The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-11-27
POWER PROBLEM OF THE FUTURE,

y CASSIER'S MAGAZINE for November L. Z.
| NendenhaH has an interesting article on Inc
Future Power Problem" There IS much food Tor
thought in what Mr. Nendeuba about the passing
OF fuel as a source Of energy The coal mines OF the
United States the oil and gas fields not liable to
become exhausted in this generation, or perhaps Tor
many generations to come. There Is occasion Tor
worry among the workers of today. but they may help
their descendants to solve the problem.
Ii will not do to take literally the admomuon;
Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the
morrow shall take thought for the things OF ITSELF
The germ of worry has its way into every human
brain, and anti-toXne that has yet been invented
will drive it out Therefore spite of the remoteness
Of the time when fuel must be abandoned BY the run
ming out of the supply, what Mr.. Mendenhall has to
say viii be accorded thoughtful attention.
He points to the we'll known fact that up to the
present time fuel has been used almost exclusively Tor
the generation of power Enormous drafts on the en-
cv reserve of the world have been cashed at the coal
banks The writer thinks it improbable that any more
great coal mines, oil gas fields will be added to the
list we already have He thinks it Is reasonable to as
sumo that the supply of fuel is known, and its
limit be figured. 1t has always been case OF
taking away without putting anything back
Mr.. Mendenhall reviews the water power situation
He SAYS it Is coming into and more, but he
doubts whether there is enough water power IN the
world take the place of other methods of generation
As an illustration he cites Niagara falls, the greatest
water power in the world Over those falls 100000
cubic feet of pass every minute the horsepower
being in the ncighborhood of 100000.
This goes on night and day, and it has been figured
that it is equal to SoO0000O men working ten hours
day That is more than the entire population of the
United States, and it would seem if 1t should be
enough to move the world. But it is not All this
power cannot be taken from Niagara, but even if 1t
could it would amount to only onetweth of the energy
derived from coal mines alone.
Experiments have been made in securing power
from the SUM- but this has many disadvantages. Even
under the most favorable circumstances the tests made
have not been sufficiently successful TO warrant the
belief that great good come from them. Mr.. Men
denhal does think it Is worth considering seriously
The solution Of the problem in the writer's opinion
lies In Harvesting the tides.
This has not been done satisfactorily, but the time
may come when 1t viii be accomplished Here is
limitless of supply, unrvaled amount of
crgy. If it could be tapped successfully, says Mr.
Mendenha. it might be drawn upon indefinitely, and
every demand might be satisfied. In conclusion Mr.
Mcndenha makes this significant statement:
The abandonment of fuel the chief source Of
energy to come; its use IS accompanied by many
well recognized and harmful disadvantages and it is
not improbable that the time viii come when viii
look upon the of coal much as we now look upon
the stone age of our ancestors"