At its session of June 22, 1822, the Conseil de Ville passed a resolution authorizing W.W. Montgomery and Francis B. Ogden to "pass contracts in the North" for the purchase of iron pipes needed for construction of a water works for New Orleans. This project appears to have been the completion of the water works begun earlier by Benjamin Henry Latrobe.

Item one is a copy book, apparently kept by Ogden, in which he recorded diary entries, letters received and sent, and "Reflections on the subject of the water works of New Orleans," all dating between July and August, 1822. Included in the "Reflections" are drawings of a proposed reservoir structure, a map of the water supply system, and drawings of various pipe joints needed for the project.

Item two is another copy book, this one recording letters received and sent by Ogden during the period August through November, 1822.

Item three includes eleven individual shipping bills, invoices, and letters received by the Mayor and Conseil de Ville from the pipe suppliers contracted with by Montgomery and Ogden.

Samuel Richards, Benjamin B. Howell, and William Kemble, along with Montgomery, Ogden, and Mayor Joseph Roffignac, are the primary individuals represented in the letters and other documents. The letters included in these records were written from Elizabethtown (New Jersey), New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Trenton.