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Middle Atlantic States | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | 1798 Proposal |
Printed by Order of the Corporation of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, December
29th, 1798.
Sir,
"Agreeably to your request, I now submit to you my ideas upon the objects
which you have communicated to me for consideration:
I. To supply the city of Philadelphia with a sufficiency of wholesome
water for culinary purposes;
II. To introduce an additional supply of water for the purpose of washing
the streets and, if possible, of cooling the air of the city.
The season and the weather are at present both unfavorable to an
investigation of all the circumstances, which may affect a measure of so
much importance; and indeed the time allotted to me has been so short,
that it cannot be expected that my opinion should extend far into the
minutiae of estimate and execution; I have however, endeavored to
establish general principles, which cannot be affected by any variations
of details, and to which every attempt will be made to accomplish your
object must be made to bend.
The indispensible requisites, of every work which may be executed, appear
to me to be the following. Indeed so indispensable do I consider
them, that every proposal in which they do not meet, ought, I think, to be
at once rejected. Their importance is in the order in which I have
arranged them.
I. The works must be in full operation before the end of July 1799.
II. They must be certain in their effects, and permanent
in their construction.
III. They must not be liable to interruption from ice or freshes, but be
equally useful in the severest winter and in the wettest summer.
Having maturely considered all the schemes, which I have seen published,
or have heard mention in conversation, I shall proceed to state to you,
what appear to me to be the only means of concentring all these
requisites in one work; and, having laid before you what I propose
to accomplish, with the means, and the probable expence of effecting it, I
will then give you my reasons for rejecting every other proposal.
The nearest waters to the center of the City of Philadelphia are those the
Delaware and Schuylkill. I conceive them both to be wholesome, reasons
which I will mention in a postscript, in order that I may not interrupt
the consideration of the principal object.
It is evident that the exertions of only seven months cannot bring water
from a greater distance.
In choosing between the waters of Delaware and Schuylkill, the following
considerations occur:
I. In favour of the Delaware: it is true that works erected upon the
margin of the river would supply water the city immediately, from the
river upwards, and save all the expence, which must, in the other case, be
incurred between the Schuylkill and center square.
II. Against the Delaware will operate the impurity of its water, which is
subject to a strong running flood tide, which must be supposed to be
contaminated by the decayed vegetables marshes over which it passes,
independently of the filth thrown from the numerous vessels lying along
the wharves or running into it from the public sewers.
III. In favour of the Schuylkill: the principal circumstance is the
uncommon purity of its water; its bed is every where narrow and rocky, its
sources lie entirely in the lime-stone country, and the tide opposite the
center of the town does little more than raise the water by accumulation.
IV. On the other side: the extraordinary expence of works from the banks
to center square may be alleged.
I believe, however, that you agree with me in thinking that, as difference
of expence on the largest estimate cannot exceed thirty thousand dollars,
there ought not to be a moment's hesitation in preferring Schuylkill. I
shall therefore confine my remarks to that river.
Neither the waters of the Delaware, nor of the Schuylkill can become
useful unless they be raised to an elevated level, commanding every part
of city. To do this, in sufficient quantity, very powerful machinery will
be required; and I am very certain that human ingenuity has not hitherto
invented anything capable of producing the proposed effect with constancy,
certainty and adequate force, excepting the Steam-engine.
Taking therefore all the proceeding principles for granted, I submit to
you the two following proposals, which are in effect the same; and the
choice between them must depend on the practicability of the first.
N.B. The distribution of the water over the city being the same under
every scheme that may be adopted, I shall postpone its consideration to
the last.
The objects which I propose to accomplish are:
I. To raise a reservoir in center square. It is not sufficient that
this elevated so high that it will discharge its water into the
distributing pipes: I think it should be forty feet above the level
of the pavement, in order that the pressure of the water, in so elevated a
head, may not only propel it to every part of the city, but throw it up in
fountains in every street, wherever it may be required.
II. To bring to the reservoir the waters of the Schuylkill.
III. To raise them into the reservoir.
A culvert, or tunnel, six feet diameter, carried under ground, the bottom
of which should be level with the bed of the Schuylkill, would bring the
water into a reservoir in center square, at the depth of about forty
feet. I am not perfectly informed of the levels, but ten feet more
or less, would affect the expence very inconsiderably. Over or near
this reservoir, which ought to be a cylindrical well of at least
twenty-five feet diameter, the Engine-house should be erected. It
may, at the same expence that would render it useful, be made an
ornamental building. Upon the top of the Engine-house should be the
reservoir. With the reservoir all the distributing pipes are to be
connected. The engine will keep it perpetually full, being of a power
sufficient to supply every possible demand of city.
There is, however, a
circumstance which may render the scheme impracticable, or at all events
unadvisable. It is this. The gravel stratum, to which all the
wells of this city are sunk, seems to be nearly on a level with the waters
of the adjoining rivers, and to be supplied by them with that
inexhaustible quantity of water for which it is remarkable.* Should it so
happen, as it believe it will, that the tunnel lay near, or in, this
stratum, it will be difficult, if not impossible to keep the work
sufficiency dry; and I doubt, whether at any rate workmen could be induced
to labor in this subterraneous situation, which will always be wet, and
the safety of which may depend on the certainty of working the pumps
above. I shall therefore make another proposal, which is liable to
no inconvenience in the execution, but which, though not more expensive at
first, will, as it requires two engines, be liable to more annual
expense.
*The perfect permeability the stratum is evident from the connection of
the wells with each other, and with the sinks and privies, from whence
arises the extreme unpleasantness of the water in the crowded parts of the
city. It is worth considering whether the pumps do not act as chimnies to
bring up volumes of noxious gas from the putrifying water, which may
predispose the inhabitants to receive the yellow fever.
II. A reservoir being
made made on the banks of the Schuylkill, an engine will throw up a
sufficient quantity of water into a tunnel, carried from thence to a
reservoir in Center Square. This tunnel should be sunk so low that three
feet of earth may cover it in its whole length. The reservoir in Center
Square would be sufficiently elevated to supply all the streets from Water
Street to Fourth or Fifth Street with water for culinary uses. To supply
the rest and to raise fountains for the purpose of washing the streets, a
smaller engine would still be necessary.
It is very evident that, in either of these proposals, the three
requisites meet: the supply of water would be inexhaustible; the work
might be accomplished in a few months; the ice would never obstruct the
operations of the works, as the tunnel would be inaccessible to frost; and
the power employed is that of which the amount and the effect depend not
on the variable seasons, or on the natural advantages of situation, but
solely on the option of man. In every species of machinery in
which mechanical powers alone operate, the bulk, the friction and the
unwieldiness of the works encrease nearly in proportion to the effect
required; in the chemical operation of a Steam-engine, power is
encreased in a ratio far outstripping the bulk and the price of the
engine, and when the first expence is incurred, the two men that are
necessary to attend the smallest, can manage the most gigantic mechanism.
The expence would be 75,000 dollars.
Having accomplished this much of the proposed object, enough to
substitute pure, for putrifying water, and effectually to provide for
cleansing and cooling the streets, a very important part of it still
remains unfinished, but which may be a work of more leisure. This is to
bring to Philadelphia the spring which turns the mill, called Spring-mill,
for the sole purpose supplying the city with water for cullinary use.
It has been generally supposed, and perhaps with great truth, that
limestone water has a medicinal effect in bilious cases. The mill-springs
form rivulet gushing from a limestone bason, and, as nearly as I could
ascertain under all the disadvantages of the season and the want of
instruments, would run through and fill a trunk from four to five feet in
section, not calculating upon a head.
This quantity would give a perpetual supply to 2,880 pipes, the of which
should be equal to one-fourth of an inch square, and supposing water were
permitted to run only twelve hours each day, it would supply 5,760 houses
with a quantity more than ten times their possible consumption. As the
aqueduct, before it reached Philadelphia, would gain a very considerable
head, the same supply would be received, but in less time. A more detailed
calculation is at present un- necessary; this is enough to show the spring
produces water in sufficient quantity.
The spring has never been known to increase in wet or to diminish in dry
seasons. Its temperature is, as I am well informed, lower that that
of most other springs, being only forty-two or forty-three degrees of
Farenheit, and the water issues in such quantities that it maintains a
warmth above the freezing point, in a course of three miles down the
Schuylkill, keeping the river open for canoes in the severest
winters. Even the winter of 1796 did not affect it. To the
information which I received of this fact, from several most respectable
men in the neighborhood, I can add that it was open as far as I could see
it, on the twenty-seventh of this month, when ever other part of the river
was frozen over.
The practicability of bringing this spring to the city is ascertained by
the practicability of the canal, near the proposed bank on which it
lies. Its level is four feet higher than that of the canal, it would
go over better ground, the distance would be shorter, and it is to the
south and eastward of all the rocky knolls. I have good reason to
think that the distance would not exceed twelves miles.
In executing this work, only two objects of indispensible consideration
occur.
I. To prevent the quantity of water from being diminished by
evaporation or absorption.
II. To preserve its temperatures, both in summer and winter.
Both these ends would be attained, by conducting the water in a close
tunnel (say an eliptical culvert of three feet by six feet) three feet a
least under the surface of all the natural ground, provided with the
necessary air-holes and air-traps, and carrying in it light aqueducts of
segment arches across the vallies, affording every attempt at a forced
canal of earth.
The expence of bringing the water as far as the city would not exceed
275,000 dollars.
It is evident, that in this work the water would never freeze, nor yet
acquire any perceptible degree of heat. Only while passing along the
aqueducts, it would lose, in winter, and gain heat, in summer.
But supposing even that the aqueducts amount to a mile in length, and that
the course of the water be only two miles an hour, it would never be
exposed to an atmosphere hotter or colder than itself, for more than
thirty minutes. We have seen that it will retain a temperature above
the freezing point for near three miles, though it has passed a mill, and
it mixed with the colder waters of the Schuylkill. As the aqueduct
would be in short lengths, the water would re-acquire in the tunnels, the
temperature it might lose in the open air.
Should the mill-spring at any time be found insufficient, the aqueduct,
once constructed, might receive, in its course, supplies from all the
neighboring springs, which rise in levels sufficiently elevated; and
perhaps convey water to the city, sufficient in quantity to render the
Steam-engine on the Schuylkill unnecessary.
Even when the first supply arrives, the engines may be dormant, from the
month of November to the beginning of August.
I have now to consider the works necessary in the city itself.
In the first instance, they will consist of wooden pipes of four
inches bore, leading from center square in the following arrangement;
I. Four pipes down Market-street, supplying at their extremities, ranges
of cross pipes of three inches bore, running north and south, in
Water-street, Front-street, second and Third-street. These pipes
will lie under or near the gutters. From them will branch laterally
the leaden pipes which supply each house. The details of cocks,
public spouts, fountains and fire plugs, would be particularly attended
to. These four mains will be served from the bason in center-square,
and they must be so connected, as at option to be served also from the
reservoir upon the Engine-house.
II. Four pipes down Chesnut, and four down Arch-street, to supply
the cross streets upon the same principle, as high as
Eleventh-street. If no more could be accomplished in the first year,
it would be sufficient, as the pumps above Eleventh-street furnish as yet
very good water.
If time permits, before, and certainly after, these pipes are in
operation, the east and west pipes must be doubled up so as to serve
separately, one the north, the other the south streets. In the
course of time, they ought to be replaced with cast iron pipes of nine
inches bore.
This may be done gradually, beginning with the longest.
In all the pipes, plugs or cocks will be fixed which, when drawn, will
throw up fountains playing to a hight proportionate to the elevation of
the reservoir, the lower cock being previously closed. A main of
four inches bore, for instance, will, when closed at the lower extremity,
throw up, in different parts of the same street, twelve fountains of an
inch diameter each, and thus the whole city may be alternately cleanded
and cooled.
In case of fire, these fountains will fill the engines without manual
labor, by the proper application of a hose. This is of itself an
object worthy of the whole expense of distribution.
The pipes ought to lie at least two feet below the pavement.
Wooden pipes require much attention and repair. I cannot in the
short time allow me, furnish any probable calculation of the annual
expense of these repairs. THe experience of the London new river
company shows, that notwithstanding their frequency, the water can be
supplied and all the works kept up at a small annual water-rent, reserving
a very large income to the company.
Neither can the original expense of laying down the pipes be very exactly
calculated, without better information that I have been able to
procure. My enquiries however lead me to believe, that the pavement
may be opened, the pipe manufactured and laid down, and covered again, for
half a dollar a foot, allowing for plugs, cocks and hoops.
On this supposition, and allowing 10,000 feet of pipe (or nearly two
miles) to Front-street, 8,000 feet to the three next, 5,000 each as high
as Eleventh-street, and 35,000 in the east and west mains, the whole
amount will be 104,000 feet, making 52,000 dollars.
This expence would distribute water through all the crouded parts of the
city, and render the pumps wholly unnecessary. The expence, of laying
the water by small leaden pipes from the main to the private houses,
should be borne by the individuals. It would amount of fifty cents,
per foot, and in no case exceed twenty-five or thirty dollars, an expence
which I think every family would cheerfully incur to avoid the
inconveniences arising from the necessity, at present, of sending their
servants to the pumps. For these pipes, a rent would be paid. The
poorer inhabitants would supply themselves from the public plugs, without
any charge. I think half the expence of laying down the main pipes,
i.e. twenty-five cents per foot, if assessed upon the city, would not be
objected to. The rich would pay in proportion to their fronts, the
poor would be slightly affected; the expence in fact would fall upon the
landlord. Corner houses should pay only for one front. This
assessment would pay the whole expence, one half being levied on each side
of the street. If a tax is to be levied on the city for the work, a
lighter and a juster could not perhaps be devised. It would be in
fact the purchase money of health and convenience, and occur only
once. Every new house, would pay its share, as it was built, and
thereby contribute to future repair.
But I ought to apologize for these suggestions I have made them only
to show, that the effort, which is proposed to make, is much within the
powers of this wealthy city.
Recapitulation of expence: | |
Erecting the Engines and bringing water from Schuylkill to Center-square, | 75,000 |
Bringing the Mill-spring to the city, | 275,000 |
Distributing the water throughout the city,- first expence, | 52,000 |
Dollars | 402,000 |
A further expence will be
necessary to extend the distribution to every distant part of the
town. This may be executed in Aş.1800. The expence cannot
easily be ascertained.
I will furnish you, at any time you please, with the detail of my
estimates, which I believe will not be found short of the reality.
In order the ascertain the probable proceeds of the works, I will suppose,
that of six thousand houses, four thousand families will supply themselves
with water from the main. The water-rent which I paid while residing
in London, in a house of twenty-four feet front, was thirty-six shillings,
sterling, or eight dollars. Fixing ten dollars as the first
average rent, which as the funds become prosperous, may be annually
lowered, this alone would produce an annual rent of 40,000 dollars,
independently of extra supplies to brewers, distillers, or very large
families.
40,000 dollars rent, at 6 per cent. per annum, is equivalent to a capital
of 666,666 Dollars 66 Cts.
I will now add a few
remarks upon the following proposals, which have been supposed to be
worthy of consideration, and which indeed, are the only schemes that have
come to my knowledge, are the schemes that have come to my knowledge, that
deserve attention.
I. To complete the canal immediately.
II. To conduct Wissahikon-creek to the city.
III. To erect water-works to be driven by one of the two rivers.
IV. To collect water from any practicable source, and bring it over
hill and dale in wooden, and perhaps, in iron pipes, to Philadelphia.
If, and I presume it will not easily be disputed, the three requisites
of (1st.) immediate utility, (2d.) permanence, and (3d.)
security against frost, be indispensible, I will dismiss these proposals
in a few words.
I. The first is deficient in the first, and I fear in the last.
II. The second, (if at any time the water were sufficient) in the
first and last.
III. The third in the second and third.
IV. The fourth in permanence, and I think, in efficiency.
I. As to the canal, I am convinced that the very eminent and
acknowledged abilities of the Engineer Mr. Weston, could overcome any
obstacles which art dare combat; and that a work, in which he has already
done himself so much honor, would not want completion if it upon upon his
genius or his industry. If, therefore, the work could be accomplished in
time, it certainly would render great part of the expense, which I have
proposed, unnecessary. But, from what I have heard, doubt may be
entertained of the possibility of the necessary expedition. But I
confess myself very imperfectly informed. I fear the ice would
embarrass the winter-supply for culinary use, but to every other purpose
its water would be amply adequate.
II. Wissahikon-creek has, I believe, not a sufficient quantity of
water. Besides, to get the water upon a proper elevation, it would
be necessary to purchase two mills, and then to bring the water to town
over very unfavorable ground. The creek has, even this winter,
almost frozen to the bottom, and yielded very little water.
III. The examples of London, (London bridge works,) Versailles,
(Marly,) and Bremen, would forever deter me from attempting works to be
driven by a river subject to ice and freshes. The expense of keeping
up the timber-work is enormous, and equal to rebuilding once in seven
years. To give such works power, they must be unwieldy.
Cranks, which are their necessary appendage, are the very worst things in
mechanism. In the Delaware or Schuylkill, the works might stand still
six hours in twenty-four: perhaps during the raging of a fire. I once
saw several houses in London burn down, while the works were waiting for
the ride. This happens not unfrequently. In winter they would be
wholly useless.
IV. To bring water, in pipes, of any description, a yard further
than necessity requires, is very bad economy. All water has more or
less sediment, and pipes cannot be cleansed without taking them up.
It is difficult often to find where the fault lies. Metal pipes are
very liable to injury from the frost, and in a long extent every part
could not be equally secured. Wooden pipes, like everything else
that is wooden, are a perpetual source of Expence, repair, and
interruption. The inconvenience attending them in distributing water
must be borne, because it cannot be avoided, but where it can be
avoided, it ought not to borne.
By the length of this
letter, you will see that I have endeavored to comply fully with your
request, by the want of detail, you will observe that I have been
straightened in time.
I am, Sir, With great esteem, your's faithfully, B. Henry Latrobe.
To John Miller, Esquire, Chairman of the Committe of the Select Council of the City of Philadelphia.
POSTSCRIPT
I am induced to add still the following remarks, as connected with the
subject of my letter.
I. Prejudice
against River-water.
Although most men prefer spring, to river water, it may be doubted,
whether the latter may not be more wholesome. It is generally
supposed by Physicians to be more generally free from noxious
ingredients. The Indians, I am informed, from motives of health now
grown into habit, never drink water from a spring, when they can procure
it from a stream. London is entirely supplied with river
water. It is taken from the Thames in different places, from the New
River, and from the river Lee; and has nothing to boast of the cleanliness
of its aqueducts. The water is received in each house in wooden, or
leaden cisterns, which is deposits a black impalpable mud. When
boiled the new New River water crusts the vessel with a calcareous
precipitate, so as in time to choak the spouts of the tea kettles. I
believe that the country, in which the river rises, has a basis of
chalk. The water must, therefore, be similar to that of the
Schuylkill in quality, though very inferior in purity. The houses in
London are supplied only once in two days. The water then runs about
three hours. Yet during some years residence in London I thought it
very pleasant, and I am certain it is very wholesome. It is
preferred to the water of any spring in the two cities and suburbs, and
those that have any fame, (such as St. Paul's or Aldgate,) owe it to their
coldness, not their superior salubrity. I must remark, that I never
knew a deficiency of water in my family, notwithstanding the distant
intervals between the supplies. The cisterns always ran over during
the last hour of the water's coming in. This shows how sufficient our
own resources are.
In this hot climate, however, cool water is more valuable than in London,
and perhaps, absolutely necessary. The Mill-spring seems to possess
every desirable quality, in a degree which our most sanguine wishes could
scarce have expected.
II. Fountains.
The engine proposed for Center-square, may be considered as a necessary
and unavailable expence, by whatever means the water be brought to
town. It may be rendered an ornament to the city. Its use is
to supply water to the higher levels of the town, and fountains in all the
streets. The air produced by the agitation of water is of the purest
kind, and the sudden evaporation of water, scattered through the air,
absorbs astonishing quantities of heat, or to to use common phrase,
creates a great degree of cold. Coal mines, which are
troubled with foul air, are supplied with pure air by the simple means of
pouring a small stream of water through a trunk, down the shaft into a
cask. The air extricated in the trunk and cask, is conveyed by means
of pipes to distance parts of the works. When the shaft is deep it
will blow out so strongly that a man cannot stand against it. The
water blast, used in Switzerland in the furnaces, which is produced by the
same simple means, is that strongest that can be devised, and on account
of the purity of the air, partakes of the superiority of the chemical
oxygen furnace.
As to the mechanism of the fountains, it consists merely of a short wooden
pipe, set perpendicularly into the main, and stopped by a cock, which is
turned, when the fountain is not in use. The name produces
an idea of great expence, but they may be realized at a very small one.
III. Public Baths.
I have often wondered, that while in many despotic countries, all ranks of
men have ben provided with the convenience, and the wholesome pleasantness
of public baths, fountains, and porticoes, the American people do not
indulge themselves, in the smallest gratification, as salubrious, as it is
innocent of this kind. Our abstinence is commendable, as it arises
from industry, andour attention to more serious pursuits, but highly
blameable as it injuries our health. We retain indeed both in our
habits, our diet, and our modes of life, the habits of our Northern
ancestors, and have no yet learned how to live healthy in a hot
climate. In the city of Philadelphia, I think baths almost an
absolutely necessary means of health. When the engine in center
square is at work it will with great ease supply a requisite number of
baths. I mention this only as a hint. It might be worth while
to look forward to some such thing in the arrangement that may be thought
of, provided the proeparation may be made without expence. I think
it may. Such baths would be a source of a large revenue and perhaps
it might not be bad policy in the citizens of this primary metropolis of
North America, to counterbalance the fashionable inducements, which point
to the Potowmac, by conveniences, and advantages which cannot for many
years be thought of in a city, which is at present almost destitute of
dwellings.
IV. Steam Engines.
For want to the necessary information of what can be executed in this
city, which I have not had time to procure, some uncertainty in the
estimates, in which the Steam Engines are concerned, must be
expected. I have said nothing of their power, because it is
perfectly at your option from the supply of five hundred to any higher
number of gallons per minutes. I have no doubt but that this city
can produce Smiths capable of constructing very efficient Engines, under
proper direction.
The annual expence of each Engine, and repairs, will not exceed three
thousand dollars.
Philadelphia, December 18, 1811.
From View of the Practicability and Means of Supplying the City of Philadelphia with wholesome water, in a letter to John Miller, Esquire., from B. Henry Latrobe, Engineer, December 29, 1798
Reprinted in Report of the Committee appointed by the Common Council to enquire into the state of the Water Works. December 5, 1801
İ 2018 Morris A. Pierce