their fellow citizens have expressed a solicitude that the water might be carried on an aqueduct bridge with architectural display, the Commissioners are disposed to be guided by the opinion, legally expressed, of your honorable body on the subject. That the permanent grade of the several streets and avenues, adjacent to the line of the aqueduct, ought, as far as practicable, to be made to conform to such line, the Commis- sioners think must be admitted ; and they trust, therefore, that the whole subject may be specially referred to a Joint Committee of both Boards and the Street Commissioner, with authority to take measures for opening and fixing the grade of such streets and avenues through which the water is to pass, and to adopt such modification of the plan, on the island of New York, as shall seem most conducive to the end in view ; and the Commis- sioners and chief engineer promise to co-operate with such committee, and to lend them all the assistance in their power. The estimate for erecting the receiving reservoir, to have a depth of 20 to 25 feet of water, and to contain 158,000,000 of gallons, is - - $310,500, 00 The distributing reservoir of Murray Hill, will have an average elevation of about 31 feet above the natural surface, and 40 feet above the estab- lished grade, and will be 420 feet square. The estimated cost is - 295,340 00 The total cost of the reservoirs, - - $605,840 00 The cost of the four divisions of the aqueduct, commencing at the Croton Reservoir, and ending at the Receiving Reservoir, including the crossing at the Harlem River, and the Manhattan Valley, by pipes, amounts to - 6,189,000 00 And for the connecting pipes, between the receiving and distributing reser- voirs, 499,110 00 Add for contingencies and superintendence, eight per cent, - 583,516 00 Total estimate for aqueduct, engineering, &c., - - $7,877,466 00 155 MEMOIR OF THE To which must be added as follows : Cash paid for land in fee, and estimated to be paid, 501,158 00 Cash paid for temporary use of land, and estimated to be paid, 12,175 00 Cash paid, and estimated to be paid, for salaries, postage, printing, travelling, stationery, Counsel, and Chancery expenses, &c., 73,234 00 Total cost of completing the works, except the iron pipes for conducting the water through the streets of the city, - - $8,464,033 00 It therefore appears, that a sum of about $6,000,000 will be required for this object, in addition to the $2,500,000, authorised by the " Act to provide for supplying the city of New York with pure and wholesome water." This high estimate, exceeding by three millions of dollars any former one, " can only be accounted for," says the report, " by the fact that the engineers, originally employed, did not possess the means of testing their calculations by the actual contract price, as we have been enabled to do." The Commissioners conclude this important report, by reiterating their former sug- gestion in favor of a special department to take charge of the finances for the Aqueduct, and to adjust claims growing out of the work. The Common Council, nothing daunted by the greatly increased cost of the con- templated Aqueduct, or perhaps being in too far to recede, complied with the call for ad- ditional means, by a memorial to the Legislature, asking authority to raise three millions, which was granted by the law of 29th March, 1838, the loan to bear an interest not exceeding six per cent. The Corporation, by another law of 24th March, were authorised to defray, out of the Water Fund, all expenses for procuring and laying down pipes for the distribution of the water. But the Common Council did not approve of the substitu- tion of inverted syphons for a high bridge, to pass the water over the Harlem, and accord- ingly the Board of Assistants adopted this resolution : RESOLVED, That it is inexpedient to adopt the plan proposed by the Water Commis- sioners, for crossing the Harlem river by means of a low bridge or syphon, and that the plan of the high bridge referred to in the Report of the Commissioners, should be adopted, as submitted to, and approved by, the electors of the City and County of New York. Adopted by the Board of Assistants, July 9, 1838. The progress made during this year was great. The whole remaining line in West- chester County, comprising the third division, and six sections of the fourth, were put under contract, at prices lower than those of the preceding year, and with great competi- tion in the bids. The necessary maps of the land required on the island of New York, C R O T O