In Westchester county it crosses twenty-five streams, from 12 to 70 feet below the line of grade, besides numerous small brooks furnished with culverts. After crossing the Harlem River over the high bridge already described, it passes the Manhattan valley by an inverted siphon of iron pipes, 4, 180 feet in length, and the Clendening valley on an aqueduct 1,900 feet. It then enters the first receiving reservoir, now in the Central Park, which has a capacity of 150,000,000 gallons. In a hygienic and economic view, the importance of this great work cannot be estimated ; in insurance alone it caused the reduction of 40 cents on every 100 dollars in the annual rates. It is estimated that the capacity of the Croton River is sufficient to supply the

THE HUDSON.

city with a population of 5,000,000. The ridge line, or water-shed, enclosing the Croton valley above the dam, is 101 miles in length. The stream is 39 miles in length, and its tributaries 136 miles.* The total area of the valley is 352 square miles ; within it are thirty-one natural lakes and ponds.

From tlic reservoir wo ride down Fifth Avenue, the chief fashionable

WORTH'S M0NUMEN1

quarter of the metropolis. For two miles we may pass between houses of the most costly description, built chiefly of brown freestone, some of it

i

* The principal one of the remote sources of the Croton Eiver is a spring near the road side, not far from the liouse of William Hoag, on Quaker Hill, in the town of Pawling. The spring is by the side of a stone fence, with a barrel-curb, and is 1,300 feet above tide water.