steeply to the meadow." The arched bridge at Canal Street was ten feet seven inches above the meadow.
In
1805 the Collect Pond was inspected and provisions begun for filling
it up. It had become a nuisance, a menace to public health, on account
of the dead animals put in it.
The
Collect Pond in Centre Street was part of a transverse depression
entering Manhattan Island from the North River, and inundated and
partially navigable. In the region of Canal and Lispenard there was a
marsh covering a surface of seventy acres, covered with stunted bushes,
filled with swamp rubbish, and the " rotten growth of ages." It became
a serious annoyance to health. Fever and ague were so prevalent in its
neighborhood that farmers could not keep their laborers. Cattle
straying into it were entombed in its muddy recesses. In 1732, Mr.
Anthony Rogers was permitted to receive it in fee-simple on condition
of draining it, and paying a moderate quit-rent. The bushes were cut
off and a large drain was cut through the center of the swamp, taking
its waters into the North River. The effect of Rogers' drain seems to
have been too complete. The Collect Pond was partially depleted,
leading, in 1734, to a summary action in law on the part of farmers
and others on its borders, and resulting in the filling up of thirty
feet of the drain at the " Fresh Water Pond," so as to prevent the
exhaustion of that (then) useful body of water. Leonard Lispenard, of
French descent, was the owner of the farm and brewery near the edge of
the swamp. North of the swamp was a public garden and resort known as
Bran-non's Gardens, from which the street of that name secured its name.
The
irregularities of the original surface of Manhattan Island may be
easily imagined from the pleasant and picturesque features of its old
windmills so thoughtfully given to us by that princely commentator and
scribe, D. T. Valentine. These windmills naturally occupied commanding
positions, the summits of hills, ridges, etc. There was one in 1656
adjoining the fort standing upon the present State Street, an-
