El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-30
VAST WATER POWER.
Utilization of Great Natural Forces
in This Country.
Possibility of Bringing Into Service the
Tremendous Energy of Lakes, Riv-
ers and Waterfalls for Indus
trial Purposes.

|
obtained from its great drainage canal,
when the waters of Lake Michigan are
poured through it into the Illinois river:
| New York is looking forward to the
| day when power may be brought down
| from Niagara or from the Catskills:
Boston is within the sphere of the Mer-
rimack falls; Washington can get AN
abundant supply of power to light
every street and public building from
the Great falls of the Potomac, where
| 100000 horsepower is running to waste;
Baltimore and Philadelphia are situated
| near the tide-Water step that runs along
the base of the Alleghanies, while Rich
mond is directly on the step, with so
| 600 horsepower in sight. In fact, few,
if any, of our great cities are beyond the
reach. if we may proceed upon the as
sumption of Tesla (whO says that the
power of Niagara may be carried ulti-
mately over any part of the American
continent), of the energy of some cat
| aract or storage of water.
The sudden awakening to knowl-
! edge of an ineXhaustible resource of
power, and the ability to use it, must
result in great revolution in economic
conditions, far greater than that
steam This revolution will be felt III
greatly enhanced production, with
cheaper cost to the consumer, together
with a large increase and general eN-
tension of the comforts of life such as
may be included in transportation, pow
er for domestic purposes. light and heat,
including fuel, the cost of which will
be considerably reduced. In the cities
~ I,n oil la1i
wonderful transformation, and that
within the cognizance of the present
generation. The use of steam in the
thousands of isolated plants will be gen
orally abolished, light and power being
delivered through the agency of elec-
tricity from central plants situated per-
haps 100 or 200 miles distant. (Who
G;sres set the limit?) The dangers of
the steam boiler and the furnace in
crowded buildings and beneath the side
walks of the city, and the discomforts
of the wholesale consumption of coal
will be done away with for Il cheaper,
Il safer and healthier system.
Nor is it to be inferred that because
we have water power we shall have no
more steam and coal. Not. at all. But
there will be more rational and eco
nomical consumption of coal. neces-
STATED by the cheapnesS of the power
generated by the turbine wheel and
transmitted from the dynamo to the
motor. 1t will no longer pay to mine
coal and ship it hundreds of miles 10
the cities by our present cumbersome
and wasteful methods Closing so to 80
per cent? when its essence can be
better sent by wire. 1t requires no
spirit of prophecy to foretell that in the
beginning of the next century the coal
will be burned at the mine shaft, and
every ton brought to the surface will
be utilized. The power-plant located
at the mine shaft, burning the run of
the NINE" either as coal or i'll the form
of gas. can better compete with the
Eower-plant at the falls than can the
furnace and boiler in the city. There
will be no more black hills of culm at
the mines. disfiguring the face of the
country and choking the streams, and
no ashes and cindeTs to worry the city
consumer. The copper wire in the I'M
derground conduit will carry the en-
ergy safely and economically to the
point of consumption, and the railroad
or factory engineer, or the housewife i'll
the home, need but to press button
10 Senu the tram AT IOU miles an nOur'
to set the spindles or lathes i'll mo-
ton; to heat the house, or to cook the
dinner
The social phases inevitably accom-
panying this mechanical revolution
may be far more beneficial than the eco
nomical gains, great as they will doubt
less be. The saving to the houscllecp-
er in time and labor will make her
new woman indeed. and the general int
production of the electric stove may
reasonably be expected to cause Il de
cidcd advance in the health and hap
piness of the race.
Whether the distribution of power
from the falls and the mines will al
ways remain in the hands of corpora
tions of capitalists is problem that the
future must decide. There is no de-
nying. however. that the object lesson
of the universal public use of natural
forces will be a powerful one from Il
cOllectivist point of view, and shouldaTy
state las Wyoming or Utah. for eN-
ample) undertake the distribution of
electric power, as cities distribute gas
and water, the experiment would be
watched with the greatest interest by
the whole civilized world.-JOhn L.
Bramhall. in Leslie's Weekly.