09/07/2026
Some of New York City's earliest water mains were not made from iron.
They were trees.
In the early 1800s, workers bored long holes directly through spruce, oak, or yellow-pine logs. The ends were shaped so one hollow trunk could connect to the next, creating buried lines that carried water beneath the growing city.
Two yellow-pine sections uncovered in Lower Manhattan in 2006 were still connected when workers found them.
From the outside, they looked like enormous logs.
Look at the cut end, though, and the purpose becomes obvious: a carefully bored channel runs straight through the heart of the tree.
For a time, part of New York's water infrastructure was literally made from timber.
