Topographical Map of the City of New York Showing Original Water Courses and Made Land by VIELE, Egbert Ludovicus - 1865

New York: Ferd. Mayer & Co. Lithographers, 1865. unbound. very good. Reproduction map. Color iris print of 1865 edition. Image measures 18" x 63.5". Vielé's two-panel "water map," typically referred to as the "Vielé Map," depicts the original waterways of Manhattan, both above and below ground. The map shows all of the city's original watercourses, along with natural springs, marshes, and meadowlands. A commissioner's grid plan is superimposed on top. A civil engineer, Vielé first published his map in 1865 to expose how landfills and other obstructions of natural drainage were negatively influencing the sanitation and hygiene of the city. He believed that the epidemics of cholera, malaria, and other diseases rampant in New York bred in waterways which persisted beneath the ground. The overlaid levels of his map - natural waterways and man-made streets - expose how incongruous the city's plan was with its underlying topography. He proposed that the city construct future street and sewage systems in accordance with the island's watercourses, which he was convinced would greatly improve the city's health.<br><br>Today, the Vielé Map is a standard reference for contractors and architects, who use it to locate former riverbeds that could flood foundations; in fact, the New York Times has referred to it as "the bible for many of the city's structural engineers."<br><br>Egbert L. Vielé (1825-1902) served in the Civil War before becoming a civil engineer and mapmaker, becoming the chief engineer of Central Park and developing plans for the first subway system. (Haskell 1132; Cohen and Augstyn, p. 136-139; New York Times, June 11, 2006).