching 262 miles, and
varying in size from 10 to SO inches.
The water is drawn off once year to make an
examination of the acqneduct; persons passing
through this under ground road for 3o miles. The
entire cost of the acqueduct is eight and half
millions of dollars, including the purchase of the
| land and the whole work cost some thirteen mil
lions of dollars. Receipts for water rents annual
| ly about eight hundred thousand dollars interest
on Croton debt some six hundred thousand dol
lars Expense of distribution and repairs about
oae hundred and twenty thousand dollars an
nually. Present water debt some nine million
dollars. First years receipts for water rents, in
1912, was thirty two thousand and tfty-three dol
lars and scventy-tour cents. and this year it is
over eight hundred thousand dollars.
The present capacity of the reservoir is not
sufficient to meet the increasing wants of this
| large population, and the Commissioners are now
engaged in building at the Central Park an addi-
tional reservoir which will contain l06 acres of
ground.
After lingering a time at High Bridge and
| feasting the eyes the grandeur of this power
fu structure we took drive to = Kings Brdge.'
This Bridge is the line between New York;
and /" "Westchester'' counties, and is distant IA
miles from the Battery 1t is also famous for its
revolutionary associations On our way to King 5
Bridge" we passed the celebrated g Bell Tav-
ern' in which Gen. Washington once lived. This
is rough stone house of small sze and con
trasts strangel Y enough with the present NAM
| mouth houses used for hotel purposes. This
whole Island of Manhattan is being rapidly I'M
proved, and in the next half century the beau
/ tiful country of '' hill and d.!e,'' woodland and
silvery rvuiet, with its romantic and classic as
sociations, will all have to give place to the stern
necessities of an overgrown population; and
where now is heard the song of wild birds, as
they move from bough to bow in their mnreStrict-
ed carrollings then will be heard the cnk Of the
| hammer and other sounds indicative of teem-
ing busy population, instinct with life and ener-
gy and eager for the accumulation of worldly
| goods
The Central Park " of this City is work of
gre It importance, and promises to be place of
moe than ordinary interest, not only to oar own
citizens, but to the whole Republics and indeed
to persons from all parts Of the world who visit
our City, either for business or pleasure. This
| Park will contain $50 acres of land and with the
exceptou of . Boisde Bolounge, in France, it
will be the largest Park in the world.
| The length of the Park is p miles by width
of half mile. The roads for carriage drives
! give a length OF 10 miles, on which equestfians
| o1c 10 fI,air Hlo,
there is road exclusively for equestrians which
reaches some 9 or 10 miles. For pedestrians,
there are walks which it is difficult to give
an approximating idea of their length There is
also - Ramble " of 40 acres, which is beautiful
| ly shaded and gravelled and is the most coy
place you have ever seen. Ladies' and gentlemen
promenade through these grounds, and converse
on various topics of the day, always being care
full not to mention lore, poetry, or romance There
is also parade ground of 80 acres, and several
play grounds for children embracing some 80 o.
| IS acres
There is spccial, and rather e1cluSire promo
made of of a mile long, beautifully shaded with
four rows of elm trees, designed for those who de-
sire TO keep out of the way of the who fire.
quent the "ramble." There is grand water
- terrace - at the end of the promenade There
are great many transverse roads which are used
for commercial, and other purposes, for heavy
Wagons, drays, &c, &c. These at the crossings
are always under the pleasure roads as to avoid
collisions, The skating pond for ladies and gen
tlemen has 20 acres On the grounds of this Park
there is at present engaged 29G0 hands exclusive
of the corps of engineers and board of commits
sioners. The present commission for directing
this mammouth work. which was created by the
State Legislature in 1887, has yet two years be-
fore them; but the final completion of the work
will require some to years more. Up to the
first day of last July, the expense for work reach
ed the amount of one million and fifty thousand
dollars, and the purchase of lands from private
individuals amounted to five and half millions
of dollars, The original amount allowed by the