Illustrations of the Croton AqueductTower, F. B. (Fayette Bartholomew)
History
Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct
Tower, F. B. (Fayette Bartholomew)
Croton Aqueduct (N.Y.)
Plate XIX. is a view of this bridge, which, when completed, will be
the most interesting work on the whole line of Aqueduct, and in its
appearance will rival the grandeur of similar works of the Ancient
Romans. The height from the foundations in the river, to the top of the
work is 150 feet; the width across the top is 21 feet. The pipes when
laid upon the bridge will be covered with earth to protect them from
frost. The distance between the extremes of the pipes when laid across
the bridge will be 1377⅓ feet. For a distance of 18 feet at each end
of the pipes there is an inclination and the remainder of the distance
across, which is 1341⅓ feet, they are level.
The bottom of the interior of the pipes on the level part, is 12-8/10
feet below the bottom of water way of the Aqueduct on the north side,
and 10-5/10 below that on the south side of the valley.
In the progress of excavating in one of the coffer dams in the
channel of the river a portion of a sunken vessel was found within
the enclosure; it had the appearance of great age. 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.
[Illustration: XIX
F. B. Tower. Napoleon Gimbrede. sc.
CROTON AQUEDUCT AT HARLEM RIVER.]
To a mind fond of antiquarian researches and accustomed 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 this vessel was sunk the
American people 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 enterprise 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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