had in the town of Greensburg alone, valued the property of the aqueduct at $60,000 Believing such a measure, in regard to such a work, to be unprecedented, the Com- missioners recommend to the Corporation, to invoke legislative protection. They also renew a request, previously made, that the Corporation would take imme- diate measures for opening and establishing the grade of the avenues and streets through which the line of the aqueduct passed, and also those by which the receiving reservoir is bounded. After bearing testimony anew to their constant satisfaction with the ability and devo- tedness of the engineer corps, and particularly of its able head, the Commissioners pay a merited tribute to the Common Council of 1835, "for the public spirit they displayed in the prompt approval of the plan for supplying the city with pure and wholesome water, as proposed by the Commissioners, and in their relying for authority to raise the means, upon the favorable voice of their fellow-citizens, through the ballot boxes, founded on their knowledge of the propriety of the measure, and the ability of the Corporation to carry it into effect. The same spirit has been uniformly evinced by subsequent Common Coun- cils, in rendering their unremitting countenance and aid to the measure ; and to these," the Commissioners add, "they are mainly indebted for their ability to progress thus far with the great and important work under their special charge." During the whole of this year, operations were pushed with great vigor, so that nearly one million six hundred thousand dollars were expended, and from 3500 to 3800 men em- ployed— denoting, on the part of the contractors, a determination to complete the work within the time specified in their respective contracts. 160 MEMOIR OF THE The whole amount disbursed, up to 31st December, 1838, was within a small frac- tion of two millions of dollars. On 1st October, the Commissioners opened the bids from the various iron masters in England and the United States, to whom they had addressed notices respecting the iron pipes needed. There were three offers from England, and seven from the United States. That of the West Point Foundry Association being found a shade lower than the others, a contract was passed with them, with adequate personal security on their part for the due fulfilment of their undertaking. The Commissioners also let out upon advantageous terms the difficult and important sections from 86 to 97, part of the fourth division. These included the bridge to support the syphons across the Harlem River, the work to support the pipes across Manhattan val- ley, the bridge over Clendining valley, the receiving reservoir at Eighty-sixth-street, and the distributing reservoir at Murray Hill. This completed the contracts, from the dam at the Croton to the distributing reser- voir, a distance of about 41 miles, and all the work was to be finished in 1841. The opposition, however, to the syphon bridge over the Harlem, instead of a lofty aqueduct bridge on a continuous grade, was by no means abated. Notice was served on the Commissioners in behalf of land-owners not residents of the State, bordering on the line where it was to pass the Harlem, that application would be made to the Circuit Court of the United States, to restrain any such construction in or over that river, as '• should impede or obstruct the navigation thereof, and particularly from filling up the channel of the said river." Moreover, notices were published in the papers in which the advertise- ments of the Commissioners appeared for contracts to build the syphon bridge, warning all persons against undertaking such a work, as every means the law would justify, would be used to prevent it. The Board of Assistant Aldermen, moreover, as has been seen, adopted a resolution in favor of the high bridge, but the Commissioners still persevered in their plan. The contracts were duly entered into, and the reasons of the Commissioners for going on with the syphon bridge are thus assigned : 1st, Because the plan submitted to the Common Council, and afterwards to the test of the ballot boxes, was in favor of the syphon. 2d, Because the Commissioners were of opinion, that the crossing in the manner proposed, is the easiest, the safest, and the most permanent and durable; 3d, Because this is the unanimous opinion of the Commissioners, and of the whole corps of engineers engaged on the works, and in this opinion they are joined by several engineers of eminence, not connected with the operations, CROTON AQ.UEDUCT. 4th, Because the high arches will cost half a million of dollars more than the syphons, and will also require two or three years more time to erect them. 5th, Because the Commissioners are advised, by counsel learned in the