. The pictorial sketch-book of Pennsylvania, or, Its scenery, internal improvements, resources, and agriculture, populary described . romantic profile, probably inferior tonone in any quarter of the globe. The first water-works were commenced in 1799. A steam-enginewas placed in Chestnut street, near the Schuylkill, by means ofwhich the water was elevated to a basin in Penn square, and fromthence distributed to the city in wooden pipes. The quantity ofwater thus obtained was soon found to be entirely too small to supplythe increasing demand, and the works were abandoned in 1815, afternearly $7
. The pictorial sketch-book of Pennsylvania, or, Its scenery, internal improvements, resources, and agriculture, populary described . romantic profile, probably inferior tonone in any quarter of the globe. The first water-works were commenced in 1799. A steam-enginewas placed in Chestnut street, near the Schuylkill, by means ofwhich the water was elevated to a basin in Penn square, and fromthence distributed to the city in wooden pipes. The quantity ofwater thus obtained was soon found to be entirely too small to supplythe increasing demand, and the works were abandoned in 1815, afternearly $700,000 had been spent upon them. In 181G the works atFairmount were commenced, the water being again raised by steamto an elevated reservoir. Steam was found too expensive, andarrangements were adopted in 1818, by which the water-power of theriver was applied. A dam was erected in a diagonal course acrossthe river, securing a head of water nearly thirty feet in depth, andconducted to the mill-houses, on the eastern side of the stream, asrepresented in the engraving on the opposite page. Here the water PAIR MOUNT WATER-WORKS 19. \VATIlK-WORKS. is forced up to tlie reservoir, elevated about one hundred feet abovethe level of the river, and fifty feet above the highest ground in thecity. The reservoir, -when full, contains twelve feet of water, andis capable of holding over twenty-two millions of gallons. Thereare eighty-three miles of water-pipe laid down in the city, exclu-sive of the works of Spring Garden and the Northern Liberties, whichprobably have an equal extent in the adjoining districts of the cityproper. The daily average consumption of water, from these works, isnearly five million gallons. Their total cost was $1,615,169, and theywere designed and executed by the late Frederick Grafi, to whosememory a handsome monument is erected in the grounds fronting onthe Schuylkill, from a design by his son. The comparison between the present works and the old steam-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade, booksubjectminesandmineralresources
