works from injury. § 4. The Corporation of the city of New York shall, at the expense of the said Corpo- ration, erect and sustain convenient passes across or under the aqueduct to be erected by virtue of the act hereby amended, whenever said aqueduct shall intersect the land in the said county of Westchester, belonging to an individual or individuals, for the farming and other purposes of the land thus intersected. § 5. So much and such parts of the act hereby amended, as is inconsistent with this act, is hereby repealed. This concession did not satisfy the complainants along the line, and at a public meeting held at Tarrytown, it was resolved, among other things, that the taking of the lands of individuals as authorised by the state law, was unconstitutional and ought to be resisted, and that the case should be carried up to the Supreme Court of the U. S. Yet, according to all sound reasoning — independently of the near interest which West- Chester County has in all that tends to add to the security, preserve the health, and en- hance the advantages of the city of New York — the enormous expenditures for wages, provisions, and other necessaries, for the great number of men that would be employed on the aqueduct, should have been deemed by the neighboring residents much more than an equivalent for any temporary inconveniences, or imaginary loss. The consequence of this discontent was, that the Commissioners were unable to make any purchase, by private contract, of lands along the line, and were therefore com- pelled to resort to the Vice Chancellor for the appointment of Commissioners, to take by appraisement whatever was needed. In July of this year, the Corporation began their part of the work by ordering pipes, agreeably to the size adopted by the Commissioners, to be laid down in Barclay-street, from the intersection of Chapel to Greenwich-street, along Greenwich to Cedar, and up Cedar to Broadway. The Legislature also passed a law authorizing the construction of the aqueduct through lands belonging to the State, at Sing Sing. In their Report of 9th January, 1837, the Commissioners reiterate the account of CROTONAdUEDUCT. 143 their difficulties in conciliating the inhabitants of Westchester, along the line, to the great work in hand, complain of the delays incident to the process of appraisement, and finally of what they considered " lack of energy in the operations of their engineer de- partment." " We took occasion," says the Report, " to state in our communication of the 1st of August, that on the 23d July, certain information was requested of the chief en- gineer, which he had promised to furnish as soon as possible, and that on the production of it, we were still in hopes of being enabled to place some part of the work under con- tract, before the close of the year. These hopes, however, have not been realized, and the Commissioners having felt much dissatisfaction at this disappointment, and for other causes, they finally determined to make a change in the office of chief engineer." Ac- cordingly, on the llth of October, 1836, Mr. J. B. Jervis, who had been engaged in most of the public works constructed by this State, was appointed chief engineer, at an annual salary of $5000. We cannot but pause in our narrative for a moment, to express regret that a great en- terprise like this, of which the plans and details were digested by Major Douglas, which even in its consummation, must still be deemed mainly to be his work, should, owing to any misunderstanding or incompatibility of temper between him and the". Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, have been committed to other hands. It is only just to add, however, that those other hands have proved themselves abundantly competent, and that Mr. Jervis has shown equal activity and skill in perfect- ing the great undertaking. He entered immediately upon his duty, traversed and inspect- ed the whole line of the Aqueduct between the two rivers, and so far as he was able to judge without instrumental verification, approved of it. Garretson's Mills, he considered under the circumstances, the best position for the dam. By direction of the Commissioners, who were anxious to place some of the work under contract for the opening of the working season, shafts were sunk at the site of the dam, and along the line of the Aqueduct as far as Sing Sing, eight miles, in order to exhibit the nature of the ground to be excavated, for the information of all parties ; this, as well as examinations on the same line for stone fit to be quarried and used in the construction, was successfully accomplished. The number of acres required for a Croton Reservoir