In April, 1799, the Manhattan Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, and the object of this Company was declared to be, to supply the city with pure and wholesome water ; but instead of looking for a supply from foreign sources, they resorted to the plan of furnishing the water from wells which they sunk within the city limits. Besides these wells of the Manhattan Company there were others subsequently sunk by the Corporation of the city, as well as by individual enterprise. Some of these wells were of great depth and capacity, having, in some instances, horizontal excavations at a considerable depth below the surface, branching off from the main shaft. Efforts of this kind, however, proved unsatisfactory, and much solicitude was felt by the citizens on account of the scarcity of pure water. On the 17th of March, 1822, the Mayor among other measures suggested by him to the Common Council, brought

to their consideration, the important question of supplying the city with pure and wholesome water, and requested its reference to a Committee, which was accordingly done. The Committee, of which the Mayor was one, proceeded to the principal source of the Bronx River, in the county of Wectchester, known as the Rye Pond. They spent two days, the 20th and 21st of March, in exploring the country adjacent to the River and Sound, and at a meeting of the Common Council, on the first of April, the Mayor, as Chairman of the Committee, made a report of their observations, and recommended an appropriation, with authority to employ a competent engineer to survey and profile the whole line between the city and the main source of the river Bronx, and to ascertain the quantity of water it would afford, and an estimate of the probable cost of completing the project of supplying the city with good and wholesome water from the aforesaid source.