Misplaced Pages

#901098

33-587: Construction began in 1892 and was completed in 1906. Designed by Alphonse Fteley (1837–1903), the masonry dam is 266 feet (81 m) broad at its base and 297 feet (91 m) high from base to crest. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest dam in the world. It impounds up to 19 billion US gallons (72,000,000 m) of water, a small fraction of the New York City water system's total storage capacity of 580 billion US gallons (2.2 × 10 m). The original Croton Dam ( Old Croton Dam )

66-488: A crescent-shaped canal 1,000 feet (300 m) long and 200 feet (61 m) wide in the hill on the north side of the river, secured the canal with a masonry retaining wall, and built temporary dams to control the water flow. The initial construction lasted eight years, and extensive modifications and repairs went on for another six. Working conditions were often difficult. A silent film, The Croton Dam Strike , released in 1900, depicted labor–management problems related to

99-484: A fountain of water that spouted to a height of 50 feet (15 m) from the beautifully decorated cast iron Croton Fountain in City Hall Park . Water started flowing through the aqueduct on June 22, 1842, taking 22 hours for gravity to take the water the 41 miles (66 km) (at a velocity of 1.86 miles per hour [2.99 km/h; 2.73 ft/s]) to reach Manhattan. Even though only 6,175 houses had been connected to

132-522: A left onto Ashburton Avenue going east. At Palisades Avenue, it makes a right and the trail bed restarts. Remnants of the aqueduct still exist and can be seen along the trail, including 21 stone ventilators, three stone weirs (chambers which were used to empty the aqueduct for maintenance), and one "Keeper's House" located in Dobbs Ferry . The Keeper's House in Dobbs Ferry was built in 1857 and

165-434: A new Croton system in 1885. Hydro engineer James B. Francis was brought in as a consultant for the construction. The proposed dam and reservoir were to cover 20 square miles (52 km) of land occupied by public and private buildings, six cemeteries, and more than 400 farms. Condemnation disputes led to "protests, lawsuits, and confusion" before payment of claims and the awarding of construction contracts. The work force on

198-493: A rise in the water table, which flooded many cellars. To address this problem, the city built sewers in many residential streets. By 1852, 148 miles (238 km) of sewers had already been constructed. About this time the German cockroach attracted attention and was called the "Croton bug" in the mistaken belief that the aqueduct brought the insects into the homes being connected to the new water supply system. Despite its size,

231-459: A site on the property of A.B. Cornell 4 miles (6.4 km) downstream of the original dam, which was submerged by the new reservoir. New Croton Reservoir was eventually able to supply 200 to 300 million US gallons (760,000 to 1,140,000 m) a day via a new aqueduct that carried water to Jerome Park Reservoir in the north Bronx, New York City. The bridge over the spillway was replaced in 1975 and again in 2005. In that same year, because of

264-539: Is accessible from numerous stations on that line. The trail briefly parallels the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and its trails. Access to the trail is easiest where it crosses Route 9 , known variously as Albany Post Road, Broadway, or Highland Avenue. Heading southbound into downtown Yonkers, the trail goes on-street at Bishop William J. Walls Place and N. Broadway, where it follows the sidewalk on N. Broadway for one block, and then makes

297-606: Is the only remaining of four Keeper's Houses that is both on the aqueduct and open to the public. The only other remaining Keeper's House is located in Ossining, but it was moved off the aqueduct, is privately owned, and is not open to visitors. A portion of the Old Croton Aqueduct, running from the Croton River to Manhattan, was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1992. The Croton Water Supply System

330-627: The Croton Reservoir , a similar fortified tank located on Fifth Avenue between 40th Street and 42nd Street , where the New York Public Library Main Branch and Bryant Park are located today. This reservoir was built to resemble ancient Egyptian architecture . New Yorkers came uptown for the fine view of the city obtained from atop its walls. The aqueduct opened to public use with great fanfare on October 14, 1842. The day-long celebration culminated in

363-687: The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond in Central Park . The old aqueduct remained in service until 1955. In 1987 the northernmost portion was reopened to provide water to Ossining . The Old Croton Trail extends for 26.2 miles (42.2 km) in Westchester County , providing public access along all but four segments — in the Getty Square neighborhood of downtown Yonkers , Tarrytown , Scarborough and Ossining — along

SECTION 10

#1732772559902

396-638: The September 11 attacks on New York City, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection proposed permanent closure of the road across the top of the dam. Pedestrians and emergency vehicles were allowed to use New Croton Dam Road, but all other traffic was re-routed. The department made plans to replace temporary vehicle barriers with permanent barriers after completion of a New Croton Dam Rehabilitation Project in 2011. U.S. Geological survey provides average daily discharge data for

429-536: The Croton Dam here. Record discharge at the Croton Dam since records began in 1933 was on 1955-10-16 with 33,000 cfs (cubic feet per second); this was after dual hurricanes Connie and Diane . Croton Gorge Park offers views of the dam from directly downstream. The Old Croton Trail , a popular hiking and biking path that roughly follows the route of the Old Croton Aqueduct , has an endpoint near

462-950: The World is Nagarjuna Sagar Dam , Andhra Pradesh and Telangana , in India. Visual examples [ edit ] [REDACTED] The original Theodore Roosevelt Dam in Arizona [REDACTED] New Croton Dam in New York [REDACTED] The Artouste Dam in France [REDACTED] The Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in India is the largest masonry dam in the world See also [ edit ] Arch-gravity dam Causeway Dam Gravity dam Retaining wall Wicket dam References [ edit ] ^ "Masonry Dam" . EcologyDictionary.org . Archived from

495-523: The aqueduct was constructed, residents of New York obtained water from cisterns , wells, natural springs, and other bodies of water. Rapid population growth in the 19th century and encroachment on these areas as Manhattan moved further north of Wall Street , led to the pollution of many local fresh water sources. Below Grand Street , a small number of well-off customers of the Manhattan Company had fresh water delivered to them, but that company

528-482: The base of the dam. Teatown Lake Reservation , a nature preserve, lies nearby as does Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson. Masonry dam Type of dam Masonry dams are dams made out of masonry  – mainly stone and brick , sometimes joined with mortar . They are either the gravity or the arch-gravity type. The largest masonry dam in

561-560: The capacity of the Old Croton Aqueduct could not keep up with the growth of New York City, and construction on a New Croton Aqueduct began in 1885 a few miles east. The new aqueduct, buried much deeper than the old one, went into service in 1890, with three times the capacity of the Old Croton Aqueduct. It currently supplies 10 percent of New York City's water. The Croton Receiving Reservoir continued to supply New York City with drinking water until 1940, when Commissioner of Parks and Recreation Robert Moses ordered it drained and filled to create

594-412: The city. A polluted aquifer, overcrowded housing, the lack of sewers, public ignorance of basic sanitary conditions, and the existence of polluting industries near wells and residential areas contributed to an unprecedented mortality rate of 2.6% (1 death per 39 inhabitants) in 1830. Then in 1832 cholera first reached New York in the deadliest epidemic to that date. The need for a new supply of fresh water

627-559: The city. Although the aqueduct was largely superseded by the New Croton Aqueduct , which was built in 1890, the Old Croton Aqueduct remained in service until 1955. The island of Manhattan, surrounded by brackish rivers, had a limited supply of freshwater available. It dwindled as the city grew rapidly after the American Revolutionary War , and freshwater sources became polluted by effluent . Before

660-425: The dam's construction. Designed by Alphonse Fteley (1837–1903), the masonry dam is 266 feet (81 m) broad at its base and 297 feet (91 m) high from base to crest. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest dam in the world. Its foundation extends 130 feet (40 m) below the bed of the river, and the dam contains 850,000 cubic yards (650,000 m) of masonry. The engineers' tablet mounted on

693-406: The headhouse nearest the spillway lists the spillway length as 1,000 feet (300 m) and the total length of the dam and spillway combined as 2,188 feet (667 m). New Croton Dam impounds up to 19 billion US gallons (72,000,000 m) of water, a small fraction of the New York City water system's total storage capacity of 580 billion US gallons (2.2 × 10 m). Work began in 1892 at

SECTION 20

#1732772559902

726-421: The new dam included stonemasons and laborers who had worked on the original dam. John B. Goldsborough, superintendent of excavations and hiring for the project, also recruited stonemasons from southern Italy, who re-located to New York. Construction began in 1892 and was completed in 1906. Building the dam meant diverting the river from its normal path and pumping the riverbed dry. To accomplish this, workers dug

759-699: The northernmost 26 miles (42 km) of the aqueduct and its right-of-way , from Croton Gorge Park to the Yonkers-New York City line. It lies wholly within Westchester County but is under the jurisdiction of the Taconic Region of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . The trail runs roughly parallel to Metro North's Hudson Line from northern Yonkers to Scarborough and

792-652: The original on 4 March 2016 . Retrieved 27 December 2014 . ^ "Nagarjuna Sagar Dam" . Guntur District National Informatics Centre . Government of Andhra Pradesh . Retrieved 27 December 2014 . Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Masonry_dam&oldid=1243396639 " Categories : Masonry dams Dams by type Masonry buildings and structures Brick buildings and structures Stone buildings Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Old Croton Aqueduct The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct

825-581: The route of the aqueduct. It crosses the lawn of Lyndhurst , following the aqueduct's easement. The trail enters New York City on the eastern side of Van Cortlandt Park and runs through the Bronx alongside Aqueduct Avenue, and the trail continues under the southern part of University Avenue. Both the trail and the tunnel are part of the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park , which was created in 1968 and encompasses

858-456: The system by 1844, the Croton water had already dramatically improved both domestic hygiene and interior design. Baths and running water were being built in the private homes of wealthy New Yorkers, and public bathing facilities were constructed for the masses. The water system had another inadvertent consequence. The decline in the number of residents drawing water from the city's wells resulted in

891-595: Was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The great aqueducts , which were among the first in the United States , carried water by gravity 41 miles (66 km) from the Croton River in Westchester County to reservoirs in Manhattan . It was built because local water resources had become polluted and inadequate for the growing population of

924-565: Was a rectangular tank within fortress-like rusticated retaining walls, 1,826 feet (557 m) long and 836 feet (255 m) wide; it held up to 180 million US gallons (680,000 m ) of water. 35 million US gallons (130,000 m ) flowed into it daily from northern Westchester. From the Receiving Reservoir, water flowed down to the Croton Distributing Reservoir , better known simply as

957-499: Was actually more focused on banking—it eventually became Chase Manhattan —and only paid as much attention to its water activities as it needed to avoid losing the state charter that allowed it to bank. The poor and the rest of the city were forced to rely on well water, often made palatable by adding alcoholic spirits, prompting temperance campaigners to call for the municipal provision of water. The unsanitary conditions caused an increase in disease. Epidemics of yellow fever ravaged

990-739: Was added where the aqueduct crossed rivers. It extended from the Old Croton Dam in northern Westchester County to the Harlem River , where it continued over the High Bridge at 173rd Street and down the West Side of Manhattan and finally into a Receiving Reservoir located between 79th and 86th streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues; the site is now the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond in Central Park . The Receiving Reservoir

1023-594: Was built between 1837 and 1842 to improve New York City's water supply. By 1881, after extensive repairs to the dam, which was 50 feet (15 m) high, the Old Croton Reservoir was able to supply about 90 million US gallons (340,000 m) a day to the city via the Old Croton Aqueduct . To meet escalating water needs, the Aqueduct Commission of the City of New York ordered construction of

New Croton Dam - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-405: Was crucial. In March 1833, Major David Bates Douglass , engineering professor at West Point Military Academy , was appointed to survey and estimate the proposed route. In 1837, construction began on a massive engineering project, to divert water from sources upstate, following a route surveyed by Douglass and supervised by Douglass' successor, Chief Engineer John B. Jervis . The Croton River

1089-414: Was dammed, aqueducts were built, tunnels dug, piping laid, and reservoirs created. The gravity-fed aqueduct dropped 13 inches per mile, 1/4" per 100' (~0.02%). An elliptical tube, 8.5 feet (2.6m) high by 7.5 feet (2.3m) wide, of iron piping encased in brick masonry was laid, sometimes in cuts, with conical ventilating towers every mile or so, to relieve pressure and keep the water fresh. Hydraulic cement

#901098