Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-11-15
The Revlval. Of water Power.

The force OF running water was the
primitive source of motive power. 1t
does not waste or otherwise destroy the
worth of its raw material 1t is far
nished practically free and in good
working order by the bounteous hand
of nature. 1t is the cheapest of all
forms of force. When James Watt
perfected the compound steam engine
in the closing years of the eighteenth
century the Industrial revolution came
about mainly because water power was
ens!syed by Fixed Limitation Of place.
Another scarcely less important change
is now imminent, and the pendulum
swings back. Electrical discovery has
made the transmission of force for con-
siderable distances perfectly easy
problem. Whether or not power as
generated at the mouths of collieries,
transformed into current and sent on "a
swift journey to distant places, can be
made generally commercial fact, this
new abolition of the laws of space is
certain with respect to the force of
flowing water. The enormous power
plant at Niagara Falls, the similar pro-
ject on foot at Snogualmie Falls, Wash
ington, which the citizens of Seattle be-
lieve will transform their city into the
Pittsburg of the Pacific slope; the plans
to convert into power the Genesee falls
at Rochester, N. Y; the falls of the
Passaic and the rapids of the Salt Ste
Marie--these are some of the notable
projects now in sight. Still more i'm
portant than this. just as the vast null
titude of small things surpass in bulk
the. volume of a few great things, is the
utilization of the countless minor
water powers in the east, the SOUTH and
some sections of the west. The aim is
not only to drive manufacturing plants
and incidentally light small villages as
well as larger towns, but to furnish
motive power for freight and passen-
ger railways. Where a good water
head occurs every few miles power sta
tions for roads of considerable length
are easily and economically supplied.
The road bed and equipment of such a
road are less than two thirds of the
cost as compared with the cost of
steam roads. Still more significant is
the fact that the expense of operation
is even more diminished. The loss of
power by induction will not average
more than twenty per cent. The loss
in transformation of fuel into energy
multiplies this by four.
Keen speculation in buying water
power is springing up. Electric rail
ways, paralIeling existing steam roads
and using either the trolley or the third
rail, are rapidly building in New Eng
land. New and hitherto impracticable
routes are under discussion. Similar
projects are agitating southern capital
lists. The practical side of thequestion
has passed experiment. 1t needs no
daring imagination to foresee vast re-
suits and changes in the centers and
methods of industrial distribution.
There is no outlook of mechanical pro.
gress more glowing. Great trunk lines
will probably continue to depend on
steam, but with the tremendous subsi-
diary mileage the presumption changes.
When Horace's Bandnsian fountain,
"more shining than glass;" without los
ing its sylvan beauty, drives mechanism
q hundred miles away most fascinat-
ing new page in the book of science
magic is at once opened.-Scientific
American