The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-07-25

''L-A an TO HARNESS THEM

= J
l the Work Has Begun--Will Fur
81 nish Power for Thousands
Of Factories.
London special: Cecil Rhodes hat
& q notion that some day, long after hi
4 had gone to his rest beneath the bowld
U ers on the Matoppo hills South Africa
would rise UP 10 compete with the
I'M nted States, just as the United State;
# hag risen to make Europe hustle" Il
whether or not that dream was toe
A Die Tor Its foundation of facts, it is Ger.
hahn that one branch Of It's support is
4 about to be erected, and that the re-
4 suits are going to be of far reaching
interest and Importance.
$5 1t VIII not be permissible to call At
Z rica the dark continent when it has q
II Dig electric light plant in the mid
q DIE Of 1T. Yet that Is what it is going
q 70 have. The plan is not merely q
cream, for within q few weeks an ex-
petition sets out from London to make
! an actual beginning on the work of es-
;stablishing at Victoria Falls, on the
8Iambesi river, an electric power plant
\ that VIII In time put to blush the ia
nous turbines at Niagara Falls, just as
4 Victoria Falls themselves greatly ex-
coed in height. width and grandeur
those at Niagara.
IN Is to be a dramatic sort of inva-
sion. for the falls thunder out. today
i on the silence Of an almost unbroken
Jungle; hippopotami and crocodiles
bask undisturbed In the Zanbesi and
lions stalk in the tall grass. To the
Barotsi,. the native tribe which in
habits the surrounding country, the
! great cataract Is a god, and they pray
to ~ and offer up burnt sacrifices for
Its propit tation. And now the white
J man is coming to put the black mans
god into harness and make him do the
4 work. rk of more than 100, 600 horses.
1T Was an American Idea.
q r was Professor George Forbes, an
American engineer, who has taken a
prominent part In the "harnessngp OF
the Niagara falls, who first suggested
that the 1aillions Of horse power which
had been going to waste In the heart
OF Africa should be put to practical
Use. One night five years ago he and
Alfred Haggard, a brother OF the au-
thor OF King Solomon's Mines" who
had Just come back from Africa, sat In
the Athenaeum club In London when
the explorer told the electrician about
the great falls in the Iambesi that
Livingstone had been the first white
Ilan to see, and that made the wonder.
OF America Seem a dwarf. He told
him how the river, more than mile
wide. filings itself over the edge OF
gorge 400 feet deep and then zlg-zags
AM way through . rocky canyon twen-.
w miles long.
Why not make that cataract gener-
nte electricity and carry the power
down to Rhodesia ?,' suggested the
American engineer, and Mr.. Haggard
Jumped at the idea, ai. 81
1t didA, take long to form a syndi-
cate, called the Africa Trust, to push
the scheme. and Professor Forbes and
MIR. Eiaggard were sent down to
Rhodesia to see Cecil Rhodes about,
getting concession from the chartered
Eventually Mr.. Rhodes
thought 80 well Of the project that he
went into partnership with the Africa
Trust, but In the beginning he gave
them the twenty -flve-year concession
they asked for. The Colossus placed
no rsstrin tions On the company as to
hut made It condt tional that the beauty
or the falls should not be injured
(which was characteristic OF him.
Five Millions to Start With
Since that time Mr.. Charles Metcalfe..
the famous engineer, has visited the
falls and reported fayorably on the
plnn OF stharnassing' them, md the
sA frica Trust and Chartered company.
have Joined forces ana are now ready
so spend SIS 900, 900 on the installations
GAG Gofnnission OF electrical engineers,
Siiieh may Include two or three Amer
leans, iE now preparing to leave Eng
land to make all the arrangements for
puttsng In the plant as soon as the ma
ehinery can reach the falls. That will
be when Rhodes Cape to Cairo rail-
way, & over VIII cfi the material will have
fa be sent. lie built up to the great cat
aract. The line is now laid for forty.
miles north OF ulaway 10, but the falls:
lte 227b miles further on, and probably
that distance will not be covered much
before the end OF next year.
~ The country s1yer whfch the rail-
road viii have Ito he built before II
reaches The falls As about the most Diff
Acult Its engin eers have had to tackle
yet-a mass of hills and holloWs Of
hard basaltic rock, like that which
forms the canyon Of the Zamhesi. m
tho syampy land near by malaria is
rampant, and the. dense forests which.
stretch away tn the direction Of civil
cation are the deadly :stsetse, fiy,si
happiest hunting ground.
rhe men who are ia build the power
plant at the toi'ta falls probably
sS III lists AS maj close from Wild
beasts as those who have been work
a1lg on the Cape to Cairo railroad ana.
teiegraph file hay done, but they are
not likely TO have any trouble with
ma Ives. The Barotsi, who live
about The fails, have been In touch
With the whit E men so long now that
they RE- eifllost rid OF their old WAYS.
They issd 70 be one OF the most blood
IfiifSt hes In A frtca, but mission
ardss Il rom india have worked among
HE sueh good purpose that they
HI sss left OFF f1gh ting with their neigh