The Cairo bulletin., 1905-08-16
USING POWER OF
NIAGARA FALLS
NEARLY oNE-NlNTH OF NINE MIL
LION HORSE POWER BEING
UsED-coMETHING OF THE
ENORMOUS DEVELOPMENTS
THERE.

The Niagara RIVER, in lis course /
| from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. falls /
distance Of S27 feet A survey by
The United States engineers who
measured the flow of the river below
the falls shows that Il discharges 230.-
600 cubic feet of water per second |
I from one lake to the ctaer BY al
simple calculation it appears that in
/ its descent of q miles from lake TO
lake, Niagara river develops the equiv
alent Of abou. million theoretical
( horsepower. If the whole of this
/ go coo cubic feet of water and all Of
/ its 327-feot fan could be utilized in
/ hydraulie-electric power plants. it
mus not be supposed that 9 million
horse-pcwA would he available for
the various industries ;hat m sAt wish
TO use IT. As a. matter OF fact only
about AZ million horsep power would
be available the other so per cent of
the theoretical horsepower being con.
sumed in overcoming the roughness of
the river channel, froct'on in canals,
sluices. penstocks. draft-tubes. etc,
friction in the water turbines, and
losses n the process of electric gen
Grafton and distribution.
The fall of the river from the com
mencement of the caUaIacts, about
three-quarters of mile above the
Falls TO the river below the Falls is
about 210 feet Of which 80 feet oc-
ours in the Rapids and 100 feet In
the great Falls themselves. This Is
equivalent to million theoretical
| horse power. or say mmiIl'on horse
power available for industrial pur-
poses. Between the head of the
! whirlpool Rapids and the lower end
of the Whirlpool there Is another fall
of 90 feet. and ii is estimated that the
$4,000 cubic feet of water per sec
end. in its fall through this distance
fmest of wh oh Is included in the
stupendous Whirlpool Rapidsl, has
theoretical capacity which II trans.
formed into available power would
represent about IN million horse. pow
CT. The total energy developed By
Niagara river In its cour1e from just
above the upper rapids 10 below the
whirlpool is equal 10 about 71a million
theoret cal horsepower. or. If we al
low for losses by friction, electrical
generation, etc. il represents 3,I50.o00
horsepower that would be available
for use in the Industrial and for gener.
al power purposes.
At the present time, on both sides
of the Niagara river, there are in OPP
GRAFTON or under construction elcctri-
cal power plants whose combined
aorse- ID yer is about 100000 Il wc
include tie amount Of power for whic
charter rights have been granted the
total amount Of power which will be
developed at Niagara when the full
; limit of these charters has been reach
ed viii amount to over 100000 horse
power. In the Scientific American
Supplement Of March 3, 1900 appeared
a series Of illustrated articles describ-
ing the development that lad taken
place at Niagara at that date. They
. included the $4,000 horsepower plant
of the Niagara Power Company, and
the ,00G-horse-powcr plant of the
Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and
Z Manufacturing plant, which at that
date we're the cnly installations Of
! any note. So successful was the FIRST
Z Installation Of the Niagara Falls Pow
p cir Company. that second power sta
ton Of slightly larger size was com
menced, raising the total power devel
\ Eoped by that company to 10000 aorse
s power So quickly did these new ven
4 lures at Niagara establish their ggea
4 commercial value thar in the brie
space of seven years the total devel
opmsnt has Increased on the New
York side alone from $4,000 to 150,9Q'
horsepower,
= In the present issue we commence !
= series of art clcs on tho present con
ditions az Niagara, in which the vas
v enterprises which are being carries
+ through en- the Canadian side Of tn
river wll b. described and illustrates
I'm full detail The truly cnormou
scale on which the works have bee
u planned Is little understood and
q must come as a revelation TO many o
'e our readers.
It was inevitable the time should al
"a rive when the public would be rouse
II 10 protect Niagara Falls from the er
c.1 achments which were so rapidly b.
ing made upon It, and the fate Of bin
that were introduced at the last legi'
II lature seeking further CHARTER right
for the use Of the Niagara wafer II
1T dicates that the public Ii well able !
protect this splendid scenic featur
lie from the absolute extinction whic
threatens 10 overtake II " within tn
ic present generation. Scientific Amer
cay
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