Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-06-01
Niagara as a Mill-Dam,

value of the power of the Falls of Mag
ara, and made reservation mile wide
and several miles long, stretching from
the falls up the river bank. In 1906, or
thereabouts, this mile reservation was
sold to Judge and Gen. Porter, who kept
IL in their pockets, so to speak, until its
value increased. But they were dead
before that time came, and their heirs
sold all the available part of the property
to company from Boston, in which
Walter Bryant was the leading spirit.
The Porters had previously sold the
land to Abbott Lawrence, and had given
him contract; but there was dispute
about the terms; Lawrence tore up the
contract before their eyes, and the town
of Lawrence was built in Massachusetts
instead of at Niagara.
The Boston company had capital and,
they set to work. The river at the falls
forms an L, the village at Niagara Falls
being in the corner and the falls at the
angle. The company owned the right to
dig canal through the village, tapping
the river quarter of amile above the
falls, and running into it again quarter
of a mile or SO below. SO they dug. They
found bottom of hard rock, and blast
ing was expensive work; but they blasted
away until they spent all their money,
about $500, 600, and the canal hardly be-
gun. 1t was at this point in the Boston .
career that it retired from
business.
Then Horace II. Day appeared. Mr..
Day, from all accounts, was a wealthy
man when he went to Niagara Falls, in
1855, and bought out the expiring COM
pany. He paid 1925, 600 for 5000, 900 Of B
the companys bonds and for their right
and title, and began to dig on his own
above the falls, where he built Day
Harbor, to accommodate the fleets of
vessels that were to carry away the tons
of goods that were to be made in the
factories that were to be built. Mr.. Day
was interested in the rubber business in
New York, and his revenue from that
source was large. Associated with him
was Mr.. Alexander Hay, Philadelphia
capitalist, who kept the accounts straight
and kept Mr.. Day in trim, while the
latter astonished strangers with figures
and estimates that had to shrink con-
siderably to get down into the millions.
On one side of the account Mr.. Day was
making from one to three hundred thou
sand dollars year in his rubber busi-
ness. Contra, he was sinking from one
to three hundred thousand dollars yearly
in the aquatic elephant. But that was
nothing; money was to flow into his
pocket like water over the precipice as
soon as the canal was done. This canal
was a wonder in its way. 1t was to be
100 feet wide, ten feet deep and one
mile long, all through the hard rock;
and such are its dimensions to-day. In
1870, when the canal was finished and
ready for business, Mr. Day stood $780,
600 out and nothing in. The canal,
though finished, was not used. Mr.. Day
had no money left to spend in manufact-
uring; he had beautiful, powerful loco
motive standing in the middle of Sahara,
but no rails.
1t is worthy paragraph of its own to
say that the force in this remarkable
canal is estimated by the best engineers
to be 170,000 horsepower.
So the canal rolled its muddy way
through the town and did nobody any
good. Mr.. Day had other speculations
on hand. Millions floated in the air.
One hundred and seventy thousand horse
power was too small matter for his
brain to revolvc. He fathered a con-
trivance for using the power of the falls
to compress air, the force thus trans
mittcd to be carried to Chicago, San
Francisco, or where not, in pipes. The
prospective profits from this were inn
mense; the actual profits might have
been balanced ON the end of a tooth pick.
Soon Mr.. Days funds were exhausted
and he must have money for necessaries;
item, bread; and item, butter. The Ger
mania Life Insurance Company loaned
him $29, 600 and took a mortgage on the
canal property. This was soon gone and
Mrs. L. K Avery, of New York, ad-
vanced $1,000 and took mortgage.
Alexander Hay furnished IS 900 and took
mortgage. Mr.. Chesbrough, of Mag
ara, loaned $4,000, and took mort
gage, and there was due from Mr.. Day,
at the beginning of the present year,
about $50, 900, including interest and un--
paid taxes, for all of which the property
was held liable.
Mr.. Day still clung to the belief that
millions might be made by utilizing the
power; but the end rapidly drew near.
The Chesbrough mortgage was due some
time ago, and immediate payment was
demanded. Mr.. Day had no money, but
he offered MIR. Chesbrough $1,000 bonus
for an extension till the 1st of August, to
give him time to advertise the property
for sale. This was refused, and the
property was advertised to be sold by
the Sheriff on the I'd of May, to satisfy
MIR. Chesbrough's claim. But Mr.. Day
came in one day ahead, and sold it him
self on the 1st.
There was a combination of local cap
italists, including some moneyed men
from Rochester and Buffalo, to keep the
price down and buy the canal for song;
but Mr.. Hay, Mr.. Days old friend, came
to the rescue and bid SIC, 900, thus fore
ing the ring to pay reasonable price.
They bought it for $71 900. The prop
erty cost considerably over million.
The nominal purchaser was j. F, Schoell-
kOpf, of Buffalo.
1t is a significant fact that of this inn
mense power waiting only TO be applied
no use had ever been made till a year
ago. Then Mr.. Chesbrough, one of the
mortgages, bought from Mr.. Day a
mill site, 50x400 feet, with perpetual use
of enough power to propel -four run" of
ll.stones, and on this site small
Touring mill was built. This uses, it is
said, one two-hundred. .and-fiftieth of the
power of the canal. There is no manu-
featuring; there is not another mill in the
place, excepting one or two exceeding
small ones that are propelled by wheels
thrust into the rapids. Nobody ques-
tions the power; but there must be some
trouble about the availability of Niagara
for extensive manufacturing purposes.
This trouble, think, is in its transporta-
tion facilities.
Mr. Day will come out of the specula-
tiOn with from ten to fifteen thousand
dollars. He is still floating among the
big figures, and probably will never get
out of them. Everybody speaks of him
in the kindliest terms and sympathizes
with him in his misfortune,
The early history of the Niagara Falls
Water Power Company, as given above,
is gathered principally from Mr.. Days
own statements and those Of other gem
tlemen who have heen interested in the