Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-05
LIGHT FLOOD
ON NIAGARA
BEAUTIFUL FALLS BLAZE WITH
COUNTLESS HUEs
ELECTRIC PLANT ILLUMINEs
sHRoupEp SCENE
II Is Advertisement, to Be Sure, but
No Patent Medicines Can
Mar It's Great
Wonders

NIAGARA FALLS, Oct. ALI thu
folks of Niagara Falls crossed the rive
into Canada tonight to see their grea
waterfalls illuminated by Ills, 100000 can
die power. The figures sound big, bu
they are accurate and in keeping with al
the other statistics concerning Niagara.
The procession over the border was led
Douglass, mayor of the city of Niagars
Falls. He brought about the illumination
as an experiment. If his people approve
the New York town will buy the plant
for 500, 900 and will maintain 1t as a mu-
nicipal enterprise at a cost of about $300(
a year. To be perfectly frank, it is to be
a great spectacular advertisement for
Niagara Falls and the nearby places on
the Canadian side.
Theoretically, 1t may be all wrong to
illuminate Niagara Falls Merely to hear
of such a thing WILL no doubt, cause re-
sentiment on the part of most normal
persons who object to advertising signs
painted on the rocks, but to see 1t instead
of jusE hearing about 1t is an entirely
different matter. Even a John Huskin.
who hated railroads and all other modern
contrivances, would probably be surprised
into an exclamation of wonder and adj
miration at the sight of Niagara In the
limelight.
w. D'A. Ryan, the Illuminating, engineer
of the General Electric company, is the
man who has done this thing. He evil
IDENTIFY anticipated objection, and ex-
planned tonight that he mad never lost
sight of Niagara as it is, and hadn't for
one moment thought he could improve
upon it. He simply sought to continue
natures great show after dark. He prom
ises, and so does Mayor Douglass that
no brand of whisky or patent medicine
shall ever be flashed upon the cascade or
worked out in colored lights upon the
clouds of mist.
The Night Cheated
So, after all, the illumination does not
cheaper Americas great Niagara. 1t
cheats the night by turning it
into day all up and down the gorge. 1t
gives wonderful tints to the falls them
selves and to the vapor above them, but
no more wonderful than the sun puts into
or than artists try to put into
Ryan, the designer, modestly remarked:
I'VE can't beat the sun. All our candle
light
But the sun is impartial and illuminates
everything. The sensational feature of
the night light is that it is concentrated
on the foaming waters of the American
and Canadian falls, making them stand
out dazzlingly distinct against the black
ness of the grim rock cliffs between and
on the outer sides.
The batteries of illumination consist of
fifty powerful searchlights equipped with
both 3O-inch and 60-inch projectors and
operated by electrical engines of 300
horsepower. Their combined light, is the
equivalent of that of 1,1150OO,000 candles,
and the fifty rays, when thrown up to-
gether in a vertical column, makes a shaft
of light visible for 125 miles.
All the rest of the plant consists OF
color "scintillators," which are circular
frames surrounding disks of colored gela-
tine, which give to the shafts of light all
the colors that can be imagined, and
some, perhaps, which can't be imagined
unless person is standing just above the
gorge, literally and figuratively drinking
in the mist of many hues.t
Batteries on Canadian Side
The batteries are mounted below the
falls on the Canadian side. Those on the
low ground near the rivers edge throw
their beams up to meet the falling foam,
while the batteries on the heights plunge
their rays into the crests of the two cas-
cades, SO that, all told, half a million
square feet of tumbling, roaring water are
illuminated. Water statistics in keeping
with those fabulous candlepower figures
show that 1o,2S4,S79 gallons pass over the
falls every second.
At o'clock, the hour set for turning
on the lights, the balconies and veran-
das of the Clifton house, on the Cana
dian side of the river, and all the walks
and terraces of Queen Victoria park
were crowded with onlookers, who
numbered we'll up into the tens of
thousands. AS many more thronged all
the vantage places on the American
side. They came from as far away as
Toronto on the north. and Rochester
and Syracuse on the east. Even the
attraction of "Old Home Week in Buff
falo didn't prevent many trainloads
coming up from that town.
Perhaps the most complimentary
thing that can be said of the spectacle
is that it was witnessed in dead silence
From all those thousands there was NO
acclaim, no suggestion of a cheer. They
simply gazed and wondered and ad-
mired, speechless The roar of the
falls was the only accompaniment for
the show.
Foam Wall White
In the beginning all the power OF
the fifty searchlights was concentrated
upon the American Falls and the Brida,
Veil. The color showed at fret, and
nothing could be a purer white thar
that huge wall of foam plunging 15i
feet down the face of rock. Between
the big falls and the smaller cascade
to the right, known as the Bridal Veil
the naked rock stood out gray anS
grim with every crevice revealed by thu
fearful glare to the watchers across
the river.
Then broad hand of the white foam
suddenly turned to red, with rose
| tinted cloud of mist above it. minglinf
with the white vapor. Gradually thu
red rays suffused the whirlpool below
and then their light made its way vi
| the river, against the rush of wate
and climbed into the smother of th'
Horse seshoe.
Somebody said "a river of blood" bu
| the remark wasn't as obvious as 1
might seem to have been. The effec
was too beautiful to suggest anything
horrible.