The Afro-American advance. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1899-19??, 1900-06-16
POWER FROM WATERFALLS.
The cstaraets OF the Great west
May BE Tanned go Good
Account.

/
great west which will in the future
make for its greatest advancement is
the undeveloped water power The
melting SHOWS on the SUBMITS Of The
lofty mountains rushing downward
with resistless force in the spring
form the headwaters of our mighty
rivers. To-day, says the Minneapolis
Times. he tourist views these eata-
raets and waterfalls amid seenes of
primesal grandeur and wiidness. In
the tomorrow of western progress
the tourist may see these mighty
forces chained aud harnessed. moving
the wheels Of industry and promoting
the good of new commonwealth. II
Is only in the eaHt that anything ike
substantial utilization of water
powers is apparent. In the west there
are but few rivers which do not offer
cheap aud practical water supply.
But the far west Is almost an un
known country yet. and capital. eS
cept in few isloated cases. has inI
vested little in enterprises Of his sort.
The first utilization OF this vast water
supply for power has almost invari-
ably been made by mining corpora
tions, but this represents only an in
finltesimal portion Of the latent forces.
few western cities like Minneapolis,
ST. Paul. Great Falls and Spokane,
have harnessed their rivers and are
forging TO he front.
The dweller In the west inhnling
the ozonic atmosphere Of that glori-
Gus region. is naturally an optimist.
lie cannot help it. But his optimism
Is justified by the past records Of that
region. which reveal no hating in It's
onward progress lie travels on the
finest railroads. he nves amid scenes
Of the greatest and grandest natural
beauty; he views the settlement and
growth OF new territories. In fact.
all that he sees and hears and
brcathes tend To make him optimistic
Therefore to him the vision readily
comes of transformation in this.
He Sees in "A future not distant, u
new field for his efforts. All this
power. now wasted and valuelesS. will
be made useful and will materially
conduce to- the wealth of thousands
of new citizens.
The Deschutes falls. 30 miles west
Of Prineyille, Ore. are wildly beauti-
full. though the sheer fall does not
compare with that Of many other
western cataracts. 4 popularity of
the Deschutes river is the very slight
yearly variation of only iG inches In
ifs height In some places the varia-
ton is not more than ten inches
Cyrus E. Babb. Of the United States
geological survey gives ms the accept
ed explanation of this that the winter
snow Of the Cascade mountains,
which supplies he water of this river.
owing to the peculiar alton 81
the soil. percolates into the ground.
and later finds It's way into the river
through springs.
Rainbow falls are six miles below
Great fails and three miles below
Hack Eagle falls. on the head Writers
Of the Missouri In Montana. These
falls are Is feet in height, aud will af-
ford many thousand horse power when
utilized.
Twin falls. in Idaho. are just above
the great Shoshone falls, in the Snake
river, The rugged aspect Of the coun-
try in this vicinity. It's wl.dness and
the tremendous force OF the twin cat
arncts make this a very impressive
scene. Owing Ia The inaeccssibility Of
these falls of the Snake. they are no.
often visited by the tourist, although
the Oregon Short Line runs within 80
miles of this spot.
The Nevada falls OF the Yosemite
valley are among the most beautiful
of the numerous waterfalls of the
western part of our continent The
water springs outward from the edge
of the PERCEPTIONS eliif and drops down
6l7 feet with mighty roar. The flow
over the falls is 35.lOO gallons per
minute