The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1893-02-22
CAPTURING THE CATARACT.
NIAGARA FALLS IS "HARNEssEDp
FOR MANS BENEFIT.

More Than One-Tenth of That
Amount Will Soon be Available.
ToR more than ffty years, says
~ Buffalo letter to the New York
Press, the dream Of engineers
has been to "harness Niagara"
Well, the dream has come true. Mag
ara is in harness. To be sure, the
trace chains have not yet been hooked to
the whifletrees of industry, but the 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, and if, in
knowledge of its captivity its roar is
more sullen than of yore when it existed
only as an insurmountable obstacle to
navigation and wonder for sightseers
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 the Buffalonian that ten
years hence 'Chicago will not be In it,
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
5000, 900 horses. To any one who has
seen its mighty volume this does not
seem absurd. The present scheme will
only utilize less than one-hundredth of
that vast wasting force, but it may be
stretched in the future to as great a
length as may be made useful.
The effect of this great enterprise may
not be as great as the sanSuine rema rk
of the Buffalo man who has been quoted
would imply, but it will be very great.
OF course many OF the manufacturing
interests which will be attracted by
cheap power will gather in the 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 the
power will be electrically transmitted to
Buffalo with comparatively small loss, so
that this city will undoubtedly come in
for many of the puddlng'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
Shoelkopf's Mills on the brink of the
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 the possible force
is wasted. The old Hydraulic Cana
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 Oey's
plan; but it runs only short distance
before it reaches the pits, which are 12O
feet deep. A sheer fall through great
pipes is thus obtained, which is nearly
as great as the height Of the falls.
Thus far the work was comparatively
easy. The fun came in giving the water
a vent from the bottom of the wheelpits.
THIS was accomplished by the construc-
tion of great tunnel through solid lime
stone rock, from the wheclpits to below
the falls. The water abstracted from
the river thus flows for a short distance
through the canal, then takes its big
tumble through the pits down to the
turbine wheels, and then flows through
the tunnel to the rivers lower level.
This tunnel is S7l3 feet long, twenty
eight feet high and eighteen feet broad,
in semi. circular form. 1t is bricked up
along its whole length, an undertaking
which has consumed $1,000, 900 cube:
of baked clay, and which, had it been
done by a single bricklayer, would have
occupied his entire attention for twenty.
four years. 1t was thought to be bet
ter plan to employ 1000 men in its con
struction, however, and they have mau
| aged to dig it and line it in a little less
than three years, having kept hard at i
day and night. The total cost of tn,
enterprise so far has been a trile o
| $4,000, 900.
With the wheelpits already finished o.
under way, the plant VIII develop
minimum of 120, 900 horse power Thi
would be more than sufficient to rur
seven of the largest steamships aioat
aud steamships are not easy things t'
run. 1t is highly improbable, however
that the power from the falls will b'
utilized in ocean navigation.
But if the dreams of the projectors o
this big enterprise come true, som'
things almost as remarkable as tha
would be are likely TO occur. Its pro
motors have been devoting almost a
much attention to studying how to trans
nit the power as they have to studying
how TO develop it.
In order to increase the power it will
be necessary only to dig new wheel pits.
The canal aud the tunnel are big enougi
to hold water for l 900, 900 horse power
and that is what the company places it
maximum capacity at. OF course there
are sneers, but the company has Niagar,
Falls and the engineers on its side, anC
seems likely to come out ahead.