In 1754, Hans Christopher Christiansen began the construction of a system of water works for the Moravian colonists at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. An English traveler in 1796 reported: “Every house in the town is supplied with an abundance of excellent water from a spring, which is forced through pipes by means of an hydraulic machine worked by water, and which is situated on the banks of the creek. Some of the houses are supplied with water in every room. The machine is very simple, and would easily raise the water, if necessary, several hundred feet.”