REPORT 
 
 Of thp: 
 
 loint Special Cominiltte of t|e -Cib Comiril 
 
 ON THH 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF WATER 
 
 FOR THE CITY OF LYNN, 
 
 WITH 
 
 Reports of the Engineer and Chemist. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Class 
 
 Book 
 
 Volume 
 

 REPORT 
 
 / OF THE 
 
 / |oint Spenal Committee of % Citg Cooneil 
 
 ON THE 
 
 I INTEODUCTION OF WATER 
 
 FOR THE CITY OF LYNN, 
 
 WITH 
 
 Keports of the Engineer and Chemist. 
 
 SEPTEMBER, 1870. 
 
 LYNN : 
 
 THOS. P. NICHOLS, PRINTER, 
 
 No. 179 MARKET STREET. 
 
 1870 . 
 
CITY OF LYNN. 
 
 In Common Council, Sejpt . 9, 1870. 
 
 Ordered^ That the Committee on the Introduction of Water be, 
 and hereby are, instructed to have printed three thousand copies of 
 their Report, for general distribution, together with the Report of W. 
 J. McAlpine, Esq., to said Committee, with his estimates of the cost 
 of the same. 
 
 Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 RUFUS KIMBALL, Clerk. 
 
 In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, ) 
 September 14, 1870. 1 
 
 Adopted in concurrence. 
 
 BENJ. II. JONES, City Clerk. 
 

 EEPOET OF THE JOINT SPECIAL COMMITTEE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF WATER. 
 
 To the City Council of the City of Lynn : 
 
 The Joint Special Committee, to whom was assigned 
 the duty of reporting upon the sources for a water sup- 
 ^ ply for the city, and estimates of the cost of introducing 
 ^ it, present the following 
 
 EEPORT. 
 
 A water supply for our city from some adequate 
 source, to meet, by a system of general distribution, 
 the various uses for which it is constantly demanded, 
 has, until last year, received but little consideration. 
 The first attempt in this direction was from parties 
 claiming the ownership of Sluice Pond. Having in 
 view an early demand for a larger supply, and of better 
 quality than can be afforded by the ordinary method of 
 sinking wells, authority was obtained from the Legisla¬ 
 ture in 1865 to convey to the city proper the water of 
 that pond for distribution and sale. Application was 
 then made to the City Council for permission to lay 
 
IV 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 through the streets of the city the necessary pipes to 
 provide such service. There appearing among our 
 citizens an opposition to granting to a private corpora¬ 
 tion the privileges asked for, the prayer of the petition 
 has thus far been refused. 
 
 The disastrous fires 'which occurred in the winter of 
 1868-9, by which a large amount of property was de¬ 
 stroyed, the great danger to which the business interests 
 of the city seemed exposed, and the high rates of in¬ 
 surance demanded upon all kinds of insurable property, 
 drew public attention at once to the insufficiency of the 
 water supply for the extinguishinent of fires. The ap¬ 
 prehensions of property owners, and the fears of our 
 citizens generally, found expression in the following 
 extract from the Inaugural Address of the Mayor of 
 last year: 
 
 “ The great calamity which has befallen our city, by which several 
 of our largest and most beautiful buildings have been swept off by 
 the devouring flames, casting a deep gloom over the community, 
 depriving several of our most enterprising and worthy citizens of a 
 large amount of property, and throwing nearly a thousand workmen 
 out of employment, calls upon us most imperatively to see to it 
 that all needed facilities be provided for preventing a like disaster 
 hereafter. I think there is now but one opinion among our people, 
 and that is in favor of the early introduction of an abundant supply 
 of water into the city. No one who witnessed the recent fire could 
 have failed to see how entirely we were at the mercy of the devouring 
 element, and must continue to be, until we remedy this deficiency. 
 We cannot neglect this duty without incurring the heaviest censure 
 of the community. I do most earnestly beseech you to give your 
 immediate attention to this important matter. Let a committee be at 
 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF WATER. 
 
 V 
 
 once appointed to investigate the subject, and report how and in what 
 way this can be brought about.” 
 
 In pursuance of these suggestions, a Committee of 
 the City Council was appointed to consider the necessi¬ 
 ties of the city in this regard. The Legislature was 
 petitioned for authority to provide the city with a sup¬ 
 ply of water from one of the ponds in this vicinity. An 
 Act was granted conferring the necessary powers, but 
 requiring the assent thereto of the voters when submit¬ 
 ted to them for approval. The acceptance of the Act 
 was refused. So imperative, however, was the demand 
 for a more abundant supply of water for use at fires, 
 that the City Council authorized the expenditure of 
 $32,000 for the laying of pipes from Flax Pond to the 
 centre of the city for this purpose. This work was 
 accomplished before the close of the year. 
 
 The official communication to the City Council of the 
 Mayor, at the commencement of the present year, in¬ 
 vited the attention of the members to this subject in the 
 following paragraph: 
 
 “ The iutroduction of water into the city, from some one of the 
 sources of supply near at hand, occupied the attention of the last City 
 Council, invited thereto by the recommendation of my predecessor in 
 office, in his Inaugural Address. 
 
 “ Authorized by the City Council, a committee charged with the 
 consideration of this important matter petitioned the Legislature for 
 an Act conferring upon our city the usual powers granted for such 
 purposes. ‘An Act for supplying Lynn with pure water’ was ob¬ 
 tained, and received the approval of the Governor on the 23d of June. 
 The sources of supply named in the act were Flax Pond, within our 
 
VI 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 own limits ; Humphrey’s Pond, situated upon the borders of the towns 
 of Lynnfield and Peabody, and Wenham Pond, by connection with 
 the water-works of the city of Salem. The City Council was re¬ 
 quired to determine the source from which, in the event of the accep¬ 
 tance of the act, the city should take water, and met for this purpose 
 on the 19th day of July. It being understood that no satisfactory 
 arrangement could be made with the city of Salem, and consent to 
 take the waters of Humphrey’s Pond having been refused by the 
 towns in which they are located, no option was left the City Council 
 but to name the Flax Pond as the source of supply. On the second 
 day of August following, the act was submitted to the people for 
 approval, and failed by a vote of 326 in favor to 1,396 against. So 
 decisive a vote, in the absence of any information explaining it, might 
 be regarded as settling the question for some years to come. Yet I 
 am satisfied that the people desire to have this subject further con¬ 
 sidered. The opinion prevails that many who voted 'against the 
 acceptance of the Water Act did so for prudential reasons, — the 
 want of full and satisfactory information regarding the quantity and 
 quality of the water, the uncertainty attending the cost of introducing 
 it, and, on the part of some, the fear that the City Council would 
 regard the acceptance of the Act as instructions to proceed at once to 
 carry out the project. I therefore recommend that the question of 
 introducing water for general purposes be again considered, and that 
 a sufficient appropriation be made to employ a competent engineer 
 to make such surveys and estimates as will furnish full and reliable 
 data, and that the committee having charge of the investigation be 
 authorized to report in print, at the close of the year. If this plan 
 be pursued, and either the Flax Pond or Humphrey’s Pond be 
 selected as the one best suited to the wants of the city, I have no 
 doubt that the Legislature will readily grant all necessary j)owers.” 
 
 So much of the address as relates to the introduction 
 of water was referred to a Joint Sj^ecial Committee, who 
 subsequently reported as follows : 
 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF WATER. 
 
 Vll 
 
 In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, ) 
 April 12, 1870. ( 
 
 The Joint Special Committee to whom was referred so much of 
 the Mayor’s Address as relates to the introduction of water, submit 
 the following 
 
 EEPORT. 
 
 The particular matter to which the attention of your Committee 
 has been directed is the expediency of authorizing, the present year, 
 an examination of the ponds and water courses in this vicinity which 
 can be made available for furnishing our city with an abundant 
 supply of pure water. Sufficient consideration has been given the 
 subject to induce the belief that an investigation which shall deter¬ 
 mine, with scientific accuracy, the sources from which an adequate 
 supply can be obtained, for the present and future wants of the city, 
 and provide estimates of the cost of introducing and distributing it, 
 cannot too soon be undertaken. The concentration upon a compara¬ 
 tively small portion of our territory of the main business of the city, 
 where are centered nearly all of our large manufacturing establish¬ 
 ments, peopled daily by hundreds whose occupations call them thither, 
 and the increase of our manufacturing industry, which, year by year, 
 adds to the numbers employed, furnish, in the opinion of many, an 
 important sanitary reason why the introduction of water ought not to 
 be longer deferred. The rapid growth of our city in population, the 
 occupation for residences of substantially the same area by constantly 
 increasing numbers, the superiority of soft, pure water for mechani¬ 
 cal and manufacturing purposes, the necessity for cleansing the 
 sewers, that no accumulation of filth shall remain, and the conveni¬ 
 ence and facility which attend its use for domestic purposes, all sug¬ 
 gest that the time is not distant when this great want of our city will 
 be supplied. As an examination of the capacity and purity of the 
 water of the ponds in the neighborhood of our city is a necessary 
 preliminary work, which must be performed under the supervision of 
 a competent engineer, whose services, when rendered, must be com- 
 
Vlll 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 pensated, and as at no future time will the labor and expense of the 
 necessary surveys be less, there appears to be no valid reason for 
 delay. If during the present season this work should be accom¬ 
 plished, the facts gathered and opinions submitted will furnish all 
 our citizens with reliable information to assist them in determining 
 whence our water supply must come. This highly important'ques¬ 
 tion should be settled as soon as possible, for whatever difference of 
 opinion may exist as to the immediate necessity for water, nO' one can 
 doubt that such a necessity will arise, in a few years at most, if our 
 city continues to thrive. There will then remain to be obtained the 
 necessary legislative authority to enable the city to possess the desig¬ 
 nated supply, leaving to a future city government, or to the people, 
 the naming of the time when it shall be introduced. In view of tho 
 reasons adduced, and believing the interests of the city would thereby 
 be promoted, your Committee ask that they may be authorized to 
 employ a competent engineer to make all necessary surveys and pre¬ 
 pare a report, and for this purpose they ask for the adoption of the? 
 accompanying Order. 
 
 In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, ) 
 April 12, 1870. ) 
 
 Ordered^ That the Joint Special Committee on the Introduction 
 of Water be, and they hereby are, authorized and instructed to 
 examine and report upon the best sources for a supply of pure water 
 for the use of the city ; and for this purpose said Committee are em¬ 
 powered to employ such assistance in the discharge of their duties as 
 they may deem necessary, the expense thereof to be charged to the 
 Appropriation for Contingencies. 
 
 Sent down for concurrence. 
 
 BENJ. H. JONES, City Clerk. 
 
 In Common Council, April 27, 1870. 
 
 Amended by limiting the expense to be incurred under the order 
 to four thousand dollars. RUFUS KIMBALL, Clerk. 
 
 In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, May 2, 1870. 
 
 Amendment concurred. 
 
 BENJ. II. JONES, City Clerk. 
 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF WATER. 
 
 IX 
 
 UndGr the instructions contained in the foregoing 
 order your committee have acted. The consideration 
 of so important a question as a water supply for a large 
 and growing city, the great outlay required to introduce 
 it, and the importance of presenting a report of the 
 investigation with a weight of authority that should 
 gain the confidence of the community, induced your 
 committee to engage the services of Wm. J. Me Alpine, 
 Esq., of Albany, as consulting Engineer. His reputa¬ 
 tion as a man of scientific attainments, his large expe¬ 
 rience, covering a period of thirty years, and his prac¬ 
 tical acquaintance with questions of this character, gave 
 to your committee an assurance of reliability in the 
 facts he should report and in the opinions he might 
 express. Under his direction the investigation has 
 proceeded. The sources of supply in this vicinity have 
 all been carefully examined, the quantity and quality 
 of water they will furnish has been determined, and 
 estimates of the cost of introducing it from the sources 
 which were regarded as ample for a supply, have been 
 made. An elaborate report has been prepared, in 
 which are discussed the questions relating to a water 
 supply, and containing the facts and data gathered 
 while pursuing the investigation. The full and ex¬ 
 haustive treatment of the subject leaves for your com¬ 
 mittee the simple duty of submitting that report, stating 
 that it has their hearty endorsement. 
 
 In this connection the committee ask leave to present 
 a report on two petitions referred to them, signed by 
 b 
 
X 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 several of our large shoe manufacturers, asking that 
 they he allowed the use of the Flax Pond water in their 
 factories. As pipes had been laid from that pond, at 
 the expense of the city, for the purpose of furnishing 
 a supply of water for use at fires, it was thought by 
 many that the city might also avail itself of this supply 
 for such further use as the wants of our citizens might 
 call for. But the fiow of that pond is claimed as pri¬ 
 vate property, and only by consent of the party claiming 
 ownership, verbally given, does the city provide this 
 protection to property. For other purposes its use has 
 been persistently denied, except upon such conditions 
 as seemed to your committee burdensome. No more 
 liberal proposition was submitted to them, until other 
 arrangements were substantially concluded, than to al¬ 
 low the use of the water for manufacturing and other 
 purposes to such citizens as might desire it, upon the 
 condition that the entire receipts from its sale should 
 be received by the party claiming the right to control 
 it, and consent given him to tap the pipes for this pur¬ 
 pose. As this pond and its flow is believed by many 
 of our citizens to be the property of the city, and upon 
 a full presentation of the case before the courts would 
 be so decided, not wishing to complicate the question 
 by any agreement in which the city should seem to 
 acknowledge an ownership by others, and preferring 
 to leave the settlement of the rights of all parties until 
 it should be determined that this pond was desirable as 
 a source of supply for general purposes, your commit- 
 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF WATER. 
 
 XI 
 
 tee sought to meet the demand of the petitioners in 
 another direction. Breed’s Pond, situated about two 
 miles from the centre of the city, was offered for sale 
 for so small a sum as to invite consideration. An 
 engineer was employed to make a survey of the water¬ 
 shed and to determine the quantity of water it would 
 yield. The report showed its supply to be an average 
 of about one million gallons daily, and the storage 
 capacity of the pond to be about one hundred and 
 twenty million gallons. As the immediate demand did 
 not include a supply for domestic use, — being advised 
 that for other purposes the quantity it would furnish 
 would be more than ample,—the committee were unani¬ 
 mously of the opinion that the purchase of this pond 
 would be for the interests of the city. Besides the 
 pond, the property consists of about two acres of tillage 
 land, three ordinary dwelling houses, and a three-story 
 factory building, with barn and other outbuildings, 
 upon which an insurance is effected for $8,100. As 
 the pipes laid from Flax Pond would, with but trifling 
 loss, be equally serviceable in conducting the water 
 from Breed’s Pond, the City Council were recommended 
 to authorize the purchase and make the necessary ap¬ 
 propriations for the outlay required. With greater 
 unanimity than is often accorded in matters of this im¬ 
 portance, the appropriations were made and the com¬ 
 mittee instructed to buy the property, at a price not 
 to exceed twenty-one thousand five hundred dollars. 
 Thirty thousand dollars was also appropriated for the 
 
XU 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 repair of the dam, the laying of pipe, and other inci¬ 
 dental expenses. The committee, however, did not 
 complete the purchase until the engineer engaged in 
 the general water survey had carefully examined the 
 question of its supply, and had assured them of the ac¬ 
 curacy of the previous survey. We thus had the con¬ 
 current favorable opinion of .two eminent hydraulic 
 engineers before any action was taken in the premises. 
 Supported by such authority, the committee were rea¬ 
 sonably certain that no mistake could be made in the 
 purchase. 
 
 Flax Pond had also at this time been determined to 
 be insufficient for a permanent supply, and if taken for 
 that purpose, the city in a few years would need the ^ 
 additional quantity which Breed’s Pond will furnish. 
 
 The laying of the pipes and the work at the pond is 
 now so far forwarded as to ensure an early supply of 
 water from this source. The contract for putting in 
 the pipe and hydrants from the point at the head of 
 Federal Street to which the pipes were already laid, to 
 the pond, was awarded to George H. Norman, of New¬ 
 port, E. I., who has constructed many of the water 
 works of neighboring cities, which are models of 
 strength, durability and perfect adaptation to the pur¬ 
 poses required, and is so well known throughout the 
 country as an extensive and reliable contractor as to 
 guarantee success in whatever work he undertakes. 
 
 The work at the pond, under the direction of the 
 committee, is being executed by George H. Bishop, of 
 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF WATER. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 Meriden, Conn., an engineer of high reputation, who 
 has more than exceeded the anticipations of the com¬ 
 mittee in the thorough, economical, and yet rapid man¬ 
 ner in which he has pushed the work. 
 
 We confidently believe that the expenditure to make 
 the pond available will prove to be judiciously invested 
 in providing an abundant supply of water for the ex¬ 
 tinguishment of fires, for manufacturing and other 
 purposes, and thereby adding new facilities and new 
 incentives to the development of the business of our 
 growing city, now almost the only city in the United 
 States of equal population which has not or is not pre¬ 
 paring to supply itself with pure water by some system 
 of water works. 
 
 Our report is properly only an introduction to the 
 report of the Engineer and accompanying chemical 
 analyses, and a brief historical account of the present 
 phase of our water question. 
 
 We conclude, asking of the City Council and citizens 
 a careful and impartial consideration of the whole sub¬ 
 ject matter. 
 
 Eespectfully submitted, 
 
 EDWIN WALDEN, 
 
 GEO. F. BREED, 
 
 E. A. INGALLS, 
 
 NATHAN M. HAWKES, 
 
 O. G. PEARSON, 
 
 ARNOLD MARTIN, 
 
 WM. H. RADDIN. 
 
REPORT OF ENGINEER 
 
REPORT 
 
 OF 
 
 WM. J. MOALPINE, ENGINEER. 
 
 Lynn, August Ist^ 1870. 
 
 To Hon. Edwin Walden., May or ^ and the Joint Special 
 
 Committee of the City Council on the Introduction of 
 
 Water. 
 
 Gentlemen : — I have had the opportunity of orally 
 addressing the Committee, on the question of supplying 
 the city of Lynn with pure and wholesome water, and 
 of verbally stating the results of the field examinations 
 and estimates. 
 
 The Mayor and others of the Committee have re¬ 
 quested me to embrace in my written report such 
 statements as I have made orally, on the general con¬ 
 siderations which should govern in the determination 
 of this question, for the purpose of placing the whole 
 subject before the citizens, and of giving them the same 
 information which your Committee have had. 
 
 To furnish this information to all classes of the peo- 
 1 
 
2 
 
 pie of a large city, renders it necessary to state some 
 of the general principles given in the text books, and 
 of the knowledge already possessed by many who will 
 read this report. 
 
 The Engineers of this day have constructed so many 
 of these water works, and have made so many reports 
 thereon, that one of the character desired by your com¬ 
 mittee, compels me to restate much which I have given 
 in other of my water reports, and this may perhaps 
 lead, in some cases, to an apparent quotation from the 
 reports of others in the profession, who have followed 
 a similar line of argument and have arrived at the same 
 conclusions that I have heretofore done. 
 
 The subject will be presented in this report, under 
 the followings general heads : 
 
 I. The value of a public water supply to a city; 
 
 II. The source of all fresh water and the quantity 
 and quality of the water derived from particular dis¬ 
 tricts ; 
 
 III. The quantity demanded for the present and 
 future population; 
 
 IV. The plans for introducing the water from the 
 several available sources, including its storing and dis¬ 
 tribution ; 
 
 V. The estimates of cost of the several plans; 
 
 VI. The comparison of the plans and the conclu¬ 
 sions in regard to the one best adapted to the cuxum- 
 stances of the case. 
 
3 
 
 I. THE VALUE OF A PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY. 
 
 The practical experience of the majority of the cities 
 and large towns of the northern United States, con¬ 
 tinued through many years, has universally demon¬ 
 strated the following advantages of a public water 
 supply. 
 
 1. That the water is furnished of superior quality, 
 in greater quantity, and at less expense than by wells, 
 or any individual method ; 
 
 2. That its introduction always increases the health, 
 comfort and convenience of all classes of citizens ; 
 
 3. That it diminishes the number and greatly lessens 
 the destruction caused by conflagrations, and indirectly, 
 if not directly, lessens Are insurance rates, often to an 
 extent approaching the interest on the cost of the water 
 works; 
 
 4. Its introduction induces new settlers and addi¬ 
 tional investments and business,. especially of the 
 smaller class of manufactories, while the absence of 
 such a water supply may often prevent or divert more 
 business from the city than the cost of the works ; 
 
 5. An abundant water supply, thoroughly distri¬ 
 buted, promotes cleanly habits among all classes, and 
 greatly lessens disease, and thus improves the material 
 interests of the city. 
 
 The usual objections urged against a public distribu¬ 
 tion of water are as follows : 
 
4 
 
 1. Doubts as to the quantity and quality of the water 
 
 from the new source ; , 
 
 2. Fears that the cost of the new works will greatly 
 exceed the estimates, and that the revenue therefrom 
 will fall short of the expenses, and that the expenditure 
 may be extravagant, or applied to selfish purposes, and 
 that the patronage may be prostituted to personal polit¬ 
 ical purposes, and that these apprehensions of a large 
 outlay will saddle a heavy debt and taxation on prop¬ 
 erty, and thus deter settlers and business from the 
 city; 
 
 3. Contentment with, the present supply, arising from 
 the want of knowledge of the excessive impurity of 
 wells, of their first cost and maintenance, and liability 
 of failure, or increased impurity in dry seasons, and the 
 daily tax on labor, which they involve in drawing and 
 distributing the water. 
 
 Several of these subjects will be discussed in connec¬ 
 tion with the other general subdivisions of the report. 
 The others will now be noticed. 
 
 The.quality of the water recommended, in compari¬ 
 son with that now supplied from wells and cisterns, will 
 be examined elsewhere. The quantity provided for by 
 the proposed plan, is sixty gallons per day for each 
 inhabitant, which is four times as much as is used for. 
 domestic purposes, when it has to be hoisted from wells 
 by hand power for each habitation. The cost of the 
 labor of the latter, and of maintaining the wells and 
 
5 
 
 hoisting power, is several times greater than the usual 
 charges from a public water supply. 
 
 Baths and water closets have changed in late years, 
 from luxuries to the necessities of modern civilization, 
 and with a liberal use of water, epidemics are not only 
 prevented, but disease is lessened among the poorer 
 classes, and thus the poor rates are diminished and 
 more labor is given to the community, which is in 
 itself the true source of material prosperity to all 
 communities. 
 
 With an ample supply of water, well distributed, 
 experience has shown, that the household itself, in a 
 vast number of cases, is able to put out the small be¬ 
 ginnings of fires, which, without such provision, would 
 in a short time defy the efforts of the whole the depart¬ 
 ment. It furnishes water under pressure, ordinarily 
 sufiicient to apply directly to burning buildings, without 
 the aid of fire engines, and in all cases where these 
 engines are used, their power and effectiveness is 
 greatly increased."^ 
 
 Almost every city in our land has been visited with 
 one or more of those extensive confiagrations, which 
 
 * On the 13th of July, the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, at my request, 
 made two trials of the steam fire engine. Gen. Grant, which, with about 63 pounds 
 pressure of steam, lifted a stream of water 5 feet 5 inches and forced it through 50 feet 
 of hose, and out of a nozzle of I 5 inches diameter, and projected it to a horizontal dis* 
 tance of 95 feet (beyond the hose), at the theoretic rate of 300 gallons per minute, with the 
 pressure at the nozzle of 7^ pounds per square inch. 
 
 On the second trial, with the steam at 66 pounds, it forced the water through 100 feet 
 of hose and projected it horizontally 91 feet, at the theoretic rate of 400 gallons per minute, 
 with a nozzle pressure of 5 pounds. 
 
 When your water works are complete on the plan herein recommended, a hydrant will 
 throw through a hose of the same length, a vertical stream of the same size 100 feet per¬ 
 pendicular. 
 
6 
 
 have destroyed more property than the cost of water 
 works, constructed on the most liberal scale. It is true 
 that large conflagrations sometimes occur in places sup¬ 
 plied with water, but it is self-evident that the liability 
 to such accident and the amount of damage caused is 
 much lessened by having always on hand an abundant 
 supply of water under pressure. 
 
 The rates of insurance on property against losses by 
 Are will therefore be materially lessened, and thus in¬ 
 directly contribute largely towards the repayment of the 
 cost of water works. 
 
 Water for steam engines is required to be more pure 
 than can generally be obtained from wells in a city. 
 The absence of such w^ater prevents the introduction of a 
 machinery to a large extent. 
 
 On the other hand, the experience of all cities, where 
 water has been introduced, has been to induce the erec¬ 
 tion of a great many of the smaller class of manufac¬ 
 tories, and in the aggregate to largely increase business, 
 and thus add considerably to the means of paying not 
 only the expenses for water, but also those of the gov¬ 
 ernment of the city. 
 
 The objections to a public water supply will now be 
 considered. 
 
 The most important of these objections are discussed 
 elsewhere in the report, and it may be briefly replied 
 in general terms, that the present examination demon¬ 
 strates, beyond all reasonable doubt, that an ample 
 supply of pure and wholesome water can be procured 
 
7 
 
 and distributed to nearly every building, for domestic 
 and manufacturing purposes, and for the present and 
 future requirements of the city, at a remarkably small 
 outlay, and that the revenue will repay the cost of 
 maintenance, and contribute so far towards the interest 
 on the cost of construction as not to seriously encumber 
 or tax property, and that instead of keeping away set¬ 
 tlers and business, the introduction of water upon this 
 plan will bring in new citizens and encourage additional 
 manufactories, and thereby add to the wealth and lessen 
 the taxes on the present property. 
 
 The discussion of the quantity and quality of the 
 water, from the source herein recommended, will be 
 considered in another place, remarking only that the 
 method of determining both of these questions is so 
 accurate, as to leave no reason for doubt on the minds 
 of candid persons. 
 
 The cost of too many of our public works has un¬ 
 fortunately exceeded the previous estimates of the 
 engineers. In many of these cases this has not been 
 wholly the fault of the engineer. At the commence- 
 ihent of such an undertaking, neither the officers in 
 charge, nor the engineer, have fully appreciated the 
 extent of work necessary to meet the demands of the 
 future growth of the city. As it progresses, they begin 
 to realize the necessity of larger works than at first 
 contemplated, and these enlargements have greatly 
 added to the cost. In many cases the engineer has 
 been urged to keep his plans and estimates down to the 
 
8 
 
 lowest economical limit, to avoid alarm to the more 
 cautious citizens. 
 
 There are occasional cases where the engineers 
 want of knowledge of the expensive character of some 
 of the works has led him to estimate them at rates 
 prevailing for less costly structures. With the present 
 knowledge of the cost of so many water works already 
 built, there is but little difficulty in estimating before¬ 
 hand, approximately accurate, and if the construction 
 is entrusted to officers of integrity and reasonable skill, 
 there need be no fear of extravagant expenditure or 
 misapplication of the funds and patronage. 
 
 At the ordinary rates charged for water in other 
 cities, the annual revenue would be equal to about one 
 dollar for each person. In the larger cities, the annual 
 revenue gives a mean of about forty cents per lineal 
 foot of pipe, or two thousand dollars per mile. In 
 smaller cities the. houses are further apart, and unless 
 the charges for water are made higher, the revenue 
 would be less per mile of pipe. 
 
 A tariff of charges for the use of water, sufficiently 
 high to repay the expenses of maintenance and the 
 interest on the cost of the works, would be less than 
 the actual present cost from wells, and would not 
 prove oppressively burdensome upon the citizens ; 
 but the low rates already fixed in neighboring cities 
 will control your rates, and hence you ought not to 
 expect, for several years, a revenue much greater than 
 the annual cost of running the engine and maintaining 
 
9 
 
 the works. The comparatively small outlay, which is 
 requmed to give you an ample supply, will enable you, 
 sooner than your neighbors, to make your water works 
 ^self-sustaining. In one city, where I have been in 
 charge for a dozen years, the works now repay the 
 annual expenses, the interest on the cost, and enough 
 beyond to extend the pipes several miles every year. 
 
 Under the head of the quality of the water will be 
 discussed that of water furnished from wells in a city. 
 The analyses of these well waters, in every city in the 
 Union, show them all to be entirely unlit for drinking, 
 and many of them deleterious to health. 
 
 The limpidity and comparative coolness of such 
 water, and especially when ice is freely used, disguises 
 to the taste, to some extent, the impurities which are 
 chemically united with the water, but in most cases 
 these ingredients give a certain flavor, which by long 
 use becomes even grateful to the taste. 
 
 When water is first introduced, many persons refuse 
 to give up the use of their accustomed wells, but there 
 is not a single city where water has been introduced, 
 where, after a very few years, all of the wells have not 
 been abandoned, and the same result will follow in 
 your city. 
 
 With the water from the new sourcO, side by side, 
 with that from your wells and cisterns, the contrast be¬ 
 tween the purity, quantity, cost and convenience of the 
 one over the other, will be so great, as to leave no 
 doubt as to the result. 
 
10 
 
 In closing this branch of the subject I may remark, 
 that the universal experience of all other places has 
 been, that when a feasible project for introducing a 
 water supply has been once started, it sooner or later 
 prevails, and when such plans have been carried out, 
 and the benefits practically demonstrated, it has an¬ 
 swered all of the previous objections, and secured for it 
 universal appxobation. 
 
 II. THE SOURCE, QUALITY AND QUANTITY. 
 
 In the mixed population of a city, there are always 
 prejudices and fallacies in regard to this branch of the 
 subject, which it is advisable to remove, by a statement 
 of the received opinions of the source of water and the 
 changes which it undergoes before it is used. 
 
 Water in its three fold condition of vapor, liquid and 
 solid, performs some of the most important functions in 
 the natural and artificial purposes of life. In the first, 
 invisibly associated with the ah:, it nourishes vegetation; 
 in the second, it forms one of the components of almost 
 every substance in nature, and in the third condition it 
 protects vegetation, and prevents the injurious effects of 
 the low temperature, which gives to it a solid form. 
 
 The parent source of all of the fresh water on the 
 earth, is the ocean; and the atmosphere is the vehicle 
 by which it is conveyed over and precipitated upon the 
 land, from whence after performing its various func- 
 
11 
 
 tions, it flows back to the sea, to be again exhaled and 
 distributed over the land, and has thus incessantly cir¬ 
 culated for ages. 
 
 The amount of watery vapor in the air at any given 
 time, is determined by its temperature. With an in¬ 
 crease of temperature, the air will absorb more vapor, 
 and with a diminution the excess will be thrown off. 
 The temperature of the atmosphere is constantly chang¬ 
 ing, day by day, day and night, and even hourly, and 
 therefore this process of absorption and precipitation is 
 in constant action, and produces the palpable changes 
 of drought and moisture, besides a vast imperceptible 
 action of the same kind, in the growth, ripening and 
 decay of vegetation and animal life. 
 
 The winds, apparently so capricious, are governed in 
 a general way by certain fixed laws. The increasing 
 temperature and velocity of rotation of the earth, from 
 the poles towards the equator, give the first general di¬ 
 rection to the winds. These great currents encounter¬ 
 ing the elevated ranges of land, are deflected and pro¬ 
 duce eddies and irregularities near the surface of the 
 earth, but there will in all places, be found a general 
 direction to the winds. The warm atmosphere from 
 towards the South, moving over the face of the Ocean, 
 absorbs its moisture until fully saturated, and then 
 blown over the land and driven upward, into contact 
 with cooler strata of air, or of the earth, its tempera¬ 
 ture is lowered and it yields its excess of moisture in 
 dew, rain or snow, and thei; passing onward, to regions 
 
12 
 
 of higher temperature, is again warmed and renews its 
 absorption of watery vapor, to be again discharged on 
 the land. 
 
 The water which is precipitated upon the earth, is in 
 part absorbed by growing vegetation, and the remainder 
 flows off through the superficial water courses, to the 
 brooks and rivers, and back to the ocean, or it pene¬ 
 trates the porous soil in drops, which unite together 
 beneath the surface, in threads, veins and strata, and 
 descending until they meet some impenetrable stratum, 
 over which they flow subterraneously and reappear in 
 seeping places, springs, and sometimes in streams of 
 considerable size. 
 
 ' Springs derive their supply from these, rain-drops, 
 which have penetrated the porous soil, and wells are 
 merely the interception of these underground threads 
 and veins of water; while ponds and lakes are formed 
 in depressed places, by the same drops collecting in a 
 mass over a substratum of soil or rock, through which 
 they cannot percolate, and then the water rises to the 
 brim of the natural water-tight basin and flows over in 
 a brook or river. 
 
 Water is never found in nature in a perfectly pure 
 condition. In its vapory form, it has a strong affinity 
 for the other gaseous substances with which the air is 
 charged from effete matter; and in its liquid form, it 
 is a solvent of many substances which it is brought into 
 contact with upon and beneath the earth. Water is 
 most pure when it is first evaporate dinmid-ocean, but 
 
13 
 
 as the vapory winds are driven over the land, as before 
 stated, it absorbs the gases which are encountered in 
 the air, and when it falls to the earth and flows over or 
 beneath it, it takes up in solution decaying vegetable 
 and animal matter, and the earthy salts and other inju¬ 
 rious soluble substances. Rain water, falling through 
 a pure atmosphere, as outside of towns, upon a clean 
 surface, is the purest form in which it can be found. 
 That which falls upon a pure sandy soil, free from 
 vegetation, is the next purest. 
 
 Vegetation and animal life, while growing, are ab¬ 
 sorbents of deleterious matter in the air and water, but 
 in decaying, give out that which is noxious to both. 
 Surface water is therefore the least pure in the autumn, 
 when vegetation begins its decay, and the most so in 
 the winter and spring, when no decomposition occurs, 
 or when vegetation is growing; while spring and well 
 waters, which derive their impurities from earthy solu¬ 
 tions, are equally impure at all seasons of the year, 
 according to the presence or absence of such solvent 
 materials in the soil. 
 
 The foregoing description of the natural operations 
 to which water is subjected, is necessary to enable us 
 to determine which is best for the purposes under con¬ 
 sideration. 
 
 For drinking, water should be wholesome, clear, cool 
 and aerated; and for other domestic and manufacturing 
 purposes, it must be soft and limpid. 
 
 For a public water supply, therefore, the water should 
 
14 
 
 be selected haying the following characteristics in the 
 highest degree possible, viz : first, purity; next, soft¬ 
 ness ; and next, limpidity.* 
 
 The atmosphere over a city is always contaminated 
 with the gaseous products of combustion and those 
 arising from decaying animal and vegetable matter, 
 garbage and sewage matter, which is strewn over va¬ 
 cant spaces so freely. 
 
 The roofs of houses are covered with these substan¬ 
 ces, condensed from the gases, and with soot, dust from 
 foecal matter in the streets, and decaying woody matter 
 on shingled roofs, and metallic oxides on metallic roofs. 
 The rain water absorbs all of these, and when stored 
 in close cisterns, loses its aeration and becomes insipid, 
 and unless cooled with ice, is repugnant to the taste. 
 
 That such water is very impure, is evident from the 
 rapid production of animalculae in it, which shows the 
 presence of the food necessary to maintain that minute 
 but vast quantity of animal life. 
 
 It is supposed that' filtration will remove the impuri¬ 
 ties of water, but those in ordinary use only remove 
 such matter as is suspended in, and none of that which 
 is chemically united with, the water; and chemical 
 filters, to separate the latter, are expensive, and must 
 be changed wdth the constantly changing condition of 
 the water, and are never kept in use for any long 
 period of time. 
 
 * If all of the rain water which falls in a city was stored, it would furnish a supply 
 sufficient in quantity for domestic uses, but it would be .very objectionable in quality. 
 
15 
 
 Spring water is rarely found in abundance in a city, 
 and is usually the least pure of the waters of the neigh¬ 
 borhood, while outside of a city it is much more free 
 from such impurities. 
 
 The temperature of water from deep seated springs 
 is that of the earth at such depth, which is about the 
 mean temperature of the place for the year. At the 
 point of issue, the temperature of spring water changes 
 a little with that of the season, so that deep seated 
 springs at Lynn would probably have a temperature of 
 about 45in winter and 55^^ in summer. Spring water 
 is usually highly charged with air, and this, with its 
 low temperature in summer and high in winter, com¬ 
 pared with that of the atmosphere, renders it so grate¬ 
 ful to the taste. The earthy salts in such water fre¬ 
 quently renders it more pleasant to the taste, but they 
 are not always healthful. 
 
 Water from wells in cities is always unfit for drink¬ 
 ing, and in most cases is very deleterious to health. 
 These contaminations are not the less real because they 
 are not usually observed. The gases of dissolving mat¬ 
 ter frequently impart a sparkling life to well water, 
 and a small mixture of earthy salts adds a flavor, and, 
 with a temperature lowered by ice, induces many to 
 express a preference for such mixtures over more pure 
 but (to them) less palatable water. 
 
 This popular fallacy often forms one of the strongest 
 objections to any scheme of public water supply. In¬ 
 vestigations have been made all over the country, which 
 
16 
 
 show that some of the most serious diseases arise from 
 the use of well water in cities. 
 
 In times of cholera, the progress and fatality of this 
 disease has been traced, in a vast number of cases, 
 directly to the use of impure water from certain wells, 
 and their analyses, compared with that of other waters 
 in the same cities, show that this frightful disease is 
 promoted and rendered more fatal by the use of impure 
 well water. 
 
 From what has been said before, it will be seen that 
 well water becomes charged with all of the dissolving 
 gases in the city atmosphere, and on the surface, 
 with the solutions of decayed animal and vegetable 
 matter, and mingled with the drainage of stables and 
 X^rivies, which have entered the soil, — all of which 
 combine to render such water a most disgusting solu¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Annexed will be found a table showing the character 
 of the well water, which, at one time, had been used 
 in several cities, and fully bear out the assertion, that 
 well water in cities is not fit for drinking. 
 
 Water from wells is rarely found soft enough for 
 washing, and resort is therefore had to cisterns of rain 
 water. The water from the streams in the neighbor¬ 
 hood of Lynn are quite soft, and after their introduc¬ 
 tion into the city will soon be used exclusively for 
 washing. It has been ascertained that the saving in 
 the use of soap alone, between well water and tolerably 
 pure brook water, is equal to one dollar per annum for 
 
17 
 
 each inhabitant, and a saving equally great will be made 
 in the wear and tear of clothes. 
 
 Mr. Soyer, the most eminent cook in the world, says 
 that there is a difference of one-half in the time re¬ 
 quired to cook vegetables and meats in hard instead 
 of soft water, and adds, that one-third of the tea used 
 in London is wasted by the use of hard water. For 
 drinking, most persons only regard clearness, coolness, 
 and flavor in water. The flrst can be attained either 
 by quiescence or Altering, and the second by ice, now 
 so universally used, and which merely disguises many 
 of its impurities. 
 
 Perfectly pure water is 'tasteless, and, when unae¬ 
 rated, is insipid ; and if we depended upon taste 
 alone, we would frequently select water for drinking 
 which would be deleterious, as is no doubt the case 
 with most of the well and cistern water in use in 
 cities. 
 
 It will follow from this discussion, that all of the 
 water which is obtained from wells is that which the 
 excavation of the wells intercepts, as it flows sub- 
 terraneously through the soil. The quantity which 
 any well will furnish depends merely upon the area 
 of the land which drains into it and the porosity of 
 the soil to receive and store it. If the ground around 
 a well was level, and the soil equally porous in all 
 directions, the quantity which it would furnish could 
 be approximately determined. But wells under these 
 
 conditions are rarely met with, and as water obtaina- 
 3 
 
18 
 
 ble from this source (wells) can only be stored in the 
 interstices of the surrounding soil, they can furnish 
 only a limited supply, and will always be deficient in 
 a dry time. 
 
 Occasionally such wells intercept some subterraneous 
 fiow of water, from a source at a considerable distance, 
 but even in this case the same law holds good, and the 
 capacity of supply of the well depends simply upon its 
 drainage area. By an economical use of water, wells 
 will generally furnish a limited supply for ordinary 
 domestic purposes, but so many of them fail during the 
 dryest times, that, as a rule, they must be considered as 
 unreliable. 
 
 A popular idea prevails in many districts of the coun¬ 
 try, that artesian wells can be found, which will supply 
 large quantities of water. Within my own knowledge, 
 enormous sums have been expended to obtain water 
 from this source, and unsuccessfully. A moderate 
 amount of knowledge would, in most of these cases, 
 have saved the projectors the large sums which they 
 have uselessly expended. 
 
 In Artois, a district near Paris (from which these 
 wells derive their name), there is a peculiar formation. 
 A large area of highland is of open, porous rock and 
 soil; superimposed upon this (geologically) is a water¬ 
 tight rock and soil, and below it is a similar imperme¬ 
 able stratum. 
 
 These rocks, pervious and impervious, dip from 
 the highland around the basin of Paris and Artois, 
 
19 
 
 under the former, and rise again upon the opposite 
 hills. 
 
 The rain water which falls upon the highland porous 
 soil sinks into it under this basin, and, prevented from 
 escape upward, forms a large subterranean reservoir of 
 water, contained within the interstices of the porous 
 soil and cavernous rocks. When borings are made, as 
 at the wells of Grenelle and Plesses, through the im¬ 
 pervious superstratum to the water-charged rocks, the 
 water rises to a height above the surface of the ground 
 corresponding to the head of its source, and spouting 
 wells ensue. 
 
 This whole system of artesian wells may be familiarly 
 illustrated by two soup plates separated by coarse sand. 
 If water is poured into the sand until surcharged, and 
 a hole is bored through the upper plate, the water will 
 rise in a pipe as high as the level of the sand at the 
 edge of the plates. 
 
 These conditions must exist wherever artesian 
 wells are found. But along the coast of New Eng¬ 
 land the stratification of the rocks is nearly vertical, 
 and rarely, as in other places, follows the inclination 
 of the valleys; and hence in such places it is idle 
 to seek for water in any considerable quantity by this 
 method. 
 
 The waters of rapid brooks and rivers become highly 
 charged with air, but their currents abrade the banks 
 and bottom, and take up in suspension the alluvial 
 matter, which renders them turbid, and in that condh 
 
20 
 
 tion unfit for domestic uses. When such water is dis¬ 
 charged into a lake or artificial reservoir, and allowed 
 to stand quiet, it precipitates all of the heavy portions 
 of such suspended matter, and becomes clear and limpid. 
 These rapid streams also gather and carry forward with 
 them a considerable amount of vegetable matter, which 
 is of the same or less specific gravity as the water. A 
 warm atmosphere dissolves the latter into gases, which 
 arise and are driven off by the winds, and a process of 
 self-purification goes on, which greatly improves the 
 water thus stored. 
 
 Water which has been stored for use in some of our 
 cities has sometimes been defiled for a few days during 
 the warmest weather, by the rapid production of ani- 
 malculae or aquatic vegetation, the seeds of which, per¬ 
 haps, lie dormant within the body of the water, or are 
 carried to it by the air, and are generated when the 
 water has remained stagnant, at a high temperature, 
 for some time, and probably when the atmosphere is 
 in a certain electric condition. The conjunction of 
 all of the causes necessary to generate this minute 
 life occurs only at long intervals of years, and then 
 only exists for a few days, and the first fall in the 
 temperature or the first brisk breeze destroys the 
 conditions necessary to maintain this ephemeral life, 
 and, following a general law of nature, they die and 
 dissolve into gases as quickly as they were generated, 
 and in a few days the water is as pure as before. 
 This class of aquatic vegetation, and also animalculce. 
 
21 
 
 are brought into life and propagate themselves with 
 astonishing rapidity.* 
 
 The original purity of the water is no protection 
 against this contamination, though it doubtless lessens 
 its extent and frequency. 
 
 In the plan of the works herewith proposed, there 
 will be incidently a provision which with care and watch¬ 
 fulness will prevent any inconvenience from this source. 
 The great difference in the elevation of the pump well 
 and the reservoir will doubtless prevent both at the 
 same time from being stagnant long enough and heated 
 to the same temperature and influenced by the same 
 electric atmosphere, to produce this animal or vegeta¬ 
 ble life at the same time. 
 
 If the water from the sources should become thus 
 contaminated, the supply to the city can be furnished 
 from the reservoir, which will hold a fortnight’s sup¬ 
 ply ; and if the latter is contaminated, the supply can 
 • be furnished directly from the pumps. 
 
 Water does not receive or part with caloric freely, 
 and when stored in large and deep bodies, maintains an 
 equal temperature at all seasons of the year. The 
 fierce rays of the noon-day sun and currents of hot air, 
 in contact with the large bodies- of water proposed to 
 be stored in the reservoirs, would be tempered by that 
 
 * Eain water which one day shows no evidence of animal life, will the next he found 
 teeming with animalculae. In hot weather the body of a dead animal will in a few days 
 become a mass of living matter; and the shallow, stagnant pools of water along the way- 
 side, under the influence of great heat for a few days, wdl be covered with “ frog spittle, 
 a species of vegetation. Another of this cl9,ss will propagate itself in all directions, at the 
 rate of a foot an hour. 
 
22 
 
 of the cooler nights and less warmer days, so as to give 
 a lower temperature in summer and a higher one in 
 winter than that of the streams from which it is derived; 
 and this water, conveyed in pipes below the surface of 
 the earth, will be delivered at the houses at a very 
 pleasant and equable temperature. 
 
 From the preceding discussion, the character of the 
 water from the sources under examination can be ap¬ 
 proximately determined without the aid of a chemical 
 analysis. 
 
 The atmosphere surrounding, but beyond the city, is 
 as pure as possible, and is not contaminated by the gases 
 of any manufacturing establishments. 
 
 The soil is chiefly the decomposition of the primitive 
 rocks, which have been washed by the rains of ages, 
 and must therefore be nearly free from earthy salts, and 
 are, in fact, grand filterers. The water shed is covered 
 with a moderate amount of vegetation, chiefly trees and 
 shrubs, the decomposition of which, in former times, • 
 has united with the sandy soil, and, together with the 
 semi-aquatic vegetation of the swamps, and muck at 
 the head of the ponds, has charged the water with con¬ 
 siderable vegetable matter, and gives to all of these 
 waters a slight color. Whenever they are collected in 
 lakes, and especially where these lakes are large com¬ 
 pared with the water shed, this coloring matter has 
 been more or less removed by the bleaching from the 
 sunlight,—the only practical method of removing color 
 from water. There are slight differences in the color 
 
23 
 
 of the several waters, but these differences are almost 
 undistinguishable when comparing the samples in clear 
 glass vials."^ 
 
 I am of the opinion that, with the plan of storage 
 proposed, all of these waters will be furnished of a 
 purity equal to that of any of the water furnished to 
 the other cities of the Commonwealth. 
 
 From what has already been stated, it will be seen 
 that the whole quantity of water which any particular 
 district will furnish depends entirely upon the following 
 conditions, viz: 
 
 1. The amount of rain fall; 
 
 2. The area and character of the water-shed ; 
 
 3. The losses by evaporation from the ground, by 
 absorption, by vegetation, and by evaporation after col¬ 
 lection in the storage reservoirs. 
 
 As none of the fluid is lost, the evaporation, absorp¬ 
 tion and discharge of the streams must be equal to the 
 rain fall. 
 
 The proportion of the rain fall which may be col¬ 
 lected and rendered available for use has been deter¬ 
 mined by numerous experiments all over the world, and 
 now embrace so many differing circumstances of climate 
 and water-sheds : where the areas were very large and 
 
 * The United States ships of war, for half a century before the rebellion, have been 
 supplied with water for long voyages from the Dismal Swamp, called “Juniper Water,” 
 which is as highly colored as pale brandy. This water was prefered in the navy to any 
 other in the United States, and has proved to be perfectly healthy. Age removes its color. 
 I have drank it, after having been kept in the tanks of the store-ships for twenty-five years, 
 and found it colorless, pure and limpid. 
 
24 
 
 small; where the slopes were steep and slightly im 
 dined; where the soil and substrata were porous and 
 compact; where the experiments were continued daily 
 for several continuous years, and where they have sub¬ 
 sequently been tested by the construction of large and 
 expensive works, the success of which depended upon 
 the accuracy of these ratios ; so that great reliance may 
 be placed upon the data which these experiments fur¬ 
 nish, wherever it is judiciously applied to other water 
 sheds, and proper allowances are made for the differing 
 circumstances.^ 
 
 I have dwelt upon this subject longer, because I am 
 almost daily meeting persons who have not had occasion 
 to inquire into this subject, who regard this method of 
 determining the relative quantity of water derivable 
 from any particular district as empirical, and I desire 
 to show to the citizens of Lynn that it is really the only 
 safe and reliable method of ascertaining accurately the 
 quantity of water which can be procured from any par¬ 
 ticular accessible source. 
 
 I have repeatedly found that persons who have re¬ 
 sided all of their lives at a pond, or a stream of water, 
 are seldom able to give even an approximate idea of 
 either the maximum, minimum, or average flow of such 
 water courses. The opinions of several such persons, 
 
 * This theory of the collection and storage of the rain fall is exemplified in almost 
 every household, where the roof is the water-shed and the cistern is the storing reservoir. 
 From a roof of 1,800 square feet there could be collected 37,000 gallons of water per annum, 
 sufficient to supply the family with one hundred gallons per day, and enough to fill a cistern 
 of ten feet diameter and ten feet deep six times a year. 
 
25 
 
 taken in different years and seasons, show the complete 
 unreliability of their opinions, because they are certain 
 to differ widely from each other and even themselves. 
 
 The guaging of streams, at either reputed high or 
 low water, is attended with the same uncertainty, and 
 is oftentimes very deceptive, unless corrected by this 
 system, derived from the area of the water-shed. 
 
 In the present case, we have the additional guaran¬ 
 tee of the accuracy of this method of determining the 
 quantity of water derivable from the several sources by 
 the experiments which have been made at Boston for 
 a long series of years, and at other places along the 
 coast, confirmatory of the Cochituate ratios. In a gen¬ 
 eral way it may be said, that the whole coast of the 
 Eastern States is subject to the same winds and the 
 same precipitation of moisture. While this is true gen¬ 
 erally, there are a few cases of moderate difference; 
 yet these differences are comparatively slight, and gen¬ 
 erally capricious, and will rarely affect the general 
 results, derived from a long period of years. 
 
 In many places along the coast the rain fall has been 
 carefully observed; and, under similar circumstances, 
 the average amount of precipitation for a' series of 
 years has varied but little with itself, or with that at 
 other places on the coast. We may thus conclude that 
 a mean rain fall of forty-two inches per annum is within 
 the limit at Lynn. 
 
 An examination of the rain guages, which have been 
 
 kept for twenty years and upwards, will show that oc- 
 ^4 
 
26 
 
 casionally the rain fall of a particular year exceeds the 
 mean one-fourth, and of another falls below it also one- 
 fourth, while there are rare cases where the excess or 
 deficiency from the mean reaches one-third. 
 
 The water-sheds of the streams about Lynn are from 
 fifty to one hundred and fifty feet above the sea, and in 
 some places two hundred feet. 
 
 This elevation so near the ocean probably condenses 
 more aqueous vapor than the lower grounds, or even 
 the more elevated ridges further inland ; so that more 
 rain fall may be expected than the guages referred to 
 exhibit. The slopes of the water-sheds are nearly all 
 quite steep, and the superficial water will run off rap¬ 
 idly, without as much loss by evaporation as would 
 occur on flatter slopes. The trees and bushes which 
 cover so large a portion of the shed obstruct this flow, 
 but they also lessen the losses by evaporation. As 
 these lands become cleared and cultivated, the evapora¬ 
 tion will become greater, but then more of the falling 
 water will enter the porous soil, or pass off quickly 
 through the agricultural drains. 
 
 These losses and gains will so nearly equalize each 
 other, that the quantity of water collectable from these 
 districts in the future may be relied upon as equal to 
 the ratios herein assumed. 
 
 The experiments before alluded to show that an 
 average amount of about sixty per cent, of the rain fall 
 passes off through the streams, and could be collected 
 in a storing reservoir. 
 
27 
 
 Practically, it is found that each square mile of water¬ 
 shed will, if properly stored, furnish for consumption 
 one million of gallons daily. The above data show 
 that a larger amount can be furnished, but in practice 
 it is found that the losses by evaporation, leakage of 
 the dams and fixtures, and unavoidable waste, reduce 
 the available supply nearly to what has been above 
 stated. Still, it should be remembered that this quan¬ 
 tity is regarded as a perfectly safe amount, and will 
 more frequently exceed than fall short of the actual 
 quantity. 
 
 As a practical illustration of this theory, I have taken, 
 the rain guages at one place on the coast, where the 
 circumstances are similar to those at Lynn, where the 
 record shows a mean rain fall of 41.73 inches for fifty 
 years, and fluctuations analo^us to those of other 
 places, and which will probably be found nearly the 
 same with those at Lynn. 
 
 The annexed table, marked A, shows the mean rain 
 fall for each month of the year, — the percentage of 
 this rain fall which can be collected in a reservoir, 
 which of course differs in each month, according to the 
 evaporation and absorption, being sixty per cent, more 
 in the summer than in the months when the ground is 
 frozen, and there is no absorption by growing vege¬ 
 tation. This table shows, in the third column, the 
 amount of water which would have run into a reservoir 
 from one square mile, after deducting the above-men¬ 
 tioned losses. In the fifth column is shown the depth 
 
28 
 
 of the evaporation monthly, from the surface exposed 
 by the reservoir, deduced from experiments of my own 
 and compared .with those of other observers. These 
 results are interesting, as showing that in the hottest 
 months in summer the evaporation from the surface 
 of water is twice as great as the monthly rain fall upon 
 the same area, and prove that a storing reservoir of too 
 much area, in proportion to its water-shed, is a cause 
 of loss instead of gain. The seventh column of this 
 table shows the amount each month available for con¬ 
 sumption or storage.* The ninth and tenth columns 
 show the difference (surplus or deficiency) between 
 the consumption and the available supply each month, 
 while the eleventh column shows the required capacity 
 of the reservoir necessary to retain the surplus water 
 and allow none of it todbe wasted. In other words, the 
 size of the storage reservoir, which in this case is found 
 to be seventy-two millions of gallons. 
 
 Following this is a table marked B, made upon the 
 same principle, but based upon a year of the greatest 
 rain fall, and falling most unequally during the several 
 months, which results in showing that the reservoir in 
 question should have a capacity of one hundred and 
 fourteen million gallons to save all of the falling water. 
 It will rarely be necessary to provide storage for such 
 an excessive rain fall as this last table exhibits, and if 
 
 * Experience lias shown that water is consumed more freely in summer than in winter, 
 iOn some days tluin on others, and on some hours of the day more water is used than at 
 other times. 'J'he average monthly consumption is found to be about twelve per cent, 
 more in summer and less in winter than the mean for the whole year. 
 
one is furnished of capacity equal to a mean between 
 the average and maximum, it would be considered am¬ 
 ple ; hence, in the case aforesaid, a reservoir of ninety- 
 three millions would be sufficient. 
 
 The natural water-shed of Breed’s Pond is a little 
 more than three-fourths of a square mile, but a catch- 
 water drain can be cheaply cut, which will turn in 
 drainage sufficient to increase this area to at least a 
 square mile. 
 
 The table referred to shows that this pond ought to 
 have a storage capacity of ninety-three millions of gal¬ 
 lons for the mean, and of one hundred and fourteen 
 millions for the years of the greatest and most irregu¬ 
 lar rain fall. The actual capacity of the present pond 
 is found to be one hundred and seventeen millions, and 
 if raised ten feet, this would be increased to three hun¬ 
 dred millions of gallons, which would be sufficient for 
 the storage of three square miles of water-shed. 
 
 It is therefore proper to assume, that Breed’s Pond 
 is now large enough to supply storage for not only its 
 own natural water-shed, but also for all of the tribu¬ 
 taries that can be thrown into it, and therefore there is 
 no necessity for raising the water in this pond merely 
 for storage purposes. 
 
 This source can therefore be counted upon as fur¬ 
 nishing an average supply of at least a million of gal¬ 
 lons daily. 
 
 The water-shed of Flax Pond and of the lakes above 
 
30 
 
 is 2.48 square miles, which can be extended by catch- 
 water drains to about three square miles, and could be 
 relied upon for an average daily supply of three mil¬ 
 lions of gallons. The three lakes have an area of one 
 hundred and twenty acres, and each of them could be 
 raised if desired. The storage capacity required for 
 this extent of water shed would be: for the mean rain 
 fall, two hundred millions of gallons ; and for the years 
 of great fluctuations of rain fall, about three hundred 
 millions. This storage would be obtained by about 
 eight feet depth on the present surface of these lakes, 
 which can be provided for either by drawing down 
 below the present surface or by raising the dams. The 
 first would injure the upper water power, and the 
 second would involve an expense probably equal to 
 such injury. 
 
 It has been assumed, that the source of the supply 
 for the permanent works should be equal to at least 
 four millions of gallons daily, to provide for the future 
 growth of the city. Flax Pond, together with Breed’s 
 Pond, will furnish this quantity, and, as hereinafter 
 shown, they can be used in conjunction. 
 
 The water-shed of Saugus Piver, above Pranker’s dam, 
 probably exceeds twenty square miles; and, guaged at 
 what was said to be a time of unusual low water, showed 
 a flow of five and a half millions of gallons daily. 
 
 The quantity of water from this source is therefore 
 ample, without the necessity of storing the surpluses 
 of the wet seasons. 
 
31 
 
 The abstraction of the water required for the city 
 will increase year by year, and will injure the valuable 
 water power now in use. There are a number of places 
 above these water powers, where compensating reser¬ 
 voirs can be built, at a moderate expense, which woidd 
 restore to them in the dry seasons as much water as 
 would be required for the use of the city; but this is 
 a question which need not now be discussed. 
 
 I was requested to examine Humphrey’s lake, and 
 to report upon it, because there were some of the citi¬ 
 zens who believed that it would furnish the quantity 
 desired, and at a proper elevation, without mechanical 
 power. 
 
 This lake is one hundred and seven feet above tide, 
 has an area of one hundred and sixty acres, and a 
 water-shed of one hundred and eighteen acres beyond 
 the area of the lake itself. The water of this lake is 
 remarkably clear and pure, though coming from a water¬ 
 shed of the same character as that of the other lakes 
 and streams. This is due to the long quiescence and 
 exposure to the sunlight which the very small supply 
 from the water-shed has over so large an area of the 
 lake. 
 
 The outlet from this lake was guaged, and found to 
 be then delivering about a million of gallons daily, but 
 the water in the lake was being lowered by this un¬ 
 usual draft. 
 
 Its mean daily flow for the year will not exceed half 
 a million of gallons. In some of the dryest months the 
 
evaporation of the water from the surface of the lake 
 is probably twice as great as the inflow from the rains 
 of such months. 
 
 III. THE QUANTITY . EEQUIRED FOR THE PRESENT 
 AND FUTURE GROWTH OF THE CITY. 
 
 The population of the city at certain periods has 
 been as follows : 
 
 In 1820, 
 
 4,515. 
 
 
 1830, _ 
 
 6,138. 
 
 Increase, 36 per cent. 
 
 1840, - ■ . 
 
 9,075. 
 
 Increase, 48 per cent. 
 
 1850, _ 
 
 __ 13,935. 
 
 Increase, 53 per cent. 
 
 1855, 
 
 _ __ 15,713. 
 
 Increase, 13 per cent. 
 
 1860, 
 
 19,083. 
 
 Increase, 21 per cent. 
 
 1865, 
 
 20,745. 
 
 Increase, 9 per cent. 
 
 1870, 
 
 „28,231.’ 
 
 Increase, 38 per cent. 
 
 Making a mean of forty-four per cent. Assuming a 
 decennial increase for the remainder of the century, at 
 forty per cent, for the first ten years, thirty-five for the 
 next, and thirty for the next ten years, the population 
 will be as follows : 
 
 In 1880, increase 40 per cent.,_40,600. 
 
 In 1890, increase 35 per cent.,_«_54,810. 
 
 In 1900, increase 30 per cent.,_71,253. 
 
 The average daily consumption of water for domestic 
 purposes alone is probably about one hundred gallons 
 per house, or fifteen gallons for each person. The 
 whole quantity of water which is required to be sup- 
 
33 
 
 plied for all purposes, that is, for domestic use, manu¬ 
 factories, sprinkling streets, extinguishing fires, etc., va¬ 
 ries in the different cities, from an amount equal to fifty 
 gallons for each inhabitant up to twice that quantity.* 
 In the smaller cities, where more care is used to 
 prevent waste, sixty gallons is found to be sufficient. 
 Except a small area east of the City Hall, the dwellings 
 in Lynn are spread over more space than is usual in 
 Eastern cities. It is therefore assumed, that the pres¬ 
 ent demand for water for all purposes would be equal 
 to an average supply of sixty gallons for two-thirds of 
 the population, and that this rate of demand would in¬ 
 crease, because the city will probably be more com¬ 
 pactly built up year by year, so that at the beginning 
 of the next century the demand would equal this rate of 
 supply for the whole population. The demand for 
 water then would be,— 
 
 In 1870, population 29,000,_1,160,000 gallons. 
 
 In 1880, population 40,600,_1,827,000 gallons. 
 
 In 1890, population 54,800,_2,740,000 gallons. 
 
 In 1900, population 71,200,_3,916,000 gallons. 
 
 If the introduction of water should have the effect, 
 as is most probable, of inaugurating new business and 
 
 * There is but one city which publishes separately the consumption of water for fire 
 and other city purposes. 
 
 At Montreal, in 1869, there was consumed for all purposes about seventeen hundred 
 millions of imperial gallons, of which twenty-one millions (one and a quarter per cent.) 
 was used for watering the streets ; and one and a quarter millions (less than one-tenth of 
 one per cent.) was used for fire purposes, and about half of the latter quantity for cleans¬ 
 ing the sewers. 
 
 In the cities in the United States, and especially where the buildings are chiefly of wood, 
 the water required for fire purposes must somewhat exceed one per cent, of the whole con¬ 
 sumption. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 more rapidly increasing the population, it would be 
 necessary to make provision for an earlier and larger 
 supply than has been estimated for. 
 
 No plan of supply should* be considered as complete 
 unless it is arranged for an extension capable of fur¬ 
 nishing the maximum quantity that can reasonably be 
 anticipated without sacrificing any portion of the works 
 first constructed. 
 
 In the plans herewith submitted, some of the works 
 are inadequate for the maximum supply, but they are 
 only those that can be replaced with new ones, without 
 interrupting the supply to the city, and also where the 
 interest on the difference in cost would, at the end of 
 ten years, replace them. 
 
 Care, has been taken to provide against interrupting 
 the supply, by duplicating all parts which are at all 
 liable to failure, such as the engines, pumps, mains and 
 reservoirs; for in a few years after the new works are put 
 in operation, the wells and cisterns which now furnish 
 the supply will become dilapidated and useless, and the 
 interruption of the new supply would not be tolerated. 
 
 IV. THE PLANS FOR INTRODUCING THE WATER 
 FROM THE SEVERAL SOURCES. 
 
 FROM breed’s pond. 
 
 First, for a temporary supply, and subsequently, as 
 an adjunct to the Flax or Saugus plans. 
 
 The present dam is one hundred and seventy-five 
 
35 
 
 feet long and forty feet wide on top, and eighteen feet 
 high in the middle, — being three feet higher than the 
 water in the pond when full. As far as I could observe 
 and ascertain by inquiry^, this dam consists of two 
 nearly vertical walls of stone, the space being filled 
 with gravel. A wooden flume or waste is built through 
 the bank to carry off the waste water, and a small 
 wooden flume or box is placed near the bottom of the 
 creek, leading to a wrought-iron pipe of twenty-seven 
 inches in diameterj the upper end of which is fifteen 
 feet inside of the lower wall of the bank. This pipe 
 extends for one hundred and ten feet to the mill, and 
 furnished the wheel with water from the pond. 
 
 The dam leaked badly, even when the water in the 
 pond was four feet below its top level, — the leakage 
 being at the rate of nearly half a million gallons daily. 
 These leaks appeared for a distance of forty feet along 
 the base of the dam, and I was informed that other 
 leaks showed themselves, when the pond was full, still 
 further along the base of the bank. The chief leakage 
 evidently comes from the wooden flume leading to the 
 iron pipe, but there are doubtless many other serious 
 leaks under the base and at the ends of the embank¬ 
 ment. 
 
 The repairs and improvement recommended at this 
 dam, are to draw off the water and remove some of the 
 stone on the front, and excavate a trench twenty-five 
 feet wide, in steps, down below the bed of the stream 
 and into impervious earth or rock, and fill up this trench 
 
36 
 
 with puddled earth, carried up sloping on the water side 
 to the top of the bank, and protecting its water face 
 with a rip-rap of loose stones. The ends of the puddle 
 wall to be jutted into the sloping banks in the same 
 manner as at the bottom. Within the pond, at the foot 
 of the puddle wall, a gate-house is to be built, with 
 gates and stop plank, — its walls being carried up as 
 high as the top of the bank. Two cast-u*on pipes, of 
 twelve inches diameter, are to be carried from the gate¬ 
 house through the bank. A waste weir is to be cut 
 into the rock at the end of the dam. 
 
 A pipe of twelve inches diameter is to be laid from 
 the dam, to connect with the ten-inch pipe now being 
 laid along the Common. 
 
 For the purpose of uniting the water from Breed’s 
 Pond with that from the Saugus Fiver, it will only be 
 necessary to turn the twelve-inch main into the pump 
 well and connect the other end with the force main 
 from the great pumps. 
 
 As the water from Breed’s Pond will be delivered at 
 the pump well, with a pressure equal to a level twent}^- 
 five feet higher than that from the Saugus Eiver, it 
 would be necessary to avail of this extra head by con¬ 
 necting the suction pipes of the great pumps with the 
 main from Breed’s Pond. 
 
 By a proper arrangement the great pumps can take 
 their supply either from the Saugus Eiver or Breed’s 
 Pond. On the other hand, if it shall be decided to take 
 the permanent supply from Flax Pond, the water main 
 
37 
 
 from Breed’s Pond can be branched off and carried to 
 the pump well, located for that plan. There is about 
 eight and a half feet difference in level between the 
 surfaces of Breed’s and Flax Ponds, all of which would 
 be required to overcome the friction of the water in 
 this long line of pipe, and therefore no advantage 
 would ensue in connecting the Breed Pond main to the 
 suction pipes of the pumps on the Flax Pond plan. It 
 may also be remarked, that half a mile of the Breed’s 
 Pond main will be substantially lost in turning its waters 
 into the Flax Pond pump .well. 
 
 While upon this branch of the subject, I will remark 
 that, before proceeding with the examination of the 
 permanent water supply, I was particularly requested 
 by the Committee to examine and advise in regard to 
 the purchase of Breed’s Pond. 
 
 It was stated that the owner of Flax Pond — from 
 which a line of pipe of twelve and ten inches diameter 
 had been laid into the city—claimed the exclusive right 
 to the water, and that it could only be used by his 
 sufferance; and that he demanded three-fourths of the 
 receipts if any of this water was allowed to be used for 
 private purposes. Under this claim, the city had no 
 right to use the water, even for the extinguishment of 
 ■fires, without his consent, which might be withdrawn 
 at any time by him or his successor. 
 
 On the other hand. Breed’s Pond, fixtures and land, 
 were offered to the city at so moderate a price as to 
 warrant the belief that, if its use ever became unneces- 
 
38 
 
 sary under the permanent plan, the property could be 
 sold with a comparatively small loss; and meanwhile, 
 it would furnish an ample supply for fire purposes, and 
 incidentally to manufactories, and to a limited extent 
 private dwellings in some parts of the city. 
 
 It was supposed that the water-shed of this pond was 
 equal to a square mile, and might be enlarged, and 
 hence that it could be counted upon for an average 
 daily supply of a million of gallons. The elevation of 
 the pond is fifty-two feet above tide, or twenty-eight 
 feet above the Common; and the dam will be strong 
 enough, when improved as proposed, to allow the water 
 to be raised ten feet higher. When the pipes from this 
 pond are delivering at the rate of a million of gallons 
 per day, the friction of the water will destroy one-half 
 or more of this apparent head, so that this supply, even 
 when raised, will not deliver the water at the City Hall 
 more than ten or fifteen feet above the level of the 
 street. Still, a source which will furnish at the rate of 
 a million of gallons daily, even at this head, would be 
 of great value for the fire engines in times of conflagra¬ 
 tion, and at all times for manufactories and a consider¬ 
 able number of private houses. 
 
 Before expressing an opinion on the propriety of this 
 purchase,! examined how far its works and water could 
 be used in connection with either of the permanent 
 plans, and found that the supply of water from it would 
 be indispensable to the Flax Pond scheme, if the growth 
 of the city should ever reach the limit estimated ; and 
 
39 
 
 that it might be made a most useful adjunct to the Sau¬ 
 gus Eiver scheme; and in the latter, all of the pipes 
 requhed to be laid for the temporary Breed’s Pond plan 
 would become useful in the permanent plan from the 
 Saugus. The diversion of water from the Saugus 
 would be lessened by whatever amount was obtained 
 from Breed’s Pond, and thus the damage to the water 
 power of that stream would be materially lessened. 
 
 Under these circumstances, I did not hesitate to 
 advise your committee to make the purchase of the 
 Breed Pond and property, and also to repair and im¬ 
 prove the dam, to render it water tight, and to lay from 
 it to the west end of the Common a twelve-inch pipe, 
 and connect it with the ten-inch pipe now being laid 
 in that place. At your request, I prepared plans and 
 specifications, and urged the importance of commencing 
 certain parts of the work with the least possible delay, 
 so that the benefit of the water might be availed of 
 within three or four months. 
 
 In connection with this plan, I suggested that a 
 steam engine and pumps might be set up at Breed’s 
 Pond, which would pump the water into the pipes 
 leading to and through the city, and thus give a head 
 of water equal to one hundred feet, or more if desired, 
 at the east end of the Common, and a corresponding 
 increase of head in all of the pipes laid in the city, 
 whenever the engine was in operation. 
 
 As a part of the permanent plan, I have proposed a 
 duplicate non-condensing engine, with a double-acting 
 
40 
 
 pump of one-half of the power of the principal engine. 
 This engine might now be purchased and temporarily 
 set up at Breed’s Pond, and when the permanent works 
 are completed, it could be transferred at small expense 
 to the new engine-house.* 
 
 If you should decide upon the immediate purchase 
 of the land for the reservoir at Pine Hill, one of its 
 divisions could now be built, and a pipe laid tempo¬ 
 rarily from it to the engine at Breed’s Pond and con¬ 
 nected with the pipe leading to the city. By this 
 arrangement there would be at all times, day and 
 night, whether the engine was running or not, a head 
 of water on all of the pipes in the city, equal to that 
 due from the reservoir, of more than one hundred and 
 seventy feet above tide. This arrangement would allow 
 the engine to be run half the time, and yet keep up the 
 head as above stated. 
 
 The plans proposed from Flax Pond are as follows: 
 
 To obtain the water rights at Sluice and Flax Ponds, 
 so as to completely control the whole of the water from 
 this source and use these ponds as storing reservohs, 
 subject to a draft of water which will reduce their level 
 
 * Since the above was submitted, the Mayor has suggested that the steam engine lately 
 purchased with the Breed’s Pond property could be used for this temporary plan. I have 
 examined this engine, boiler, etc., and find that it is nearly twenty horse power, which is 
 not as large as I estimated for, but which will answer a good purpose, and enable you to 
 furnish a head of water on the pipes of probably sixty-five feet additional at the dam, — 
 making one hundred and seventeen feet above tide at that place,—which will probably 
 answer all purposes for tlie ensuing year. To this engine can be attached pumps properly 
 adapted to its power, and,_witli some repairs to the boiler and engine, can all be done witli 
 an outlay of probably $2000. There should also be a stand pipe erected, which, with the 
 fixtures, may increase this outlay to $3000. 
 
41 
 
 from five to fifteen feet. The water power at Sluice 
 Pond, if desired, could be re-sold or leased, subject to 
 these conditions and such others as would prevent any 
 defilement of the water. 
 
 The water of Sluice Pond is pure and limpid, and 
 that of Flax Pond is clear and almost colorless ; never¬ 
 theless, the latter must be very impure. For many 
 years there has been a tannery in operation at Sluice 
 Pond, the waters of which are used to cleanse the 
 hides, which, with the waste wool and fieshy matter 
 from the hides, is discharged into the stream, leading 
 directly to Flax Pond. 
 
 An analysis of the water in this stream would show 
 it to be highly offensive and very unhealthy; and al¬ 
 though the heavier portions of this offensive matter 
 settles below the surface when the current is checked 
 by the broad spread of the water at the head of Flax 
 Pond, a large amount of this foul matter must be ab¬ 
 sorbed by the water, and cannot be displaced except by 
 chemical means. The swamps adjacent to the stream 
 are also highly charged with this decaying animal mat¬ 
 ter, and in the hot summer months it adds to the con¬ 
 tamination of the waters. It is therefore indispensable 
 that this factory be stopped, and that the pure water 
 from Sluice Pond shall be conducted past this contami¬ 
 nated swamp without contact with its soiled earth; and 
 not only this, but it is nearly as important that this 
 swamp and the upper end of Flax Pond shall be cov¬ 
 ered with a layer of clean sand and gravel, to prevent 
 6 
 
42 
 
 further putrefaction and contamination of any of the 
 waters which may flow or stand over this mass of mat¬ 
 ter, which has been accumulating for years. 
 
 Some other repairs and additions will be required to 
 be made to the dams and flxtures at Sluice and Flax 
 Ponds, to render them available as storing ponds, and 
 (as with the ponds on the other plans) the vegetable 
 matter at the head of the pond and elsewhere must be 
 removed or covered with gravel, to prevent injury to 
 the water. 
 
 .Flax Pond is forty-four feet above tide, and provision 
 must be made to draw off eight feet of its depth, leaving 
 it at such times thirty-six feet above tide. It is pro¬ 
 posed to convey the water from Flax Pond to the pump 
 well through a pipe of twenty-four inches diameter and 
 eighteen hundred feet long, and then to pump it into a 
 reservoir on High Pock Hill, elevated one hundred and 
 
 * After the preceding part of this report was put in the hands of the printer, I was 
 i'urnished with a copy of Prof, Hayes’ analyses of the waters from the ponds referred to, 
 which are as follows : 
 
 TABLE OF GRAINS IN ONE GALLON OF WATER, 
 
 
 Breed’s 
 
 Flax, 
 
 Flax, 
 
 Sluice 
 
 Saugus 
 
 
 Pond. 
 
 Xo. 1. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Pond. 
 
 Kiver. 
 
 Chloride of sodium. 
 
 
 0.51 
 
 0.57 
 
 0.34 
 
 0.40 
 
 Sulphates of soda, potash and lime . 
 
 .. 0.:H 
 
 0^^7 . 
 
 1.38 
 
 0.38 
 
 0.20 
 
 Bi-carbonate of lime and magriesia.. 
 
 .. 1.01 
 
 1.16 
 
 2.11 
 
 0.60 
 
 1.51 
 
 Oxide of lime and alumina,.. 
 
 .. 0.08 
 
 0.07 
 
 Trace 
 
 Trace 
 
 Trace 
 
 Silica. 
 
 .. 0.10 
 
 0.13 
 
 0.26 
 
 0.12 
 
 0.02 
 
 Organic matter. 
 
 .. 1.82 
 
 1.84 
 
 2.72 
 
 1.12 
 
 2.40 
 
 Total grains. 
 
 
 4.08 
 
 7.04 
 
 2.56 
 
 5.52 
 
 Tliese analyses confirm many of the statements made in regard to these waters, although 
 they show a larger amount of the earthy salts than I expected. They confirm my estimates 
 of the relative amounts of vegetable matter in these waters. The analysis of the water in 
 the brook at the head of Flax Pond shows the presence in that sample of less animal mat¬ 
 ter than 1 expected, but a portion of it may have passed olf in gases before the analysis 
 was made. 
 
 Jlr. Hayes confirms the_comparative i)urity of the waters, of their softness, and of the 
 unobjectionable character of the coloring matter, which, with the vegetable matter, will 
 ^ much lessened alter being stored for some time in the large reservou' proposed. 
 
.43 
 
 sixty-six feet above tide, through a pump main of six¬ 
 teen inches diameter and twelve hundred feet long. 
 The reservoir will occupy five acres, and, with twelve 
 feet depth of water, will contain ten or twelve millions 
 of gallons. 
 
 The water would be distributed to the city from 
 this reservoir by pipes, as indicated in the annexed 
 schedule. 
 
 The high price of land proposed to be occupied by 
 this reservoir, and the extra expense of constructing it 
 perfectly water tight, on a rock foundation, leads me to 
 the opinion that it would be better to conduct the water 
 from Flax Pond to a pump well, opposite the Pine Hill 
 reservoir, and then the remainder of this plan will be 
 similar in its details to those required for the Saugus 
 Fiver plan, the description of which will be found 
 under that head. 
 
 The pipe already laid from Flax Pond into the city 
 can be usefully used upon either location of the pump 
 well. The plans of the gate-house at the dam, of the 
 conducting pipes, of the pump well, engine and boiler 
 houses, engine and pumps, duplicate, pumping main, 
 and of the reservoir, will be nearly alike in the two 
 places, and will be more particularly described in the 
 Saugus Fiver plan. 
 
 The plans proposed from the Saugus Fiver are as 
 follows: 
 
 To clean out Pranker’s Pond, and erect in it, near 
 the dam, a gate-house, with a pipe exit at ten feet 
 
44 
 
 below the surface of the water, of two pipes of two 
 feet diameter to the main shore, and from thence one 
 pipe of two feet in diameter for thirteen thousand five 
 hundred feet to the pump well near the foot of Pine 
 Hill. This pipe will be carried under the Saugus 
 Piver and Breed’s Creek, and will be arranged with 
 blow-offs and stop-gates at proper places. The pipe 
 will enter the pump well hy a syphon, extending to 
 near the bottom of the well, and will have a stop-gate 
 to regulate the flow of the water. At the gate-house, 
 in crossing the river, and in entering the pump well, 
 cast-iron pipes will be used; elsewhere, wrought-iron 
 pipes, laid in and lined with cement, will be used. 
 
 But one pipe will be laid at first, which will deliver 
 two millions of gallons per day, with a loss of three 
 feet head. When the demand for water in the city 
 becomes large, a receiving reservoir of one or two acres 
 area will be built, which will allow the night flow of 
 this pipe to be added to the the water furnished to the 
 great pumps, without much increased loss of head ; and 
 when the demand becomes still greater, a second pipe 
 may be laid. 
 
 This receiving reservoir and additional pipe will not 
 probably be required for ten or fifteen years, and the 
 cost, therefore, is not included in the estimates. 
 
 The pump well will be built thirty by thirty-eight 
 feet on the outside, arranged for two condensing en¬ 
 gines and pumps, of large sizfe. The well-chamber will 
 be fifteen by twenty feet, in two divisions, with an 
 
45 
 
 entrance of twenty by five feet, in which will be placed 
 a frame and gates and two screens. The bottom of this 
 well will be placed at a level fifteen feet below the 
 water in Pranker’s Pond, or say fourteen feet above 
 tide. 
 
 The masonry will be laid on a solid timber and plank 
 foundation. The walls will be of cut stone under the 
 engine bed plates, and cut face stone elsewhere, with 
 good strong, solid backing. Bolt and hand holes will 
 be arranged in the masonry. 
 
 The pumping machine will be a condensing, vertical, 
 beam engine, with two single acting pumps, arranged 
 to deliver two millions of gallons of water in twelve 
 hours into the Pine Hill reservoir, one hundred and 
 seventy-seven feet above tide, through a pipe of sixteen 
 inches diameter and fifteen hundred feet long. This 
 will require about one hundred horse power, with a 
 steam cylinder of thirty-eight inches diameter and eight 
 feet length of stroke, and pumps of twenty-four inches 
 diameter and five feet length of stroke.* 
 
 * The plan of the pumping engine upon which I have based my estimates is similar to 
 the one which has recently been put in operation for the water works at New Bedford. 
 There have been four of these engines erected for this purpose in the United States, and 
 there are many others here and abroad, which embrace the leading principles of this 
 machine, so that it is not an invention, but merely the application of all of these principles 
 in one machine. These principles are as follows : — 
 
 1. That steam and water cannot be moved at the same velocity without an increased 
 loss of power. The former is very light and elastic, and the latter seventeen hundred 
 times heavier than steam, and inelastic. Hence, all direct acting pumps are wrong in 
 principle. 
 
 2. That water cannot be abruptly changed in its direction or form of volume without 
 great waste of power, and hence double-acting pumps, which must have two absolute 
 reversals of the water, are much inferior to single-acting pumps, where these reversals are 
 avoided. 
 
 That the induction] and delivery pipes of the pumps should be in straight lines, or» 
 
46 
 
 The engine-house will be built around the w'ell, and 
 the boiler-house adjacent thereto. The pump- main 
 will be of cast-iron, and laid through the gate-house 
 of the reservoir to the further side thereof, and have a 
 check-valve near the pump. 
 
 The reservoir on Pine Hill will require ten acres of 
 land, and will contain nineteen millions of gallons 
 of water at the depth of twelve feet, but can easily be 
 
 when necessary, in curved lines of large radius, and with no changes, or at least with very 
 gradual ones, in the passage of the water to, through and from the pumps. 
 
 That valves which produce the least distortion of the form of the volume of the water, 
 and without unnecessary changes in its direction, should be used. 
 
 3. That in reciprocating engines and pumps, the power developed by the steam should 
 be wholly exhausted (if possible) at the end of each stroke, and that (unlike almost all the 
 other applications of steam power) the perfection of motion of the stroke of a water pump 
 piston is a slow commencement, increasing speed to the middle of the stroke, and a 
 gradual reduction, until, at the end of the stroke, the power (including the momentum) is 
 barely able to carry the engine over its centres. 
 
 In a Cornish pumping-machine the steam engine and its pumps work independently, 
 and are in fact two distinct machines. The load on the pump is carefully adjusted to over¬ 
 come the resistances of the water, and exhibits the natural and nearly perfect movement 
 which ought to be given to water passing through a pump. 
 
 The ordinary application of steam, working expansively in the cylinder, produces 
 precisely the degree of speed in every part of the stroke of the water-piston that is 
 desired. 
 
 This pumping-machine accomplishes all of these objects better than any other in use. 
 It is a vertical beam engine; the steam cylinder is placed under the end of the beam, and 
 the water cylinders at "such distances toward the main centre as will give the exact relative 
 speed to the steam and water pistons. Two single acting pumps are placed one on each 
 side of the beam centre, with the delivery pipes carried off from the pumps on gentle 
 curves to the force main. The valves are similar to those ordinarily used in the air pump. 
 The fly-wheel is made as light as possible, being only used to carry the engine very slowly 
 over its centres, and the cut-off is so adjusted that almost the whole power developed by 
 the steam is exhausted at the completion of each stroke. 
 
 There is therefore no concussion or wrenching of the various parts of the machine at 
 the end of the stroke, where the direction of its reciprocating parts are reversed, and the 
 machinery, except the rubbing surfaces, must therefore endure almost indefinitely. 
 
 The water, starting from the pump well, passes to, through and from the pumps to the 
 force main without change of direction, in straight lines or gentle curves, with small 
 changes of form of volume or direction, and therefore its resistance from these causes is 
 reduced to a minimum. 
 
 It is safe, therefore, to claim for this machine as effective a duty as can be obtained by 
 any other pumping-machine. This machine is simple in construction, and the steam- 
 engine part corresponds with that in use in most of the large engines built for other pur¬ 
 poses. Its cost is therefore reduced to a minimum. It can be built or repaired at any 
 good machine-shop, and can be run with perfect safety by a moderately good mechanic; 
 in fact, by any one who can run an ordinary river steamboat engine. There are no patents 
 upon any portion of the machine. 
 
47 
 
 made three feet deeper if desired, which would increase 
 its capacity to twenty-two millions. The solid rock wil]^ 
 form the east side, and an irregular, curving embank¬ 
 ment the other sides. The reservoir may be in two 
 divisions, of which one, containing twelve millions, can 
 he made at first, and the other division can be hereafter 
 built, when more storage is found necessary. 
 
 The soil on the surface is sandy loam, filled with 
 stone and large and small boulders, underlaid, though 
 probably at considerable depth, with porphyritic rock. 
 The clay and gravel for the puddle walls must be pro¬ 
 cured from the plain at the foot of the hill. The other 
 materials for the embankment can be obtained from the 
 excavation. 
 
 The inside slopes of the embankment will be two to 
 one, and on the outside, which will be of boulders, will 
 be one and a half to one. The top of the embankment 
 will be carried up three feet higher than the water, and 
 will be fifteen feet wide. The inside slopes will be 
 lined with a slope wall, pointed up with hydraulic mor¬ 
 tar. The puddle wall will be placed on the inside 
 slope of the embankment, and will be eight feet thick 
 at the bottom and four feet at the top (at right angles 
 to the slope), and extended down to solid impervious 
 earth or rock, and at least two feet belo.w the bottom 
 level of the reservoir. If such impervious earth or 
 rock is not found, then the whole bottom of the reser¬ 
 voir will be covered with puddle, and connected with 
 the side puddle and carefully with the ledge rock on 
 
48 
 
 the east side. The puddle will be made of equal parts 
 of pure clay and fine gravel, laid on in layers of six 
 inches depth, moistened, and cut and cross cut with 
 spades, until it is compacted as closely as possible. 
 The top and outside slopes of the banks will be turfed. 
 
 A gate house of masonry, laid in hydraulic cement, 
 will be placed at the foot of the slope of the embank¬ 
 ment, near the southern end of the reservoir. It will 
 be thirty by eighteen feet on the foundation, and carried 
 up to the level of the top of the banks. There will 
 be two compartments each of eight by six feet, in one 
 of which will be placed the two sixteen-inch inlet pipes 
 and a drain pipe, and in the other the two sixteen-inch 
 outlet pipes. 
 
 These pipes will all be carefully laid through the 
 embankment, with cross cut-off walls, to prevent leak¬ 
 age, and will all be provided with stop gates placed in 
 the gate chambers. The outlet compartment will be 
 provided with two gates and passages through the front 
 wall. On the top of the well walls will he built a 
 brick house, and a bridge will be laid to the bank. 
 
 THE DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 The general plan of the distribution of the water, has 
 been based upon the delivery at first of two millions of 
 gallons daily, and subsequently of twice this quantity, of 
 which it is assumed that at first nearly one-half will be 
 consumed within an area of one hundred acres of the 
 
49 
 
 central, compact part of the city, east of the City Hall ; 
 one-fourth within three hundred acres, surrounding the 
 first district; one-eighth within the district eastward, 
 between the railroad and the ocean; and the remain¬ 
 ing one-eighth to the north and west of the central dis¬ 
 trict. These proportions may be varied by the future 
 growth of the city in these several directions. 
 
 The main pipes have been arranged upon this basis, 
 so as to furnish the water under a head, as nearly 
 equable as it is possible to do with the supply entering 
 on one side of the city, and extending more than two 
 miles through it. With the probability that Swamp- 
 
 scott will also desire to avail herself of the water which 
 
 0 
 
 your works will furnish, the main pipes have been ex¬ 
 tended eastward of larger size than that district of Lynn 
 demands. This large pipe will enable you to furnish 
 that place with a million of gallons daily, (when your 
 works are completed upon the plans herein presented,) 
 under a head of one hundred and thirty feet above tide, 
 at the mere cost, to you, of pumping this quantity, and 
 the cost or interest of a ten-inch pipe, of a mile and a 
 half long. 
 
 This system of distribution contemplates carrying 
 pipes equivalent to twenty inches diameter, from the 
 Pine Hill Eeservoir to the west end of the Common, 
 and thence by equivalent to eighteen, inches to the 
 
 corner of Munroe and Market Streets, (which is very 
 nearly the centre of consumption,) and from thence to 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 the intersection of Lewis and Ocean Streets by pipes 
 equivalent to twelve inches diameter. 
 
 The pipes already laid will furnish ten-inch mains 
 northward and eastward, through populous districts, 
 and it is proposed to extend others of eight and six 
 inches, in various directions, intermediate and beyond 
 those already described. 
 
 The accompanying map shows this arrangement of 
 the leading mains, on which will be seen two parallel 
 lines of pipe from the reservoir to the Common, viz : 
 one of twelve and another of sixteen inches. The rea¬ 
 son for this is, that I have (for this purpose) considered 
 the Breed Pond plan as adopted, and it includes a 
 twelve-inch pipe from the pond to the Common, and as 
 this pipe will temporarily furnish the supply to the 
 city under the permanent plan, the expense of laying 
 down an additional pipe can be saved for several years. 
 Subsequently, when the demand for water requires it, 
 a sixteen-inch pipe added to the twelve will be equiva¬ 
 lent to a twenty-inch pipe from the reservoh to the 
 Common. The sixteen-inch pipe will then be con¬ 
 tinued down Federal, and through Summer to Market 
 Street, and with the ten-inch pipe now laid through the 
 Common and Market to the same point, will be equiva¬ 
 lent to an eighteen-inch pipe to that place. A twelve- 
 inch pipe will be laid to the corner of Broad and Spring 
 Streets, and then branching by a ten-inch pipe through 
 Broad, and an .eight-inch pipe to and through Ocean, 
 until they unite at or near King Street, are equivalent 
 
51 
 
 to a twelve-inch pipe to this point of intersection. If 
 desired, the Lewis Street pipe can be extended to 
 Swampscott, of ten inches diameter, and deliver the 
 water to that town, as before stated. 
 
 It is unnecessary to describe the intermediate pipes, 
 except to state, that with your comparatively high head 
 you can use pipes of smaller diameter than would be 
 admissible in other cities in this vicinity."^ 
 
 In arranging the plans for distribution, Mr. Bishop 
 has passed through all of the streets of the city, noting 
 the houses, and marking on the map where pipes 
 should be laid in consecutive order, to meet the present 
 and probable future demands. In some of the streets 
 the numbers of water-takers are now too small to war¬ 
 rant laying down pipes, but as the city becomes more 
 densely built up, and new demands are made for water, 
 pipes will be required through these omitted streets. 
 Branches will therefore be put in at all crossing streets, 
 and capped, so that these additional pipes can be put 
 in at any time hereafter. 
 
 The following table will show the head, or equivalent 
 elevation that the water will stand in the pipes at va¬ 
 rious places in the city, under the Breed’s Pond plan 
 when delivering a million of gallons daily, and on the 
 permanent plan from the Pine Hill Keservoir, when de- 
 
 * To enable the citizens to form their opinions on these subjects, without much trouble 
 in calculating, it may be said that under the same circumstances the delivery of a pipe in 
 creases as the square root of the head and as the square of the diameter of the pipe; that 
 is, a pipe of four inches diameter and one hundred and sixty-nine feet head will deliver the 
 same quantity of water as one of eight inches diameter and ten and a half feet head, both 
 pipes being of the same length. 
 
52 
 
 livering a million through the twelve-inch main, and 
 two millions through the twenty-inch "main and its con¬ 
 nections, as herein before described. It will be seen 
 by this table that the unusual elevation of the water in 
 the reservoir will allow it to flow to the upper stories 
 of dwellings which are or may be built upon the high¬ 
 est land about the city. 
 
 Table of the head of water in the pipes above tide and above the 
 surface of the streets at various places in the city, under the 
 several plans. 
 
 From From 
 
 Breed’s Pond. Pine Hill Kescrvoir. 
 
 f _A-^ ^ _A-^ 
 
 Through the Through 
 
 twelve-inch main. 20-inch main. 
 
 Place. When delivering When delivering 
 
 one million gallons, two million gallons. 
 
 Above the level of 
 
 Tide. 
 
 St. 
 
 Tide. 
 
 St. 
 
 Tide. 
 
 St. 
 
 Tide. 
 
 St. 
 
 Reservoir. 
 
 52 
 
 
 177 
 
 
 177 
 
 
 177 
 
 
 Pump Well,.•. 
 
 49 
 
 19 
 
 175 
 
 145 
 
 175 
 
 145 
 
 176 
 
 146 
 
 Federal and Common,. 
 
 43 
 
 24 
 
 169 
 
 150 
 
 152 
 
 133 
 
 174 
 
 155 
 
 Common and Market,. 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 154 
 
 130 
 
 94 
 
 70 
 
 172 
 
 148 
 
 Mai-ket and Mnnroe,. 
 
 23 
 
 1 
 
 149 
 
 127 
 
 74 
 
 52 
 
 171 
 
 149 
 
 Broad and Spring,. 
 
 22 
 
 
 148 
 
 118 
 
 71 
 
 41 
 
 168 
 
 138 
 
 Lewis and Ocean. 
 
 21 
 
 
 147 
 
 100 
 
 66 
 
 19 
 
 163 
 
 116 
 
 When the steam engine is running, the pipes leading 
 to the city and to the reservoir will both be in direct 
 communication with the pumps, so that the head of 
 water on the distribution pipes will be higher than is 
 given in the above table, which has been calculated 
 from the head which the reservoir will give. The 
 pump main is only flfteen hundred feet long, so that it 
 will perform the service of a stand pipe, and act as a 
 governor or safety valve, and prevent any shocks or 
 
53 
 
 undue pressure on the city pipes; because, if by a not 
 unusual accident, a water-gate after long usoj should 
 happen to fall, or after the extinguishment of a fire, a 
 considerable number of hydrants should be simulta¬ 
 neously closed, or if at any particular hour the con¬ 
 sumption of water should be suddenly stopped, then 
 the surplus water from the pumps would be delivered 
 into the Eeservoir, and not only prevent the water jam, 
 but also save the waste, which on such occasions occurs 
 with a stand-pipe. 
 
 It will be observed that a pump main of only sixteen 
 inches diameter is proposed to be first laid down. This 
 is less than one-third of the capacity of the pump mains 
 which have been laid down under similar circumstances 
 elsewhere, and therefore it may be proper that I should 
 explain my reasons for determining upon this size. 
 
 I have computed the amount of friction caused by 
 forcing two millions of gallons of water in twelve 
 hours, (or of four millions daily,) through pipes of va¬ 
 rious sizes, and also the extra cost of pumping this 
 quantity through such pipes, and find that a pipe of 
 sixteen inches will be the most economical, until the 
 demand exceeds three millions per day. Thus in com¬ 
 paring a sixteen with a twenty-four inch pumping main, 
 it appears that the friction is equal to seventeen-horse 
 power in the first case, and but two in the second, and 
 the extra cost of coal, etc., in the first case over the lat¬ 
 ter is about $400 per annum, and the extra cost of the 
 twenty-four inch pumping main over one of sixteen 
 
54 
 
 inches is $7,500, the annual interest on which is $525 
 showing that if the demand for water should even reach 
 four millions within the next dozen years, it would be 
 cheaper to put in at first the smaller pump main; and 
 whenever it is found too small, that is, when the cost of 
 pumping exceeds the interest on the cost of a second 
 main, then the latter may be added. 
 
 As it is highly improbable that the demand will ex¬ 
 ceed four millions of gallons within the next twenty 
 years, the smaller pipe becomes less than half the cost 
 of the larger one. By the same method it has been 
 determined that the sixteen-inch pump main is cheaper 
 than one of any larger or smaller size. 
 
 The force mains from the pump well to the reser¬ 
 voir will be subject to shocks from the unequal action 
 of the pumps and should be of cast iron; all of the 
 other pipes should be of wrought iron, laid in and 
 lined with hydraulic mortar. 
 
 Objections have been made to the use of cast iron 
 pipes for street mains, on account of the oxidation of 
 the u’on,—to cement-lined pipes on account of their 
 supposed weakness and want of durability,—and also to 
 lead pipes used for the house distribution. 
 
 It is proposed herein to use wrought iron pipes, 
 lined and coated with hydraulic cement, for all of the 
 pipes through the city. The use of this kind of pipe 
 in most of the cities in this vicinity and elsewhere, has 
 demonstrated their value. 
 
 In Charlestown, after six years’ trial, they have just 
 
55 
 
 adopted a thirty-inch supply-main of this kind of pipe, 
 which is intended to furnish the whole supply to 
 Charlestown, East Boston, Chelsea and Somerville. In 
 other places where these pipes have been used for a 
 longer time, and under greater head, they have proved 
 satisfactory; and, as their cost is considerably less than 
 pipes of cast iron, it becomes an important question to 
 determine their strength and durability as compared 
 with cast-iron pipes. 
 
 After a careful examination of the subject, I have 
 heretofore recommended the use of these cement-lined 
 and covered pipes under certain circumstances, and I 
 again repeat this recommendation for your works. 
 
 It is important that the water in the distribution 
 pipes should circulate freely, and that there should be 
 no dead ends. A proper arrangement of ^the pipes 
 and some blow-off cocks occasionally, introduced in the 
 lowest places, to discharge the stagnant or soiled water, 
 will accomplish these purposes. 
 
 It has been frequently asserted in the newspapers 
 that lead pipes in the dwellings is productive of injury 
 to the water, by its absorption of the metal. I consider 
 this as a mere popular prejudice, urged upon the pub¬ 
 lic to promote the use of some of the various patented 
 processes of service pipes. The chemists of some of 
 our cities have demonstrated that certain soft waters 
 will decompose lead from service pipes. All of these 
 experiments have been made on water which has been 
 allowed to stand quiescent for many days in the lead 
 
56 
 
 pipes, and by analysis, will of course show the presence 
 of lead. Practically, however, no person would use 
 such water, because if a cock is opened for ten minutes 
 it will empty all of the water from the lead pipes, and 
 then the supply will be directly from the street mains, 
 which will be perfectly pure and harmless, and none of 
 the apprehended dangers of the chemists will occur. 
 
 Note.— Since writing the above, I have seen the last report of the Engineer of the Mon¬ 
 treal Water Works, which gives, what is not contained in any other report, the amount of 
 water counsumed at Montreal for fire purposes, which is less than one-tenth of the whole 
 water furnished. The report also states that a little more than one per cent, of the whole 
 quantity was used for watering the streets. The exact quantities are seventeen hundred 
 and seventeen millions of imperial gallons, (one-fourth larger than American gallons) were 
 pumped, of which twenty millions were used for street watering; one and a quarter was 
 used for fire purposes, and two-thirds of a million was used for sewers, etc. It is thus 
 seen that the chief point to be considered is the domestic consumption, which is more than 
 ninety-eight per cent, of the whole demand. 
 
 In the appendix will be found the estimates in detail of the cost of the distribution, in 
 which the pipes are arranged in three classes, which in the aggregate will make twenty 
 miles of pipes and will cost $219,671. The first class embracing nearly five miles will cost 
 $65,258 less the value of the pipes now laid, which can be usefully applied, which is nearly 
 two miles and valued at $24,255. 
 
 The first class also includes nearly a mile of the twelve-inch pipe from Breed’s pond now 
 contracted for, which will be required on the permanent plan, valued at $10,565, leaving the 
 actual outlay required for pipes, etc., at the opening of the new works $30,4:38. 
 
 The second class embraces a little more than ten miles of pipes, estimated at $103,1.39,— 
 which may be laid down from time to time as desired; and the third class, embracing nearly 
 five miles, and costing $51,274, may be laid down at a still later date, so that the outlay for 
 distribution may be distributed over a period of ten or twelve years if desned, as the in¬ 
 creasing demands for water may from time to time warrant. 
 
 V. THE ESTIMATES OF THE COST OF THE PLANS. 
 
 These estimates have been prepared from careful 
 surveys, and from detailed plans of all of the structures, 
 and have been compared with the actual cost of similar 
 works, so that they can be relied upon with considerable 
 certainty. These detailed drawings will be furnished 
 to the committee whenever desired, and will be useful 
 
57 
 
 to the Engineer whom you shall select to execute your 
 works. 
 
 It may be proper to remark in this connection, that 
 if it shall be decided to commence the works on the 
 permanent plan before the next working season opens, 
 and the several parts are promptly placed in competent 
 and energetic hands, the water can be introduced into 
 the city before the close of next season. 
 
 An abstract of the detailed estimates which are given 
 in the appendix is as follows: 
 
 breed’s pond plan. 
 
 1. With a head of 52 feet above tide,_$28,456 50 
 
 2. With the use of the old engine giving 125 feet head,_31,456 50 
 
 3. With the use of the duplicate engine, and 
 of one division of the reservoir, giving 
 
 177 feet head,_$56,237 50 
 
 Less chargeable to the permanent plan,_ 52,662 50 
 
 $3,575 00 
 
 Add cost of first,_1- 28,456 50 
 
 -$32,031 50 
 
 FLAX POND PLAN. 
 
 1. With the reservoir at High Rock Hill,-$286,305 80 
 
 2. With the reservoir at Pine Hill,-$272,345- 70 
 
 SAUGUS RIVER PLAN. 
 
 With the reservoir at Pine Hill,__—$284,445 70 
 
 These estimates include the value of the land, dam¬ 
 
 ages, and right of way, but do not include the purchase 
 of the water power on either the Flax Pond or Saugus 
 Eiver. 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 As before stated the cost of the pipes, gates and hy¬ 
 drants, ten or twelve years hence, will be $184,851, and 
 on the opening of the works $30,438. Adding to 
 above estimate $48,000 of the outlay now being made 
 for Breed’s Pond, and this $30,438 for pipeing, the 
 whole cost will be as follows: 
 
 For the Flax Pond plan, No. 1,_$364,305 80 
 
 For the Flax Pond plan. No. 2,_$350,345 70 
 
 For the Sangus River plan,_$362,445 70 
 
 Or, when complete, ten years hence, $154,413 m,ore on each of the 
 plans. 
 
 On the Flax Pond plan the lower water power will 
 be entirely destroyed, and the upper one materially in¬ 
 terfered with. On the Saugus plan there will be (final¬ 
 ly) a diversion of one-fourth of the water from two of 
 the powers, and in both plans there is a tidal mill 
 which will be affected by the diversion of the water. 
 
 I am not acquainted with the local circumstances 
 which affect the value of these water powers, and will 
 only remark, that in one case, it is the destruction of 
 one power and the injury to two others, and in the 
 other case, it is merely an injury to three water powers, 
 so that the damages will be less on the Saugus Biver 
 than on the Flax Pond plan. 
 
 The Flax Pond plan being insufficient to furnish the 
 four, millions of gallons daily, the deficiency must be 
 supplied from Breed’s Pond, and to critically compare 
 the two plans there should be added to this one the 
 whole expenditure necessary to connect this supply 
 
59 
 
 also. But as the Breed’s Pond supply is proposed to 
 be utilized in the Saugus Biver plan, and thus lessen 
 the amount of damage, by the diversion of its waters, it 
 is considered as just to the comparison to charge against 
 the Flax Pond plan (with the High Bock reservoir) 
 the extra cost of conveying the water of Breed’s Pond 
 to its pump well. 
 
 Another question will affect the comparative value 
 of these two plans, which is the height to which the 
 water must be lifted on each, and the annual expense 
 thereof. 
 
 On the Flax Pond plan, with the reservoir located on 
 High Bock, it will be necessary to use the two lakes as 
 storing reservoirs, and after Sluice Pond has been 
 drawn off, the deficiency in the driest seasons of the 
 year must be supplied by also drawing off Flax Pond. 
 It would probably be approximately accurate to assume 
 that when the city is consuming four millions of gallons 
 per day, that two millions would be delivered to the 
 pump well, at the level of Flax Pond [(forty-four feet 
 above tide,) one million from Flax Pond itself, at an 
 average of forty feet above tide, and one million from 
 Breed’s Pond, also at a level at the pump well of forty 
 feet above tide, (deducting [the loss of head, which is 
 nearly thirteen feet between Breed’s Pond and the 
 pump well when delivering one million through a 
 twelve-inch pipe,) so that the average head of water 
 at the suction pipe of the punips on this plan, will be 
 forty-two feet above tide. 
 
60 
 
 On the Flax Pond plan, with the Pine Hill reservoir, 
 the loss of head, when delivering three millions of gal¬ 
 lons daily, -through a pipe of twenty-four inches diame¬ 
 ter, is four and two-thirds feet, so that, again, two mil¬ 
 lions of gallons from the Flax Pond reservoir will be 
 delivered at the pump well, at the foot of Pine Hill, at 
 a level of about thirty-eight feet above tide, one million 
 at a level of thirty-four feet, and one million from 
 Breed’s Pond, at a level of forty-nine feet, making an 
 average of about forty feet above tide. 
 
 On the Saugus Piver plan the loss of head in con¬ 
 veying three millions of gallons, through a pipe of two 
 feet diameter, is six and a half feet, giving a head at 
 the pump well of twenty-three and a half feet above 
 tide, and the one million obtained from Breed’s Pond 
 of forty-nine feet, making an average of about thirty 
 feet left to the four millions. In other words, the wa¬ 
 ter, if obtained from the Saugus Eiver, must be lifted 
 an average of ten feet higher, than if obtained from 
 Flax Pond. 
 
 The cost of running an engine of the character pro¬ 
 posed, when delivering two millions of gallons in twelve 
 hours, with a reservoir one hundred and forty-seven 
 feet above the pump well, through a pipe of sixteen 
 inches diameter, will be amply covered by the following 
 estimate: 
 
 400 tons of coal, at $8,_$3,200 
 
 Engineer and fireman’s wages, __1,825 
 
 Oil, tallow, waste, etc.,_ 175 
 
 Annual repairs, (averaging 20 years,)_ 200 
 
 -$5,400 
 
61 
 
 Equal per day to $17.28, or per million of gallons 
 elevated into the reservoir $8.62, or per million of gal¬ 
 lons lifted one foot high about six cents, and to lift four 
 millions per day, ten feet higher, would cost about $220 
 per annum, which is the interest on $3,143. Until the 
 consumption in the city reaches two millions of gallons 
 per day, the cost of elevating the water will he about 
 equal from either of these sources. 
 
 Your Committee and citizens may congratulate them¬ 
 selves upon their natural advantages, compared with 
 sister cities, for procuring an abundant supply of pure 
 and wholesome water, at so small an outlay, and by 
 measures which will distribute, if desired, a considera¬ 
 ble portion of the expenditure over so long a period, 
 and leave to the authorities the exercise of their judg¬ 
 ment, at what time these additional outlays shall be 
 made. 
 
 I take the liberty of adding, that more than one party 
 skilled in the construction of similar works, and of 
 large pecuniary responsibilities, are willing to contract 
 for the construction of the works herein described, and 
 upon the plans and specifications which I have pre¬ 
 pared, for a sum not exceeding the estimates herein 
 presented. 
 
 I state this merely to give your citizens an assurance 
 that these estimates are ample to cover the cost of the 
 works. 
 
62 
 
 V. THE COMPARISON OF THE PLANS. 
 
 Your Committee having requested me to express an 
 opinion of the several plans, and the one best suited 
 for the purposes deshed, in accordance therewith I 
 report as follows: 
 
 The questions to be considered under this head are 
 
 1. The capacity of each of the plans to furnish the 
 quantity of water required for the present and any 
 probable future demand. 
 
 2. The purity of the water proposed to be furnished. 
 
 .3. The cost of introducing the required amount with¬ 
 out involving any more outlay, at the beginning, than is 
 necessary, when the works are hereafter enlarged to 
 meet the probable ultimate demand. 
 
 4. The convenience and permanence of the works, 
 and the cost of maintaining them. 
 
 As has been previously stated, Humphrey’s Pond, al¬ 
 though affording the finest quality of wafer, and at the 
 greatest natural head of any of the sources examined, 
 must be dismissed from this comparison, because its 
 supply is utterly inadequate to your present temporary 
 demand, and even with the aid of Breed’s Pond would 
 not be sufficient for the demand a few years hence. 
 
 Breed’s Pond by itself is inadequate in quantity, and 
 at too low an elevation to be of value, except for a tem¬ 
 porary purpose, while the permanent works are being 
 built. As before stated it is an indispensable adjunct 
 to the Flax Pond, and an useful one to the Saugus 
 Biver plan. 
 
63 
 
 The comparison is therefore narrowed down to the 
 two last mentioned plans. 
 
 In regard to the quantity of water required, both are 
 considered sufficient to furnish the supply which has 
 been anticipated, yet the quantity from Saugus River, if 
 the whole should ever be required, is many times great¬ 
 er than could be obtained from Flax Pond, and it is 
 possible that at some future day a larger quantity than 
 is now supposed may be demanded. 
 
 The purity of the water from these two sources may 
 be regarded as nearly equal. That from Saugus River 
 has more vegetable matter, and that from the Flax 
 Pond more animal matter, even if all the preventive 
 measures which have been herein proposed are carried 
 out. The preference in regard to purity is, on the 
 whole, in favor of Saugus River. 
 
 The cost of the works complete, for the maximum 
 supply, is in favor of Flax Pond, by some $12,000, to 
 which should be added about $3,000, to cover the extra 
 cost, of pumping. 
 
 It has been said that the owners of the Flax Pond 
 waters demand a very large sum for their diversion. 
 The question of the value of. their rights would prob¬ 
 ably be determined by the courts, under Legislative 
 authority, and therefore I have not regarded this de¬ 
 mand in my consideration of the subject. In all other 
 particulars the two plans are nearly similar. Either of 
 these plans may therefore be adopted, as the advantages 
 of each*, upon a review of the whole subject, seem tu 
 
64 
 
 be nearly equal. I am more inclined in favor of the 
 Saugus River plan, because in the (perhaps remote) 
 contingency of a growth of the city beyond that con¬ 
 templated in the preceding examination, you will have 
 a source of supply ample to meet even the most extra¬ 
 ordinary demands. 
 
 In closing this report, I take pleasure in stating that 
 the surveys have been made in the most satisfactory 
 manner, by Mr. George H. Bishop, and that he has 
 also aided me materially in the arrangement of the 
 plans herewith submitted. 
 
 The rapidity with which these surveys have been 
 made, as well as their completeness, commends Mr. 
 Bishop to your favorable consideration. 
 
 Respectfully, yours. 
 
 WM. jr. McALPINE, Civil Engineer, 
 
Detailed Estimates of the Cost of the Plans. 
 
 breed’s pond. 
 
 
 Cubic yds. 
 
 Price. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Excavation of stone and wall,- 
 
 __ 400 
 
 $1.50 
 
 $600 00 
 
 Excavation for puddling,_ 
 
 1,100 
 
 1.25 
 
 1,375 00 
 
 Puddling, 
 
 2,500 
 
 1.00 
 
 2,500 00 
 
 Rip rap wall. 
 
 200 
 
 2.00 
 
 400 00 
 
 Gate house, masonry. 
 
 Gates, stop planks, etc.. 
 
 100 
 
 8.00 
 
 800 00 
 
 
 
 200 00 
 
 Iron pipe taken up and relaid (feet) 50 
 
 6.00 
 
 300 00 
 
 Cross belts, etc., about do., say 
 
 _ 
 
 
 75 00 
 
 Waste weir in rock. 
 
 
 
 100 00 
 
 Pumping water,_ « ^ 
 
 
 
 300 00 
 
 $6,650 00 
 
 Add 20 per cent., ‘ __ 
 
 
 
 1,330 00 
 
 $7,980 00 
 
 Supply main (feet). 
 
 7,266 
 
 2.50 
 
 18,165 00 
 
 Stop cocks and blow off. 
 
 
 
 450 00 
 
 18,615 00 
 
 Add 10 per cent., __ 
 
 
 
 1,861 50 
 
 $20,476 50 
 
 Total,_ $28,456 50 
 
 If this plan is arranged to pump the water into Pine Hill reservoir, 
 it will add to the cost and expenditure as follows : 
 
 The present purchase of the duplicate engine, 
 
 pump aud boiler, _ $7,000 
 
 Of the temporary foundation and house,_ 2,500 
 
 Of connecting the 12-inch main with the pumps, 
 
 and 16-inch force main,__ 500 
 
 Of the 16-inch cast iron force main and water 
 
 gates, and check valves,_ 9,500 
 
 - • 
 
 Amount carried forward^ $19,500 00 
 
 9 • 
 
66 
 
 ■Amount brought forward^ 
 
 Of the first division 
 Cubic yds. 
 
 Excavation (E. & E.)-5,000 
 
 Embankment,___18,000 
 
 Puddle,_4,000 
 
 Broken stone or gravel,_ 500 
 
 Slope wall,_1,300 
 
 Gate house,_ 
 
 Sodding banks, etc.,_ 
 
 Land,_ 
 
 Ten per cent, for contingencies, etc. 
 
 $19,500 00 
 
 the Reservoir. 
 
 Per yd. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 $7,500 
 
 50 
 
 9,000 
 
 90 
 
 3,600 
 
 1.25 
 
 625 
 
 3.00 
 
 3,900 
 
 
 4,000 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 $31,625 00 
 
 $51,125 00 
 5,112 50 
 
 Making an additional present outlay of_ $56,237 50 
 
 Of this there is chargeable to the permanent plan _ 52,662 50 
 
 Making an extra cost of 
 
 $3,575 00 
 
 THE FLAX POND PLAN, WITH THE RESERVOIR AT HIGH ROCK. 
 
 Conduit from Flax Pond to Pump Well^ 1,900 feet. 
 
 Brick work,_ 
 
 Eock excavation. 
 
 Embankment,. 
 Waste,_ 
 
 Eight of way,. 
 
 Cubic yds. 
 
 Per yd. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 624 
 
 $14.00 
 
 $8,736 
 
 600 
 
 3.00 
 
 1,800 
 
 . _2,400 
 
 60 
 
 1,440 
 
 . - 800 
 
 50 
 
 400 
 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 — 
 
 
 4,000 
 
 700 
 
 Or for a pipe (in substitution) 24 
 
 inches diameter (L. ft.)_1,900 
 
 $18,076 
 
 $9.00 $17,100 
 
 Waste, gate house and right of way as above,_ 5,700 
 
 Eepairs to Sluice Pond, dam and fixtures,_$5,000 
 
 Eepairs to Flax Pond dam,_ 3,000 
 
 Cleaning out vegetable matter from Sluice Pond and 
 
 covering with gravel,_ 5,000 
 
 The same for Flax Pond,_ 5,000 
 
 Amount^ carried forward, 
 
 $22,800 
 
 $18,000 $22,800 
 
67 
 
 Amounts brought forward^ $18,000 $22,800 00 
 
 Covering the swamp between the ponds with gravel 
 
 and making a clean waterway,_10,000 
 
 -$28,000 00 
 
 Pump Well. 
 
 $50,800 00 
 
 Cubic yds. 
 
 Excavation and grading,_3,000 
 
 Foundation (feet),_30,000 
 
 Masonry (cubic yds.),_ 700 
 
 Extra fitting on do. for machinery 
 Gates, screens and bulkheads,_ 
 
 Engine and boiler house, coal 
 
 house and chimney,_ 
 
 Engine, boilers, pumps and con¬ 
 nections, _ 
 
 Duplicate do.,_ 
 
 Extra pipes, water gates, etc.,_ 
 
 Land, 1^ acres,_ 65,340 
 
 Price. Amount. 
 
 .50 $1,500 
 $75.00 2,250 
 
 15.00 10,500 
 
 1,000 
 
 1,250 
 
 -$16,500 00 
 
 $13,500 
 
 30,000 
 7,000 
 4,000 
 20 13,068 
 
 -$67,568 00 
 
 Pump Main. 
 
 16 inches diameter (L. ft.),_ 
 
 Stop gates, check valve, etc.,_ 
 
 Right of way,—---- 
 
 1,300 $6.00 
 
 $7,800 
 
 500 
 
 500 
 
 $8,800 00 
 
 Peservoir, 
 
 
 Cubic yds. 
 
 Price. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Earth and rock,_ _ _ 
 
 . 8,100 
 
 $1.75 $14,175 
 
 Embankment, _ _ 
 
 27,500 
 
 50 
 
 13,750 
 
 Puddling, 
 
 14,400 
 
 90 
 
 12,960 
 
 Broken stone. 
 
 700 
 
 1.25 
 
 875 
 
 Slope wall. 
 
 2,200 
 
 3.00 
 
 6,600 
 
 Gate house, turfing, etc.. 
 
 
 
 5,000 
 
 Removing buildings, __ 
 
 
 
 3,000 
 
 Land, _ _ 
 
 20,000 
 
 20 
 
 40,000 
 
 
 
 
 -$96,360 00 
 
 Bringing Breed’s Pond water to 
 
 pump well, _ 
 
 20,250 00 
 
 Add ten per cent, for contingencies, etc., . 
 
 
 26,027 80 
 
 Total, _ 
 
 
 
 . . $286,305 80 
 
68 
 
 If the water from Flax Pond is conveyed by a pipe to a pump 
 well at the foot of Pine Hill, and pumped into the reservoir at that 
 place, the cost wiU be as follows : 
 
 L. ft. 
 
 An additional length of pipe, 
 
 24 inches diameter,_7’,800 
 
 Water gates and blow olF,_ 
 
 Right of way,_ 
 
 Cost of pipe (1,900 feet) as 
 per first estimate,_ 
 
 Repairs, etc., to ponds, as per 
 
 first estimate,_ • _ 
 
 Pump well,_ 
 
 Price. 
 
 $9.00 
 
 Amount. 
 
 $.70,200 
 
 500 
 
 1,000 
 
 22,800 
 
 Engines, houses, etc.. 
 
 
 54,500 
 
 Land, three acres. 
 
 
 1,500 
 
 Pump main, 16 in. diameter, 1,500 
 Stop gates, check valve, right 
 
 $6.00 
 
 $9,000 
 
 of way, etc.. 
 
 
 600 
 
 Reservoir. 
 
 
 Cubic yds. 
 
 Price. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 Excavations, earth and rock, 7,600 
 
 $1.12 
 
 $8,512 
 
 Embankment, 26,500 
 
 50 
 
 13,250 
 
 Puddling, ^ 8,000 
 
 90 
 
 7,200 
 
 Broken stone, _ 700 
 
 1.25 
 
 875 
 
 Slope wall, 2,050 
 
 3.00 
 
 6,150 
 
 Turfing, gate house, etc.,_ 
 
 
 5,000 
 
 Land, 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 $94,500 00 
 
 28,000 00 
 16,500 00 
 
 $56,000 00 
 
 >,600 00 
 
 42,987 00 
 
 Add 10 per cent for contingencies,. 
 
 $247,587 00 
 24,758 70 
 
 Total, 
 
 $272,345 70 
 
69 
 
 THE SAUGUS RIVER PLAN. 
 Conduit^ 13,900/eef long. 
 
 Cast 
 
 3 feet diameter (feet), 
 
 Box culverts,. 
 
 Gate house and 
 
 Masonry,_ 
 
 Right of way, 
 
 Cubic yds . 
 
 Price. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 - 5,340 
 
 $14.00 
 
 $74,760 
 
 _ 400 
 
 18.00 
 
 7,200 
 
 ) 2,150 
 
 3.00 
 
 6,450 
 
 -13,000 
 
 60 
 
 7,800 
 
 -65,000 
 
 45 
 
 29,250 
 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 
 4,000 
 
 120 
 
 8.00 
 
 960 
 
 
 
 5,000 
 
 -$138,920 OQ 
 
 Iron pipes, 2 feet diameter, 
 
 substituted for conduit,_13,500 $9.00 $121,500 , 
 
 Gate house,_ 4,000 
 
 Crossing river extra and three 
 
 blow-offs,___ 1,000' 
 
 Right of way,_ 2,000 
 
 -$128,500 00 
 
 Cleansing ponds and repairing dam,_ 5,000 00^ 
 
 Pump well as before,_ 16,500 00 
 
 Engines, houses, etc., do.,_ 56,000 00 
 
 Pump main, do.,_____ 9,600 00 
 
 Reservoir, land, etc., do.,_ 42,987 00 
 
 $258,587 00' 
 
 Contingencies, etc., 10 per cent., _ 25,858 70 
 
 $284,445 70' 
 
70 
 
 TABLE No. 1. 
 
 To determine the capacity of a reservoir necessary to store the 
 supply of water from a water shed of one square mile. Based upon 
 the mean rain fall monthly for fifty years at New Bedford, and a 
 storage reservoir of a mean area of fifty acres. 
 
 This table will be nearly correct for Breed’s Pond. The depths 
 of the rain fall, and of the evaporation, is given in inches, and the 
 quantities of water in the nearest million of gallons. 
 
 Monthly. 
 
 Requi’g 
 
 storage 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 »or^c<iT-irHcoeoo«ooooo 
 iO CD O CO (M r-l cq 
 
 rH 
 
 Defici’y 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 00 O CO tJH CD 
 r-l (7^ t—1 rH 
 
 rH 
 
 Surplus 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 UO C5 O 00 
 
 !—1 t—1 T—1 I— I 
 
 
 Evap’n 
 
 and 
 
 Cons’n 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 Ot^OCOGOCOCDCDCOCC.0^0 
 
 CO(MCOCOCOTtlTtl'>^TtCOCOCO 
 
 437 ' 
 
 Leav ’g 
 for 
 
 Cons’n 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 l>.CDI>.C5i— 
 
 (M(MCq<MCOCOCOCOCOCO(M<N 
 
 1 364 1 
 
 Evaporation 
 from Reservoir. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 COrHCO'^t>-C:>i-HT-l05t>-lOCO 
 
 rH rH 
 
 CO 
 
 Inches. | 
 
 (Mi-t(7JC0lOt>.00Q0t^»O'^(M 
 
 to 
 
 Rain fall collectable. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 t^C5>O<M00»CCD'c0O5C0g00 
 
 TtHCOCO'^COCND^COC^CO'^'^ 
 
 I2f 1 
 
 Inches. | 
 
 OOOOCOOS'^COCOOOCOi—l'^ 
 
 I>-(MOCOi—tTtl'^CSCDO'^t'- 
 
 (N 
 
 id 
 
 Per ct. 1 
 
 oooooooooooo 
 
 OOt'-CDCDCD»OiO»OtOCDCDl>- 
 
 O 
 
 CD 
 
 Whole 
 
 rain 
 
 fali. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 t^CD(?10lOOOOCDCDi— 
 
 coDQcooooooosoqcoc^oos 
 
 cocococococ^<cicococo-^co 
 
 1 41.73 
 
 Months. 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 Apdl 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 Totals 
 
71 
 
 TABLE No. 2. 
 
 The following table shows the required capacity of the Breed’s 
 Pond reservoir, based upon the year 1850, when there was the great¬ 
 est rain fall and the greatest monthly fluctuations during the half cen¬ 
 tury. With a water-shed of one square mile, and a reservoir of fifty 
 acres mean area. 
 
 Monthly. 
 
 Requi’g 
 
 storage. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 t-CO rH O lO rH i—1 
 
 i-H rH 
 
 115 
 
 Defici’y 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 i-l t-H CO (M t- 05 
 
 rH rH i-l Oq 1-1 
 
 170 
 
 Surplus 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 CO a o 
 
 CO rH CO tJH 
 
 170 1 
 
 Evap’n 
 
 and 
 
 Cons’n. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 OlOtMb-rHCOrHrHCOrHlOO 
 
 TjHCO’^'cflOOCOCOOiOTtiTtl 
 
 585 1 
 
 ^ a 
 > u'h 
 
 SSg 
 
 .M.Galls 
 
 t^'^osco'^fc-oot-'^+ior- 
 
 COCOCO'^'^''^»r50'^HlHrlHCO 
 
 oq 
 
 iO 
 
 Evaporation 
 from Reservoir. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 COrHCO'^t>-C:^rHi-HC:.l>.XOCO 
 rH rH 
 
 CO 
 
 m 
 
 pO 
 
 § 
 
 oqrHcqcoict-oooot-iO'^oq 
 
 54 
 
 Rain fall collectable. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 CO'^COCOOOt-OOTtlCOO 
 
 t-oqocO'^rHrH'^ocqoqco 
 
 rH 
 
 585 
 
 m 
 
 *3 
 
 M 
 
 t^a)cocoo5ooocooot^ 
 
 rHcocqo5cooociqco''T)^»oco 
 
 'THrHCO'^oi rH (?q »0 I-H rH rdH 
 
 GO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 Per ct. 1 
 
 oooooooooooo 
 
 OOt-COCOlOOOOCOCOt-CO 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 Whole 
 
 rain 
 
 fall. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 (Mt^G001C5C5rH050qCOrHt^ 
 
 (?qo5co(M0500ioi>^co»oco 
 
 UOrHOCOCOrHoioOOqcqCO 
 
 rH 
 
 o 
 
 >o 
 
 iO 
 
 Months, 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 Totals 
 
72 
 
 TABLE No. 3 : 
 
 Table to determine the necessary capacity of the storing reservoir 
 on the Flax Pond plans, with a water-shed of three square miles^ 
 including the additional shed turned in, and a mean reservoir area 
 of one hundred acres on the mean monthly rain fall for fifty years. 
 
 Monthly. 
 
 Requi’g 
 
 storage 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 t-COOiOCDlCOCDt^OOO’ 
 
 i-OOO 
 
 r-H I— 1 rH I— t rH 
 
 196 
 
 Defic’cy 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 rH »0 05 t>. 
 
 0 iO CO CO I—1 
 
 1 961 
 
 Surplus 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 rH (M 10 tH 00 
 
 CO r-l (M CO 
 
 196 1 
 
 Evap’n 
 
 and 
 
 Cons’ll. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 '^t^cocoi-HcoocococococO'^ 
 
 C5GOC50i-I(:MCOCO<Mi-(G505 
 
 rH I— t i—t I—1 I— 1 i—l rH 
 
 1311 1 
 
 Lcav’g 
 
 for 
 
 Cons’n. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 00'?ft>.C00500rHT-HC0(nOG0 
 
 GOOOOOC5050rHrHOOOOCO 
 
 rH I— 1 I— 1 i—l rH 
 
 1165 1 
 
 Evaporation 
 from Reservoir. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 rH rH (M CM rH rH rH 
 
 146 
 
 CO 
 
 0) 
 
 73 
 
 (Mi-KMCOOt'.COCOt^iO-’^'M 
 
 Htl 
 
 0 
 
 Rain fall collectable. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 rHt^K5<X>HtliOCX)C5t>>05i:Drtl 
 HtlrHOCNrHt^l-^OSGOC^KMT^I 
 rH rH rH rH rH rH rH 
 
 1 1311 
 
 Inches.! 
 
 OOOOCOC5rti05COGOCOrH'!^ 
 
 l>.(?qOCOrH'^'^050C5'<dHt-. 
 
 (rioioi<?i(rqrHrHrHrHrHc4(ri 
 
 25.12 
 
 0) 
 
 Ph 
 
 000000000000 
 00 0 0 0 0 0 »o »o 0 0 
 
 60 
 
 a> 
 
 0.3=: 
 
 [S CS .cs 
 
 Inches. 
 
 t^O(M05»0 050000rH010q 
 C001C000OC0C5C0C001OC5 
 
 cococococooic^cococo Hi? CO 
 
 41.73 
 
 Months. 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 Totals 
 
73 
 
 TABLE No. 4. 
 
 The following table shows the required capacity of the reservoirs 
 on the Flax Pond plans, based upon the year 1850, when there was 
 the greatest rain fall and the greatest monthly fluctuations during the 
 half century. Water shed, three square miles ; reservoir, one hun¬ 
 dred acres. 
 
 Monthly. 
 
 Requi’g 
 
 storage 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 C5»OO1.-h00iO 5<I COlO rH 
 1—(i—(i—I—I T— 1 
 
 iO 
 
 1-^ 
 
 Defic’cy 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 O 1-H ^ b- C5 lO 
 
 CO CO ■n (M O 
 
 I— 1 rH 
 
 489 1 
 
 Surplus 
 
 M.Gallsj 
 
 CD 05 05 •>. 00 
 
 GO CO i-H CO O 
 
 rH nH I— 1 
 
 05 
 
 00 
 
 Evap’n 
 
 and 
 
 Cons’n. 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 C00^O505rHC0JO»0C0rHC0CO 
 COi—lG<JCO»OCDl>.l'-CDtOCOCO 
 I— IrHrHi—li—IrHrHrHrHrHi—(rH 
 
 1757 
 
 > CO 
 
 Oi'w o 
 
 1-3 o 
 
 M.Galls 
 
 t^OCOT—Ib-iOCOCOlOt^COt^ 
 0^rH<NCOCO'^tO».0'rtCOC<JC^ 
 i—lt—IrHi—IrHi—(rHr—li—Ir-li—(i —1 
 
 CO 
 
 Evaporation 
 from Reservoir. 
 
 jM.Galls 
 
 CO(^^OOO^OOC^^^JGC^O:0 
 
 rH (7^ I-H nH i-H 
 
 146 
 
 Inches. 
 
 <NrH(MC010)l>.COCOI>»»0'^<N 
 
 1 54 
 
 Rain fall collectable. 
 
 GO 
 
 q 
 
 S 
 
 05(M00C0OOr-IGOOS^QO t-I 
 
 I— lt'.CD»0CNC0»O'tlOt^t'^Hf< 
 (M I-H (M 1—1 r-H CO 
 
 1757 
 
 c» 
 
 a; 
 
 o 
 
 t^G0C0C005i0OO:DOOt^ 
 rHCO(M05CO»OOOqCO^OCD 
 'idH t-H CO (?4 rH d lO 1 -H pH HjH 
 
 GO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 oooooooooooo 
 
 GOl'-CDCDCDlOlOOlOCDCDt'. 
 
 o 
 
 CD 
 
 Whole 
 
 rain 
 
 fall. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 (MI'-OOC<10505rHC5''MCOi-Ht^ 
 
 (MC5COC^C500lOt'.COlOCO 
 
 lOr-HiooocorHoitdooioicD 
 
 I-H 
 
 O 
 
 b- 
 
 »o 
 
 to 
 
 Months. 
 
 January 
 
 February 
 
 March 
 
 April 
 
 May 
 
 June 
 
 July 
 
 August 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 December 
 
 Totals 1 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 Sizes of pipes. 
 
 Cost 
 
 per 
 
 foot. 
 
 First Class. 
 
 Second Class. 
 
 Third Class. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 Length. 
 
 Cost. 
 
 16 inches diameter, cast iron, 
 
 $6.00 
 
 1,500 
 
 $9,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 inches diameter, wro’t iron. 
 
 4.00 
 
 724 
 
 2,896 
 
 3,776 
 
 $15,104 
 
 4,726 
 
 $18,904 
 
 12 inches diameter, wro’t iron. 
 
 2.50 
 
 5,026 
 
 12,565 
 
 1,500 
 
 5,250 
 
 
 
 10 inches diameter, wro’t iron. 
 
 2.25 
 
 10,780 
 
 24,255 
 
 4,040 
 
 9,090 
 
 3,560 
 
 8,010 
 
 8 “ “ “ “ 
 
 1.80 
 
 650 
 
 1,170 
 
 1,600 
 
 2,880 
 
 
 
 6 “ “ “ “ 
 
 1.50 
 
 2,678 
 
 4,017 
 
 29,550 
 
 44,325 
 
 9,444 
 
 14,166 
 
 4 “ “ “ “ 
 
 1.10 
 
 3,050 
 
 3,355 
 
 15,900 
 
 17,490 
 
 6,540 
 
 7,1‘>4 
 
 Total length, 20 miles. 
 
 
 24,408 
 
 $57,258 
 
 56,366 
 
 $94,139 
 
 24,270 
 
 $48,274 
 
 221 hydrants, $55, $12,155 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 115 gates, $64, 7,360 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Add 485 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 $20,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This sum apportioned is for 
 
 
 
 8,000 
 
 
 9,000 
 
 
 3,000 
 
 Deduct now laid, 10,780 feet of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10-inch pipe, 
 
 2.25 
 
 24,255 
 
 $65,258 
 
 
 $103,139 
 
 
 $51,274 
 
 Also the 12-iuch main included 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . in the Breed Pond estimate, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4,226 feet. 
 
 2.50 
 
 10,565 
 
 34,820 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total cost, $219,671. 
 
 
 
 $.30,4.38 
 
 
 
 
 
75 
 
 LIST OF PIPES. 
 
 List of pipes proposed to be laid in the several streets, arranged in 
 three classes. First, where the water takers will be most numerous. 
 Second, where they will next yield the most revenue. Third, where 
 they will be most serviceable for extinguishment of fires, having refer¬ 
 ence also to prospective revenue. 
 
 First Class. 
 
 
 
 
 Lengths of pipes of the various sizes. 
 
 In street. 
 
 From 
 
 To 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4-inch 
 
 6-:inch |8-inch 
 
 lO-in. 
 
 12-in. 
 
 16-in. 
 
 Pump main 
 
 Pump house 
 
 Reservoir 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1500 
 
 Walnut 
 
 Pump house 
 
 Kertland 
 
 
 
 
 
 950 
 
 
 Kertland 
 
 Walnut 
 
 Boston 
 
 
 
 
 
 1303 
 
 
 Federal 
 
 Boston 
 
 N. Common 
 
 
 
 
 
 1273 
 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Federal 
 
 Market 
 
 
 
 
 3638 
 
 
 
 Market 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Munroe 
 
 Laid. 
 
 
 
 1250 
 
 
 
 Munroe 
 
 Market 
 
 Washington 
 
 Laid. 
 
 
 
 700 
 
 
 
 Washington 
 
 Munroe 
 
 Union 
 
 Laid. 
 
 
 
 460 
 
 
 
 Union 
 
 Washington 
 
 Pearl 
 
 
 936 
 
 
 
 
 
 Exchange 
 
 Union 
 
 Broad 
 
 
 
 
 
 700 
 
 
 Willow 
 
 Union 
 
 Oxford 
 
 
 
 637 
 
 
 
 
 Washington 
 
 Munroe 
 
 Liberty 
 
 320 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 State 
 
 Market 
 
 Brown 
 
 
 778 
 
 
 
 
 
 HarrisonAv. 
 
 Market 
 
 
 400 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Summer 
 
 Market 
 
 Pleasant 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 724 
 
 Broad 
 
 Market 
 
 Exchange 
 
 
 1300 
 
 
 
 
 
 Broad 
 
 Exchange 
 
 Nahant 
 
 
 
 
 
 800 
 
 
 Mt. Vernon 
 
 Exchange 
 
 Silsbee 
 
 570 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Spring 
 
 Exchange 
 
 Broad 
 
 380 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Franklin 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Laighton 
 
 Laid. 
 
 
 
 1720 
 
 
 
 Union 
 
 Broad 
 
 Exchange 
 
 880 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Laighton 
 
 Franklin 
 
 Washington 
 
 Laid. 
 
 
 
 746 
 
 
 
 Washington 
 
 Laighton 
 
 Boston 
 
 Laid. 
 
 
 
 1329 
 
 
 
 Market 
 
 Munroe 
 
 Broad 
 
 
 600 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 
 3050 
 
 3614 
 
 637 
 
 9843 
 
 5026 
 
 2224 
 
76 
 
 Second Class. 
 
 In street. 
 
 From 
 
 To 
 
 Lengths of pipes. 
 
 4-inch 
 
 6-inch 
 
 8-inch 
 
 lO-in. 
 
 12-in. 
 
 Nall ant 
 
 Broad 
 
 Ocean 
 
 
 
 1200 
 
 
 
 Nevvhall 
 
 Broad 
 
 Beach 
 
 
 1811 
 
 
 
 
 W.Baltim’re 
 
 Nahant 
 
 Newhall 
 
 640 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ocean 
 
 Nahant 
 
 Lewis 
 
 
 
 400 
 
 
 
 Atlantic 
 
 Broad 
 
 Ocean 
 
 
 2772 
 
 
 
 
 Green 
 
 Union 
 
 Broad 
 
 
 1729 
 
 
 
 
 Silsbee 
 
 Union 
 
 Broad 
 
 
 1168 
 
 
 
 
 Pearl 
 
 Union 
 
 Essex 
 
 
 810 
 
 
 
 
 Essex 
 
 Market 
 
 High Rock 
 
 
 1145 
 
 
 
 
 Washington 
 
 Liberty 
 
 Laighton 
 
 
 2411 
 
 
 
 
 Johnson 
 
 Essex 
 
 Laighton 
 
 1740 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sutton 
 
 Essex 
 
 Liberty 
 
 525 
 
 
 
 
 
 Franklin 
 
 Laighton 
 
 Boston 
 
 
 1491 
 
 
 
 
 Hanover 
 
 Franklin 
 
 N. Common 
 
 880 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chase 
 
 Hanover 
 
 Baker 
 
 455 
 
 
 
 
 
 Baker 
 
 Franklin 
 
 N. Common 
 
 
 1330 
 
 
 
 
 Tremont 
 
 Market 
 
 Pleasant 
 
 700 
 
 
 
 
 
 Church 
 
 Summer 
 
 S. Common 
 
 
 1083 
 
 
 
 
 Summer 
 
 Pleasant 
 
 South 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Summer 
 
 South 
 
 Main 
 
 
 1520 
 
 
 
 
 Shepard 
 
 S. Common 
 
 Railway 
 
 
 1860 
 
 
 
 
 Vine 
 
 S. Common 
 
 Summer 
 
 1015 
 
 
 
 
 
 Warren 
 
 George 
 
 Shepard 
 
 750 
 
 
 
 
 
 Commercial 
 
 S. Common 
 
 Railway 
 
 
 2400 
 
 
 
 
 Harwood 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Main 
 
 1353 
 
 
 
 
 
 Park 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Main 
 
 904 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mall 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Boston 
 
 1370 
 
 
 
 
 
 Centre 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Boston 
 
 1254 
 
 
 
 
 
 Federal 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Federal Sq. 
 
 
 1234 
 
 
 
 
 S. Common 
 
 Market 
 
 N. Common 
 
 
 3594 
 
 
 
 
 Whiting 
 
 Main 
 
 N. Common 
 
 1157 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lowell 
 
 Summer 
 
 Neptune 
 
 700 
 
 
 
 
 
 Central 
 
 
 
 
 950 
 
 
 
 
 Broad 
 
 Nahant 
 
 Lewis 
 
 
 
 
 1228 
 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Market 
 
 High 
 
 1740 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lewis 
 
 Broad 
 
 Ocean 
 
 
 
 
 2814 
 
 
 Cherry 
 
 Broad 
 
 
 1120 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chatham 
 
 Lewis 
 
 Essex 
 
 
 2361 
 
 
 
 
 Pump well 
 
 to Reservoir 
 
 Cast iron 
 
 
 
 
 
 1500 
 
 Totals, 
 
 
 
 15903 
 
 29669 
 
 1600 
 
 4042 
 
 1500 
 
 le-inch. 
 
 3776 
 
 3776 
 
77 
 
 Third Class. 
 
 In street. 
 
 From 
 
 To 
 
 Lengths of pipes. 
 
 4-inch 
 
 6-inch 
 
 8'inch 
 
 10-in. 
 
 12-in. 
 
 16-inch. 
 
 Union 
 
 Silsbee 
 
 Chestnut 
 
 
 2201 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chestnut 
 
 Union 
 
 Essex 
 
 
 556 
 
 
 
 
 
 Suffolk 
 
 Beach 
 
 I^ewhall 
 
 715 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 School 
 
 Union 
 
 Newhall 
 
 712 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Smith 
 
 Union 
 
 
 550 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ireson 
 
 Union 
 
 Essex 
 
 562 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ellis 
 
 Silsbee 
 
 School 
 
 390 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hi^h 
 
 Essex 
 
 Pearl 
 
 700 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bnffum 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Pearl 
 
 555 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mulberry 
 
 Union 
 
 Oxford 
 
 578 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Stewart 
 
 Essex 
 
 Liberty 
 
 688 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Liberty 
 
 Market 
 
 Willow 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Liberty 
 
 Willow 
 
 High 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Franklin Av. 
 
 N. Common 
 
 Franklin 
 
 300 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Main 
 
 Washington 
 
 Summer 
 
 
 
 
 3560 
 
 
 
 Sagamore 
 
 Beach 
 
 Newhall 
 
 790 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 South 
 
 Main 
 
 Summer 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1200 
 
 South 
 
 Summer 
 
 Neptune 
 
 
 640 
 
 
 
 
 
 Beach 
 
 Broad 
 
 Newhall 
 
 
 1810 
 
 
 
 
 
 Essex 
 
 Chestnut 
 
 Chatham 
 
 
 1036 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chatham 
 
 Essex 
 
 Main 
 
 
 3200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pump well 
 
 N. Common 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3526 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 
 6540 
 
 9443 
 
 
 3560 
 
 
 4726 
 
REPORTS OF CHEMIST 
 
 The samples of waters received from your city have been care¬ 
 fully analyzed, and I now send you a detailed statement of the results 
 obtained. 
 
 None of these waters are so pure and free from organic matters as 
 is desirable for distribution in a large city. But if there is no other 
 available source of supply, it would be well to remove, as completely 
 as is possible, all the existing causes of impurity from the water that 
 flows through the inlet to Flax Pond, and then draw from the pond 
 itself. If Sluice and Flax Ponds are connected, their waters prob¬ 
 ably receive impurities from the same sources, as both contain the 
 same kind of organic matter, although there is much less in quantity 
 in the Sluice Pond water than in that of the inlet to Flax Pond. 
 The water in Flax Pond apparently undergoes a natural purification, 
 as at the outlet it is nearly free from offensive organic matter, and is 
 the softest of these waters for general distribution. 
 
 Results of Analyses. 
 
 Four samples of waters received from the city of Lynn have been 
 analyzed and examined, with the following results: 
 
 No. 1. Flax Pond .—From near centre of outlet. 
 
 This sample is almost colorless, and free from odor or taste when 
 fresh, and also after standing for eight days in a warm room. It 
 contains very little yellowish-brown floating matter. One United 
 States gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Chloride of sodium (common salt),_0.51 
 
 Sulphates of lime, soda and potash,_0.37 
 
 Bi-carbonates of lime and magnesia,_1.16 
 
 Oxide of iron and alumina,_0.07 
 
 Silica,_0.13 
 
 Organic matter,_1.84 
 
 Total weight,_4.08 
 
79 
 
 The gases present are carbonic acid, nitrogen and oxygqp, and the 
 water contains merest traces of nitrogenous or animal matter. 
 
 No. 2. Flax Pond. — From Inlet. 
 
 This sample was clear and colorless, with but little odor or taste 
 when fresh; but after standing twenty-four hours in a warm room, 
 it becomes quite offensive and opaque, or milky, depositing a white, 
 floculent matter. One U. S. gallon contains — 
 
 . Grains. 
 
 Common salt,_ 0.57 
 
 Sulphates of lime, potash and soda,__1.38 
 
 Bi-carbonates of lime and magnesia,_2.11 
 
 Oxide of iron and alumina,_Traces. 
 
 Silica and sand,_ 0.26 
 
 Organic matter, partly nitrogenous,_2.72 
 
 Total weight,_7.04 
 
 The gases held in solution are carbonic acid, nitrogen, oxygen, and 
 sulphuretted hydrogen ; the latter arising from decomposition of sul¬ 
 phates by the organic matter present. This water contains an un¬ 
 commonly large proportion of nitrogenous matter, and is probably 
 contaminated by artificial means, — perhaps by the drainage of manu¬ 
 factories of leather. It is not suitable for drinking. 
 
 No. 3. Sluice Pond. 
 
 This water is colorless, odorless, and tasteless when fresh, but it 
 decomposes and becomes slightly offensive in forty-eight hours. One 
 
 U. S. gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Common salt,__0.34 
 
 Sulphates of lime, soda and potash,_ 0.38 
 
 Bi-carbonates of lime and magnesia,_0.60 
 
 Oxide of iron,_Traces. 
 
 Silica and sand,_0.12 
 
 Organic matter,_1.12 
 
 Total weight,_2.56 
 
 This water has all the characters of No. 2, but in a much less 
 degree. It might be used for domestic purposes, as it contains a 
 very small weight of impurities of any kind, but would be much bet¬ 
 ter if freed from drainage matter. 
 
80 
 
 No. 4. Saugus River. 
 
 It is tinted yellow, lias a very slight earthy odor and taste when 
 fresh, and is the same after being kept in a warm room for eight 
 days. It contains very little yellowish-brown floating matter, and 
 some sand. One U. S. gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Common salt^_0.40 
 
 Sulphates of lime, soda, etc.,_0.29 
 
 Bi-carbonates of lime, etc.,_1.51 
 
 Oxide of iron,_Traces. 
 
 Sand and silica,_0,92 
 
 Organic matter,_2.40 
 
 Total weight,___5.52 
 
 The gases present are carbonic acid, nitrogen and oxygen ; and the 
 organic matter is principally brown vegetable extract, such as is gen¬ 
 erally present in river water, and which gives it color. 
 
 This water compares favorably with that of other rivers, but is not 
 so pure as the sample marked No. 1, Flax Pond. 
 
 All of these waters are pleasantly asrated, and No. 3 is the softest. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF WATER FROM BREED’S POND. 
 
 The samples of water from Breed’s Bond have been analyzed, with 
 the following results: 
 
 There were three samples received, which had been taken from 
 different parts of the pond, but the water was of the same quality in 
 all. Complete analysis was made of the largest sample, said to have 
 been taken from as near where the service pipe would probably enter 
 the pond as possible. 
 
 This water has no odor or taste when fresh, but after standing for 
 forty-eight hours, in a warm room, it becomes slightly offensive, — 
 more so than the water from Lake Cochituate. It is transparent, 
 has a slightly yellowish tinge, and is not perfectly clear, but contains 
 floculent organic matter, which settles to the bottom in a few hours. 
 It is free from living_ animalcula), is quite soft, and does not act on 
 lead pipe any more than Boston water. It is brisk and aerated. 
 
81 
 
 One United States gallon contains 3 grains of solid matter, 
 consisting of 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Chloride of sodium (common salt),_0.42 
 
 Sulphates of soda, potash and lime,_0.34 
 
 Bi-carbonate of lime and magnesia,_1.01 
 
 Oxide of iron and alumina,_0.08 
 
 Silica,_0.10 
 
 Organic matter,_1.82 
 
 Total weight,. 
 
 3.77 
 
 The organic matter consists principally of vegetable extract, but 
 contains traces of ammonia and animal matter. This is the greatest 
 and only objection to this water for general use. It produces the 
 odor and taste, and indicates that the pond receives drainage from 
 some low lands, or perhaps newly cultivated fields. 
 
 This water is much better than the average well water for drinking 
 purposes ; it is excellent for use in steam boilers and washing, being 
 remarkably free from mineral matter. The following tabular state¬ 
 ment shows how this water compares with that supplied to other 
 cities: 
 
 Purity of Waters. 
 
 Impurities in grains contained in one gallon (231 cubic inches) 
 
 of each. 
 
 Breed’s Pond, Lynn,_ 
 
 Boston, Cochituate Lake, 
 New York, Croton River, 
 
 Philadelphia, river,_ 
 
 Chicago, Michigan Lake, 
 A well in Roxbury,_ 
 
 Mineral 
 
 Organic 
 
 Total 
 
 Matter. 
 
 Matter. 
 
 Impurities. 
 
 . 1.95 
 
 1.82 
 
 3.77 
 
 . 2.40 
 
 0.71 
 
 3.11 
 
 . 4.11 
 
 0.67 
 
 4.78 
 
 . 2.30 
 
 1.20 
 
 3.50 
 
 5.62 
 
 1.06 
 
 6.68 
 
 . 8.46 
 
 2.69 
 
 11.15 
 
 All natural waters vary in composition with the seasons of the 
 year, but this difference is very small. 
 
 Analyses of Well Waters. 
 
 These waters are quite remarkable and interesting, scientifically as 
 well as practically, being from sources near the ocean, and so highly 
 charged with mineral matter other than sea salt. Well waters from 
 
 11 
 
82 
 
 inland, or in the country, do not average more than seven or eight 
 grains of solid matter contained in the gallon; while these average 
 nearly twenty-five grains, the principal constituents being sulphate 
 and bi-carbonate of lime, which render them very hard, and almost 
 mineral waters in character. The presence of organic matter in large 
 proportions, from the surrounding soil, drains or cesspools, is also a 
 detrimental feature. 
 
 A change from such impure waters as most of these to a soft pond 
 water would be a very important one to all consumers, the difierence 
 in taste alone being quite noticable at first; but from the experiences 
 of other cities, in all countries, it would unquestionably be highly 
 beneficial in Lynn. The great comfort, convenience and value of a 
 constant supply of fresh, soft water is only appreciated when realized. 
 
 Four samples of well waters received from the city of Lynn have 
 been analyzed, with the following results: 
 
 No. 1. 234 Summer Street. 
 
 It is clear and transparent, without odor, color or taste. One U. 
 S. gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Common salt, with sulphate and carbonate of soda,_2.72 
 
 Sulphate and bi-carbonate of lime and magnesia,_2.12 
 
 Oxide of iron, alumina and silica,_0.84 
 
 Organic matter (traces of animal matter),_2.48 
 
 Weight of impurities,_8.16 
 
 This is a very good well water, being as pure as the average of 
 well waters in Eastern Massachusetts. The only objection to it is the 
 presence of so much organic matter. 
 
 No. 2. 12 Tremont Street. 
 
 It is clear, transparent, and free from odor, color or taste. One 
 
 U. S. gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Common salt, sulphate and carbonate of soda,-6.11 
 
 Sulphate and bi-carbonate of lime and magnesia,-15.90 
 
 Oxide of iron, alumina and silica,-1.93 
 
 Carbonate of zinc,_5.96 
 
 Organic matter (partly animal),_4.18 
 
 Weight of impurities,_34.08 
 
83 
 
 The carbonate of zinc comes from some pipe, pump, or utensil 
 used in collecting the sample, which may have been made of galvan¬ 
 ized iron. 
 
 Aside from the zinc present, this water is highly charged with 
 mineral and organic impurities, as will be seen by comparing its 
 analysis with those of other well known waters. If it contained 
 more iron and less animal matter, it might be used as a mineral 
 ’water. 
 
 No. 3. Corner of Exchange and Broad Streets. 
 
 It is clear, transparent and colorless, but has a slightly offensive 
 odor and taste, especially after standing in a warm place for a few 
 
 hours. One U. S. gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Common salt, sulphate and carbonate of soda,_7.18 
 
 Sulphate and bi-carbonate of lime and magnesia,_16.31 
 
 Oxide of iron, alumina and silica,_1.01 
 
 Organic matter (largely animal),_5.10 
 
 Weight of impurities,_29.60 
 
 This water contains more animal matter, having the characters of 
 that derived from drains or cesspools, than either of the others. In 
 other respects, this sample is very much like No. 2, and the same 
 remarks apply to both. 
 
 No. 4. Corner of Chestnut and Mason Streets. 
 
 It is clear and transparent, with but slight odor and taste. One 
 
 U. S. gallon contains — 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Common salt, sulphate and carbonate of soda,_10.82 
 
 Sulphate and bi-carbonate of lime and magnesia,_6.55 
 
 Oxide of iron, alumina and silica,_0.69 
 
 Organic matter (largely animal),_5.14 
 
 Total weight of impurities, J_23.20 
 
 The greatest objection to this sample is the presence of so much 
 organic matter. 
 
 These waters are all aerated with carbonic acid gas, oxygen and 
 nitrogen ; and Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are uncommonly hard. 
 
 S. DANA HAYES, 
 
 State Assayer and Chemist, Mass. 
 

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