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The Water Works

About This Item

  • Title: The Water Works
  • Date: 4 December 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00678
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 4 December 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Elva Moreno Del Rio Conner Lynn Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "The Water Works." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 17 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00678.xml (TEI)
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THE WATER WORKS.—

Judge Lott1 yesterday granted an injunction to prevent the water of Baiseley's Pond2 being diverted to the city until the contractors had paid damages to the millers. This is but a pro forma proceeding, and will not be suffered to delay the works.

The "donkey-engine"3 is working so slowly, in proportion to the vast size of the reservoir, that the day of completing the introduction of water seems almost as far off now as it did a month ago. The Commissioners were to have met the Celebration Committee of the Common Council this morning to arrange the details of the inaugural ceremonies; but as all parties appeared to think there was plenty of time yet, nothing definite was resolved on. When they do form their prospectus we should like to see a plan for a fountain corner South 7th and 4th streets included; in fact we have reason to believe that the Eastern District Commissioners, Messrs. Wall,4 Wyckoff5 and Briggs,6 have not overlooked the wishes of their neighbors in this respect.

Notes:

1. John A. Lott (1806–1878) was an American lawyer and politician from New York that served as a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1858 to 1869, and a judge on the New York Court of Appeals from 1869 to 1870. [back]

2. Baisley's Pond was a major supply reservoir for the Brooklyn Water Works located in what is today the borough of Queens. It was a former mill pond, named after its owner David Baisley, who had sold it to the local water authorities in 1852. It was also occasionally referred to as Baisley's Pond, Jamaica Pond, or Rider's Pond. For a period in 1857, it housed a team of engineers, including Walt's brother Thomas Jefferson Whitman ("Jeff"). [back]

3. The steam-powered donkey engine often fed the propelling engine’s boilers. Later, the term referred to a small steam-powered hauling device mainly used for industrial purposes such as mining and logging. [back]

4. William Wall (1800–1872) served as mayor of Williamsburgh for one year in 1853. He also served as a commissioner of waterworks for Williamsburgh, and later on the Board of Commissioners for the new Brooklyn Water Works. He later went on to become U.S. Representative from New York's 5th District, serving from 1861 to 1863. [back]

5. Nicholas Wyckoff (1799–1883), a member of a prominent Brooklyn family, served on the Board of Commissioners of the Brooklyn Water Works, and later was president of the First National Bank. [back]

6. Charles M. Briggs (1826–1871) was one of the Eastern District Commissioners for the city of Brooklyn, New York. [back]

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