The Cochituate Aqueduct that provides water to Boston gives way

The Cochituate Aqueduct was completed in 1848 and brought up to eighteen million gallons of water a day from Lake Cochituate into the city of Boston for the city's first general water supply. In late March, 1859, the aqueduct suffered a breach at Lower Newton where it crossed the Charles River over a brick bridge. The cascade of water created a gouge in the surrounding landscape sixty feet wide, eighty feet deep, and two hundred feet long before it could be brought under control. The break was repaired, however, within days. The Aqueduct went on to serve Boston until 1951. (By John Osborne)