ready appropriated by other municipalities; do not possess satisfactory storage reservoir sites, or would not yield pure enough water on account of pollution by sewage. The creeks that would be ruled out entirely by one or more of these considerations are: Fishkill Creek and tributaries, Crum Elbow Creek, Landmans Kill, Sawkill, Roeliff Jansens Kill, Claverack Creek, Moordener Kill, Wyant Kill, Poesten Kill, Tomhannock Creek, Batten Kill, Murderers' Creek and several other small creeks.

On the east side of the lower Hudson River there are no other available watersheds from which large quantities of water could be obtained, excepting certain ones, the diversion of the waters of which, by New York, would involve questions of interstate rights.

About 6,000,000 gallons per day could be obtained from Peekskill Creek; 5,000,000 from Clove Creek and about 15,000,000 gallons from Wappinger Creek. The headwaters of Kinderhook Creek would probably yield about 50,000,000 gallons daily, and the south branch of the Hoosic about 30,000,000. Fifty million gallons additional per day might be brought into the city at a lower elvation than 300 feet. These waters, however, are scattered over such a wide expanse of country that they would hardly pay for collection. Further detailed study of the streams of this region might indicate greater possibilities for storage than I was able to find in the limited time available. Thus, from all the small watersheds it would probably not be possible to secure much over 150,000,000 gallons daily, and to obtain this quantity it would be necessary to build an aqueduct about 150 miles in length. Furthermore, in view of the possibility of securing other waters in larger quantities and from districts lying closer to the city, no necessity exists for pursuing further the study of the creeks on the east side of the Hudson River.

On the west side of the Hudson are two distinct highland districts, surrounded by rolling lands and elevated plains. These are the Catskill Mountains, and the mountains in Northern New Jersey and Southeastern New York comprising the Shawangunk, Bear Port, Ramapo and other ranges at the eastern. termination of the Blue Mountains. The Delaware River, Rondout, Esopus, Schoharie and Catskill creeks are the principal streams receiving the surface waters from the Catskills,

while to the Wallkill, Ramapo, Hackensack and Passaic rivers. flow the waters of the other district.

A small amount of water could be secured from reservoirs on Rondout Creek; but these would be so far distant from other available waters in the Catskills as to render this territory, at present at least, unfavorable for development.

The only streams, therefore, in the lower Hudson watershed, not involving questions of the diversion of water flowing into other states, which offer opportunities for the storage of water in sufficiently large quantities to warrant development for the future water supply of Greater New York are: The Hudson River above the influence of salt water; Catskill Creek; Schoharie Creek, Esopus Creek and the Wallkill River.

III.

SUPPLY FROM THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS.

The plan proposed by Mr. Geo. W. Rafter, and described in his report, for securing 500,000,000 gallons of water daily from Schroon River, in the Adirondack Mountains, contemplates, briefly, the raising of the level of Schroon and Brant lakes by means of a dam at Tumblehead Falls.

In my estimates of cost, I have included Mr. Rafter's estimates of the cost of storage, water-rights, damages, etc., as well as the cost of the aqueduct from the dam at Tumblehead Falls to New York, and the new reservoir near the city line. The most serious objection to this project lies in the destruction of the water powers on Schroon River, a protective measure necessary in order to safeguard the purity of the water.

A plan that would meet this objection would be to build a diversion weir across the Hudson River at Hadley, construct certain storage reservoirs in the upper Hudson watershed, for which numerous favorable sites exist, for the purpose of securing the desired yield, and after filtering the water, to take it to New York in an aqueduct. This aqueduct would be about 25 miles shorter than the one from Tumblehead Falls, and the saving in cost on this item, in addition to the reduction in cost of damages to water-rights and properties, would about equal the cost of filters and accessory works; the estimates of cost of construction, pre

sented further on, may therefore be taken as representative of either project.

The cost of the water under the Hadley project, however, would be about $3 more per million gallons than under the Schroon Lake project, this amount representing the cost of filtration.

In view of our present knowledge regarding the effects of stream pollution on public health, I should not regard it as safe to use the water of Hudson River at Hadley as a domestic supply for New York City without previously filtering it properly, unless the water were first passed through an enormous reservoir, where sufficient time would be allowed for the complete dispersion, nitrification or sedimentation of the polluting matter.

IV.

QUANTITY OF WATER THAT MAY BE SECURED IN THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS.

The lowest elevations considered in seeking storage reservoir sites in the Catskills were: On Catskill and Esopus creeks, 500 feet, and on the Schoharie, 1,100 feet, above sea level; lower elevations will not economically permit of the delivery of water at New York 300 feet above sea level.

Catskill and Esopus creeks flow in a southeasterly direction, nearly parallel, and about 25 miles apart; Catskill on the northern. side and Esopus on the southern side of the main mountains. Both creeks empty into Hudson River, Catskill at the Village of Catskill and Esopus at Saugerties. Schoharie Creek lies between Catskill and Esopus and flows in the opposite direction, bending around toward the north after leaving the highlands and emptying into Mohawk River near Amsterdam. The sources of the Schoharie are over 2,000 feet above sea level, and not more than ten miles from Hudson River.

The waters of Catskill and Esopus creeks can be delivered to New York through conduit lines leading direct from the reservoirs. The waters of the Schoharie, however, can only be brought to the City by the construction of a tunnel from the lowest reservoir on the Schoharie to the nearest point in the valley of the Esopus, at a suitable elevation.

Topographically, Catskill and Esopus creeks are similar in general characteristics. In the areas under consideration the tributaries of the streams have, as a rule, very steep beds, offering no sites for large storage reservoirs, while, on the contrary, the main streams are much flatter and afford fairly good sites for the construction of dams.

The Schoharie has three large tributaries, the Batavia Kill, West Kill and East Kill, on each of which good storage may be secured. For this reason the Schoharie will yield a greater amount of water per square mile of watershed than either Esopus or Catskill creeks.

All these streams are more or less flashy, rising quickly during heavy rains and discharging their flood waters very rapidly after the storms have passed.

Esopus Creek.

The lowest dam site chosen on Esopus Creek is a short distance above the falls at the village of Olive. At this point the creek runs through rather a narrow gorge in the shale rock, affording an opportunity for the construction of a masonry dam, 60 feet high and about 600 feet long.

The area of the watershed above this dam is 245 square miles. The proposed reservoirs have an available combined storage capacity of about 27,000,000,000 gallons, and can yield in dryest years about 150,000,000 gallons daily. This corresponds to an average yield of about 625,000 gallons of water per square mile of land surface per day.

The proposed dams would be located as follows: At Olive; Cold Brook station; Lake Hill; one mile above Mt. Pleasant station; one-half mile above Phoenicia; one mile and one-half above Phoenicia; one mile above Shandaken, and onehalf mile below Big Indian. The dam at Shandaken could be omitted by increasing the height of the Big Indian dam. Such an expedient, however, would render more difficult the relocation of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad.

All the dams on the Esopus, excepting the one at Olive, will, of necessity, be of earth, or rock-fill construction, with spillways cut in the solid rock sides of the valley.

The Ulster and Delaware Railroad enters the Esopus Valley

about half a mile above the Olive dam, and follows the creek from Brodheads station to above the highest reservoir site. The building of the proposed storage reservoirs would require a relocation of this railroad for its entire length.

The construction of the reservoirs would also require the relocation of the villages of Brodheads, Beechford, Riseleys, Big Indian and part of South Allaben. These villages contain from six to fifteen houses each, with no industrial institutions, excepting the village of Brodheads, where a stone planer plant is located. The villages of Olive, Shokan, West Shokan, Boiceville, The Corner, Mt. Pleasant, Long Year, Phoenicia, Chichester, Allaben, Shandaken Center and Shandaken are not interfered with. As they lie above and between the various reservoirs, however, the cost of providing them with sewers and sewage purification works has been included in the estimates.

There are a few water powers on the main stream which would be destroyed by the erection of the proposed dams, the principal ones being located at Olive, Boiceville, Allaben and Big Indian. None of these powers is developed by storage reservoirs, the mill owners depending upon the natural flow of the stream, the head being secured by the erection of small in-take dams, or diversion weirs a few feet in height. The power at Olive drives grist mills, and the low-water flow of the stream could not be depended on to give more than 100 horse-power with the head available. The power at Boiceville is used for running a sawmill, and can develop about 80 horse-power at low-water flow. The power at Allaben drives a mill, not more than 25 horse-power being available at that point in dry weather. At Big Indian a small sawmill uses about 15 horsepower. Several of these plants have turbine capacity above that required to develop the minimum flow of the stream. There are, aggregating about 93 horse-power, three unused powers which might be developed cheaply.

Inasmuch as these powers would be completely destroyed and the industries which they now serve would be seriously crippled if obliged to use steam instead of water for power, liberal provision has been made in the estimates for the purchase of the various plants. This method has been adopted in the estimates of cost, not necessarily as an indication of what would be best in the premises, but in order that these estimates