Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1905-02-23
DEMAND FOR WATER POWER
Diminishing Coal Supplies Of the
World Hasten the Era Of
Water Falls.

lasted power OF WATERWAYS, W1lcn lies
at mans disposal in every billy or noun
famous country, turned to use in fur
nishing electric energy. The power Of
waterfalls, writes Garrett p. Serviss, in
Success Magazine, is driving the great
est OF all tunnels, the double Simplon
bore, through the Alps; it is sending
another tunnel, by devious ways, behind
precipices and under glaciers to the sum-
NIT Of the snowy Jungfrau; and plan
is now being perfected for constructing
once more with the aio of waterfalls,
and to be run by them, when finished,
a rival to the Simplon road, which shall
cross the Alps between Turin and Mar
tigny.
Everybody knows what Niagara is do
ing. and how the waterfalls of Califor-
MIA, and Of other mountainous states,
are being harnessed.
A. A. Campbell Swinton, at the re-
cent meeting of the British Association
for the Advancement of Science, pre-
sented accurate statistics. which he had
personally collected, showingthatnoless
than $50 ,000-horse power derived from
waterfalls is now being utilized in varl-
GUS parts of the world for the develop
ment of electric energy. Of this great
total. which he believed did not repre-
sent the full truth, for he thought 1t
probable that the real aggregate is
2, 600, O0O-horse power, nearly one-third
must be credited to the United States
There is one feature of this utilization
of water power in place of steam power,
which Mr.. Swinton brought out, and
which is seldom thought of, and that
is the saving of coal which it effects.
On the basis of 2,0OO,0 00-horse power
derived from waterfalls, this saving
amounts to nearly u ,000, 900 tons OF coal
per year.
But the maximum amount of water
power that is available has not yet
begun to be approached in actual, utiH-
Zation. so that the annual saving Of coal
must become larger and larger every
year. This, in view of the increasing
difficulty of working many coal mines,
owing to the great depths to which
they have penetrated, and in view of the
approaching of some of the most IA
nous fields, becomes a highly important
consideration Every little while the
world is reminded, more or less sensa-
tionally, of coming coal famine. The
fact is that coal, of the better grades.
possesses so many advantages and con-
yeniences as fuel that the earth's sup
plies of it should be conserved for hui
man use as long as possible. Men of
science have more than once sounded
warning against the waste of coal,
Or coal is the gift of a geologic age
which cannot be renewed. Thus water
falls, by enabling us to spare coal, are
performing an indirect service only less
important than their direct service in
supplying electric power. But for them
the growing use of electricity would
soon make a drain upon the coal mines
of the most serious character.
The era of waterfalls seems certainly
to have dawned. Every great cataract
will become focus of industry, just as
every great river valley has always been
a center of population, and Prof. Brig
hams prediction that Niagara is to be
the industrial center Of America may
be fulfilled within generation.