The pride of the town is her water works -- the Campfield -- so-called on account of the reservoir, which is located on an eminence that was undoubtedly the camping ground of the soldiers of a revolutionary fort stationed near by. The water furnished by these works is of a pure quality and in unlimited quantities, pumped from the Peekskill Creek, which takes it rise in Putnam County and flows over a clear gravel bottom down through the mountains, supplied by tributaries from innumerable springs. The works are situated in a romantic ravine about two miles north of the village, from whence, by ponderous pumps, worked by the power of the water on turbine wheels, the supply is forced to a reservoir of 26,000,000 galloons capacity, at an elevation of 376 feet above tide water.
The water furnished by these works, for all practical purposes, is absolutely pure, the microscope having failed to detect impurities in any portions submitted to its tests, while it possesses the peculiar property of cleansing steam boilers from rust, and leaves no deposit in evaporation. The pressure varies in different parts of the town from 100 to 175 lbs. to the square inch, and forces water through a one inch nozzle thirty feet higher than the tallest steeple. In case of fire the danger now is in doing more damage with the water than will be accomplished by the flames. Fire protection is afforded by 75 hydrants so placed that, with few exceptions, all the property in the village is reached.
The works were completed in 1875, and in all respects, viz. : economy in construction ($141,000), quality and quantity of water and substantiability, they will ever remain as an enduring monument to the Board of Water Commissioners under whose supervision they were constructed from plans submitted by Chas.