The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-02-10
CAPTURING THE CATARACT.
NIAGARA FALLS 10 "HARNHsSNps
FOR MANS BENEFIT.

| Ahount VIII soon % AV0hISpte.;
TIOR more than fifty yeare, says q
| H. Buffalo letter to tho New York
Press, the dream OF engineers
| G has been to s'harness, Niagara.n
Well, the dream has como tri{e. Mag
ara Is in harness. To bo sure, tho
trace chains have not yet been hooked to
the whiffletrees of industry, but tho col.
lar and names, the Bride and BIT are in
position and ready for the strain when 1t
shall come. The greatest cataract OF the
world has been subdued, aud II, In
knowledge of its captivity its roar is
more sullen than of yore when It existed
only as an insurmountable obstacle to
navigation aud wonder for sightscers
to grow solemn over, the smiles on The
faces of capitalists, the new jingle In the
pockets OF residents of the village OF
| Niagara Falls, and the complacent
prophecies of tho Buffalonian that ten
years hence "Chicago will not be In II,
sir; no, sir, not on your life," are atone
ments. .....
1t is estimated that the total power of
the great waterfall is equal to that OF
Is, 900, 600 horses. To any ono who has
seen its mighty volume this does not
seem absurd. The present scheme will
only utilize less than one ne.hundredth Of
that ->-----s----,
length as may be made useful. =
The effect Of this great enterprise may
not be as great as tho sauguincs remark
of the Buffalo man who has been quoted
would imply, but 1t Will be very great.
OF course many of the manufacturing
:.-I. Ill kn okk~oHkoI ho
cheap power will gather in tho little
town which hovers on the brink of the
cataract, aud which has in the past been
notable principally for its big hotels, its
| clamorous cabbies and its Indian bazaars.
| But plan has been devised whereby tho
power will be electrically transmitted to
| Buffalo with comparatively small loss, SO
that this city will undoubtedly come in
for many of the pudding's plums. The
village Of Niagara Falls itself has gone
| wild with boom almost Western in its
| enthusiasm.
The first attempt to utilize the water
power of Niagara Falls was made by
Horace A. Dey, who in 1850 built the
old Hydraulic Canal running from above
the rapids to what are now known as
ShoOihOPA uAtio Oh SuC VI tu6
cataract. This canal discharges its
water into wheelpits only sixty feet
deep, which in turn discharge at . point
more than 100 feet above the level Of
the river below the falls, so that more
than three quarters of tho possible force
is wasted. Tho old Hydraulic Canal
gives in all only about 5000 available
horse power.
The new method Is the same principle
differently applied. A canal has been
cut from above the rapids as In Dey's
plan; but 1t runs only short distance
before 1t reaches the pits, which are 120
feet deep. A sheer fall through great
pipes is thus obtained, which Is nearly
as great as the height OF the falls.
Thus far tho work was comparatively
easy. The fun came In giving the water
a vent from the bottom ofthe wheelpits.
This was accomplished by the construc-
tion Of great tunnel through solid lime.
stone rock, from the whealpits to below
the falls. The water abstracted from
the river thus flows for short distance
through the canal, then takes It's big
tumble through the pits down to the
turbine wheels, aud then flows through
the tunnel to the rivers lower level.
This tunnel Is S713 feet long, twenty.
eight feet high and eighteen feet broad,
along its whole length, an undertaking
which has consumed 100000 cubes
of baked clay, and which, had 1t been
done by q single bricklsyer, would have
occupied his entire attention for twenty
four years. 1t was thought to be bet.
tertplan to employ 1000 men in its con.
struction, however, and they have man.
aged to dig it and line IL In little less
Z than three years, having kept hard at II
day and night. Tho total cost of the
enterprise 80 far has been q tribe OF
i$2. $780, 900.
With the wheelpits already finished or
under way, the plant will develop a
minimum Of 12O, 900 horse power. This
would be more than sufficient to run
seven of the largest steamships aaoat,
and steamships are not easy things to
run. 1t is highly improbable, however,
that the power from the falls will be
utilized in ocean navigation.
But IL the dreams of the projectors Of
this big enterprise como true, some
things almost as remarkable as that
would be are likely to occur. It's pro-
motors have been devoting almost ss
much attention to studying how to trans.
NIT the power as they have to studying
how to developit
In order to increase the power it will
be necessary only to dig new wheel pits.
The canal and the tunnel are bic ena.e'a-
In obola.--l---.-~-y~~ nnrsa Jn---.r
md that Is what the company places its
maximum capacity at. OF course there
are sneers, but the company has Niagara
Falls and the engineers on its side, and
aoama liLalr 70 cona onk ahaad