New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-12
WOULD TAP LAKE ONTARIO
To Pine Water Here Would Cost
$500 100000.

Under date of December the following letter
which explains ITSELF was sent by 4. Farhliy
Brown of No. 500 5th-ave. this city. to the New
York State Water Commission at Newburg, N l.:
Gentlemen: 1 respectfully submit the following
ing considered for New-York City: 49,.
tenn Of aqueducts with Lake Ontario, thereby sup
plying NewYork City with an me- necsity for
dams and for the condemnation OF large tracts oa
land for watersheds. Two large items Of expense
The water could conveniently be taken from
duct being eStendsd miles out into the ak IS
through the Mohawk Valley to Troy, ana ,ar to
down the Hudson Valley. east OF the rEet +iion 9
along the route would be comparatively ineXPen-
sve. the calciferous sandstone ana ch fl+ tha
the eozoic rock through which the Crotoh s4ueuu1'
From Lake Ontario at Oswego by the route sug-
gested It is some three hundred miles 10 N.Y. ttdc
water the fall would be about eight inches to the
mile, and the flow about one mile an hour: ba
laid along this route from Lake ontario, $50 5000
gor e ~ Three such a9ueducts Would cost about
81 100000 per mile or $3O00000O0 for the three nun.
fT Fsf at e cost Of Gne abo aGh o and the add
toha aqueducts could be added in twenty-five ana
city over $5OG0050 of the $61 10000 estimated for
about seven feet in diameter, cost $259,o0o mile
the fall beng about one f9ot to the n' anu be me
6000O.OG6 gallons a Gay. 49,. tor+r
other Te cities and villages. besides NeYork City
be supplied at an annual charge that Will pay
system and still save these cities % per cent of
their present e1pend fSr @ Gallons Of water
flows daily down the St Lawrence from Lake on.
miles wide and is supplied with pure water by
Niagara Falls. and about one thousand rivers and
! system of aqueducts would divert less than one
half of per cent Of the water from the St Law
Lake ONTARIO is 500 feet deep. and contains 100
taking into consideration the enormous difference
with overflow. That from Lake Champlain which
is far from New-York Lake Ontario, would
ha9f supply Ncw-York City with water - its
present CONSUMPTION, while the overflow from Lake
George would not supply quarter this amount
If thought expedient trolley road and also an
aque5uct. These would more than pay the inter
. est on New-Yorl. Citys share Of the expenditure
ply without cost. and furnishing a sinking fund
by making water charges at present and leasing
the trolley road to a corporation or running 1t by
The present advance in the art of concrete con-
cavated, which otherwise would be wasted in con-
structing the tubes rendering brick at the present
high price unnecessary.
After reading E. Parrnly Browns letter H G.
Murray. secretary of the Department Of Water
Supply, said that the scheme to supply New-York
with water from the lakes was not q new one
but that it absolutely impractical for many
reasons, chiefly, however, because the city has no
power 10 spend the amount of money necessary to
carry out such big project He said:
The special act Of the legislature, Chapter "a of
the Laws of 1905, prevents us from doing anything
Of the kind We are not allowed to operate east of
the Hudson River, so we had to cross the river
and take the next best place. which is Ulster
County. where spending about
S161.O05600 for the storage and flter4ng plants
Mr.. Murray said that sane, intelligent, competent
engineers, like Professor ". H Burr and John
Freeman, both consulting engineers OF the depart
mept, and Chief Engineer j. Waldo Smith had
gone over the entire ground several times and had
decided that the best plan 10 assure proper Supply
of water 10 New-York was the one already being
carried out.