channels of covered masonry should be constructed, rivaling in extent and magnitude, the boasted aqueducts of antiquity, and casting into shade any kindred works of modern times and that, for these purposes, an expenditure should be incurred, exceeding that ;

which was encountered by our State, when she united the Hudson with the Lakes. And such momentous results were to be obtained, not from the resources and co-operation of an entire people, but through the credit and enterprise of a single city, which, though destined, as we cannot doubt, eventually to equal in population and wealth the proudest

capitals of the civilized world, was to be impelled to the vast effort while yet in the infancy only of her growth and strength !

It is with feelings of pride and joy, we this day realize that the work is achieved. The obstacles have disappeared. The hill has been levelled or pierced, the stream and the valley have been overleaped, the rock has been smitten ! Nature, yielding to human industry, perseverance and skill, no longer withholds the boon she had before denied us. A river, whose pure waters are gathered from the lakes of the mountain-range, arrested and diverted in its course, after pouring its tribute through a permanent and spacious

archway, for more than forty miles, at length reaches our magnificent reservoirs, from

298 CELEBRAION OF THE whence it is conducted by subterranean conduits, extending one hundred and thirty additional miles, throughout the greatest portion of our city. The necessary additions, comparatively not large, are now in rapid progress, which will diffuse the salutary current through every remaining artery and vein of our metropolis, exciting new and healthful pulsations in her system, and spreading comfort, activity, and vigor throughout her entire frame.