distance of about three miles carrying away m its course, Quaker bridge, Holman 's mills, and the old piers of the old Croton bridge.... All the bridges below the dam were carried away, and above the dam. Pines Bridge, and we are informed Wood's Bridge also — leaving no crossing over the Croton from its mouth to Golden's bridge ....■^^ The newspaper account provides us with the local view of the incident and tells a story of tlie cost in human lives and livelihood. One account estimated the damage to surrounding lands, houses, and buildings at $500,000, far exceeding the $60,000 cost to rebuild the dam.^^ The collapse of the Croton Dam also confimned the deep anxieties many Americans held In the 19th century about man's attempt to control nature through technology. While the Dam appeared to distant City dwellers as a "beneficent servant," in Westchester It appeared at this moment to be a "monster" out of control and unleashing destructive forces. The full horror of the tragedy was ignored by the cavalier re- sponse of the engineers who sought to minimize controversy. Chief Engineer Jervis arrived within a few hours, evaluated the damage, and reported to the Water Commissioners. Jen/is tersely conclud- ed, "It appears three lives were lost one at the dam and two at Bailey's wire factory."^'' While such language might simply reflect reporting conventions of engineers it also had the effect of belit- tling the loss of life and property. Left with only such insensitive clinical official reports of the incident one might conclude that this was a minor, somewhat costly interruption in the construction timetable. Westchester residents knew othenwise. Not only was the community around the lower Croton uprooted by the dam collapse, but the topography and economic utility of the river were changed. Before the collapse, the Croton River was deep enough for sloops and barges to reach the mills and factories that lay along its route; its waters provided power and transportation. Even before the dam collapse, Westchester residents and Croton businessmen recognized the competitive economic threat the Aqueduct represented. The 1837 "Memorial To the New York State Legislature" charged New York City with attempting to monopolize the trade and commerce of the State at the expense of other coun- ties. The memorialists complained that if the "river waters of Westchester County are to be taken from it, how is it to rise in arts and manufacture and farming?"^^ They saw the City's action as analogous to the citizens of Westchester "requiring a part of the harbor of New York be shut up, so that the population and trade of their County might increase. "^^ They also suggested that New York's population with its limited supply of water may have reached 45 Its natural limits. A public recognition of this fact would compel people to "locate In other counties on the Hudson River and In oth- er places in the state and the commercial trading cities of the Hudson would Increase In population and competition ..." and "... the people of the state would be better served. "^^ Indeed, the collapse of the Dam fulfilled the worst fears of Westchesterites about the economic threat of the Aqueduct. Enterprising New Englanders had also proposed a canal from Sharon Connecticut to Pines Bridge where it would link with the Hudson via the Croton River. If completed, such a canal would have diverted trade from New York and "infused the river with activity and enterprise."^ Westchester communities on the Croton would have become key towns on the waterway, farm production would have been stimulated, and the population would have grown. While this certainly would not have fundamentally challenged New York City's economic dominance, such a canal would have stimulated the economy of northern Westchester. But that was not to be. The collapsed dam pennanently impaired the navigability of the Panetta Croton and the adjacent Hudson. Rocks, mud, and debris covered the mouth of the Croton. With the loss of this critical transporta- tion link, the economic development of the Croton River and the Valley was limited. For instance, the Underhill family had oper- ated a farm and successful grist mill on the Croton near Quaker Bridge for half a century, until the dam collapse. At high tide, mer- chant schooners and sloops had transported wheat up-river to the Underhill mills and returned loaded with flour for the New York mar- ket. But in 1841, the Underhills gave up the milling business, citing the shortage of water power and the property damage caused by the dam collapse. ^° The transformation of northern Westchester County was not only the result of a dam collapse but was inherent in the creation of a reservoir and watershed for the Croton Aqueduct (figure 2). The reservoir, created by the dam was