The Aqueducts

The Aqueducts. . , Benjamin Wright, an engineer for the Erie Canal, was hired to lay out the route for the D &H Canal. John B. Jervis, chief engineer, constructed a double-arch aqueduct of cut stone to carry the canal across the Rondout Creek. It cost about $8,000. The setting of the keystone in 1828 was marked by a ceremony in which Freemasons marched from Kingston and refreshments were served at the nearby Depuy Canal House. This stone aqueduct was used until the canal enlargement program in 1847–52 to allow for larger canal boats., In 1849 John A. Roebling built a larger aqueduct at a cost of about $16,500. It heavy timber trough supported by a cable suspension system. Roebling lived in High Falls for seven honths supervising the construction, and 20 years later went on to design the Brooklyn Bridge. He built a total of four aquedusts for the D and H Canal Co. One survives as a bridge on the Delaware River, northwest of Port Jervis. In 1918, fire destroyed the timber prt of the Roebling aqueduct, and the iron parts were scrapped during World War I. The stone-arch aqueduct survived until 1956 when it was demolished.