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. 263 words

Tradition among the inhabitants of the vicinity says that at an early period of the Revolutionary war a vessel was scuttled and sunk in that part of the river. To a mind fond of antiquarian researches and accustomed

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to invest objects of such a nature with associations of the past, this ancient wreck would furnish a fruitful theme. We are now laying the foundation of a magnificent work : at

the day when was sunk the American people this vessel

were laying the foundation of a new form of government composed of principles which should support a fabric of

enduring strength and beauty. We are now building a work which will stand as a monument of the genius and enterprize of the age, but it may be regarded among the fruits of that civil and religious liberty which has been reared upon the foundations formed by the people of that day. The water is now conveyed across this valley by an iron pipe of 3 feet interior diameter. In the progress of preparing foundations for the piers of the bridge, an embankment has been formed across the River and the pipe leaving the Aqueduct on the north side of the valley follows down the slope of the hill, and crossing over the River upon this embankment, ascends on the south side again to the Aqueduct. At the bottom or lowest point in this pipe, a branch pipe of 1 foot diameter has been connected, extending a distance of 80 feet from it at right angles and horizontally :