Station; the American House, on Hanover Street,
the Revere House, on Bowdoin Square; the
Quincy House, on Brattle Square; the Winthrop
House, on Tremont Street, opposite the south
end of the Common; and the Adams House, on
Washington Street. These are all large and
splendid establishments, conducted upon a most
perfect system; and some of them have obtained
a high celebrity in foreign lands. There are
numerous hotels besides of great excellence,
though less extensive than the above.

The total value of real and personal estate
assessed for taxation in Boston, in 1851, was
$187,947,000. There were in 1852, twelve indi-
vidual citizens estimated to be worth a million
or more, and twenty more estimated to be worth
half a million and upwards.

Boston was originally selected as a place of
residence for its abundance of pure water ; and it
is supposed that, on this account, the name Shaic-
mut, signifying Living Fountains, had been given
to the peninsula by the Indians. For many years,
however, previous to the construction of the great
aqueduct by which it is now so richly supplied,
the wants of the city, in this important particular,
had increased beyond its internal resources. A
company was incorporated, as early as 1795, for
the purpose of introducing into the city the water
of Jamaica Pond, in Roxbury. In 1845, this
company had laid about 15 miles of pipe, convey-
ing the water to nearly 3000 of the 10,370 houses
which the city then contained. The elevation of
this pond, however, was too low to bring the water
into the higher portions of the city ; and its ca-
pacity was quite insufficient for the supply of the
portions reached. For 20 years previous to 1845,
various commissions had been constituted, at dif-
ferent times, to examine the waters in the neigh-
borhood, for the purpose of selecting one to be
introduced into the city.- At length, in 1845,
Long Pond, or Lake Cochituate, as it has
since been named, was selected for this purpose,
which lies in the towns of Framingham, Natick,
and Wayland, about 20 miles west of Boston.
This beautiful body of water covers an area of
659 acres, and is in some places 70 feet deep. It
drains an area of 11,400 acres, and will supply,
according to the lowest estimate, 10,000,000 gal-
lons of water daily. Its elevation above the level
of spring tide at Boston is 124i feet. It is di-
vided into two sections by a dam. The northerly
section, from which the aqueduct is taken, con-
tains about 200 acres ; and the other, which is
held in reserve, to be drawn upon as wanted, con-
tains about 459 acres. The gate house is in
Wayland, near the Natick line. The water is
conveyed, through a conduit of brick masonry,
from this point 14J miles to the reservoir in
Brookline, which is miles distant from the cen-
tre of the city. This conduit is, in section, an
egg-shaped oval, the largest end down, 6 feet 4
inches in height, and 5 feet in width, in its inte-
rior dimensions, and of two bricks in thickness,
laid in hydraulic cement. It has a descent of 2^
inches to the mile. The conduit is interrupted at
the crossing Of Charles River, over which the
water is carried in two 30 inch iron pipes, on a
bridge of granite masonry, constructed in a hand-
some style of architecture, with three arches of 30
feet span. Some of the excavations for the con-
duit were over 50 feet in depth ; and it is carried
through two tunnels in ledges of the hardest rock,
one 1140, and the other 2410 feet in length The
38
reservoir in Brookline is a beautiful structure, of
irregular, elliptical shape, including, with the em-
bankment and the necessary margin, 38 acres.
The surface of the water covers about 22^ acres.
It is capable of containing about 100,000,000 gal-
lons of water—a quantity sufficient for the city
for two weeks, at 7,000,000 gallons a day. The
gate house is a handsome structure of granite
masonry, with a roof of iron.

From the Brookline reservoir the water is
brought into the city, over the Neck, in two iron
pipes, one 30 and the other 36 inches in diameter.
The first discharges into a central reservoir on
Beacon Hill, a short distance in the rear of the
State House. From the other, branches are con-
ducted directly to most parts of the city.

The Beacon Hill reservoir is a massive struc-
ture of granite stone masonry, nearly 200 feet
square, occupying the entire area, east and west,
between Temple and Hancock Streets, and ex-
tending from Derne Street on the north to the rear
of Mount Vernon Street on the south. Its height
to the top of the coping, on Derne Street, is 58
feet 9 inches ; this, by the declivity of the ground,
being its loftiest wall. The whole substructure
supporting the basin, or reservoir,'rests on arches
of immense strength, 14| feet span. The depth
of the basin is 15 feet and 8 inches, and its ca-
pacity 2,678,961 wine gallons. This reservoir is
intended to supply the city, for a short time, in
any possible contingency of the connection with
the Brookline reservoir being interrupted.

There are also distributing reservoirs at South
Boston and at East Boston. The reservoir at
South Boston is on Telegraph Hill, one of the
old “ Dorchester Heights." It is supplied by a
20 inch pipe, from the main in Tremont Street,
through Dover Street, and over the south bridge.
Its capacity is 7,508,246 gallons. The water is
carried to East Boston by a 20 inch pipe, com-
mencing at Haymarket Square, and crossing
Charles River on the lower side of Warren Bridge,
thence over Mystic River by Chelsea Bridge, and
thence across Chelsea Creek by a flexible pipe to
the reservoir on Eagle Hill. This reservoir is 30
feet deep, and contains 5,591,816 wine gallons.
The cost of introducing the water into East Bos-
ton was $306,980. The entire length of pipe laid
from the commencement of the Boston Water
Works, in all parts of the city, in Brookline,
Roxbury, South Boston, Charlestown, Chelsea,
and East Boston, up to January 1, 1852, was a
fraction over 100 miles. The entire cost of the
aqueduct, up to January 1, 1852, was $5,185,711.

An analysis of the water of Lake Cochituate,
by Professor Benjamin Silliman, Jr., gave the fol-
lowing results: —

Chloride of sodium, .....0323

Chloride of potassium,.....0380

Chloride of calcium, .... .0308
Chloride of magnesium,    .    .    .    .0764

Sulphate of magnesia, .    .    .    . .1020

Alumina,.......0800

Carbonate of lime,......2380

Carbonate of magnesia,    .    .    .    .0630

Silica, .    .    .    .    .    .    . .0300

Carbonate of soda, equivalent to crenate

and nitrate of do., and loss, .    .    .5295

1.2200

Carbonic acid in one gall, in cubic inches, 10.719