The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-09
NIAGARA THEN AND NOW.

Niagara Falls, the greatest water
power in the world, has been harnessed
and brought into mans service. How
all things change, how civilization con-
quers all.
The existence of these falls that have
been the wonder and admiration of the
world for more than two centuries,
was first indsMted on Samuel de
Champlain's mapsof 1882, with note
attached saying that the falls at the
end of 'sSault [Lacl Saint Louis" were
very high. No dimensions are given.
1t was the Jesuit missionary, Paul
Rageneau, who first described the
great falls. In the Relation of 164S he
describes them in this language:
Nearly south of this same Neutral
Nation there is great lake, about
two hundred leagues in circuit, named
Erie, which is formed by the discharge
of-the Fresh Sea, and which precipitates
itself by cataract of frightful height
into third lake, named Ontario,
which we call Lake st. Louis"
Father Hennepin in his book pub
lished in 1888, says the falls are 500 feet
in height. Speaking of them again in
1857, he says they are 600 feet high.
Had he again had occasion to state
their height, he would probably have
made it still greater for the Fathers
tendency was to let his imagination
run away with him.
The red men of the forest who
roamed around these falls are all gone,
and gone are the good Jesuit fathers
who sought to convert them from their
fierce and savage life to that religion
which teaches peace on earth and good
will towards man.
Only few days ago the first power
generated by the great 5000 horse
power dynamos of the Niagara Cat
aract Construction company was de-
livered to the Pittsburg Reduction COM
pany, which is located near the falls,
for use in the manufacture of alumni
ium. This is only the beginning of
what will eventually be the conversion
of the power now running to. waste to
the commercial uses of man. What
that power is it is almost impossible
for one to conceive.
The am7unt If water going over the
falls is 275,OlO cubic feet per second,
it having a drop o. 155 feet II nas
been cal culatod thar he daily force Of
this wonderful torrent is equal to the
latent power Of al the ctal ,DiEed in
the world each day. which is some
thing ever 100000 tons. An eminent
English engineer, Professor UnvI Iii, has
computed that it represents. tneoa Ell
cally, seven million horsepower.
Nine years ago last March the legis-
lature of New York granted a special
charter to eight citizens Of Niagara
Falls for the construction of q tuLnel
more than mile above the falls, by
which 100000 horsepower Gould be
drawn from the stream without di-
verting over 4 per ceut of the total
flow of the river. Nj. Thomas Ever
shed was the engineer chosen to de-
wise a plan for .loing this. What he
had to do and what he dill is told in
the words of an exchange:
Slightly modified by the engineers
called in by the company organized
to operate the charter, this plan com
prises a surface canal $50 feet in width
at it's mouth, on the margin of the Nj
agara river, a mile and quarter
above the falls, extending inwardly
LOO feet, with an average depth of
about L feet, serving water sufficient
for the development of about 100000
horsepower. The solid masonry walls
of this canal are pierced at intervals
with ten inlets, guarded by gates,
which permit the delivery Of water to
wheel pit in the power-house at the
side of the canal. This wheel pit is 17S
feet in depth, and is connected by
lateral tunnel with the main tunnel,
serving the purpose of a tail-race, 1000
feet in length, with an average hy-.
draulic slope of six feet in 1000, the
tunnel having a maximum height of
q feet and width of Is feet 10 inches,
its net section being 1856 square feet.
It's slope is such that chip, thrown
into the water at the Wheel-pit will
pass out of the portal in 31a minutes,
showing the water to have a velocity
of 2651A feet per second, or a little less
than twenty miles an hour when rum
ming at its maximum capacity. Over