Canal Street. Between 1820 and 1850, the population density had intensified from 157 persons per block to 272 per block (those figures would pale compared to the terrible overcrowding of the late 19th centu- ry), and those people were using the same outdoor privies and cesspools. Few tenement owners willingly paid the $10 annual fee to connect their buildings to the Croton system, and conditions actually worsened in the succeeding decades. In 1857, two-thirds of all reported deaths were the children of foreign-born parents, and throughout that decade more than half the children died before their fifth birthday.^^ The Croton Aqueduct itself became something of a tourist attrac- tion. Many climbed atop the Distributing Reservoir on 42nd Street to enjoy the view of the City spread out before them, and the Harlem River High Bridge became a favorite destination. Picnickers could hire a hackney coach for $5, which included a two or three hour stay, or they could take an omnibus from the Harlem Railway terminal, for about 50* round trip. Writing soon after the system was finished, Kroessler Notes Fayette B. Tower boasted that the Bridge would "stand as a monu- ment of the genius and enterprize [sic] of the age," but, he noted, it Should "be regarded among the fruits of that civil and religious liber- ty" established by the founders of the republic.^'' The Croton Aqueduct was indeed a triumph of the age and a source of pride for New Yorkers, perhaps more so because it was undertaken and completed by the metropolis itself during a time of social, political, and economic uncertainty. Despite those conflicts, despite the financial mismanagement, and despite the fact that it was decades before the entire population enjoyed the benefits, the introduction of Croton water was a cause for celebration. Decades later, historians wrote: Its accomplishment by a single city ... in a period of unprecedented commercial embarrassment, and in the face of vast natural obstacles, was a marvel for all future generations. Henceforward there would seem no project too bold nor enterprise too great for New York to undertake.^ It Is scarcely possible to overestimate the Impact 'pure and wholesome water" had on the City. Croton water eased the dangers of fire and disease and generally improved the quality of life through better sanitation in the City. Had the decision been put off for even a decade, the quality of life would have deteriorated to such an extent as to bring into question New York's commercial supremacy. 1. Ira Rosenwaike, Population History of New York City (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1972), p.33. 2. Robert Greenhaigh Albion, The Rise of New York Port, 1813-1860 (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1984 [1939]), Appendices l-V, XXVII-)(XIX. 3. Rosenwaike, pp. 33-39, 41. 4. Map Showing the extent of the Great Fire which broke out about 9 O'clock on the night of the isd December 183}, in theCity of New YoHe (New York: G. Hayward, [1836]); A. Greene, A GUmceatNew York (New York: A. Greene, 1837), pp.197-210. 5. Nelson Manfred Blake, Water for Cities: A History of the Urban Water Supply Problem in the ifnited.States (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1956), pp.45-8. 6. Greene, pp.173.6. 7. Louis Auchincloss, The Hone and Strong Diaries of Old Manhattan (New York: Abbeville Press, 1989), p.23. 8. Fayette B. Tower, lUustrations of the Croton Aqueduct (New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1843), pp.61-3; James Grant Wilson, The Memorial History of the City of New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1892 (New York: New-York History Company, 1893), pp.338-9; Blake, pp.93, 131-3. 9. Blake, p.46. 10. John Duffy, A History of Public Health in New York City, 162S-1S66 (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1968), pp.195-9; Wilson, pp.203-5, 397. 11. Tower, Appendix, pp.138-9. 12. Greene, p.l86. 13. Duffy, pp.202-7. 14. Greene, p.l80; Blake, pp.50-1, 58-9, 107-8, 122-3, 134-5; Duffy, pp.195, 207. 15. Tower, pp.61-65. 16. Tower, pp. 64-8; Blake, pp.l3a42. 17. Blake, pp.140-1. 18. Blake, pp.141-2, 150-1, 170. 19. 0. S. Francis, Francis's New Guide to the Cities of New-York and Brooklyn, and the vicinity (New York: C. S. Francis & Co., 1853), p.70; Mrs. Martha J. Lamb and Mrs. Burton Harrison, History of the City of New York Its Origin, Rise, and Progress (New York: The A. S. Barnes Co., 1896 [1877]), p.747. 20. Francis, p.70. 21. Greene, pp.185-7. 22. Rosenwaike, p.37; Duffy, Appendix I. 23. Oliver E. Allen, New York, New York: A History of the World's Most Exhilarating and Challenging City (New York: Atheneum, 1990), p.l51; George J. Lankevich and Howard B. Furer, A Brief History of New York City (Port Washington: Associated Faculty Press, Inc. 1984), p.93. 24. Tower, pp.llO-lll. 25. Lamb and Hanison, pp.730-2. PRELIMINARY PLANS FOR THE OLD CROTON AQUEDUCT AND THE Structure of its Engineering Department figure 10, above: Portrait of Major David Bates Douglass, contemporary