Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-09-14
WONDERS IN STORE.
The Work to Which Electricity VIII
Yet Be HarneSsed

Great as has been the advance made
in the use Of electricity, it is nothing
to what the future has in store. Sci
entists admit that they are only on the
threshold Of the many wonders which
the electrical field has in store, and
in this connection an interesting inter
view has just been published with W
@. Ferris, who designed the Ferris
wheel at the worlds fair Mr.. Ferris
says:
Undoubtedly the greatest practical
! progress Of the near future will be
3 comprised within the expansion of the
use of electricity and compressed air
! Indeed, [ am persuaded that modern
life will be absolutely revolutionized
/ so far as its practical, everyday work
+ is concerned within the coming 10
! years. And electricity largely will ac-
+ complish it. So far as practical use
! is concerned I should say that we had
! merely begun to employ electrical pow
er. Within a few years every water
| fall or available bit Of water power
will be chained and converted into
electric force Along the highways will
] run electric lines, on which you will
find not only passenger, but express
and freight trains These lines will
i ply between the principal cities and
! towns of the country, they will gather
UP the products Of the farm and dump
them at the freight office of the great
trunk lines. The familiar spectac Gle of
! the farmer driving to town With the
product of the yearly harvest will be
witnessed no longer. Instead, he will
merely haul his produce to the nearest
! highway and have it shipped by cleo
tricity to town. The electric car will
bring his mail to his door daily. and
instead Of being the lonesome affair
that it is nowadays, the farm of the
future will be in close touch with the
town and the city
again, in the cities themselves the
whole Industrial scheme will be revo-
lutiOniZed. I look to see two immense
plants-One for the manufacture of
compressed air and the other for the
generation of electricity. Compressed
air will be used in various ways for
prOpulSive purposes, elevators and the
/ like; the electricity on the other hand,
will run our street cars, turn our ma
chimes, heat our homes and buildings,
do much Of our chemical work; by cleo
tricity we will cook, and for that
matter, do everything that is now done
by steam and coal
$50 far from all this being a dis
tant matter, [ look to see it come
very soon. There is absolutely no rea-
son at this moment why cities like
Buffalo,, Minneapolis and st. Paul, or
any city that has great water pow
er at hand should consume a single
pound of coal within their entire Ii
mits. Even with present appliances,
electricity in these cities can do, and
in many places that I know is doing
the work of coal not only cheaper but
without dust, without smoke or SCOT.
THE condition which will determine
the relative expansion of towns and
cities in the next decade is the pres
/ ence of water power. The whole prob
lem Of electricity is one of cheap gen
Grafton. Now, any city or town of
! this country which has got a water
fall within an available distance, and
that distance is a large one, has, so
, to speak, a gold mine. Water power
means the minimum of cheapness in
the generation of electric power You
can easily see, therefore, that any city
which possesses this advantage must
take the lead over any city that has
not. Buffalo, for example, will abso-
lutely double its population within
five or ten years, because there the
capacity of the water power is to all
intents and purposes limitless. The
same thing to a greater or less extent
will take place in st. Paul and Min
neapolis, N Rochester, Great Falls,
Mont, and other points where a great
water power exists. Even about New
York there are numerous water falls
within working distance which I look
to see made available for the city,