The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-22

Canal street subway builders are battl-
ing with a problem that is likely to
delay the completion OF this section OF
the Broadway subway and the tube
which Is to be operated under Canal
street. The old canal that ran through
Canal street from the Collect Pond.
which covered the blocks between White.
0ayard. Elm, Pearl and Canal streets has
been encountered and what to do with
the stream Ia an engineering problem.
The engineers have been fighting the
6ubbling stream for many months In an
attempt to dry II up. but so far they
have not succeeded. Every day nearly
20.o00, 900 gallons are pumped out Of the
stream. which has flown under the feet
Of millions Of pedestrians and the thou
sands Of trucks. cars and automobiles
that pass through Canal street or along
Broadway. This many gallons IL about
10 per cent. Of the water consumed In a
day on Manhattan Island. The water
= clear and as cold as II iced.
Where this water goes no one seems
20 know. 1t flows on serenely west and
q y presumed II finds its way into the
Hudson and then into the sea. 1t Is
supposed the water flows into the river
at the foot OF Canal street because boys
swimming in the river of this spot in
summer have often been heard to re-
mark the GOODNESS Of the water and only
the hardest Of the swimmers would
venture near the place.
Collect Pond Is the source OF the
stream or that Is the belief, Origi-
naily, according to the Edison MONTHLY
the pond was drained by stream
which ran through the East Side to the
East River. The East Side OF those
days was not the slum district OF New
York. but probably the best residential
section in the fast growing city. That
the bed Of the stream might be used
for home sites somebody with pull
suggested to the city fathers that the
outlet designed by nature be closed up
ana q new one built through Canal
street west to the Hudson River. The
territory near the proposed outlet was
never expected to amount to much and
that Is why 1t was sent through this
territory. 1t passed through the Lis
penard meadows. which began at Du-
ane street on the south and reached
north to Broome street and from
broadway west to the Hudson River.
The meadows were OF little value.
10 drain the Collect through the
meadows, folks reasoned. was far more
economical than through the East Side,
which at that time was the most val
liable property In the city. Wreck
Brook. which was the name given the
outlet through the East Side and the
one which nature had designed. was
nl1ed in and over 1t dwellings erected.
Lister these were replaced by tene-
monts. and as the brook ran through
what Is now the swamp district many
business buildings and part Of the
Brooklyn Bridge now rest on this
brook. In 1916 part Of the Collect was
Mixed in. But enough space remained
fog the boys and girls OF those days to
skate on in winter and for the angler
70 4lsh in In summer time. 1t was a pop
uler spot and many regretted the re-
claiming Of the pond.
With the brook closed the skaters
followed the canal over to the Hudson
River. under the bridges that carried
Broadway and other streets over the
stream. Not only youths SLATED over
the canal. which ia now giving subway
builders heaps Of trouble but the old
boys Of the days as Well Mayor Daniel
#. Tiemann took enough time from his
duties to glide along on the ice. and let
ecpo ShoW thdt SNVh aitcT his tcI1u ~
Mayor and as late as 1920 he was a
oamiliar figure on the canal during the
winter months.
Along the canal west OF Broadway
W. 30 deserted that those who still
CLING to the field OF honor as the only
place to repair injured feelings wen,
there to practise shooting with pistols
against wood targets. In time a street
was laid out along the canal which was
AAmed Canal street. People Of wealth
ouilt houses along It and the deserted
waterway became one OF the fashionable
streets Of the city. Trees We're planted
along the canal and in summer months
people sat in their shade and enjoyed
the breezes that followed the water.
course.
The city was expanding SO rapidly
that the time came when this waterwa,
and the Collect Pond had to go the way
many other streams to the south hac
gone to make way for progress. An.
other thing. the canal and the pond ha,
10 commercial value. The story is tina