The New York Herald Newspaper, December 3, 1875, Page 3

——OoOoOoOEeEeEeEeEeEOeeeee ee THE CROTON SHED. Tnvestigation of the Great Reservoir and Tis Tributaries. ———_+—_____ OUTRAGEOUS ABUSES ALONG "THR WATER LINE. \ Fever and Ague Regions and Malarious Spots. How the Property Owners Taint the Water and Defy the Law. THE LAKE A REPOSITORY OF FARM FILTH, | ee a ee BN | Rustic Sewerage and Dwelling House Drainage Between Pine’s Bridge and Croton Falls, The Whitlock Slaughter House and Other Pests. . ‘There has been a great deal of discussion for many years about the water supply of New York city, and | chemica! experts have from time to time undertaken by elaborate analyses to show why Croton as it is served in every metropolitan household might be considered free from vital ~—s impurities. Much vexatious disputation has resulted in no satisfactory sqlution or termination, At this time the question as to whether New York water is the best that can be furnished remains just as un- settled as ever, and the advocates of either side are tenacious of their opinions as they ever were. The prevailing beliet is that Croton water is not as good as it shoutd be, because of the outrageous abuses existing ail along the watershed from Croton dam at the foot of the lake upwards, These have continued for years, | and are greater to-day, perhaps, than they ever were bofore, for the Croten Board has been powerless to deal with or abate them, having no authority to re- move the slaughter houses, privies, barns, cattle yards dnd sties built upon the branhes of the Croton and Cross rivers, and all the streams that feed the principal reservoir, Croton Lake, Day after day the inhabitants ofthe villages and townships of Putnam and West- chester counties, the location of the watershed, have written letters to the Board, complaining of the shame- ful conduct of the factorymen, butchers and farmers residing in the region, Requests and protests have poured into the department calling for some remedial action, and the Corporation Counsel has been notified by the officers again and again to proceed if possible against the delinquents, But after careful examination ofthe laws ho found that he could not do anything toward effecting the much needed relief, as the only act relating to the matter was that passed Muy 7, 1845, entitled ‘-An act to prohibit the throwing or depositing in the Croton Aqueduct, or either of the resorvoirs, any dead animals or other offensive matter, or anything whatever, To undorstand the Board’s position with regard to these abuses it is neceseary to glance at the map of the watercourses in and around the principal reservoir— Oroton Lake, The act applies to this, the aqueduct and the reservoir at High Bridge and elsewhere, but tho rivers and streams that pour into the lake from the hills aud monntains are not mentioned; hence, It is claimed, the department cannot interfere with any of the squatters or property owners who deliberately poison the sources of the New York water supply; so they remain and increase, Notwithstanding the charges preferred almost daily against them these fellows coolly deny that théy are injuring thé water, and huve even the audacity to say that the erection of a privy on the tiver bank or the dumping of farm and tactory filth into the streain is not a nuisance, much leas a crime We shallsce, Tu New York Herat, after patiently | waiting for the department’s action in these cases, and hearing the oft reiterated charges, decided to invest } gate the subject and sent one of its attachés to travel from the dam up both sides of the lake to the mouth of | each stream, with instructions to follow it to its source | and carefully note down every plague spot, describe, and, if necessary, sketch it, The task was not an easy one, requiring time, caution and the exercise of he most rigid scrutiny. Every inch of ground on Soth sides of Croton Lake and its numerous tributaries was travelled over, sometimes on foot, on horsebak and | otherwise. A boat had to be used once or twice, and no | means of obtaining an accurate description of the | watershed and service was neglected. Wr present herewith (be frst instalment of the work an¢ @ map of the sections explored. It comprises that pert of West. chester county between Croton Dam and croton Falls through which ron Cross, Croton,’ Kise, Turkey, Cat Hill, Cherry, Plum and a dozen small rivers, which empty themselves into Croton Laks and the main stream at different points through a Aretch of country about twenty-five miles square, /round the lake, of course, the law above mentioned wing specifically rela- tive to abuses in that vicinity, . the ingements are not so glaring, altugh frequent and bad enough to warrant @cisive action, Their principal cheracteristics 4ifer entirely = from those to be found above Cro Falls and in the imme- diate vicinity of Lake Gleeida, Brewster's Station and Carmel, where oufouses, privies, slaughter houses and factories abomd. Around the large lake, as shown in the map, tagnant water, fever and aguo swamps, filthy drains 44 wayside sloughs are seen, and on tho river ban} cattle pens and dirty yards. ireavr® WITH MR, BIRDSALL. On Monday, Nowmber 22, Mr. Campbell, Chief Engi- neer of the Crot@ Aqueduct Department, made the an- nual inspection {the aqueduct, The water was shut off atsix in the eying of that day, and not turned onagain ‘until the fol/*ing Tharsday. Daring tho intervening days Mr, Co'Pbell went through the aqueduct to ascer- tain whet? {t needed any repairs, The distance trav- elied wayaearly thirty-eight miles from the dam to High Bridge 40 the repairs necessary were not as great as wore Aticipated, Mr, Campbell met with a serious acci- dont * the conclusion of his labors, and bas not been able (0 come down town for some days. His assistant, Mr. Birdsall, who made the inspection of the pipes on‘anhattan Island, tolda Henao reporter that tho apises existing along the watershed were the sources © Continued annoyance to the department. The farm- weand factory people above Katonah were beyond its reach and could not be compelled to remove their pests, The Corporation Counsel had been authorizea to push matters against them; but unless the Legisia- ture passed another act giving the Croton Board officers | jurisdiction over tho dwellers along tho water. | courses nothing would everbe done to remedy the matter, He acknowledged his belief in the truth of the | accusations made against the persons hereinafter | named, and esid it was well known that Croton Lake | and vicinity was a lively place for fever and ague. Ho knew that the upper portion of Croton Lake wore a | slimy, greenish appearance, and was filled bere and | there almost down to Pine’s Bridge with fungi, but he | did not know whethor it could be helped or not. What | was most necded now was the passage of a law which would give the department power to remove the privies, slaughter houses, hat factories and other things | 80 absolutely infectious, Still he wished to be under. stood as believing that long before the water enters the acqueduct it was materially freed from taint and ac- tually reached New York good and pure. CROTON DAM. The Crovon Dam proper, that is to say the dam next Jo the aqueduct at tue foot of the iake just below Pine’s Bridge, is built across the river a little way above Huntersvijic, in the bend, and is the admiration of visitors who summer at the hotel on the left bank looking north. At this point the water seems pellucid and active, falling many fect as if driven ovor the cur tarn’s glassy surface by @ rapid stream flowing down- ward between the mountains on either band, The aqueduct’s mouth is northeast of the dam some rods and built in the still waters beneath the hill where the broad sheet, smooth and rippleless, washes the shore. | Bho very plavidily of is bopow is suRgeRLVO, The aug. | } | | | | fever an Nuisances TRAY wi I Binnie K Ai} y Aas y if iin Daily Contaminating > Banks Nie Mrs, Quick *\ Mrs. Quick re eS ulck Yhas. We Chg. Wright HMead, LEH TA “i UAT Wrew Al\ Tes Zia TW JPurdy J. Loder. HIM SNS Cb NWS TW NV stra) <N Strang Post Offi Mal Chrwch “SCALE OF MILES ‘ Se ee <2 2 a SS Sommerstown| Bankirg Co, SCH IWS SUTIN \ nny, Wh jesse Birdsall. D, Birdsall 6 rete Mrs R Lee*( rang WS ee eae Si: Croton Lake and Its Tributaries. 7. Willett, \ j\\ ZINN “MN QW QA SQstpreanady PSSN) The map presented contains the names and accurate locations of the property hold- ers, or, more strictly speaking, owners of the soil, as they are known to the inhabitants. There exists no very accurate survey in dia- gramatic form of the district; the Croton Water Department is in possession of the latest, which is in no sense more complete than the New Yorx Heratp's. The land, as therein subdivided under the proprietors’ names, is in some instances held by the ten- ants of the persons who actually own the ground. It however retains frequently its proprietary title, and being better known thereunder is so designated. The black spots upon the face of the map indicate the openings or mouths of drains leading from the houses and shanties around to Croton Lake. They are likewise significantas being the places where cesspools are numerous, plague spots frequent and deposits of veg- etable matter abundant. ‘They are the most filthy receptacles of barnyard refuse, and in many instances, as hereinafter shown, the outlets of slaughter houses, pigpens and worse places. Notastream that flows into Croton Lake at any point visible on the map is free from the taints marked. . face is totally different in color from the tumultuous cataract and its seething basa, which are white, and to the casual observer pure, Tho bosom of Croton Lake wears a ereen and stagnant look not un- like that borne by ponds in the city, and those so frequent higher up, or above fKatonah. Just above the aqueduct and dam tho lake, through green, Is partially clear and good water; but its shores are sedge- grown and undoubtedly marshy, laved by little rivulets and streams that drip, so to speak, down the lofty bill- sides from barns, outhouses, hog pens and farm yards, maddy and filth-stained. Weeds and greenish stuff abound, and the torrent, so strong in the river or prin- | cipal feeder above, 18 not visible bere; so that @ boat might lie upon this portion of the lake for hours with- out materially changing its position, provided it did not get into the line of suction immediately north of the dam over which it would undoubtedly then be drawn, To tho right and left, inside the beach curves, abrupt and numerous even at this point, it might re- main all day unaffected by the tow and clogged by tho ‘water grasses 80 thick and abundant not many rods from ‘the fall. CROTON Lake. ‘The condition of Croson Lake at this season of the year is such as to afford the spectator a fair opportunity of forming at a glance a partially just estimate of the water's character and cleanliness, Indeed the use of the latter term in this connection Is the veriest sar- water in tho ensm, for assuredly no sheet of rural’ districts of the , unless Lake Gleneid: has more filthy boun Their condition is the fruitful theme of discontented disputation within the reach of the people, who, though residing around the lake, aro not bound or likely wo drink its waters. Not one of the inhabitants could be induced to do so, They regard the liquid as dirty, {f not poisonous. Scarce one person could be found in the neighborhood who would be willing to use the water even for ordinary cooking purposes. The hilly shores are cut and intersected by drains which bear into the lake continually the washing suds, refuse and sewerage of the kitchens and barn yards along the beach and roadsides, from the dam to the Nelson farm or Kip lands, At certain spots, on the western or what might more properly be called tho northern boundary, the country folk complain of malaria, with ague, from which whole families ha ul. fered during the recent summer months, and stories are told of the severe penalties Individuals have paid for having foolishly chosen to summer in the pestil tial region. To form a fair idea of Croton Lake and jts surround- ings one m travel over its ros where the soil will permit or the lake’ surface by boat, At the very outset an almost {nsurmount- able difficulty presents itself in the __ for- mation of the former and the paucity of the scows and shallops at this season. In the summer when the boarding houses and hotelsare open the water ‘is dotted ateven tide with hght craft of every descrip- ion occupied by pleasure parties; but in Novembe: these! houses are closed, securely fastened and d sorted, and the boats are nowhere to be found unless one oe fortunate enough to be acquainted with the damkeeper, Mr. ot the denizens of the Lockbart from these it is difficult to bi skiff, There are only two roads that can be travelled aecentiy. ¢ is that which skirting the lake leads {rom Palmer's Hotel northwest of the aqueduct to Nelson Brothers’ jand where it diverges inland and dives, #0 to speak, be- tween the hills into ‘the heart of’ the country and turns its back upon the waters It crosses Woodbridge at the juncture of Cross River and Croton River, the principal feeders of Croton Lake, The other staris from the aqueduct on the southeastern shi 4, sy she bills, winds toward Mount Kisco and Muscoot bili, On its way to Katonah and leaving the dam, the first which is mot, is @ rivulet, whose source js in Turkey Mountain, whenge s+ courses dowaward through the hillocks and plateaus, washing pens and pastures on its way to the lake, bearing ooze and muck to the edge very little more than 100 rods from the hotel. At its mouth the lake, for yards around, is covered with a sort of slimy grass, weeds and greenish stuff intermingled with de- composed vegetable matter, the accumulation of the’ last’ few months, On a warm day, especially after a storm, the water ts stagnant and coated with a thick scum, which crusts the line of the Harlem Railway. A glance at the map herewith published will give the readera just concep- tion of the place. The fairest portion ts that between the aqueduct and the Kisco River, which 1s bisected by Pine’s Bridge. Here, although the lake stretches out to its greatest width, the water, while smooth and com- paratively clear, is sullied by the continuous flow of the little farm streams that run down the declivities on either hand and discharge their filth through the gullies and crecks every filteen and twenty rods along the shore. The worst of these are found on the northwest corner of the lake, with an unpleasant odor, similar to that generated by pools and ponds in which cattle and fowl flounder around the country. The water seems motionless and heavy, and though apparently still, must mingle with that which is borne down to the aqueduct and over the dam a short distance below. For the rivulet empties itself into the Iake with @ western tendency, and the shore recedes toward the dam and aqueduct, giving an in- clination thither to the stuff washed away by the Croton. In short, there is a creek at the mouth of Turkey stream, the upper side of which is the reposi- tory of decayed grasses, ves, ooze, indescribable masses and barnyard refu and the lower side falis away westward to permit the same age | carried to- ward the mouth of the aqueduct, On the opposit lake shore, néar the little white house which indicat the aqueduct’s outlet, and all about it for many rods, the same dark green hue pervades the water, and every curvature of what must be called the beach, for want of a better term, is weed-grown, slimy, and, to all appearance, filled with stagnant water. Of course the water is not literally stagnant, since it has a sort of undercurrent ever tending toward the aqueduct; but this is all the worse since the liquid must pass through the weeds and dirt ere it reaches ite final outlet, ANOTHER POOL fed by adrain which trickles down the hill from an id farm house on the summit, reaches Croton about wenty-six yards above Turkey stream on the north- western shore, Itiseven more postilential than the foregoing, because the stuff which creeps down tts channel cannot be called water, inasmuch as it is noth- ing less than a thin composition ot outhouse and cattle pen filth, sufficiently diluted with siops and rain to ena bie it to Urop down to the lake. It is emptied into a semicircular cove about fifteen yards in width, choked and poisoned by rotten vegetable refuse like the mouth of Turkey am, It has no name, being too small to Jay claim to designation, But it is by no means in: nificant, as it taints the water of Croton Lake so near aqueduct and cannot be considered other than a posi- twe nuisance to denizens of the neighborhood. Neither 1s it alone in this distinction, for within eight rods eastward ijsasister drain, similar in character, estiferous apd green, and equally tributary to the Droton water supply of New York. Both are tinged with the hue of decomposition, and each is passed over as insignificant by the persons in charge of the aqueduct as ‘imless and uw rihy of attention. . Still, though y 'y sink into comparative obscurity be- side the noisome ditch passing by MNS, HYDE’S MOUSE. Surely this tsa noisome hole, fed by a stream of very respectable dimensions that flows through @ sort of guich filled with undergrowth weeds, manure, mud and slime under a small wooden bridge to a holiow in a bend a few feet above the lake, In this hollow every species of rural dirt hag been accummulating and decaying for months, no doubt, for its bottom is several inches thick and igs disgustingly odorous. By pushing ® cane into th mess a stench is stirred up powerful enough to make o glad to ive up further explorations in that direction, the = has been piled up here to an alarming extent, n ugh the in? the and whole is continually subjected | #UMMOT 40 the elects of the sun avd tha dw water falling from the hillocks above. Just where the stream, after passing through the hollow, gulch and garbage heap, meets the lake the never-ending marsh and fen is seen; the stagnant appearance prevails and the greenish scum exists, This is in the lake, too, for many yards around. Indeed, all along the shore the water has no other aspect, and here and there at intervals miserable little islands abound. Each one of them stands in what has all the semblance of a marsh; not a weed or blade of the yel- lowish grass ts disturbed by the faintest ripple of flow- ing water, and even the drains, as they diecharge them- selvos into the lake every few rods upon the shores, cannot create any visible commotion in the weed grown, slimy bosom of Croton Lake. To be sure, there isa patch on its very centre that looks clear and free from matter. But it washes and mingles on either hana with the dense nuisances above described. ANOTHER PLAGUE SPOT isthat which is bounded by an old bridge, about 100 rods above the line of Mrs. Hyde’s house. It does not come immediately in contact with the lake itself. It is on the left hand side ef the road, looking east. It is an old pool, several square yards in area, fed by the nu merous ditches, barnyard drains and dikes cut into the slope on ite western boundary. N be are sevoral old barns, the property of a small farmer, whose wooden shanty stands about 100 feet above. The hennery, hog pen, cattle yard and stablo overlook the pool and empty their hog wash and gen- eral filth down the declivity into it. Worse than this, ‘a wretched little backhouse is among the buildings con- tributing to the general wretchedness of the situation, and adds ite quota refuse to the repository in the “bridge pond”’ below. Now this receptacie’s only out- lot for surplus water is asmall passage between the stones or cobbles at the bridge’s base, which cour sh the glen on the ei Lipid side of the road to it meets the green or stagnant water and momentarily increases the deposit of stuff which mixed with the weeds ana graescs there. At this point the Croton has not the slightest claim 40 moying water for many yards from the shore, It looks like a hu, marsh covered with weeds and leaves, and one would expect to find 4 muddy bottom. The bottom is really gravel, with a coating of vegetable matter. MR, TIES’ BRIDGE, as the country people call the passage across another stream 4 short way up the road toward Pino's Bridge, stretch ver amarsh on the left hand side and an arm of Croton Lake on the right. From this to Pine’s Bridge the lake shores are not so bad. Nevertheless they are dirty and slimy and not at all what they should be, Just above are located near the water's edge a couple of houses on the banks of a bayou nearly opposite Hon. Fernando Wood’s once famous country residence, This bayou, or, more properly speaking, creek, 16 fed by a stream that rises in Cat Hill. It is small'and filthy, passing ax {t docs by, through and under outhouses, barn yards and worse places, Lt is full of nondescript matter, laden with dirt, and is actually muddy. No man in tho neighborhood r dreams of letting his horse, be it never 60 thirsty, drimk from it or the ponds near it, The creek receives all the Cat Hill River con- tains of refuse, and the waters are of a dark, greenish color, studded by hittie insular patches of weeds and leaves, sedge and vegetable muck, always increasing and decaying. The houses themselves are eo close to the margin of Croton Lake that it would be ridiculous to suppose that the slops wero cast anywhere else. In the best of weather the inhabitants are too far beneath the road tg lead one to expect servants or any one to carry pails or tubs up the ragged slope to the fields. Ind u no visible receptacle for such refuse except the bayou, which is an arm of the Iake, The laborers on the adjacent farms say that into the Jake or drains everything 1 flung, notwithstanding the tacit understanding o the law’s direct prohibition of such ices. But as they say, ‘‘Who is to know?” and “Where else can we put our slops?”’ nobody will avow that he or she is the guilty party, but the absence of any suitable places for the reception and distribution of housebold garbage leaves no room for doubt on the subject. OPPOSITE MOUNT KIRCO. After leaving Pine’s Bridge the visitor is beguiled by the beauty of the scenery. The eastern shore of tho lake is dotted by fine houses; a large hotel, boarding houses and a few fine country mansions. Mount Kisco ig a splendid part of Westchester county and its sides are watered by the river which bears its name and an- other that fs not endowed with any special appellation. The dwellings are all erected on the lake shoro and the plateaux at different points above it But they are nuisances, because they are not furnished with any sewerage that does not tend toward Croton Lake and finally taint it. No provision for carrying elsewhere the liquid refuse of the people can be seen. Ali must inevitably be thrown into the drains and small pipes which bubble down the hillside and empty themselves into the great reservoir of New York and the towns along the line of the aque- duct, The backhouses and privies, 1 true, are not built near the lake; but they do stand hear the aforesaid rustic sewers. Croton Lake itself is pretty to look at here, but @ mile further up it is full of islands, composed of the prevalent weeds, vegetable matter and sedge, which act simply as bar- riers to eheck and hold whatever may be borne down by the Cross River and Croton River, currents from the small towns and shanties u) their banks. The peculiar formation of the 08 hores, east and west, furnishes likewise stagnant ches and spots that foster and generate malarious ders. Not tar from the mouth of the Mount Kisco River is one of the worst of these. Here right across the whole face of Croton Lake stretch half a dozen islands, affording no foothold for man or beast, sur- rounded by stagnant green water, bordered with a thick coating of vegetable rottenness and overhung morning aud evening by a vapor suggestive of fever ‘and ague. The passages between these spots are n row and filled with every conceivable species of country side refuse. The waters of the lake which below seem clear, and in some measure bright,are dense and sluggish here, Houses of laborers line the northwestern road and each of them hag its drain or rough sewer leading into the lake. The people are poor and careless, thinking only of themselves and how they shall get rid of their superfluous filth, without a thought of what becomes of it after they cast it into the drains running from tholr houses to the beach. Pi eee th chickeng and dogs wallow, root and browse fore the doors, Lehr greasy water and slimy stuff are in abundance an drip downward thero across the road, and women do their washing on the very bank of the lake. Any one passing that way, who is a citizen of New York and in the habit of drinking the Cro- ton water which is drawn from this place, is not likely to be filled with exalted respect for its chemical purities, despite all that may be said and written about the good effect a long course through the great pipes may have upon it. The shores are as dirty as they can be in this vicini Water closets are built near the houses, a fow roids at most from the lake, and the yards, pens and fronts of many of the ho} soggy and ankle deep with vile matter, ON BURR’S LAND, ag the country people designate that part of the base ‘of Mount Kisco nearly opposite the cape known as the “Nelson Boys’ and Lockhart’s property, tho water Is more repugnant than any before mentioned. It is fed by four small streams, tainted in the usual manner, and wears a dark, pestilential aspect, Indeod, it looks like a great mareh rather than a lake, ‘and one would think it more worthy of the former than the latter title. Mose Sutton bas a house hard by and the shore looks very uninvitin, The lake ered here and there with a scum similar to that in the coves and creeks so numerous along the shores, and it would be difficult to propel ® boat satisfactortiy over its surface. Right opposite, on the Lockhart and Nelson farms, several sroall houses, One of them is occupied by, John Butler and his family, He works as @ laborer for his daily bread, id has been in his present residence for some time, The Mxkaup reporter mot him tn front of his shanty, which stands on the left hand side of the road leading to Woodoridge, aad ha@a conversation with him relative to the character of the place and the water directly in front of hi house. He said that bad never made @ greater mistake in life than when he came WwW reside on the banks of Croton Lake, His wife amd 3 children bad not enjoyed a mom aith from that bour The water they were obliged to drink was bad, drawn as it was from the spring or stream which was @uhort distance from bis house and on the hillside above it. The lake itself at this point, and, in his judg- ment, for some miles around was poisonous. It was Kittle more than a malarious and oftentimes stinking. His wife and children had been laid up with THE ¥EVER AND AGU ¢ all summer and fall, and altho he had not been taken down with it himself he never felt well since first he had the misfortune to put his foot in the “cursed place.’ He could not afford to move away until epring, because he was too poor, bat he might as well, for all the good he was able to do, owing to the expense entailed upon him by the iil health of nis family. He knew that the place was one of the worst {a the country, notwithstanding that it was the boasted Croton Lake that fed New York with water. He would not drink any of it for the fee simple of the house in which he then lived. He could not say that otber persons in the neighborhood suffered as he had done, nor could he tell whether they had been stricken: with any of the malartous disorders of the region; bat he supposed that was because they had been raised there and were accustomed to theatmosphere. At ail events, there was good reason for the, condition of the lake. “You gee, sir,” eaid he, “the whole stretch of water, | or whatever you like to call it, from this to Wood Bridge, is little better than a marsi It_is full of miserab! weed banks and stagnant water. Of course, the water runs down to the aqueduct and dam, but if it does it doesn’t seem to budge. Then, again, look at all the dirty little drains and streams that flow into it every few rods and the filthy muck which must settle in and around those weedy islands, Not one of them is good for anything. They are choked here and there with stuff hat comes down the hills from Bedford station, Bedall’s Mills and every shanty and farmhouse Ces, | the stream. I am going to get out of it as soon as can, and I'll never do a day’s good unti! I do. Croton Lake, indeed! fine water the people of New York get out of i, if they only knew it.’? This conversation took place within fall view of Pine’s Bridge, which is only a little more than one mile from the mouth of the aqueduct, and a short distance above the hotel, boarding houses and fine residences on the southeastern shore of Croton Lake, ‘The man’s statement was borne out by his own appearance. He looked like one who wag even then a victim to fever and ague. His lips were blue, his face livid, and he dragged his limbs after him ag Quo would who had just risen from a bed of sickness. Noither he nor his wife had ever had the fever and ague before they had come to Croton Lake, atid he was only too willing to leave it if he could, WOOD BRIDGE. From the group of isiands to Wood Bridge, nearly j opposite to Whitlock station, on the New York and Harlem Railroad, Croton Lake rung but a short dis- tance. It is of the same character until it reaches the junction of the Cross and Croton rivers, its head waters or principal feeders. There, of course, owing to the rapidity of the current all these imperfections disap- pear only to bemet with, however, at Katonah again. At Katonah the Cross River winds round a south- vesterly direction and on its banks are built ‘any of houses of that village. The water loses \ts char- r here and becomes, in places, greenish and poor again. Naturally enough, drains and rivulets, tainted with the filth of dwellings, flow into it and’ belp to destroy itg purity. But it is our present purpose to fol. Jow up tho line of the Croton River, on which are to be found the woret instances of nuisance, occasioned by the erection of privies and slaughter houses on its very banks, The river narrows above Katonah and beeom nothing more than a country stream of respectal dimensions winding through ‘meadows, between hills, around farm yards, fed now and again by drains into which are poured daily if not hourly the cleanings of stables, pens and houses. It is an active, swiltly tlow- ing current between Katonah and Purdy’s station, receiving at Goldeu’s Bridge station a fresh impurity from the dirty waters of the little mill stream that | rung into it at this point, and algo from a dirty little dike such as might and may have been cut to drain the lands about it known as Plam Brook, At Purdy’s station, however, the Croton River is subjected to » new trial, Which. while it may not be directly a posi- tive nuisance, is partially such. This {s a “condensed milk shop” or factory. It. is known here only “Hows? Condensed Milk Shop,” and while it ts doubtless a model of its class in cleanliness and not actually on the banks of the Croton River, 1t contributes in no small degree its quota of refuse and dirt to infect the stream. From this point to Croton Falls—a couple of miies higher up the road—, the river serves the farm yards and cattle as it does all through the county, and is fed by innumerable rivulets, which are nothing more or less than drains or sewers for the few houses along their shores, WHITLOCK'S SLAUGHTER HOUSE. At Croton Falls perbaps one of the worst samples of these abuses js found. TheCroton River, which, as has been said before, is the main tributary to the great reservoir whence is drawn the water which is drank in the city of New York vy hundreds of thousands who innocently believe that it ts the purified tlow of many springs rising in the mountains of Westchester and Putnam counties, wends Its way down a gently sloping bed, skirted on either side by low, marshy meadows, footing steep hills or banks surmounted by farm and squatters’ dwellings, toward Purdy’s station, where is the condensed milk shop ruled by William Hows, At the falls, however, one of the most poisonous pestholes stands—Whitlock’s slaughter house. It is situated on a low promontory which juts out into the water course, interrupting it passags and checking its tendency southward. This ttle cape, akin to the many others before described, has for foundation a few roots, tree stumps and gravel, and has by nature been made nothing more than a kind of repository for vegetable mattor and general ro- fuge washed from the outhouses and privies and borne vhither uy the bubbling waters of the streamlet to fan- ter and decay in the hot summer months under the sun’s rays that pour down between the Dills all day long. In one fetid mass it lies just on the water front of Whitlock’s slaughter house, and is saturated daily by the ooze and drip from the hog pens and blood shoots rising gradually above it. ‘The result is that the waterside ig nothing less than a swamp of decomposing and decomposed filth, laved oy the ever current river which bears momentartly onward toward Croton Lake particles of corruption and muck to poison the liquid and impair tts drinkers’ health. Nothing can be more easily understood than a dia- gram, 80 an accurate ground plan of Whitloek’s slaughter houses on the river bank at Croton Falls is This group of wooden buildings stands about twenty feet above the river with their yards and drains upon and dripping down the short slope tothe river. A is the slaughter house and small a ts the door through which the blood is allowed to flow from the sla beasts; D is the slope from the slaughter house to the rivor iilled with dung, dead calves almost putrefied, hides, morsels of offal and other refuse; Bie a hogpen well stocked; E is the slope on which the brates wal- low and flounder; F ie the river that washes away the filth and blood it is continually Tecel¥ings and by the cape that bolds it and forms the basis of the slongh there existing. Now a word or two of descrip- tion. The slaughter house is built on the summit of @ sharp declivity, about twenty feet from the margin of the ri It bas @ board flooring, roughly laid and full of interstices opening on to Bide of the slope, and he animal stands or is laid to be killed. hen the fatal blow ia struck and the blood of the beast flows, ft oozes between the boards and drips down the side of the eminence, where are also other boasts awaiting the | knife, huddled together, fetiock deep in their own and other anim manure. In the hogpen and enclosure reaching to water's edge, pigs grant and wallow, and in the adjoining close were pieces of dead kin old jaws and heads stripped of their hides and « d calf, stinking and scarcely recognizable, Now, b® it remembered, every rain washes this horrible stuf into the fiver, and every sunlight renders {t more disgusting. Care bas been taken to cut lit drains through the mass here and there to it will be carried off into the Croton River and down- ward toward Purdy’s station and thence to Croton Lake. The slope from the buildings to the river was simply @ manure heap, soggy With blood and topped by rotten flesh. The promontory and water around It were stained with dlvod, the stor of adark crimson dye and the shores around with cayed vegotavio matter of an indescribable hue. Over, by and around these putrid things the water gurglingly passed onward to Croton Lake, a lew malas