The New York herald., 1875-11-09
HENPSTEAD RESERVOIR.
The Job over Which Brook
lyn Is So Exercised.
HISTORY OF TIE SCHEME.
Vast Scene Of Extravaganza,
Folly and Ruin.
INGENUITY OF THE RING.

The Hampstead reservoir, tho enc stupendous Job
ha. stirs the Indignation Of the Brooklyn community
. lis profoundest depths, promises bring consid
mabe share Of trouble its promoters The details OF
inception construction and general management
will appear the OF this article form the basis
Of OF the complaints in the hands OF the
Attorney General, and which Is expected to be acted
before the end OF the week visit paid yester
day by HERALD reporter the Hampstead,
which about twenty three miles from New York, and
may be reached either by the Garden city the South
side road The plains Of Hampstead like a section
Of prairie land, fat and treeess rhe reservoir
approach gives the impression % a canal under
taking, begun at a time coeval with the pyramids and
left In a satcot incompleton since. Great
Of dirty cOlOred earth lie around confused heaps;
rusty railroad tracks where motonless and decay
ing stand trains OF dirt wagons, give a painful
impression OF neglect and ruin, and yet million and
half OF money have been consumed in this still unhn-
ished enterprise, which, IL seems de-
manded by the necessities Of Brooklyn and was
started solely in the interests Of unprinciplcd
ring more forsaken and dcsolate place it would
ne dincult to find IN all Long Island 1t is in wide,
open plain, with here and there sparse growth Of
scrub trees patches Of marsh land gradually slop
ing 70 a low hne Of hills. Down this almost level
surface
i GREAT EXCAVATION
has been made extending away nearly two miles an
varying in width from l. coo 10 3OO0 feet From the
diam to the distance 81 mile the bottom is covered
with the depth OF from SIX feet to nothing
The bottom slopes upward from the dam until il reache
above the mark, where the st unexcayateN por
fions appear as islands the The sides OF the
reservoir slope downward long and easy angle
and in the vicinity the dam covered with sort
OF coarse rubble. Tho winds have FREQ play on the
and the result deep assures along the
line Of the enbankments which demonstrate as well
the frabe and porous Of the soil The appre-
henson that ais ones mind in viewing the loose knit
character OF the earth atoms is that the water may sink
and disappear some day and itself out Of sight
The reservoir takes in three pondsNichols, divers
and Demott's-and all fed from little stream
called Parsonage Creek, which rises in the hills and
struggles down the valley until il is Incorporated in the
reservoir The soil OF this valley is spongelike in the
readiness with which it yields and absorbs water.
Wherever a bore is made the water bubbles up The
dam the reservoir "A feet wide the top and 12 at
Tie bottom but still far from being finished. The
purpose ostensbly OF Tins incomplete enterprise at
Hampstead to make II storage reservoir, capable
OF holding 600 900 900 gallons Of water, and ample
enough meet al the exgenccs Of dry summer An
engineer, who has been the ground repeatedly,
maintains that scheme Of such proportions
lhis questionable method Of placing Brooklyn beyond
The danger Of a water famine, it was only necessary
lo properly dam some few well known streams whose
supply Of water Is ineLhaustibe. II is held that the
Of Parsonage Creek Ito capture which, it would
seem, this immense excavation contemplated must
now into the Hampstead Reservoir or Smiths Pond,
because their natural channel lies in that direction.
Therefore the only thing needed to improve the
channel Of the aud enlarge the Hampstead Res
Rrvoir and Smiths Pond, which have been doing good
work for years.
After one taxes lesurcly survey Of the new reser
vor he cannot help thinking what
A INDUSTRIOUS IMPOSITION
Il is on the taxpayers The embankmens at the upper
end look like the work % human hands than Of
great mountain U0od that came down into the
valley and tore the ground recklessly before IT, The
very depressing, tho more 50 as one reflects
upon the immense sums OF money that are supposed
10 have been applied 20 the purpose Of building here
grand and permanent basin, to which the citizens OF
Brooklyn might look for limtess supply OF
water Here and there along the banks of the yawn-
ing excavation some weather beaten houses where
workmen lived, and there arc some od mill buildings
within the reservoir on the unexcavated ground on
ahe muck land, which the contractors pretended
terribly hard TO excayate though i consisted of
only few inches deep Of sticky soil everything sub
stratum or gravel engines and machinery stand all
silent and dccaying. Not FAR OF is Hampstead village,
through which the stream that supplies the
yoir flows II i feeble in volume and dirty in color,
and Its character Is not improved by being made 10
carry OF the wash Of the viliage.
HISTORY or THE SCHEME.
Tho scheme ior increasing the supply Of water for
The city Of Brooklyn was commenced in 1869, when
A. l.
sea Water Board Commissioners. A Mr. Mcdonald
in 1869 superintendent OF Ponds and Conduits He
made affidavit before the Committee Fifty that william
- Kingsley told him the previous year that
reservoir TO be built, that he Kingsley would
have tho contract and would give hun (McDonadl a
piece Of the work He testified that Moses Lane would
be removed engineer and Colonel Adams appointed
IN mis- place. Both 81 those events occurred
tie further swears that ID 1869 water was al
lowed escape parposely, and that brother n-law
Of Kingsley told him that he instructed 70 let the
water how away and lover the ponds, because the
Mayor and Common Council were coming out make
inspection with reference the necessity OF fur
ther supply Mcdonald related the circumstances or
the deception and discharged for doing. This
exposure stopped the scheme Tor another year In lS1O
Mr. +. j. Iowber became member OF the Water Board,
and the water famine recommended. Kings
ey Keeney, the subsequent contractors had also be
principal proprictors or the Brooklyn Edgte, Of
which Kinsela former Water Commissioner,
made editor Between the would be contractors and
heir associate editor regular campaign gotten up
alarm the people with reference to the scarcity Of
Eater. Day AFTER day in1ammatory appeals we're made
through the columns Of that paper warning the people
against the extra OF wafer, and property
and insurance companies 10 the possibilities Of
nagraiions. orders issued from the Water Board
Department like the following
GETTING Up A SCARE
PERaAsEsT BOARD OF WATER J
SEWERAGE COMMssIONKRS
CRY ALI. BAOOKLYS. Feb. I3, 1871,
The public hereby notified that a;ter the 18th inst the
oi the main reservoir hdgewood will be closed
ten o'clock r. NJ and opened at a. NJ every dag until FUR
ther notice Inspectors ia each district viii examine all tho
fixtures "a the houses their district a
~ the 0ire penalty attached
water will be rightly enforced in all cases