Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-07-17

COLOSSAL INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS
NEAR THE FALLS.
Gigantic Electrical Works just Started.
Enormous Engines Employed-Charter
and Plan Of the Model City-On the
Threshold Of Great Future.

Threshold Of . Great Future.
We are hearing great deal In these
days about "harnessing Niagara" and
most Of us forget that Niagaras power
was first bitted and curbed into practical
service more than 80 years ago. The ex-
pensive and elegant plant of tho Niagara
Power company. while as yet far from
complete, Is sufficiently installed to make
the most searching tests possible and To
demonstrate the feasibility Of its scheme.
One of the giant machines is now being
run daily for testing. At first the speed
used was quite low-100 revolutions per
minute-and 1t was with many fears and
sudden starts of false alarm that the en-
gineer worked the speed up to its present
reading-250 revolutions per minute. The
long drawn Shrek OF distant locomotive
would bring him to his feet in an instant
to search for the part of his colossus that
needed oiling, for 1t Is no joke to have q
great iron wheel feet in diameter and
Weighing 80 tons and turning $50 revolu-
tions per minute get into any kind Of
trouble. But there 1t Is now, running
safely evenly and doing every now and
then in some test It's 10, 900 horsepower or
more of work.
The average reader has a good general
idea what the Cataract Construction COM
pany has done and intends to do. 1t will
turn out its 100, 900 horsepower with Its
ten machines as early as possible after the
FIRST three-now practically installed and
serving the uses Of the Pittsburg Reduc-
tion company-fnd full employment. But
who knows what the Hydraulic or School
kopf canal Is? We hear little of 1t, yet 1t
is able every day to supply mills and shops
on the bluffs below Niagara with more
power than the three machines Of the cleo
trical plant could were they in active use.
Starting In from point somewhat
north of the Cataract Construction works,
and passing below the tracks of the New
York Central and Hudson River railroad,
is canal that till now has been 20 feet
wide and 12 feet deep. 1t is being widened
to 100 feet and deepened so as to allow
grain and iron steamers to run through 1t
down to the mills and foundries. This
canal has long been able to supply enough
water to develop about 40, 900 horsepower,
and after the alterations are completed
will be able to furnish 1OO 900. The mills
In which this power is applied are on the
bluffs at the American side, just below
the new Suspension bridge.
Shafts are run down into the rock some
20 feet and the tuSbines driven under that
pressure The waste water from these can
again be utilized by the plants below the
bluff, having still 100 feet of fall from
which to draw power.
But there is still another scheme on foot
of which, as yet, too little is known. The
one hundred and sixteenth session Of the
New York legislature incorporated q
"Model Town company" Of which w. T. |
and K. M. Love of Lewiston, N. Y. Au- |
gustine Davis of Auburn Park, Ills /; L. |
L. Bailey of Wellsboro, Pa, and w. A. |
Wilson of Knoxville appear as incor- |
porators, w. Z. Love being president |
Their object, as set forth by their charter,
Is to establish city on the banks of Lake |
Ontario This charter is most remarka- |
BILE document. It gives the company power
to establish and control an industrial
school, a university, surface and elevated
railroads, electric Light and power plants, |
water and gas works, pneumatic and cleo
trio mail and freight conveyances and |
public telephones with lines extending to
its Offices In other cities.
The company may reserve rights Of way
within its territory as 1t may desire, and
with the consent Of the railroad commits
sioner may extend railway lines Of one to
ten tracks to connect with other lines
within radius Of 80 miles. 1t may ac-
quire by condemnation any property 1t
cannot purchase for streets parks, harbors,
wharysst railroads, side tracks, switches OF
cattle Yards, and may store water on the
high ground about its property. Contracts
made by the company with any nonresi-
dent alien shall be of the same force and
effect as If made with any citizen, giving
foreign capital like opportunities with
American foy holding and transferring
properties obtained from the company.
The site OF this town-Model City by |
name--insures for 1t natural advantages |
which promise to make 1t one of the great |
est manufacturing centers Of the country |
Round Lake Ontario is strip of level |
land once covered by the waters of the |
lake, but exposed in later geological times |
by the cutting down of the St. Lawrence |
river and consequent lowering Of the level. |
1t is upon this nearly level strip Of land, |
miles wide and with grade Of 10 feet |
per mile, that the proposed city Is to be |
built-is now building in fact. Behind |
the level town site rises in two principal |
terraces the bluff 200 feet high, over which, |
some miles back, Niagara takes its grand |
tumble. To the west of the company's |
land lie the lower Niagara river and the |
small towns Of Lewiston and Youngstown,
ner posts the company has bought or op- |
toned some 60 900 acres of land.
From point near La Sale ship canal |
Is to be cut, 400 feet wide, running north |
and northwest to the top Of the bluff above |
the town. Running the canal In this way, |
from above the upper rapids to below the |
lower, will give an available waterfall of |
about 300 feet, nearly double that of Mag |
ara itself. To gain some conception of the |
magnitude Of this colossal undertaking the |
chief engineer supplied US with an esti-
mate of 5,522, 600 cubic yards of soil and |
rock to be removed at a contracted cost of |
", 500, 900. The water from this canal util- |
lied to generate electricity will supply |
the town with light, heat and power. The |
power house is to cost $500, 600 and is to
generate 100, 900 horsepower Of electricity. |
The promoters Of this huge industrial |
undertaking do not seem able to say |
enough Of the manufacturing facilities |
offered The ship canal will give direct |