Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-09-25
1. Ugh | ING NIAGARA.
Famous Falls Ablaze With Count.
less Hues by Night

| y sQttiVNo CLIO tf10ioISE rHiIaA GVhPiA-E
less Hues by Night
GRAND SPECTACLE or COLOR
Electric Plant illunnines a Scene
Hitherto shrouded After Sunset.
Huge Searchlishts of Many Colors
| Enhance Beauty Of Nature's Great
Show.
! All the folks of Niagara Falls crossed
| the river into Canada the other night
to see their great water falls illumi-
mated by Lis ,OOO, 900 candle power.
The figures sound big, but they are ac-
curate and in keeping with all the
other statistics concerning Niagara,
says Niagara Falls correspondent OF
the New York Post. 4 .5. 55s
The procession over the border was
led, at least figuratively, by Anthony
lC. Douglass, mayor of the city Of Nj
agara Falls. He brought about the IL
| Elimination as an experiment. If his
people approve, the New, York town
will buy the plant for 100000 and
| will maintain It as municipal enter
prise at a cost Of about $4,000 year.
To be perfectly frank, 1t is to be a
| great spectacular advertisement for
| Niagara Falls and the nearby places
on the Canadian side, .4s
4 :
w. D'A. Ryan, the Illuminating en-
! gineer Of the General Electric COM
pany, is the man who has done this
| thing. He evidently anticipated OBJ
lection and explained that he had
never lost sight Of Niagara as 1t Is and
| hadn't for one moment thought he
could Improve upon it. He simply
sought to continue natures great show
after dark. He promises, and SO does
Mayor. Douglass, that no brand Of
whisky or patent medicine shall ever
| be flashed upon the cascade orsworked
/, out in colored lights upon the clouds
| Of mist. So, after all, the Illumination
does not cheaper Americas great Nj
agara. 1t merely cheats the night by
turning it into day all up and down
! the gorge. 1t gives wonderful tints to
! the falls themselves and to the vapor
| above them. The sensational feature
/ Of the night light Is that it is con-
centrated on the foaming waters Of the
American and Canadian falls, making
them stand out dazzlingly distinct
against the blackness Of the grim rock
cliffs between and on the outer sides.
The batteries Of illumination consist
of fifty powerful search1ights equipped
/ with both thirty inch and sixty inch
projectors and operated BY electrical
1 engines Of 800 horsepower. Their COM
4 bined light is the equivalent Of that Of
1,115, COO, 900 candles, and the fifty rays,
/ when thrown up together in q vertical
! column, make shaft OF light visible
for 125 miles.
4 All the rest OF the plant consists of
color "scintiIlators,n which are circular
frames surrounding disks Of colored
/ gelatine, which give to the shafts Of
light all the colors that can be imag-
/ med and some perhaps which can't
be imagined unless a person is stand
ing just above the gorge, literally and
fguratively drinking In the mist Of
1 many hues. 4
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 fall
| ing foam, while the batteries on the
heights plunge their rays into the
crests Of the two cascades, SO that, ali
I 4<sl,J
tumbling roaring water is Illuminated.
At s 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
4 park were crowded with Snlookers,
who numbered well up into the tens Of
thousands. As many more thronged
all the vantage places on the American
side. K. II
II Perhaps the most complimentary
I thing that can be said of the spectacle
4 is that it was Witnessed In dead ST.
lence. From all those thousands there
was no acclaim, no suggestion Of a
cheer. They simply gazed and won
i dered and admired, speechless. The
4 roar Of the falls was the only accom-
/. paniment for the show.
!. In the beginning all the power Of the
j, fifty searchlights was concentrated
upon the American falls and the Bridal
/! Veil. No color showed at first, and
nothing could be a purer white than
that huge wall Of foam p1unging 151
i feet down the face Of rock. Between
/ the big falls and the smaller cascade I'd
\. the right, known as the Bridal Veil, the
naked rock stood out gray and grim
j, with every crevice revealed by the
fearful glare to the watchers across
the river.
Then q broad band Of the white
!; foam suddenly turned to red, with q
\ rose tinted cloud OF anist above Il
mingling with the white vapor. Grad
i ually the red rays suffused the whiri