Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-05-30
CAPTURING THE CATARACT.
NIAGARA FALLS IS "HARNESsED'
FOB MANS BENEFIT.

| ECSSs lilo oICaLA "a
has been to "harness Niagara.
Well, the dream has come true. Mag
era is In harness. To be sure, the
trace chains have not yet been hooked TO
the whifietrees Of industry, but tho col
lar and hames, tho bride and BIT are in
position and ready for the strain when 1t
shall come. :. The greatest cataract of the
world has been subdued,s and If, IN
knowledge Of its captivity its roar is
more sullen than of yore when ft 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. --szE
It Is estimated that the total power of
tie great waterfall Is equal to that of
Is, 900, 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
tina. vast wasting force, but it may be
stretched in the future to as great a
length as may be made useful. q. -.
The effect of this great enterprise may
not be as great as the san9uine remark
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 tho little
town which hovers on the brink OF the
cataract, and 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 pudding's p!ums. The
village OF Niagara Falls itself has gone
Wild with a 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
Shoelkopfs Mills on the brink Of the
cataract. This canal discharges its
wafer into wbeelpits only sixty feet
deep, which IN turn discharge at point
more than 100 feet above the level Of
the river below tho falls, so that moro
than three quarters OF the possible force
IL wasted. The 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 o. In Dey's
plan; but it rdns only a short distance
before it reaches the pits, which are 120
fee. 6eep. 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 cane in giving the water
o vent from the bottom otthe wheelpits.
This was accomplished by the construc-
tion of a great tunnel through solid lime
stone rock, from the wheolpits to below
the falls, The water abstracted from
the river thus flows for 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 S713 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 3,000,0 900 cubes
Of baked clay, and which, had it been
done by single bricklayer, would have
occupied his entire attention for twenty
four years. 1t was thought to be bet
ter plan to employ 7J0) men IN its con-
struction, however, and they have msn-
aged to dig it AMI line It in little less
than three years, having kept hard at 1t
day and night. The total cost of the
enterprise 80 far has been q triae OF
S2,5OO, 900. ----.4---.-
With the wheelpits already finished or
under way, the plant will develop
minimum OF 120, 900 horse power. This
would be more than sufficient to run
seven Of the largest steamships afoat,
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 come true, some
things almost as remarkable as that
would be are lively TO occur. It's pro-
motors have been devoting almost as
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 Il will
be necessary only to dig now wheel pits.
Tho canal and the tunnel are big enough
to hold water for 1, 900, 600 horse power,
and that is what the company places its
maximum capacity at OF course there
are sneers, but the company has Niagara
Falls and the engineer. on Its side, and
seems likely to come out ahead.
1t is estimated that by improper
nthnls In thn Dan