into a Law, and is the one under which, as its main foundation, the work has been constructed. 67 It was further provided, that " in case the plan adopted by the Commissioners shall be approved by the Common Coun- cil, they shall submit it to the electors to express their assent or refusal to allow the Common Council, to instruct the Commissioners to proceed in the work." The Commissioners who were appointed in 1833, were re-appointed under the Act of the 2d of May, 1834. They immediately entered upon the duties of their office, thoroughly re-examined their former work, and decided that the Croton River was the only source that would furnish an adequate supply of water for present and future purposes. In making these examinations they employed, as Engineers, David B. Douglass, John Martineau and George W. Cartwright, Esquires. Various plans were proposed for conveying the water to the city, and estimates made of the cost of the work constructed by either of these plans, but the one recom- mended by the Commissioners, and that for which a prefer- ence was expressed by the Engineers, Messrs. Martineau and Douglass, was a closed Aqueduct of masonry. These gentlemen each made an estimate of the cost of bringing the water of the Croton River to the city of New- York by a closed Aqueduct of masonry, and the Water Commission- ers offered, as the true cost of the work, an average of the two estimates. The cost of the work, as estimated for this plan and presented by the Water Commissioners, (including the cost of the city mains and conduits,) was $5,412,336 72. The report of the Water Commissioners was referred to a Committee, who reported to the Common Council, on the 4th of March, 1835, two resolutions, the first approving the plan adopted by the Commissioners as described in their 68 report ; and the second referring the subject to the electors at the ensuing annual election, as required by the Act of May 2d, 1834. These resolutions were adopted by the Common Council, and at the election in April, 1835, the subject having been duly submitted to the electors of the city and county of New-York, a majority of the voters were found to be in favor of the measure. On the 7th of May following, the Common Council " instructed the Commis- sioners to proceed with the work." Thus authorized, the Commissioners immediately com- menced the preparatory measures for the construction of the work. David B. Douglass was employed as Chief Engineer; he proceeded in the location of the line for the Aqueduct and in preparing plans, until October, 1836, when he was succeeded by John B. Jervis, who continued at the head of that department during the construction of the Aqueduct. The construction of the work was commenced in May 1837 ; and on the 22d June, 1842, the Aqueduct received the water from the Fountain Reservoir on the Croton : — on the 27th of June, the water having been permitted to traverse the entire length of the Aqueduct, entered the Receiving Reservoir at the city of New-York, and was admitted into the Distributing Reservoir on the 4th of July. The Commissioners who were appointed in 1833, and re- appointed in 1834, continued in the performance of their duties until 1837 — in March, of which year Thomas T. Woodruff was appointed in the place of Benjamin M. Brown, who resigned his office, and the Board of Commissioners thus constituted, continued until March, 1840, when they were succeeded by Samuel Stevens, John D. Ward, Zebedee 69 Ring, Benjamin Birdsall and Samuel R. Childs. This Board of Commissioners remained in office until February, 1843, when they were succeeded by the gentlemen who composed the former Board. OF PLANS PROPOSED FOR FURNISHING THE CITY WITH WATER, AND OF THE PLAN ADOPTED. In the course of examinations which were made to deter- mine sources whence water could be obtained, questions of deep importance presented themselves in regard to the source to be relied upon for a supply, also in reference to the plan which should be adopted for conducting the water to the city. It was of so much importance to the city that the supply should be such as not only to answer the present purposes, but be adequate to the future increased demands, and that the quality of the water should be unquestionable, that it became necessary to extend the examinations over every watered district in the vicinity, in order to judge of the comparative merits of different sources. The Engineers who were employed, traversed the country, gauged the streams, reported their supply, the quality of the water, and plans which might be adopted for conveying it to the city. It was a field for the