Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-17
|GURBING THE FALLS.
The Tunnel for Turbine Wheels at
Niagara Nearly Finished.
POWER TRANSMITTED TO BUFFALO.
What All This Means for the Future Of the
Bison City.
PILLSBURYs TO PUT UP ANOTHER MILL

Comparatively few people are aware of
the fact that the city of Buffalo, on account
of the Niagara scheme, is likely to force
ahead in the very near future at a rate the
full description of which would lead the
writer to what some people might consider
the frontier of hyperbole, and yet he would
possibly fall short of telling the whole
truth.
Messrs Austin and Wright are in the
city making study of several industrial
problems and they were met at the office by
c. F. McKenna yesterday, and Mr.. Austin
outlined what are now settled as frozen
facts, things as good as accomplished. Some
capitalists, among whom the principal is
Jay Gould, have arranged to in
vest s3,OO0,OO0 in a tunnel 25 feet
in diameter, through which water
will be taken from some distance
above Niagara Falls and he discharged be-
low the old Suspension bridge, thus getting
a fall of 200 feet In this tunnel will be
placed turbine wheels, and their power will
be used for the generation of electricity.
The whole project in a nutshell is to make
the great lakes mill pond and the tunnel
the tail race. There can be three of these
tunnels built parallel when more power
is needed. The one under consideration
will furnish 12O, ,00O-horse power, which can
be conveyed to Buffalo without appreciable
loss, as in the case of Frankfort-on-the-
Main, to where such power is brought from
the river Neckar, 120 miles distant. with SO
little loss as to be almost imperceptible.
There Are Big Profits in Prospect.
1t is calculated that at the lowest cost of
water power known in the United States
that 15,0OO-horse power sold will pay 5per
cent on the capital invested, leaving the
price paid for 1o5, ,OOO-horse power clear
profit 1t is intended to have this tunnel
completed by July next.
To properly understand what cheap power
means some comparative figures are ma
terial. The cheapest water power in the
United States is at Lockport, n. Y, SIG 67
per horse power per annum. The next
cheapest is at Manayunk, in this State,
$50 60, while steam power costs from S39 to
S175 per horse power per annum. These
calculations are made on basis of 10 hours
for days work. Counting this Niagara
power at "a hours for days work, and
the Niagara river never tires, will give
power for one-tourth of the cheapest
water power now possessed by any manu-
facturer. The Falls Company has con-
tracted to furnish the 500 Paper Company
with 5000 horsepower for S24, 900 per an
mum, less than half the cost at Lockport.
Mr.. Austin next proceeded to tell what
this would be worth to Buffalo. While
wideawake people there have always known
that one-seventh of the horsepower of the
world was going to waste at Niagara,
none had the courage to undertake
the seemingly impossible job of hsr-
Messing it. Niagara village is not
suitable either for manufacturing or bust
ness center and could not handle business as
Buffalo could. The element of cheapness is
the conquering power to-day, but the with
strong current of the Niagara river, the feasi-
bility of making electric power solves the
problem.
Buffalo a Great Shipping Center.
Now Buffalo, said Mr.. Austin, although
many people do not know it, is the greatest
wheat distributing center in the world
Taking wheat in bulk there is not
only the canal but there are 26
centering in the city.
1t holds the same position with regard to
-four, and second as to cattle, and Tona-
Austin stated, was the greatest lumber
market in the world and a great ship dis
center. Buffalo's wheat receipts
alone were last year 76, 945, 900 bushels.
Vessels bring wheat down the lakes and
take coal back Tor ballast, and would paw
for coal cargoes if they could not get |
them otherwise. The consequence is that |
coal, though shipped at Buffalo to
Duluth, sells cheaper in the latter than in |
the former city. The Lehigh and Delaware
and Lackawanna companies have expended |
s., 900, 900 at Buffalo to procure shipping IA
cilities, and Mr.. Austin says that if it isn't |
the largest coal distributing in the world it |
will be.
PilIsburys to Open Another Flour Mill.
It Is said that the Pillsburys, who sold |
their immense Touring mills at Minneapo-
lis to an English syndicate are buying prop |
erty in Buffalo, and it is current belief that |
they will erect mills there, as there is moth
ing in their agreement with the syndicate !
to prevent them, and this location would be |
vastly superior to Minneapolis.
The Bison City is well supplied with |
natural gas. 1t is gotten in greater or less |
volume by boring anywhere, and there are |
good wells just opposite in Canada, one |
struck lately yielding 100000 cubic feet |
per day. So far it has been used in resi- |
lence houses only. Preparations were
being made to use it in manufacturing es-
Adjustments, but the project of making |
electricity at the Falls has knocked it out |
The city has now 10000 inhabitants, and |
Mr. Austin predicts that it will have 1,O00,-
)00 in 1900, as the increase between
1880 and 1890 was 81 per cent,
md the greater portion of it was
Turing the past five years 1t has
LOO miles of asphalt pavement, very wide
streets and an immense amount of park |
lrea. The citizens are looking around for
purposes and bill will be in
reduced at this session of the New York |
Legislature to annex Tonawanda Some |
arge buildings are also being put up. Tie
Erie County Savings Bank is putting.up a
nillon dollar building at the corner Of Main
ion from the Legislature to devote that
much of its surnlus to the nrniect