Home / Tower, Fayette B. Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1843. / Passage

Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct

Tower, Fayette B. Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1843. 321 words

of the pipes, and from this wall the table land on the northern shore and the slope of the northern side of the valley, would be excavated to a form to give the proper position to the pipes descending from the Aqueduct. The lowest level of the top of this stone embankment was designed to be 4 feet above flood tide. Suitable parapet walls were designed to be built along the sides of the embankment to sustain a covering of earth over the pipes. With the form which was given to this inverted syphon, four pipes, each of 3 feet interior diameter, were found to give a discharge of water equal

to that of the Aqueduct of masonry on the established inclination.

In accordance with this plan of the Low Bridge the work for crossing the River was put under contract and some progress made in its execution, when a law was passed by the Legislature of the State requiring, instead of this, a structure, the arches of which should be (over the channel of the river) at least 80 feet span and having a distance of 100 feet from the level of high water to the under side of the crown ; or to go under the channel of the river by a structure which should not rise above the bed, and that would leave the present channel unobstructed. At this time when the work was going on vigorously, they were compelled to abandon the plan which had been adopted, and devise one which would comply with the requirements of the law of the Legislature. A comparison was instituted between the plan of a tunnel under the bed of the river and that of a bridge of masonry at the required height above the river. The tunnel would be at least 300 feet long and the top of the masonry forming it, would be 18 feet below high water level.