Daily camera., 1900-07-16
MAY USE CATARACTS.
Power Now Going to Waste Night
Be Made Profitable.
WestsRn Progress Nay DevsloD q
New Force for the Advance
nont Of Trade and In.
dustry.

great west which will in the future
make for its greatest advancement il
the undeveloped water power. The
relting SHOWS on the SUBMITS Of the
lofty mountains rushing downward
it'll resistless force in the spring
form the headwaters of our mighty
rivers. To-day, says the Minneapolis
Times, the tourist views these cata-
racts and waterfalls amid scenes of
primeval grandeur and wildness. In
the tomorrow of western progress
the tourist may see these mighty
forces chained and harnessed, moving
the wheels of industry and promoting
the good of new commonwealths. 1t
is only in the east that anything like
substantial utilization of the water
are but few rivers which do not offer
cheap and practical water supply.
lut the far west is almost an un-
known country yet, and capital, ex-
c.pt in a few isloated cases, has in
vested little in enterprises of this sort
HS 81 uOlllLd IlOu vi tlllS NdSJ "dtcT
supply for power has almost invari-
ably been made by mining corpora
tons, but this represents only an in
initesimal portion of the latent forces.
A few western cities like Minneapolis,
st. Paul, Great Falls and Spokane,
have harnessed their rivers and are
forging to the front.
The dweller in the west, inhaling
the ozonic atmosphere of that g]ori-
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 halting in its
onward progress. He travels on the
finest railroads, he lives amid scenes
of the greatest and grandest natural.
beauty; he views the settlement and
growth of new territories. In fact,
all that be sees and hears and
breathes tend to make him optimistic.
Therefore to him the vision readily
comes of transformation in this.
He sees. in a future not distant, a
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 Prineville, Ore. are wildly beauti-
full, though the sheer fall does not
compare with that of many other
western oataracts. A peculiarity of
the Deschutes river is the very slight
yearly variation of only 16 inches in
it's height. In some places She varia
ton is not more than ten inches
Cyrus c. Babb. of the United States
geological survey, gives as the accept
ed explanation of this that the winter
snow of the Cascade mountains,
which supplies the water of this rive-,
owing to the peculiar formation of
the soil, percolates into the ground,
and later finds its way into the river
through springs.
Rainbow falls are six miles below
Great falls and three miles below
Black Eagle falls, on the head waters
of the Missouri in Montana. These
falls are 25 feet in height, and will af-
ford many thousand horsepower 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 wi.dness and
the tremendous force of the twin cat
aracts make this very impressive
scene. Owing to the inaccessibility OF
these falls of the Snake, they are not
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 precipitous cliff and drops down
GIT feet with mighty roar. The flow
over the falls is 35,1OO gallons per
minute.