Evening star., 1896-11-16
A Waste of Energy.

There Is nothing surprising in the an
nouncement that electricity generated by
the water power of Niagara has been sue
cessfully wired to Buffalo, twentyseven
miles away, and there made to run street
cars. With such a tremendous force to
call into service as this fall it is a marvel
that last nights achievement has not been
accomplished long ago. No city located
within twenty or thirty miles of a great
cataract should be forced to burn pound
of fuel for the development of power or
for electric lighting purposes. Next to
Niagara of all the rivers in this country
in point of such possibilities is the Poto-
mac, with two water falls within score of
miles of the city of Washington, and
thereby offering untold advantages in the
way of cheap mechanical energy. The
only matter of consequence to be settled
now that the harnessing of rivers has
begun Is the percentage of loss in trans
mltting the electricity from Its point of
generation to its point of Actual
experience must be had to determine such
factor. which will in turn bear directly
upon the question of profits. One of the
first experiments in this line in this country
was that tried successfully in California,
where electricity generated at the Folsom
falls is economically wired twenty-four
city for general manufacturing, lighting
and traction purposes. with an estimated
less of 7.5 per cent in the transmission of
5000 horse power.
Europe furnishes many examples of this
method of utilizing the water power OF
rivers adjacent to cities. and even in be-
nighted Mexico there Is to be found an IN
stance that should put American municipal
n fOr SIn
fancy in this regard. The town of Guada-
iajara obtains sufficient current to light
the streets from a cataract sixteen miles
distant that has been harnessed and put
TO work on machinery obtained from this
country and in charge of American cleo
trlcians- In the light of such enterprise
it is a trifie odd now for the achievements
at Folsom and Niagara to be hailed as
marVels of engineering skill. Washington
has long awaited the awakening of ener-
sies. either public or private, sufficient to
put the Potomac to work on a large scale
The streets might years ago have been
brilliantly lighted at small expense from
this source Cars might have been Sent
speeding to the limits of the District, and
for many miles beyond with the power de-
rived from the river. Busy factories might
today be lining the banks of the Potomac
uilNen Dy the electrical current WhlrleQ
into existence by the pent-up stream. Nor
would this have taken from the city any
appreciable part of its water supply, which
must always be the first consideration in
all questions concerning the use of the
river above the city. The government has
been advised by the most competent au-
thoritles that there is enough surplus
power, after taking sufficient water to meet
the demands of the citys health, to ac-
complish all these results, and yet the
years go by and the great opportunity
IS neglected. Compared with Folsom and
Niagara the local case is simple. There
The current Is wired twentyfour and TWEEN
ty-seven miles. respectively. Here sixteen
miles OF conductors would bring the power
20 a convenient distributing point, thus
materially reduciI., the percentage of loss
in transmission, which depen4s Upon the
distance between the dynamos and the
transformers. For manufacturing pur-
poses there would be little no loss. as
the establishments utilizing the power
would naturally be located in the lmme-
diate vicinity OF the point of generation.
The government must take hold of this
matter and acquire all the water rights
at Great Falls for such purposes, leaving
Little Falls to such private enterprise as
may be directed in that way. Then, per-
haps, the great river will be put to the
work that it has been able to 10, but which
has never been demanded of it.