DOCUMENT No. 2. BOARD OF ALDERMEN, JANUARY 5, 1858. The Annual Report of the Croton Aqueduct Department, was received, laid on the table, and ordered to be printed. D. T. VALENTINE, Clerk. CROTON AQUEDUCT DEPARTMENT, To the Honorable the Common Council of the city of New York: In obedience to law, the Croton Aqueduct Board beg leave to present the Annual Report for the current year, showing, in as succinct form as possible, under their appropriate heads, the expenditures for the year, and the objects of labor which have occupied the attention and time of the Board and its officers. Aqueduct Bepairs and Improvements. The most important work paid for under this head, is that which is necessary along the whole line of the work, from the dam to the distributing reservoir. A most minute inspection and watchfulness has always been, and is daily kept up, by the superintendents along the entire line of the work, in order to detect and check, in its incipiency, any action of time or other imperfection which might endanger the safety of the work, and to guard against any encroachments on the city property connected therewith This care and this work is the duty of superintendents, whose ability, fidelity and prudence have been tested by experience varying from nine to seventeen years, and the result has been such as to fully entitle them to the greatest confidence. The opposition, which has heretofore existed, to the erection of fences on the line of the aqueduct, to prevent encroachments or damage, still continues; but, through the conciliatory measures and firm assertion of the rights of the Corporation, constantly shown by the Board, it seems to be, in some degree, abated in violence. The quantity of fencing put up during the year is six thousand two hundred and fifty-seven lineal feet in length. The examination of the interior of the conduit was madə in the early part of the month of December. The water was shut off at Croton lake on the 2d December, and on the 3d the Chief Engineer entered the aqueduct at the dam, and, accompanied by his usual attendants, the Assistant Engineer and the superintendents of the divisions, respectively, made a careful and complete inspection of the interior of the aqueduct through its entire length, coming out of the conduit, at the Receiving Reservoir, in this city, on Saturday, the 6th December. The gates at Croton lake were re-opened on the 6th, at noon, and the water reached the Receiving Reservoir on Sunday, the 7th, at 9:30 A. M.having been shut off from the city ninety-four hours, being twenty hours longer than that taken during the past few years. - The cracks in the masonry on the embankments still continue, though yearly diminishing in size and importance; but, however slight they may be, it is the part of prudence to check their progress as soon as they are discovered. The state of the aqueduct, as shown in the examination this year, like those of the years preceding, is evidence of the durable character of this great work, and of the extreme care with which it was constructed. As soon as the new reservoir shall be completed, the large storage of water in the city will enable the Board to make more thorough and extended repairs on the line. With our present city storage, it would be attended with great inconvenience and extreme danger, in case of fires, to keep the water shut off a longer time than that usually taken for our annual repairs; but it is to be hoped that the speedy completion of the new grand reservoir will relieve us of this difficulty, by enabling us to take longer time for our work, and still supply the city with water during its progress. The original houses for the superintendents were of the most cheap and frail description-the constant expense necessary to keep them in a tenantable condition, has forced upon the Board the conviction, that true economy required the construction of new houses, of such materials and character as to insure entire permanency. These cottages have this year been completed throughout the lines. The one at the dam is a substantial stone building-in its style it is designed to be an ornament to the grounds about the dam, and in its size it is meant, not only to provide apartments for the superintendent of the dam and first division, but to furnish necessary accommodations for the engineers, whose duties frequently oblige them to be at that portion of the line, and also to accommodate the inspecting committees of the Common Council, and other members of the city government, whose taste may induce them to visit the Croton dam and lake--those magnificent works of nature and art, which contribute so essentially to the comfort, health and prosperity of this great city. The other cottages, six in number, are plain and substantial buildings, intended solely for the use of the several superintendents. The total cost of the supervision and the repairs of the aqueduct, both for the surface and the interior, together with the cost of fencing, and the construction of the cottages referred to, has been forty-four thousand six hundred and twenty dollars and seventy-two cents. The details may be found in schedule No. 7, in the appendix. Croton Water Works Extension. The chief work under this head, which has engaged the attention of the Board, during this year, is the new grand reservoir. The land for its site was acquired during the year 1856, as shown in our report of that year. The ground thus taken was rectangular in form, and was bounded by Eighty-sixth and Ninety-sixth streets, and Fifth |