Amador ledger., 1907-04-26
FORTUNES OF FUTURE.
By Harvesting Water, Wind and
Sunshine.

uo. uUr ulamOn0S, elCner-tnat VIII
make the great fortunes of the future.
1t is the hidden puwer in the air, the
WIND, the water, and the sunshine
which Will build up the wealth of the
next few centuries
This statement was made not long
ago, says st. Nicholas, by a mining
engineer of world wide reputation.
1he value of water power, wind power
and sun power as commercial factors
is indeed just beginning to be real
ized.
1t is estimated that throughout the
world about 1000, 900 electrical horse
power is generated to-day from water
falls and streams. More than one
quarter of this great horse power is
generated in the United States, with
Canada second and Switzerland third.
At the lowest estimate it would re-
quire some $4,000, 900 tons of coal to
generate 100000 horsepower con-
tInuously by the ordinary steam en-
gine, apd allowing S. ton for the
cost of coal, this would represent a
saving of Sl25, 600, 700.
There are thousands of streams cap
able of producing from 100 to $4,000
OF more horsepower, few others
like Niagara, the Victoria falls in
South Africa and innumerable fails
of the Mississippi, the Colorado and
the Missouri, with powers in this
direction that seem unlimited. 1t
every part of the mighty torrent of
Niagara was harnessed it would easily
generate sufficient electrical power to
do all the work of this country. But
Niagara is no greater than Victoria
falls, in the heart of Africa-some say
not so great in its unmeasured posi-
bilities.
The value of stream for power
purposes depends upon the amount of
water flowing and also upon its head
that is, the height Of its fall,
whether in a sudden cataract, or in
rushing down slope--aEd so the
small mountain stream which tumbles
noisily down steep slopes and gullles
Is often worth more than the broad.
sluggish river that flows through low,
level stretches of country. One cubic
foot of water second may equal in
energy the total stored energy of
many tons of coal.
What is even more wonderful, a
stream can be made to operate an
electric pump, which in turn will
pump the stream itself to levels
where ordinary irrigation bitches
could not conduct it.
In other words, the water could be
used twice, first for generating
electric power, and second for iIriga-
ting our farms. Electricity could be
made to light and heat the homes of
the city and country population and
run the threshing machines and
Ieapers of the farmer, as we'll as turn
the wheels of the cars and factories.
The use of wind power for mechan-
lcal purposes is older than that of
any other. But windmill for cleo
tricai generation is one of the most
recent Of accomplishments. The first
windmill electric plant ever installed
in this or any other country was built
privately by DR.. Charles f. Brush.
the inventor of the arc lamp, in 1889,
at his home in Cleveland for the puI-
pose of lighting his house and labora-
tory.
In Europe commercial windmill
electrical plants have been built.
One such plant, established at Witt
keil, in SchleswIg: lights the town,
and another windmill plant at Ham,
burg has been successfully used in
running factory. A windmill cleo
trio plant at Boyle Hall, Ardsiey, in
England, has capacity for running
ITO lights in winter.
The windmill electric plant found
new use in Nansen's polar trips. A
complete windmill electric plant was
installed on his ship Fran, and IN
the northern latitudes electricity was
thus obtained for lighting the ship
during the long arctic nights. In
that northern latitude, where coal
and other fuels are more precious
than gold, the electric windmill is a
God-send, and in the future nearly
all polar exploring ships will be
equipped with this new invention.
In the great prairie states where
dry weather in summer often withers
up crops within single week, the
wind Velocity in summer is constant
and high. They are hot, dry winds.
but their velocity is sufficient to
keep thousands of windmills in steady
operation night and day. They can
pump up the water from the under
ground reservoirs, and after being
used for developing electrical energy
it IS distributed through irrigating
bitches for feeding the crops with
much needed moisture.
One windmill electrical plant
should irrigate ten acres all through
the summer, and a score of these
could convert the desert into hun
dreds OF acres of fertile gardens. On
the California coast electrical pumps
have raised the value of land from a
few dollars an acre to $500 and $500