Brown's plan was to dam the Bronx about half a mile below Williams's Bridge. Calculating, however, that the elevation the Bronx at that point was not sufficient to admit of drawing the of water to the city by natural fall, he proposed that it should be raised to the requisite height by pumping machinery. Mr. Weston fully indorsed the Bronx project, but thought that " the Bronx is sufficiently elevated above the highest parts of the city to introduce its waters therein without the use of machinery." (Mr. Weston, however, favored damming the Bronx at a northern point.! In addition, with far-seeing calculation, he advised the conversion of " Little Rye Pond " and " Big Rye Pond " into reservoirs by building a dam six feet high, and the conducting of their water in an open canal to the Harlem River, " that stream to be crossed by a cast-iron cylinder of two feet diameter, with a descent of eight feet." The common council, accepting the Bronx idea, applied to the legislature for authority to carry it into execution, but at this stage private interest stepped in and thwarted the whole underaking. The artful Aaron Burr was at that time seeking a banking privilege from the legislature, and, as an indirect means to his end, proposed to organize a water supply company, suited to the needs of the city, whose surplus capital should be employed in banking operations. Moreover, various eminent citizens, among whom was Alexander Hamilton, were skeptical as to the practicability of raising the money necessary for the Bronx enterprise as a public policy. The movement ended in the organization of the so-called k' Manhattan Company,'' in which the city vested the sole right of procuring and furnishing an additional water supply. This company was empowered to draw water from Westchester County, but it contented itself with sinking a large well in the city and distributing its contents to customers.