the probable supply of water that can be obtained within the county." The Commissioners have presumed that this provision of the Ordinance has no allu- sion to the water that may be obtained by deep boring in the rock, or from the sinking of wells, as that subject was thoroughly examined by them in their report of 1833 ; and they have had no reason, since that period, to change the opinion then formed. They have understood, however, an idea has been entertained by some of the members of the Common Council, that a large quantity of water may be obtained from springs originating in the high lands near Harlem and Manhattanville. It was no doubt this opinion which, in 1826, induced the application to the Legislature, by several of our citizens, for an act of incorporation. This act was passed on the 18th of April. 1826, and is entitled "An act to incorporate the New- York and Harlem Spring Water Company." Anson G. Phelps and James Renwick, Esquires, and their associates, are declared a body corporate for the purpose of supplying the city of New- York with pure and wholesome water. The Di- rectors named are gentlemen of respectability and character, who would not have request- ed a charter, unless they intended to carry it into effect, if practicable. The water was to be taken from wells near Harlem Commons, where it was supposed abundance of the pure element existed. Experiments were accordingly made by sinking shafts, &c., but no water was found in sufficient quantity to warrant any further expense, and the compa- ny ceased to exist by nonuser. In order to be satisfied for ourselves, however, as to the reality of the supposition that water was to be obtained in any considerable quantity in that part of our island, the Com- missioners carefully inspected the grounds and situations alluded to, and are fully con- vinced that no dependence can be placed upon the receipt of a supply of water from those sources, any more than from deep boring or the sinking of capacious wells. There was a well under the operation of boring, near Yorkville, on the day the Commissioners made their examination. The augur had penetrated 90 feet from the surface of the earth, and no water was produced, and it was intended to descend fifty feet in addition, if found ne- cessary. Several of the wells on Harlem flats were found to average from sixteen to eighteen feet in depth, and to contain from two to three feet of water. At Manhattanville, one of the wells, on the slope of the public road, was forty-two feet in depth, and no wa- ter ; another, three or four hundred feet below on the same road, was seventeen feet deep, and contained two feet of water. The Commissioners also examined several small CROTON AdUfiDUCT, 129 springs issuing from the high hills near Manhattanville, and one near the Hudson river, and were informed there were several others that had disappeared, caused, as was supposed, by the filling up of a portion of the Harlem Canal. The Commissioners were also informed, that in excavating this canal, which sunk several feet below tide, the wells in the vicinity were deprived of water. The fact is, as the Commissioners think, that the same principle in respect to the obtaining of fresh water, operates in every part of our island, namely, that the earth becomes so saturated, at a depth on a level with the tide on the East and North rivers, that water will not descend lower ; and in the digging of wells, where the rock does not interfere, water is uniformly found at that depth. Any supply from the sources alluded to, therefore, would be entirely inadequate to answer all the various purposes of domestic consumption ; to supply the numerous manu- factories that would spring up in the northern and eastern parts of the city, the increasing number of shipping daily departing from this port, the extinguishment of fires, and the washing and cleansing of the streets and sewers of this metropolis. Nothing less than a river, distributed through thousands of channels, and brought to the premises of every householder, will be commensurate to the wants of a population such as the city of New- York contains, and will contain. If further evidence was required, the Commissioners might refer to the experience of other populous cities and villages, both in our own and other countries. Their example ought, surely, to have some weight with us, when making up an opinion on this subject. To suppose that they would expend millions of money to procure water from a distant source, or to raise it from their rivers by powerful machinery, when at the same time they could obtain a