Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-12-04

Steam vs.. Water Power.
The following article, interesting to mill
lers lumbermen and manufacturers, We find
in the Scientific American:
Various correspondents have made inqui-
RES respecting the relative value Of steam and
water power, and one asks: +" Whether an
inexhaustible water power or only water SUI
hcent for steam purposes, with an unlimited
supply of cheap fuel, are most advantageous
to the Development OF manufacturing town."
Il Is not possible to give q satisfactory answer
TO general inquiry respecting the COMPARE
tive advantages Of steam and water power,
but We have no hesitation in answering the
correspondent Gin Iowa) from whose letter
we have quoted the above extract. An album
dance Of cheap fuel and steam power, in our
opinion, possesses the greatest advantages for
manufacturing purposes. Few manufacture
ing operations can be carried on without fuel,
even where there Is plenty of water power /;
therefore where fusl Is scarce and dear, man.
ufscturing cannot be carried on but under a
heavy expense.
In giving this opinion Otforget that
most of our manufactn-a-. ms aud villa
ges are indebted for their rise TO water power.
They are built on rivers and creeks where
there are falls Of water for driving machine
~. but when they were first established, tim
ben for fuel and buildings were plentiful and
chesl. " the neighborhoods. 1t has now be-
come serious question with manufacturers
using water power, that their supply of water
Is becoming more unstable every year, as the
forests are cleared of, and in many places
where water power was exclusively used a
few years ago, auxiliary steam power is re-
quired during certain portions of the year, on
account of deficient supply of water.
Forests and swamps are perennial feeders
Of creeks and rivers. As these disappear, and
the soil lis spread out 10 tho directrays of the
sun, rapid evaporation takes place after falls
of rain, and thus it has occurred that many
streams once flowing with power for the mil
Ter, are now emily water-worn channels. The
ruins of grist and saw-mills, are now to be
seen on the banks of dry creeks, where forty
years ago the merry clatter of the hopper and
hum of the saw, mingled from morn till night
with the song Of the rushing waters. But al
though this is true respecting q number OF
places, manufactures have not decreased in
our country, thanks to the power of steam.
With a plentiful supply of fuel, steam forms
q constant, trusty power for driving machi-
merry, and s-steam factory can be created in
dependents of rare natura, localities, ike wa
Ter falls. 1t has thus great advantages over
water power. It requires 10000 cubic feet
Of water per hour on thirteen feet fall, to
produce the same effec. in machinery that
can be obtained with Efty cubic feet Of water
and 800 los Of coal by steam engine.
While ths,power Of water for manufsctur-
iEg purposes is growing weaker and weaker
in our country, that of steam is growing
stronger and stronger, we have read state
ment that in the year 1900 there were only
three steam engines in all the United States;
who can count them now? They number
tens of thousands. Steam factories can be
conducted in or near cities and commercial
marts, and thus effect great saving in trans
porting raw materials and goods. There are
various manufactures, however, which need
considerable water to carryon, such as calico
printing, bleaching, carpet weaving, WOODEN
cloth making, &c. The securing, washing
and drying, require much water, but then with
steam such factories can be heated, the goods
boiled and dried, and taking the expense
of keeping dams and water wheels in
repair, we are of opinion that steam power
when fuel isso cheap, is to. be preferred in
nearly every case to water power.
At any rate, there can be no doubt but
steam factories must increase in or near our
coal regions, and ultimately these will be-
come the great seats of American manufsc-
tories; just as the coal regions in England
have become the centers of manufactures in
that country. And as we have the largest coal
fields IN the world, and these scarcely touch
ed by the tool of the MINER it makes US hold
our breath to contemplate the vast manufac-
turing power-the hundreds of Sheffields,
Birminghsms, Manchesters, Leeds and Glas-
gows-that viii yet arise in our country, and
make it, (on account of its cheap fuel, } the
greatest manufacturing nation on the globe.