Great Falls weekly tribune., 1896-04-17

The progress that has been made dur
ing the past decade in electrical develop
nent is bringing the water powers of
our country into prominence hitherto
unknown, Small water powers tina. have
long laia idle and undeveloped, are now
being eagerly acquired and improved.
Many Of Of the large water powers long
considered Inaccessible. are now. through
the introduction Of electr,ca! transmis
sion Of power, being rapidly developed,
and the energy OF the water that has so
long been running on its undisturbed
course, will row be turned to the use Of
industrial enterprises. With the per
fection Of devices for the long distance
transmission and storage of electrical
energy, every available water power in
the United States will be utilized to its
fullest capacity
Niagara, with its immense volume of
water, is destined to reach enormous
Importance in the commercial world.
Probably the present generation will see
its power extended over all of Northern
New York. Among the large water
powers Of this country the falls of the
.'i i'ssDbii iiEti III Nd5CdlC CDuuty, Moi
tana, questionably rank second only
to the falls of Niagara.
The full development of this great
power would naturally, under other con-
ditions, be slower Of development than
that of Niagara. The surrounding
country is not so thickly populated, and
diversified manufacturing is not so gen
eral as in the state of New York. The
oifv of Rutal In alopa booa ,,nr,
!ation than the entire great state
of Montana, with it's area of 1853
square miles. There are, however,
certain commercial enterprises that
require very large units of pc wer in con-
ducting business, that are entirely inde-
pendent of thickly settled communities.
These enterprises seek large sources OF
cheap power. The population comes
with the demand We have An instance
in our midst IN the works of the Boston
Il Montana Consolidated Silver and Cop
per Mining company. The amount Of
power used by this one company alone
in its reduction works at Great Falls, is
equal to one half the power consumed in
running all the spindles of Manchester
N. H., or Lowell, Mass, the largest water
powers of New England. These latter
cities have grown great in wealth and
population from the water power that
nature has placed within their grasp.
These cities could not have grown to
their present proportions had they been
called upon to supply power for
enterprises desiring to use it in
such amounts as demanded by
the large ore reduction works OF the
present day. 1t requires Niagara or a
falls of tha Missouri to furnish power in
such quantities and not be exhausted at
the first demand. The falls OF the Mis-
souri, can furnish many such demands
upon its resources and still have ample
power in reserve wherewitn to build up
Lowells and Manchesters along her
course
The falls OF the Missouri proper are a
series of cascades and rapids extending
over a distance Of lG miles, from the
crossing of the river by the Great North
ern railway bridge at the head TO the
mouth of Belt creek. The principal cas-
csdes in the order in which they occur
are called Black Eagle, Rainbow
Crooked, and the Great falls, names
given them by the early explorers, Lewis
and Clarke. Between these falls and
below the last named are series ol
smaller cascades and rapids ca
pable Of development into what
would be considered large powers in sec
tions OF this country less favored by ma