The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-13
GIGANTIC FORCE CAN BE GENER.
ATED FROM THE WORLDS
GREATEST CATARACT.
ENOUGH TO TURN ALL WHEELS
IN THE EMPIRE STATE AND HAVE
THOUSANDS IN HORSEPOWER
LEFT.
WORLDS METROPOLIS PREDICTED.
Certainty That Buffalo and AdjOin-
ing Cities VIII BE n Great
Milling Center.

Special Correspondence OF the GlODe.
NIAGARA FALLS, SPIT. S-EVery-
body hereabouts has gone power mad,
and no wonder, for each day as it
passes but adds to the certainty that
wealth far greater than any to be
Wrested from the Klondike's frozen
sands is to be got Out Of Niagara's
green waters by those who have daf-
ed to harness the worlds greatest cat
aract. The most marvellous dream OF
the age is being realized in the quiet
looking graystone power house that
stands a mile or two above the falls.
Three enormous dynamos, each weigh
ing many tons and whirling at the rate
of $50 revolutions a minute, are con-
stantly Transforming water power
equal to that of $4,000 horses into, the
inexplieable thing we call electric en-
ergy. But this is only beginning.
sTUPEMDOUS FIGURES.
On both sides OF the river men are
steadily at work in the sunlight by day
and in the mystic currents glare by
night making ready for the production
of nearly forty-fold n ore power. By to-
morrow, so to speak, enough force will
be got out the rushing water to turn
every wheel in every factory in every
city Of the Empire state. including the
Greater New York itself. When the
work now in progress is DONE the to-
+, tai output will be as follows:
Horsepower
| To be developed in the present tunnel. 100000
| TIC be developed in the second tunnel
(not yet built. Observation-Disclosures. 1J0 coo
To be developed in the three Canadian
To be developed by the Hydraulic Pow
! er company OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. $780, GOO
Total ................ ............... $50 900
The real meaning of these figures
is not clear until it is remembered that
! Lowell, Mass, famous the world ever
as a manufacturing town, came into
| being because it was possible to de-
! velop II, S45 horsepower from the water
! falls within it's bounds; that the total
water horsepower available at Mime
| apolis, renowned wherever men eat
bread because of its gigantic Touring
mills, is only $4,000; that Buffalo, now
a city of nearly 100000 inhabitants and
ranking fifth or sixth among the cities
| of the United States, uses less than
! $4,000 horsepower, and that all the
manufactures in New York state, in
Guiding those of the great aggregation
| of cities at the mouth of the Hudson,
. are operated Dy less THAN 00U,UUU morse
! power. In other words, there are now
planned enough hydraulic and electric
installations at Niagara falls to fur
nish power for city SO vast in extent
that London, New York, Paris and
Chicago would be only villages in COM
p2rison.
Some there be who predict that such
, a city, greater than any the world has
| yet seen, viii grow up in the immediate
/ iyif Of hn oOt
| lieve that the power will be trans
mitted miles away to cities already in
! existence 1t matters little which of
| these are right. The electrical develop
ment of Niagara's power is certain to
| bring about an entirely unprecedented
| and phenomenal state Of things, for
| beyond a doubt it is now possible to
make power here cheaper than any
| where else on earth. When l inquired
| at the power house today concerning
| the cost of power production, l was
| told that it can be furnished to Gus.
| toners who will transmit it themselves
| fer $40 horsepower per annum. 1t is
| delivered at the Buffalo line 365 days
| in the year for $36 a horsepower, and
| there is no doubt whtever that it can
| eventually be furnished in Buffalo for
! half what it costs to make steam
power.
| THE MATTER OF TRANSMISSION.
! The most wonderful thing about this
| great power development is the man
| ner in which the current is trans
/ mitted. 1t is only ten or fifteen years
| ago that Niagara's electrical develop
i ment was first seriously considered.
| At that time it was declared, and by
| men who certainly ought to have
| known what they were talking about,
| that it would never be possible to
| transmit the current any great dis
lance. There was not enough copper
| in the world. they said, to make a
cable big enough to carry heavy cur
| rent economically to New York, and it
| would strain the mightiest capitalists
| to buy enough of the metal to trans
| nit 100000 horsepower as far as Buff
| falo. Moreover, they contended. even
| if enough copper were to be had it
| would not be possible to keep so strong
| a current on the cable. 1t would make
its resistless way through the thickest
! ard strongest insulation and be dissi-
/ pated. Worse yet, having burst its
J bonds it would inevitably find its way
I back to the poweIhouSe along the Hces
| of least resistance, and thus the entire
| territory roundabout would be sur
charged with life destroying electric
| ity
Even as late as 1884 it was declared
| that, after spending millions on the
! back of millions in hydraulic and cleo
| trio installations, the men at the back