Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Board of Water Commissioners : In receiving, with my associates of the Croton Aqueduct Board, the custody of the work committed to us, I take the occasion to convey to you, the thanks of your fellowcitizens, for the zeal, perseverance and fidelity with which your duty has been performed, and to congratulate you on the virtual completion of the work entrusted to you, and your predecessors in office. Of the manner in which both have discharged their respective tasks, the results we this day celebrate, speak in most emphatic praise. The science and skill of your able engineers, have excluded all errors of combination and construction, CROTON AaUEDUCT. 297 and met the highest expectations of the public. In mechanical execution, the work appears to defy the test of scrutiny, as completely as we trust it is destined to resist the assaults of time. Contrary to predictions, ventured on the subject, its efficiency in delivering the water, not only equals but largely exceeds the mathematical estimate. The island on which New York is built, is peculiarly fitted for the site of a great city. Blessed with a salubrious climate surrounded by waters forming a noble harbor, and constituting links of natural or practicable inland communication with adjacent sister States, with the rich territory of our own State, and with the boundless and fertile regions of the West connected by a short and uninterrupted passage with the ocean, the pathway from foreign climes, and from the extensive sea-board of our confederate States, and possessing, within easy reach, almost every necessary for construction and supply, our position combines natural advantages for a large community, devoted to the prosecution of commerce and the arts, unsurpassed by those of any other spot on the globe. In the list of these endowments, one essential, only, appeared to be absent. Pure and wholesome water, an element indispensable to the wants, comforts, and business of a crowded population, was found within our limits in inadequate quantity ; and at each onward stride of our city, even this stinted allowance decreased in purity, as well as in measure, until it had become our reproach. A sufficient and permanent supply was to be found only at a great distance, as if to test whether the gifts so bountifully bestowed on us, could incite us to repair the single deficiency. To accomplish the object, it was necessary that formidable physical obstacles should be overcome ; that capacious and enduring 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 75 298 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. Of the valuable consequences which will be derived from this work, some may not be developed until after successive years. The little experience already had, points to many useful results that were not foreseen. Among its immediate and palpable benefits, are its influences on domestic convenience and comfort the promotion of sobriety and personal cleanliness the purification of our streets the consequent increase of public health the facilities it will extend to mechanical and manufacturing industry the vast increase of steam-power among us, to be employed in the arts the supply to our mariners of a necessary element, which will remain comparatively unaffected by change of climate, and pre-eminently, the security it will afford against the dangers of conflagration. Each neighborhood, uniting its inhabitants for purposes of mutual safety, may promptly arrest the ravages of fire in its early stages ; and if such associations be numerously formed, extensive fires need but rarely occur. Large as we may deem the expense of this vast structure, we cannot but consider it as cheaply purchased, when we reflect that the calamity of a night, occurring when we were without the protection now afforded, involved a destruction of property of twice this cost. The history, Mr. President, which you have this day given, of the rise and progress of this undertaking, forms a just tribute to numerous citizens, who assisted in its origin and consummation. It is a characteristic of this work, that the credit attached to it, belongs pre-eminently to no individual, but is diffused, though in unequal degree, throughout an extensive circle. Fortunately, the field of commendation is so large, that each may reap his deserved harvest, without infringing the rights of his neighbor. Our thanks and remembrances are due to ALL, whose exertions in the Legislature of the State in our municipal councils in the various commissions of exploration, of survey, of estimate, superintendence and construction, contributed to the great achievement. Nor can I pass over the munificence and public spirit which have been displayed by the whole body of our fellow-citizens. An overpowering popular vote sanctioned the undertaking, approved of the ways and means, and ordered its commencement. Although some few believed that caution, and even prudence, demanded a postponement of the effort, yet once resolved upon, all cheerfully yielded their acquiescence and co-operation. Amid -the unparalleled difficulties and discouragements which have marked the times, since it was begun, no hesitation has impeded its progress ; but its march has been onward, steadily, perseveringly, successfully, to its completion. CROTON AdUEDUCT. 399 Sensible of the honor conferred by the constituted authorities of the city, in committing to us the trust confided to our hands, it will be the effort of myself and colleagues to employ every power given to us, for the protection and advancement of the great work now in our charge. Long may that work endure to illustrate the wisdom of its founders a monument of the enterprise and perseverance of our people and the source of health, safety, and happiness for successive ages The