Middletown transcript., 1897-06-12
NIAGARA FALLS.
uP.To DATE.

i NIAGARA FALLS, June A. Niagar
has opened for the season. This use
to mean that the bridal couples had be
gun to arrive, but it now means be
sides this. great deal more. It mean
that the Falls have been set in opera
tion to turn all the newly erected mill
and factories within hundreds of mile:
of here.
| Niagara Falls, which is one of th
worlds nine wonders2 never freezes tt
the extent of stopping the vast volumi
of water which runs over it, ant
for this reason electricions have beef
at work upon 1t for years in the hop,
of turning this water in the direction
to obtain constant current TO operatt
the machinery that operates the plants
Much has been done previously. but
with the opening of the season of 1897
comes the triumphant opening of Nj
agara Falls, for the rival companies
are all on hand, and have turned theil
respective shares in the Falls toward:
their respective machinery until won-
derfuI results are accomplished.
It is the old story of the little water
wheel that grinds the wheat that is
brought to the mill, but on larger
scale. Niagara does its grinding uE
to date; it supplies the power, which is
what the tide did for the primitive lit
tie mill of long ago, and the power
which starts the turbines that CON-
municate with the dynamos that gen.
crate electricity for modern use.
The latest of Niagara's 3 feats is the
making of diamonds; diamond fac
tory is in full blast. 1t turns out the
real carbon crystals, which are un-
doubtedly diamonds. The system used
is the Moisson system. Hollow cylin-
ders of soft iron are filled with puri-
fed charcoal. Soft iron is then melted
IN crucibIe In an electric furnace at
about 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. The
cylinder is then thrown into hot iron,
and is taken out and suddenly cooled; ;
acids then separate the iron from the
carbon crystals. In that way tiny but
pure diamonds are obtained.
The power to run the electric fur
naces is obtained from the Falls, on
the Canadian side, where there is a
diamond factory. The products are
sold in two lots-one is as real diamons,
small but perfect, and the other as the
large imitation diamond, very valuable
because of it's purity. but with slight
flaw from the present imperfect method
of making.
it was planned at first that the Can
adian power house should be built in
Victoria Park, close to the Horseshoe
Falls, but, as it now stands, the whole
work of generating power and trans
forming it into electricity is done in a
great cavern scooped out of the rock be-
tween $50 and 200 feet under the river
and a short distance back from the
Canadian end of the Horseshoe Falls.
Water from the river is let down
through pipes In the rock to the tur-
bines in this subterranean power-house
and carried off by a short tunnel lead
ing to the foot Of the Horseshoe Falls.
The turbines connect directly with the
dynamos, and almost the only sign
above ground of the mighty forces be-
ing harnessed below is number of
comparatively Notwithstanding
wires leading up from these dynamos
and carrying electricity off in the dis
tance on iron poles. These plain-look.
ing wires, however, carry some 200,-
600 horse power.
Only little of the. great bulk Of Nj
agara's force has been turned aside, but
this little revolves the largest water
wheels in the history of mechanics.
The dynanos that are attached to the
water wheels are the biggest Of their
kind; they produce 5000 horsepower.
One of the most remarkable parts of
Niagara's machinery is the new tunnel
which lies under the city and carries
water to,the new power company's pit.
1t is a hydraulic tunnel nearly two
miles long, and it turns the wheels of
the largest paper mill in the world.
A few hundred feet away. it works the
the biggest aluminium industry in this
country.
To see these great wheels turn
ing you must obtain guide, who will
take you to the different companies
works. There unless you are mechanic,
you will find the view disappointing,
for you viii see only group of build
.ings and hear only great whirr, tut
if you understand it you will realize
the immense work being done by the
water.
One of the Niagara companies has
canal which runs with the speed of
400, 600 horsepower. This is equal to
all the power used in the six largest
manufacturing cities la the United
States. It is used to send current of
electricity by wire overhead to Buffalo
for lighting purposes, and to Rome and
to Tonaw anda. and it is thought it will
be utilized before The summer is over
as far west as Minneapolis and as far
east as Lowell, both for cloth-manu-
featuring purposes.
Edison and Nikola Tesla agree that
there is no reason why this powpr