San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-05-24

quiet and at the same time truly
enjoyable manner, do what one o.
the LIGHT staff did on Sunday anC
run over on the International train
to Austin, You will not only
pass through the most picturesque
scenery that there is in Western
Texas but you will make good
time and get there with a first class
appetite which you can appease
for a moderate stipend
After you have done so the first
thing to do is to get on the dummy
line and ride to the new dam and
spend as much of the day, or the
whole day, if you choose, in man.
ner that will give you a feeling
akin to the eXhileratiOn incident to
visit to Niagara Falls, without
the reaction OccasiOned by the
charges of hackmen, hotels and eX-
Orbitant etceteras, for all of the
prices of transportation, rejection
and amusement We're found to be
moderate, and one is able to enjoy
the picturesque grandeur of the
scenery unfettered by financial
considerations. OF course the prIn-
cipal object is the great dam itself,
and the large cataract really is a
charming spectacle with its splash
ing, sparkling and roaring flow and
fine spray and mist sent heaven
ward to kiss the sun. No wonder
that all of Austin has gone dam
mad and, missing its meals, stands
for hours in the sun wOrshipping
the beauty that holds them spell
bound.
A WONDERFUL ENGINEERING FEAT
is this great cascade; veritable
triumph of human skill built of
solid masonry to stand for ages as
monument to its builders like
the great spynX that rears its head
above the Egyptian sands whose
stony tongue tells the story of the
ROmeses as Rider Hagard never
have done.
TO come down to plain mathe-
NAUTICAL statistics this structure is
LOO feet long has base width of
90 feet and height of 50 feet. 1t is
from this eminence that the water
comes down as the poet speaks of
the way it does at LAHORE a nd as
the LIGHT man and seven thou
sand others saw it Sunday. 1t will
possess one superiority over the
Niagara giant becauie it will be
harnessed by the hand of man and
made to prOpel the wheels that
will turn the machinery for an al
most unlimited amOVnt of power.
Some faint idea of the amount of
lmpetuOsity that will be
utilized from the force of
this great and graceful
stream may be formed when YOU
are told that there are eight
monster mains whose diameter is
over eight feet and which will con-
Vey water with their full force at a
fifty foot fall to the equal number
OF turbines beneath. From the
power house at the eastern eXtrem-
lty will be supplied the power not
only for the electric railway and
light plants but for the waterwOrks
systems, but there will be a suffi-
cient reserve power left to propel
machinery requiring as much
power as used in all of the manu-
features at Lowell and Waterbury,
Pittsburg and several other manu-
featuring cities.
This will enable Austin to SUP
ply the power for manufactures
that could manufacture all of the
raw materials and products OF this
vast state and that of several of
her sisters. Austin can be able to
supply electric force generated by
the harnessed cataract to all of her
surrounding sister cities, and at a
much more moderate rate if she
chooses to, than they can afford to
create by steam force, and propel
the street cars and manufactures
OF San Antonio, Galveston and all
the rest. She has solved a problem
like the one the great wizard Edi-
son has been rumpling up the
gray matter of his head piece with
for years and who1still has not got
the quotient Of the equation.
Besides the practical utility that
is afforded by this sheet of water
it has enhanced the beauty Of the
surrounding scenery and affords
many sources of recreation and
enjoyment to the residents and
visitors. The dam has created
large lake, which is over half a
mile wide, which is navigable for