SCHRAMKE, Description of the New-York Croton aqueduct, 1846

First edition.
Rare publication on the construction of the Croton Aqueduct.
Following the Cholera epidemic of 1832, the city of New York, whose population was exploding at the time (the most populated city in the United States as early as 1820), decided to build an aqueduct to bring drinking water from the Catskills to the heart of the city.
The construction site, which spanned 40.5 miles (65 kilometers) from 1837 to 1842, was led by John B. Jervis and secured New York's water supply. It was then one of the largest works of hydraulic architecture, linking reservoirs, tunnels, and bridges. The Aqueduct remained in service until 1955.
It was the first of the monumental infrastructures that would make New York a new Rome.