Year: 1875

children had not enjoyed moments health from that
hour The water they obliged TO drink bad,
drawn Il from the spring or stream which was
short distance from his house and on the hillside
above t. The lake itself al this point and IA his Judg
ment for somc miles around was poisonous IL was
ltte more than marsh, malarious and oftentmes
sinking His wife and children had been laid up with
YRvER AND AGuE


all summer and fall, and although he had not been
taken down with is himself he had never feft well
since first he had the misfortune 70 put his foot
in the "cursed place. He could not afford TO move
away until spring because he was too poor but he
might as we'll for all the good he was able 20 do, owing
70 the expense entailed upon him by the I'll health
Of his family. He knew that the place OF the
worst IN the country Notwithstanding that IL was the
6oasted Croton Lake that fed New York with water
He would not drink any OF IL for the feo simple OF tho
house IN which he then lived He could not say that
other persons in the nclghborhood suffered he had
done could he tell whether they had been stricken
with any OF the malarous disorders Of the region but
he supposed that was they had been raised there
and accustomed 10 the atmosphere Al all events,
there was good reason for the condition Of the lake.
You sir y said he ''the whole stretch Of water
or whatever you Ike to call H. from this Wood Bridge,
is little better than a marsh II is full OF miserable
weed banks and stagnant water OF course the water
runs down 70 the aqueduct and dam, but Il il does it
Doesn't seem TO bulge Then, again, look at all the
dirty little drains and streams that flow into every
lew rods and The filthy muck which settle in and
around those weedy Islands Not Of them il good
for anything They are choked here and there with
stun that comes down the hills from Bedford station,
Bedals Mills and every shanty and farmhouse along
the stream am going % get out Of i as soon as l





Lake, indeed FINE water the people Of
New new YORK get out Of T. Il they
within fun view Of Pne's Bridge, which is only little
more than mile from the mouth Of the aqueduct
aud short distance above the hotel boarding houses
ana hhe residences on the southeastern shore OF
Croton Lake The mans statement borne out by
his own appearance. He looked like who was
Then victim to fever and ague. His lips were blue
MS iace iv!d, and he dragged his limbs after him
ono would who had just risen from bed Of sickness.
Neither he nor his wife had had the fever and ague
/ "A he AS
| TOO willing to leave il II he could


BRIDGE


| From the group OF islands 70 Wood Bridge nearly
opposite 70 Whitlock station on the New York and
Harlem Railroad, Croton Lake but a short dis
IL is OF the same character until ID reaches the
junction OF the Cross and Croon rivers its head waters
principal feeders There, of course owing to tho
rapidity OF The current all these imperfecons dsap.
pear only TO be met with, however at Katonah again
Al Katonah the Cross River winds round a south
westerly direction and its banks built many OF
the houses OF that village The water loses It's char
actcr here and becomes in places greenish poor
again Naturally enough, drains and rivulcts tainted
with the filth OF dwellings, flow into it and help
destroy s purity. But II is present purpose fol
low up tho limo Of tho Croton River which to bo
found the worst instances of nuisance occasioned by
the erection of prives and slaughter houses very
banks. The river above Kaonah and becomes
nothing more than country stream Of respectable
dimensions winding through meadows, between hills
around farm yards, fed and again by drains into
which poured daily If not hourly the cleanngs OF
stables, pens and houses 1t is active, swiftly flow
ing current between Katonah and Purdys station
receiving at Golden's Bridge station fresh mpurity





runs into at this point and also from dirty little
dixie such as might and may have been cut TO drain
the lands about IL known Plum Brook AT Purdy's
station, however, the Croton River is subjected 10
new trial. which. while il may not be directly posi-
tive nuisance is partially such. This is condensed
only 'Hows Condensed Milk Shop" and
while IL is doubtless a model of its class in
cleanliness actually on the banks or the Croton
River, II contributes in small degree its quota OF
refuse and dirt to infect the stream From this point
TO Croton Fallsa couple OF miles higher up the road





through the county, and is fed by nnumerabe rivuets
which are nothing more or less than drains or sewers
for the few houses along their shores.


wmTLocK's SLAUGHTER HOUSE.


At Croton Falls perhaps of the worst samples OF
these abuses found TheCroton River, which, as has
been SAID before, is the main tributary 10 the great
reservoir whence is drawn the water which is drunk
the city OF New York by hundreds of thousands who
nnocently believe that is the purified flow OF many
springs rising the mountains OF Westchester and
Putnam countess wends It's way down gently sloping
bed, skired on either side by low, marshy meadows,
footing steep hills banks surmounted by farm
and squatters' dwellings, toward Purdy's station,
where is the condensed milk shop ruled by
William Hows. AT the falls, however, OF
the most poisonous pestholes sands-WhitIock's
slaughter house 1t lis situated on low promontory
which juts out into the water course intcrruptng
passage and checking its tendency southwark This
little cape akin to the many others before described
has for foundation few roots stumps and gravel
and has by nature been made nothing than q
kind OF repository for vegetable matter and general
fuse washed from the outhouses and prives borne
Lhther by the bubbng waters OF the streamet to fas
! ter and decay In the hot summer months under the
suns rays that pour down between the nls all day
long In fptid mass it lies Just the front
OF Whitlocks slaughter house, and is saturated daily
by the and drip from the hog pens and blood
shoots rising gradually above H. The result Is that tho
watersds is nothing less than swamp OF decomposing
and decomposed filth, laved oy the river
which bears momentarily onward toward Croton Lake
particles OF corruption and muck to poison the liquid
and impair It's drinkcrs health.


Nothing can be more easily understood than dia-
gram, accurate ground plan OF Whitloek's
slaughter houses OIL the river bank at Croton Falls is
herO furnished