Disbrow proposed to supply the city by an Artesian well and reservoir in each ward. But, inasmuch as the product of these wells is limited, even supposing, what is by no means certain, that the multiplication of them at different levels would not diminish the supply, and drain the sources of the more shallow to the deeper perforations, it seemed obvious that the cost of such an enterprise, taken in connection with the uncertainty of the result as to the adequate supply, forbade the undertaking. Nevertheless, the Corporation caused various perforations to be made in the public markets, and in Jacob-street, in the Swamp. In this last, at the depth of 128 feet, a mineral water was obtained, unfit for domestic purposes ; but which, for a time, was

supposed or represented, to possess valuable medicinal qualities. After so many years of fruitless resolutions, enquiry, and experiments, in March, 1829, the first positive step towards something like action on the part of the Corporation, was taken on the recommendation of the Fire Department. More than $600,000 of property, had, in the preceding year, been destroyed by fire ; mainly because of the difficulty of procuring water. And in consequence, a report made by Alderman Samuel Stevens, in favor of the establishment of a well and reservoir in Fourteenth-street, whence water might be distributed, was accepted and acted upon. In that Report, Mr. Stevens says :

Various Institutions have been chartered for the purpose of bringing water into the city, but none have as yet evercomplied with the main object of their charter, so far as the public was interested and the Committee remark, that similar incorporations of ;