Bisbee daily review., 1907-04-07
FORTUNES OF TAg FUTURE.
Win Be Gained by t1arnessing Water
 Wind and Sunshine.

! It is the hidden power in the air, 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 mining en- gineer oA world wide reputation. The value of water power, wind power and sun power as commercial factors is indeed just beginning to be realized.
 It Is estimated that throughout the world about 2.000.000 electrical horse power is generated today from water falls and streams. More than one quarter of this great horsepower is generated in the United States, with Canada second and Switzerland third
 At the lowest estimate 1t would re- quire some 25.000, 900 tons of coal to generate 2.0OO.0OO horsepower contin- uously by the ordinary steam engine, and allowing s ton for the cost of coal, this would represent a saving of s125 .00e, ,0OC
 There are thousands of streams cap able of producing from 100 to 50,000 or more horsepower; a few others. like Niagara, the Victoria Falls in South Africa and innumerable falls of the Mississippi, the Colorado and Mis- souri, with powers in this direction that seem unlimited.
 If every part of the mighty torrent of Niagara was harnessed it would easily generate sufficient electrical power to do all the work of this coun- try. But Niagara is no greater than Victoria Falls, in the heart of Africa some say not so great in its unmeas- ured possibilities.
 The value of a stream for power purposes depends upon the amount of water flowing and also upon it's head. that is, the height of its fall, whether in a sudden cataract or rushing down slope: and so the small mountain stream which tumbles noisily down steep slopes and gullies is often worth more than the broad, sluggish river that flows through low, level stretches of country. One cubic foot of water a second may equal in energy the to- tai stored energy of many tons of coal.
 What is even more wonderful, a stream can be made to operate an cleo tric pump which in turn will pump the stream itself to levels where ordinary irrigatior ditches could not conduct it.
 In other words. the water could be used twice. first for generating cleo tric power, and second for irrigating our farms. Electricity could be made to light and heat the homes of the city and country population and run threshing machines and reapers oT the farmer, as well as turn the wheels of the cars and factories.
 The use Of wind power for me chanical purposes is older than that of any other But windmill for cleo trical 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 pur- pose of lighting his house and labo- ratory.
 In Europe commercial windmill cleo trical plants have been built. Once such a plant, established at Wittkeil, in Schieswig lights the town and an other windmill plant at Hamburg has been successfully used in running a factory. windmill electric plant at Boyle Hall. Ardsley, in England. has a capacity for running 1l0 lights in winter.
 The windmill electric plant found a new use in Nansen's polar trips. A complete windmill electric plant was installed on his ship Tram. 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 wiLhers up crops within a single week the wind velocity in summer is constant and high. They are hot. dry winds, but their velocity is sufficient tn keep thousands of windmills in steady op- era tior night and day.
 They can pump up the water from tho underground reservoirs. and after being used for developing electrical energy it is distributed through irrigat- ine ditches 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 hundreds of acres of fertile gardens. On the Cali fornia coast electrical pumps have raised the value of land from a few dollars sn acre to S200 and $500 an acre. There is room for a million electrical windmill plants in the West. and with their installation there would be secured from the wind Q new wealth valued at millions of dollars.
 Electric power from sunlight ap- hears more wonderful than harness ine the stream or wind. Solar en- zines for operating pumps have been in use in different parts of the earth for several years now. and their. value in warm climates where the number of clear days of sunshine averages high must steadily increase.
 One of the most succe essfui of these solar machines is located near Los Angeles to irrigate fruit land. An automatic stand carrying great reflec- tors follows the course of the sun as regularly as the best telescope ever made, and the suns rays are thus re Sanitary Plumbing