The Portland daily press., 1895-03-27
NIAGARA FALLS.
The Present Condition of the Electric
Power Plant.


professor George Forbes in the London
Tines.)
Nearly three years ago you published
a letter from this place in which | gave
some account of how the dreams of the
engineer. were i'll the act Of being realized
and without injury to the natural beau
ties of the spot. Three years have passed,
my work is ended, and it seems natural
to continue the narrative and tell what
these three years have brought forth.
l am perched Oh top of small Eiffel
tower, lately erected, and. casting my
eyes up the river, over the house tops
and beyond the town, see new world
created
"There is wide canal leading water
into that gigantic power house, where
three turbines are set up to drive three
dynamos of 5000 horse power each.
There is the bridge to carry cables across
to the transformer house. Inside the
power house the water is carried down
by pipes seven and half feet in diane
ter into the turbines. whence it passes
through a 1000 feet tunnel under the
town emerging below the falls and capa-
Bile of developing 100000 horse power.
Far as the eye can reach extend the COM
pany's lands, with here and there
huge factory either now using the water
power or waiting for the electric supply.
"One of these uses $500 horse power,
another 800, a third one ! 500, and that
unfinished mill requires 1000. You can
see, far away the model village for work
ingmen and improved sewage works
with drainage. pumps for water supply,
electric light and well paved streets.
There, again, is the dock, where ships
from all parts of the great lakes can un-
load, and there huge expanse of re-
claimed land, while the whole is swept
by the company's railway, seven miles
long, connecting every factory with the
great trunk lines. The power is traus-
mitted by electricity, and the fist work
is to produce aluminium with l 800 horse
power. New types of machines have
been devised for this work, as also for
every other purpose.
"a II criticism as to cost of electric
works has been swept away by the re-
suits achieved, and the efficiency of each
type of machine is greater than has been
attained before. All the machinery for
the first working has been made and test
ed in the shops and the last parts are
now being set up. The plans for carry
distant, are complete. In month or two
factories will be in full operation; in a
year Buffalo will he supplied; in two
years the same company will be working
the Canada side of tue falls, and in ten
years (shall we say the whole of the
100, 600 hose power which can be supplied
by the existing hydraulic works will be
giving power to smokeless manufacturing
towns.
"The period of planning the transmits
sion scheme, of designing the greatest
dynamos in the world and Of construc-
ton of the first plant now closes. The
financial period commences with the new
year. The earning of dividends and the
ordering of duplicate machinery is the
future work of the company. In conclu-
sion it is difficult Tor ma to say who were
the bodest-the capitalists who en-
barlked on the scheme before any plans
were matured, or the manufacturers who
moved their factories TO this field before
a single result had been achieved. The
act of both was typically American. but
their confidence was not misplaced.
Their success is now assured"