The Portland daily press., 1891-12-29
THE POWER OF NIAGARA.
Progress of the Work of Harvesting the
worlds Greatest Waterfall.

Progress of the Work of Harvesting the
worlds Greatest Waterfall.
Especial Correspondence
NIAGARA FALLS, Dec. 24.-The public
has heard much of the progress of the
work at Niagara Falls on the canal and
tunnel which are in progress of building
by the Niagara Falls Power company.
The canal above the falls and the tunnel
which takes off the water after it has
performed its service will be finished
text fall. About these there were no
particularly new engineering problems
to solve. But it was a serious problem
how to utilize the power-120, 900 horse
power-developed by these works 1t
has been reckoned that one horse power
can keep two men busy, that is, in
machine shop employing 1000 men
power Of 500 horses will be needed.
Therefore il will be seen that to at
tempt to use this great power immedi-
ately at Niagara would involve the
building of one of the very largest cities
in the whole of the United States. But
great. cities do not spring up at COM
mand, and the projectors Of this enter
prise, while bearing in mind the value
and making provision for the use of
great deal of this power on the spot,
have found that even then there would
be much more to spare than had been
used.
1t was found in endeavoring to solve
the problem of how best to utilize this
surplus that while American engineers
had shown great skill and ingenuity in
the use of water power where it was
generated, they were far behind the
European engineers in their ability to
transmit such power to long distance.
| Buffalo is the largest town within easy
reach of Niagara, being some eighteen
miles away. This was where the power
company wished first to get, but by any
| of the methods used in America the loss
of power was so great that it would not
pay.
In this emergency DIR. Coleman Sellers,
the distinguished engineer and scientist
| of Philadelphia, was asked to visit Eu-
rope and see what he could learn there
that would enable the company to do
what it wished. He found that the
! Swiss were transmitting water power
very cheaply and efficiently, and that in
! Paris and Birmingham compressed air
was being used with great satisfaction.
But even after seeing all that he could
| he did not feel equal to making plans
with which he was entirely satisfied.
| He, therefore, at the expense of the COM
pany, organized an international COM
mission, with Sir William Thompson as
chairman. On this commission, besides
! Sir William, were DIR. Sellers, represent
| ing America; Colonel Turrenttini, mayor
of Geneva, representing Switzerland; M.
Marichas, of the French institute, and
Professor Unwin, of London.
This commission received plans from
all the greatest electrical engineers in
I the world and awarded prizes aggre-
eating 500, 900. These plans showed that
to take the power to Buffalo was entire
ly feasible, and that while the power
could be sold at a great profit on the
spot at ten dollars per annum per horse
power, it could also be sold in Buffalo
at price very much under the cost of
steam generated there in the usual way.
The company will therefore strike at
once for contract to light the city Of
Buffalo.
| No plan to utilize the whole of the
power generated has been adopted, but
apart from that used on the spot ar
rangements will be made, SO soon as the
works are finished next October, to trans
NIT within a radius of twenty miles of
the central station at Niagara, two blocks
of power of 5000 horse power each, one
block to be transmitted by electricity
and one by compressed air. Then the
remaining 100, 900 horse power or so will
be transmitted as there is demand for
it and in the manner which proves to be
to be the cheapest and best.
JNo. GILMER SPEED.