Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-03-07
WASTE NATURAL FORCES.
Tremendous Power Running Away in
 Our Rivers.

l
 Our Rivers.
 IL is a curious fact that in agreatman- ufacturing country like the United States the vast resources of water power are, comparatively speaking, ig- nored and neglected. It is no exaggera- tion to say that for every mill turned by water hundred might be in operation. The million and a quarter horse power which is derived from water is over shadowed by twice or thrice that amount of steam power. The former may be compared to its own mill pond, standing still in the march of industry. while the latter is pushing forward with the speed and power of the locomo- tive. For example, the increase of steam power in this country in the dec ade closed in 1880 was so per cent, while water power increased in the same pe- riod but 8.4 per cent. That the latter could be almost immeasurably in- creased, if warranted by economic con ditions, is proven by the report of Prof. Swain, the census expert, who says: "A calculation based upon the best data obtainable furnishes the astonish ing result that the total theoretical power of our streams, taken at an av- craze throughout the year, reaches the enormous figure of over 20o,000,000 horse power. Such is the energy de- veloped by our rivers, streams and brooks, of which we are using q little over one-half of one per cent. Could it be utilized, the power afforded would probably be more than sufficient to turn all the machinery of the globe"
 Steam has triumphed over all it's rivals The water mill has become a relic of past age and the windmill is prehistoric. At the close of the last dec- ade tine triple-expansion engine was set up almost in the spray of the waterfall, and the locomotive found a level road- bed upon the abandoned tow path of the canal But another power came upon the scene; or, to speak more aeeu- rately, another method of utilizing power with the ability to take power from any original source-ffom steam, from water, or from withstand to transmit il to a distant point for utiliza- ton. At once the science of mechanism was revolutionized. As soon as the electrical transmission of power be- came instead of a theory practical re- ality, every waterfall, every coal de- posit, no matter how remote from man. ufacturing centefs, took an added value in the eyes of the commercial users of power. The mind of man cannot meas Ire the possibilities embraced in the dynamo and the copper cable. Niagara Falls, with it's 125,000 horse power di- reetIy available (500,000 horse power in the future) has been harnessed, but rot until the principle of the electrical transmission of power from turbine to motor had been demonstrated, with various degrees of success at Schaff= hausen. on the Rhine: at Ffiboufe, on the Sarine; at Geneva on the Rhone; at GuafalaXara, Mexico, and at a hundred other places in the mountain regions of Europe and America; all on much largFr scale, but Illustrating the feasi- bility of the practical utilization of wa ter power through electricity.
 Who can doubt that in the space of very few years, in place of the present Liliputian water mills there will be Brobdingnagian turbines, utilizing the vast reservoirs of energy placed by the wisdom of the Creator in every part of this broad continent? The mountain regions, so long looked upon as thewaste places of the earth, hold treasures for posterity that will "far outshine the wealth of Ormus or of Ind" The bases of the Aleghanies, the Rockies, and the Sierras, with the vast plains at their feet will throb with the energy gener- ated by the streams fed by their living springs The glaciers of the giant peaks of Oregon and Washington hold sufff- cient power in their icy grasp to turn every factory wheel and light and warm every building in those states for cen tury to come, while the thousand noun tain streams along the rocky barriers from Montana to New Mexico will per form the double duty of supplying pow CT to the millions who will people those states (mills, mines, railroads, etc.). and irrigating the soil to provide for their sustenanee.-John T. Brunhall, in Leslie's Weekly.