which leave the house E, and passing along, connect with those from
the house F, and thence the pipes continue along 80th street and the
5th Avenue to the Distributing Reservoir. A vault within the west bank
accommodates the pipe which leads from the house H, and intersects
the one from G, passing out at 81st street; thus in this street a pipe
draws from the southern division at G, and a branch of it passing along
within the vault draws from the northern division at H.
Provision has been made on the east side of the Reservoir for supplying
that part of the city when it becomes necessary.
At present there are two pipes leading from this to the Distributing
Reservoir, each 3 feet interior diameter, and they are arranged that
both may draw from the southern division, or one from that, and one
from the northern division. The pipes are placed at a level below the
bottom of the division from which they draw: the bottom of the interior
of those from the southern division being 2 feet below, and that of
those from the northern 5 feet below.
The exterior walls of this Reservoir present a face of _rough-hammered_
masonry, finished in a manner to give them neatness and durability.
As a specimen of mechanical work, this Reservoir will not bear a
comparison with the lower, or Distributing Reservoir, yet the sheet of
water it presents, renders it an object of perhaps greater interest.
This beautiful lake of pure water resting upon the summit of the Island
is truly a pleasing object, and considering its size, is what no other
city can boast of having within its limits.
The Distributing Reservoir is situated on the west side of the 5th
Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets; it is two miles from the
Receiving Reservoir, and about three miles from the City-Hall.
[Illustration: XXIV
_F. B. Tower._ _Napoleon Gimbrede. sc._
DISTRIBUTING RESERVOIR.]
The question may naturally be asked, why this Reservoir was built,
when the receiving one, of such great capacity, is so near at hand? The
reason for building it, was to obtain an efficient head of water near
to the densely populated parts of the city, and had the formation of
the island been favorable, the Receiving Reservoir would undoubtedly
have been located farther down, bringing the store of water more nearly
in the centre of the city.
Plate XXIV. is an isometrical view of the Distributing Reservoir
showing the front on the 5th Avenue and on 42nd street.
The pipes which leave the Receiving Reservoir follow along the 5th
Avenue until they reach 42nd street, where they turn and enter the
Distributing Reservoir at the base of the central pilaster in that
street, which in the drawing is shown on the right hand side. The
pipes enter at the bottom of the Reservoir and the flow of water is
regulated by _stop-cocks_: the door in the pilaster affords an entrance
to the vault where these _stop-cocks_ are situated. The Reservoir is
divided into two separate divisions by a wall. It is designed to have
three pipes, each 3 feet diameter, to lead from the Receiving to the
Distributing Reservoir and arrangements are made to discharge water
from two of them into one division of the Distributing Reservoir at
a time, or the water may be divided into an equal supply for both
divisions.
On the south side of the Reservoir a pipe of 3 feet diameter leaves
each division and they are arranged with branches so as to draw from
one or both divisions. The house standing across the division wall
is directly over the mouth of the effluent pipes, and is constructed
like those at the Receiving Reservoir, with a gate and screen frame
of timber. The central pilaster on 40th street has an entrance (like
that on 42nd street) to the vault where the _stop-cocks_ are situated
which regulate the discharge from the Reservoir. The pipes leave the
Reservoir at the base of this pilaster and from 40th street, curve into
the 5th Avenue, which they pursue until they reach a convenient point
for diverging to the densely populated parts of the city.
This Reservoir is 420 feet square on the top, measuring on the cornice
of the main wall; it is 425 feet square at the top of the cornice of
the pilasters, and 436 feet square at the base, measuring from outside
to outside of the corner pilasters, covering a little over four acres.
The height of the walls is 45 feet above the streets around, and about
50 feet above the foundations.
The water is 36 feet deep when it reaches the level designed for its
surface (which is 4 feet below the top of the walls) and the surplus,
when the Reservoir is full, passes into a well in the division wall and
is conducted by a sewer in 42nd street to the Hudson River, which is
one mile distant.
The Reservoir is calculated to hold 20,000,000 gallons.
The outside walls are constructed with openings in them so that by
entering the door on 42nd street one may walk entirely around the
Reservoir within the walls. One object of this arrangement is to obtain
the greatest breadth with a given quantity of material; another is
to afford an opportunity to examine the work so as to guard against
leakage; and another, to prevent any moisture finding its way through
to the exterior so as to cause injury to the wall by the action of
frost. This kind of open work of the wall rises to within about 8 feet
of top water line. Inside of these walls an embankment of puddled
earth is formed with suitable breadth of base to give security to the
work, and the face of this earth next to the water is covered with a
wall of hydraulic masonry 1¼ foot thick. The top of the embankment
is covered with stone flagging, forming a walk around the top of the
Reservoir. The bottom of the Reservoir has a covering of concrete 1
foot thick; thus when it is empty there will be seen two basins having
the sides and bottom formed of masonry.
A section of the wall of one side of the Reservoir, including the
embankment, is 17 feet wide at the top, 35 feet wide 16 feet below
the top, and 76 feet wide at the bottom: the cornice projects on the
outside and the coping on the inside so as to make the width of the
top 21 feet. An iron railing bounds the outside and inside of the walk
around the top.
The outside of the Reservoir is built on a slope of one sixth its
height, or two inches to the foot, and an Egyptian cornice projects at
the top of the main walls and the pilasters.
At the entrance on the 5th Avenue a stairway leads up to the top of the
Reservoir.
Terraces are built around at the foot of the walls and covered with
grass, giving a rich finish to the work.
This Reservoir may be considered the termination of the Croton
Aqueduct, and is distant from the _Fountain Reservoir_ on the Croton,
forty and a half miles.
The whole cost of the work, exclusive of the pipes in the city below
the Distributing Reservoir, is about 9,000,000 dollars. Adding to this
the cost of pipes and arrangements for distributing the water in the
city, will make the _total cost of supplying the city of New-York with
water about 12,000,000 dollars_.[7]
The water was introduced into the Distributing Reservoir on the 4th of
July, 1842, and the event was hailed by the citizens of New-York with
an interest scarcely less than that pervading the whole American people
at the remembrance of the event, the anniversary of which, was on that
day celebrated.
At an hour when the firing of guns and the ringing of bells had
aroused but few from their slumbers, and ere the rays of the morning
sun had gilded the city domes, the waters of the Croton gushed up
into the Reservoir and wandered about its bottom as if to examine the
magnificent structure; or to find a resting place in the _temple_
towards which they had made a pilgrimage.
The national flag floated out from each corner of the Reservoir,
and during the day thousands of the citizens visited it giving
demonstrations of joy and satisfaction at the accomplishment of this
great work.
The 14th of October following was set apart as a day for the
celebration of the introduction of the water into the city: and it was
an occasion of unrestrained enthusiasm and joy. Multitudes came in from
the country around, and from sister cities:--all business was laid
aside for the pleasing ceremonies of the day, and the Croton water,
with the beauty and grandeur of its fountains, met with a welcome which
showed that its value was appreciated.
The advantages, the comforts and blessings of this supply of pure water
will be appreciated as the city extends the means for its use, and
the time is not distant when she will regard it as a treasure which
was cheaply purchased, and will proudly point to the noble work which
she has achieved not only as an example of her munificence, but as an
illustration of what _art_ and _science_ can accomplish.
With cleanly streets, and the public parks beautified with the
fountains which send forth cooling and refreshing vapours upon the
air, the citizens will forget to leave the city during the warm
months of summer, and the _sea-shore_, the _mountain-tops_, and
_watering-places_, will fancy their beauty has faded, since they cease
to be visited.
The foreigner who visits this country will find the Croton Aqueduct an
interesting specimen of our _public works_, and will be pleased with a
pedestrian tour along the line of work to the Fountain Reservoir among
the hills of the Croton. Besides becoming acquainted with the important
features of the work, he may enjoy much that is beautiful in American
scenery. In his course along the Aqueduct he may see the majestic
palisades which for a distance _wall_ the right bank of the Hudson;
he may view the Tappan and Haverstraw bays with their ever-varying
scenery, and the dark gorge where the Hudson emerges from the Highlands
with its white bosom.
Along the Aqueduct there are also many picturesque scenes where the
mountain stream leaps among the rocks in the deep ravine which guides
its course to the Hudson.
The country is interesting also from the associations with which it has
been invested by the pen of our novelists. The region of the Croton
where the Fountain Reservoir is formed, is a part of the district where
the scene of the “Tale of the Neutral Ground” is laid; and one may
fancy there the figure of Harvey Birch, beneath his _pondrous pack_,
casting a shadow at night along the moon-lit slopes.
Leaving the valley of the Croton we come out upon the Hudson at the
head of the “_great waters of the Tappan Zee_,” beyond which the early
inhabitants of _New-Amsterdam_ dared not to voyage without first
“settling their family affairs, and making their wills.”
As we approach Tarrytown we find the localities which were pictured
in the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and easily recognize the Old Dutch
Church near which the affrighted Ichabod Crane was so sadly unhorsed by
the headless Hessian. We find in this vicinity also, the place noted as
the “_spot where the unfortunate ‘Andre’ was captured_.”
Besides the romantic and diversified scenery of the Hudson which is in
view from the line of Aqueduct, the visitor may find highly cultivated
grounds and delightful country seats, and among them that of our
distinguished countryman, Washington Irving, where he sought a rural
retirement for his literary pursuits. But it is unnecessary to speak
further of the objects which are calculated to interest the visitor
to this part of the country: we would only invite the stranger who
visits the city of New-York to go forth and visit her noble Aqueduct:
when he has become acquainted with the magnitude and grandeur of its
construction, then he may turn aside for prospects to admire and
incidents to interest.
APPENDIX.
BY CHARLES A. LEE, M. D.
WATER.
(_Chiefly compiled from the works of Thomson, Pereira, Whewell and
others._)
Water was regarded by the ancients as an elementary substance, and as
a constituent of most other bodies. This opinion was somewhat modified
by the experiments of Van Helmont and Mr. Boyle, who maintained that it
could be changed into all vegetable substances, as well as into earth;
but it was substantially held until the middle of the last century,
(1781,) when Mr. Cavendish proved that this liquid was a compound of
oxygen and hydrogen.
NATURAL HISTORY. _In the inorganized kingdom._
Water is very generally diffused over the surface of the globe, forming
seas, lakes, and rivers; it is mechanically disseminated among rocks,
constitutes an essential part of some minerals, and always exists to
a greater or less extent, in the atmosphere. In the air, water is
formed in two states; as a _vapor_ (which makes about one-seventieth
by volume, or one one-hundredth by weight of the atmosphere) it is
supposed to be the cause of the blue color to the sky; and in a
_vesicular form_, in which state it constitutes the clouds. Terrestrial
water forms about three-fourths of the surface of the terraqueous
globe. The average depth of the ocean is calculated at between two and
three miles. Now as the height of dry land above the surface of the sea
is less than two miles, it is evident, that if the present dry land
were distributed over the bottom of the ocean, the surface of the globe
would present a mass of waters a mile in depth. On the supposition
that the mean depth of the sea is not greater than the fourth part
of a mile, the solid contents of the ocean would be 32,058,939 cubic
miles (_Thomson’s Chemistry_.) The quantity of water mechanically
disseminated through rocks, which serve merely as a natural reservoir
for the time, must be, in the aggregate, very considerable, though
it is impossible to form any very accurate estimate of it. Even in
those rocks which merely supply springs, the amount of disseminated
water must be enormous; for they so far resemble filters, that are
necessarily charged with the fluid before they permit it to pass
out. De La Beche has advanced the opinion that capillary attraction
has great power, both in mechanically disseminating water among
rocks, and in retaining it in them when so disseminated, and that it
therefore keeps them, to a certain extent, saturated with moisture, and
assists in promoting a more equal flow of water in springs. Capillary
attraction and gravity probably carry water down far beyond those
situations where it can be returned in springs, at least cold springs,
for there are certain circumstances connected with those which are
thermal, which go to prove, that the water thrown up by them may have
percolated to considerable depths. It is very evident that most rocks
contain disseminated moisture, for there are few which, when exposed
to heat, do not give water. Sulphate of lime, for example, or plaster
of paris, contains about 20 per cent., and common serpentine, as much
as 15 per cent. of it. Soap-stone has 4 per cent., and even quartz 2
per cent. of water, in their composition. This fluid exists in minerals
either as _water of crystallization_, or combined as a _hydrate_.
But though water is thus generally diffused over the surface of the
globe, yet it is not found perfectly pure in any place; even the
rain and the snow that descend from the clouds, the condensation, as
it were, of a natural distillation, are slightly tainted by saline
matters; which circumstance can only arise from the great solvent
power of water enabling it to take up a portion of most substances
with which it comes into contact, in its natural condition. In many
lakes, and in the ocean, the quantity of saline matter is so great as
to render it unfit for diluent purposes; but, when sea-water freezes,
the saline impregnations are deposited; and the ice affords fresh
water. In the state in which water is generally employed as a diluent,
its impregnations are in small quantity, and not usually sufficient
either to dim its transparency, or to give it color, smell, or taste,
and consequently to render it unfit for the ordinary purposes of life.
Water, therefore, which is transparent, colorless, inodorous, and
tasteless, is called _good_ and _pure_, and none other can be called
such; though some medical writers are of opinion, that it is not
necessary it should be in this pure state for common use. Such opinion
however is undoubtedly erroneous--
II. _In the organized kingdom._ Water enters largely into the
composition of organic substances. It constitutes, at least, four
fifths of the weight of the animal tissues, being the source of their
physical properties, extensibility and flexibility. This water is
not chemically combined in them: for it is gradually given off by
evaporation, and can be extracted at once by strong pressure between
blotting-paper. When deprived of its water, animal matter becomes
wholly insusceptible of vitality; except in the case of some of the
lower animals, which, as well as some plants, revive when again
moistened. According to Chevreul, pure water alone can reduce organized
substances to this state of softness; although salt water, alcohol,
ether, and oil, are also imbibed by dry animal textures. Moist animal
tissues, by virtue of their porosity, allow soluble matters, which
come into contact with them, to be dissolved by the water which they
contain, and which oils their pores: if the matters are already in
solution, they are imparted by their solutions to the water of the
tissues. Gaseous substances are taken up in the same way. Water exists
in nearly as large a proportion in vegetable as in animal substances.
_Properties._ Pure water, as has already been stated, is a transparent
liquid without color, taste, or smell. Some have doubted whether it
is entirely inodorous, from the fact that the camel, and some other
animals, can scent water to a considerable distance, and also whether
it can be called colorless, as all large masses of water have a
bluish-green color. This phenomenon is, however, probably owing to the
presence of foreign matters. It refracts light powerfully, is a slow
conductor of heat, when its internal movements are prevented, and an
imperfect conductor of electricity. It is almost incompressible, a
pressure equal to 2000 atmospheres occasioning a diminution of only
one-ninth of its bulk; or, when submitted to a compressing force
equal to 30,000 lbs. on the square inch, 14 volumes of this fluid are
condensed into 13 volumes; proving that it is elastic. Water being the
substance most easily procured in every part of the earth in a state
of purity, it has been chosen by universal consent, to represent the
unit of the specific gravity of all solid and liquid bodies. A cubic
inch of water at 60° Fah. weighs 255.5 grains; so that this fluid is
about 815 times heavier than atmospheric air, but being the standard
to which the weight of all other substances is referred, its specific
weight is said to be 1. Accordingly when we say that the specific
gravity of a body is _two_ we mean that it weighs twice as much as
the same volume of water would do. Water unites with both acids and
bases, but without destroying their acid or basic properties. Thus
the crystallized vegetable acids, tartaric, citric, and oxalic, are
atomic combinations of water with acids. Caustic potash (potassa fusa)
and slaked lime may be instanced as compounds of water, and basic
substances; these are therefore called _hydrates_. The crystallized
salts, such as alum, common salt, sulphate of soda, sulphate of
magnesia, borate of soda, (borax,) &c., contain a large amount of
water as a chemical constituent, called water of crystallization. Water
rapidly absorbs some gases, as ammonia, fluoride of boron, &c., but it
is neither combustible, nor, under ordinary circumstances, a supporter
of combustion.
_Composition._ The composition of water is determined both by analysis
and synthesis. If this liquid be submitted to the influence of a
volcanic battery, it is decomposed into two gases, namely one volume
of oxygen and two volumes of hydrogen. These gases, in the proportions
just mentioned, may be made to recombine, and form water by heat,
electricity, or spongy platinum, as water consists of one equivalent of
hydrogen, 1 and one of oxygen, 8 = 9; and in volume, of one volume of
hydrogen, and half a volume of oxygen, condensed into aqueous vapor or
steam we can easily calculate the specific gravity of steam, for its
density will be, .0689 (Sp. gr. of hydrogen) + .5512 (half the Sp. gr.
of oxygen) = .6201.
_Water as affected by the laws of Heat._
As the extensive and important functions which water discharges in
the economy of nature, depend mainly on the manner in which it is
affected by the laws of heat, a few remarks on this subject may not be
inappropriate to this place.
Heat is communicated through water in a different manner, from that
observed in relation to solids, for it is not _conducted_ as in them,
from one particle to another, but carried with the parts of the fluid
by means of an intestine motion. Water expands and becomes lighter
by heat, and therefore it is, that if the upper portion of water be
cooled below the lower, the former descends, and the latter rises to
take its place. Thus a constant counter-current is kept up, and the
whole body of water has to cool down to near the freezing point, before
congelation can take place. This equalization of temperature, moreover,
takes place much more rapidly, than it would do in a solid body; hence
alternations of heat and cold, as day and night, summer and winter,
produce in water, inequalities of temperature much smaller than those
which occur in a solid body.