Evening journal., 1892-11-22
NIAGARA IN HARNESS
WATER FROM THE GREAT FALLS
CsED TO DRIVE MACHINERY

How Over the Fails.
No engineer ever looked at the spec
tacle Of power displayed by Niagara
falls without a feeling that it was
crime to allow the enormous energy
there stored up to run TO waste from
eternity to eternity. The artist is con-
tent TO steep his soul in the beauty of
the scene. but the average uhitarian
American is likely to do some figuring
on horsepower and available units Of
work. The prophecies of years are
about 10 materialize in great power
plant which will utilize 100000 Of the
$4,000 600 Of horsepower going to waste
over the falls, and $25o0,oo0 has been
expended, and the water wheels viii be
IN place and the sluices viii be opened.
From the early years OF the owner
ship of the falls by the Porter family
the advantages Of the great water power
were freely discussed. but nothing was
done until about 1850, when Horace A.
Dey caused the construction of canal,
which takes water from point above
the rapids and conducts Tito set of
mills built oii the banks below the falls
and now known as Schoellhopf s mills.
The Niagara river makes a bend at a
right angle. and the falls are at the apex
OF that angle. This canal forms the hy-
pothenuse of q right anglcd triangle, of
which the longest side Sthe river above
and the shortest side the river below tho
falls. The mills are near the falls and
arc not a picturesque feature of the
scenery.
The turbines which drive the mills are
sunk in pits only about fiftyor sixty feet
deep. and consequently their tail races
discharge hundred feet or more above
the surface of the rapids below the falls,
ard half of the available powbr OF the
water brought down by the canal is thus
wasted. Less than 6,O00 horsepower IS
utilized.
The new works have reversed this
plan Of a long supply canal and a short
tailrace. They have been constructed
on modification Of plan first proposed
by Thomas Duershed, q division ongi-
neer Of the New York state canals. The
plan is to have the mills on the banks
above the fals and at "A distance from
the scenic locality, and then to have u
long tunnel 10 carry the waste water
down to the rapids.
The mouth of the canal is more than
mile above the falls. As far as con-
strncted the canal is about / 800 feet
long, l2 feet deep, and varies from n
breadth of 200 feet at the mouth to 100
feet at its inHer end Along the sides
of this canal and of its branches to be
built are sunk pits to depth Of 100
feet, and at the bottom of these pits ire
placed the turbine water wheels. Each
of these wheels has l40 feet effective
head of water over it. The water is
carried down to them in great pipes
seven or eight feet in diameter, called
penstocks. After the water had done
its work on the wheels it is discharged
into the big tunuel, which runs away I'M
dergreund TO the river below the falls.
This unnel has been the most difii.
cult and costly part of the work 80 Tar.
IL was cut through solid limestone rock.
but the rock was found TO crumble SO
badly after exposure that tho whole
1000 feet of the tunnel had 70 be bricled
up. 1t is in the form Of u orssshoe,
twenty-eight feet high and eighteen feet
broad, inside dimensions. Starting at a
depth Of 100 feet it has a downward
slope or piteh of four feet in Thousand
at first, increasing TO seven feet in a
thousand. It's mouth where it dis
changes into the rapids is 2l4 feet below
the brink Of the cliffs which form tho
ravine. It's cross section is 365 squar,
feet, and at the speed of twenty feet q
second, With which the water will rusl
out of it, there win be a discharge oil
about $4,000 gallons every minute.
And yet this enormous amount ol
water will not show any appreciahl,
drain whatever on the magnificent vol
ume Of Niagara. 1t will lower thl
level Of the great flood only about unl
and a half inches. The extent aRd con
s.ancy of this water power can be un
derstood when it IS realized that tho
water service OF the great lakes. witt
the land sloping into them and contrib
uting TO the Falls of Niagara, has a to
tai drainage basin of over 2f0.OO0 sQuur
niles-equal tomore than twice the are.
Of Great Britain and Ireland about 40.
600 square miles more than the tota
dAtt Va AdhItf dNu IiNIN titiu lLiet|
times the total area of Switzerland. IN
Horseshoe falls are lJs feet high an.
1900 feet wide. The other chanucl. 81
the state OF New York, forms the Amer
icau falls. which are 169 feet high q
the eastern side, and 1000 feet wid,
both falls comprising 8, 500 linear feet G
water.
The extreme limits Of variation in th
depth Of the river at different time
above the falls are b feet but thes
limits are rarely reached Theordinar
variation is about one foot Below th
fHlls the extreme variation reaches 81
teen feet. Generally variation Of on
foot above the falls is followed by
change Of level OF five feet below III
Falls. These slight changes are Of shoi
duration, and are due mainly TO long COZ
tinued ana violent wind or sudden gre.
nccumulations of ice.
The average discharge of water at Il
outlet of Lake Erie into the Niagai
river is estimated by some authorities
2G5,00o cubic feet a second Moreoye
as far as this OF the next two gencr
ti0ns are concerned. Il doesn't maft