The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-23

, being so high in the air, and the scientists claim that the percentage of waste dur ing the transmission will be exceedinly small. They say that they cah probably send the electricity at a pressure of
 150,00O volts, which is much greater, as I
 understand 1t, than has yet been attained by any working plant in the United States. The current of some of the Mi agara companies is sent at a voltage of 6OO00, and this is two and one-half times that.
 In the Zembes Gorge.
 i One of the remarkable features of the
 falls here is the mighty gorge into which the floods pour. This gorge is over 40
 miles long, and the water within it falls
 so rapidly that an enormous power can ] be developed outside the falls themselves. 1 Within 15 miles there is fall of 700 feet; and a 1000-foot fall could be made within 1 about 20 miles, Indeed 1t is said that
 a canal which would cost comparatively 1 little to construct, could be so made that
 it would develop one million horsepower 1 This is almost four times as much as ! the total horsepower now used in the | Transvaal
 Where the Power Will Go. As to the utilization of the power to be
 developed by Victoria falls, it will com prise the greater part of South Central Africa. Victoria falls is just about 6OU miles from Beira on the Indian ocean. It i Is little more than 600 miles from : Johannesburg and a like distance away ] from the great copper mountains of the 1 Congo Free State. Within that radius would come more than thousand miles
 of tue cape to Cairo railroad, all of the 2O0O miles of the railroads of Rhodesia, | and large portion of the mines of the l Iransvaal. It would comprise hundreds 1 of small gold mines in Rhodesia and the
 great deposits of iron which lie between ] the Zambesi and the Congo Free State.
 If the experiments for smelling by elec-
 tricity which are now under way in this
 country and Europe are Successful ne
 ore from these mines may be turned into ! pig iron by the power from the falls. They will also be especially valuable to
 the great copper syndicate which has 1 been recently organized to develop the
 vast deposits just over the boundary of
 the Congo Free State.
 | AS it Is now, the Transvaal is said to be paying something like $15O0G,000 an-
 nually for power, and large revenue ! should come to the company from the | gold mines alone. The initial plant, which l is to produce 5O,0o0 horsepower. will be all used by the Rand, and other plants will speedily follow The success of the
 whole undertaking will depend on whcth- ! CT the power can be successfully and ! prohtably carried 10 & distance of GOO l miles, or abuot as far a.. from New York 1 to Cleveland
 Reserve Stations.
 1 One very serious matter in connection With the project is the possible breakage of the wires, but this will be avoided by 1 a reserve turbine steam station of 10000 horsepower capacity. This will furnish power to supply a temporary breaking ! down of the main plant and there are 1 other projects under way which will fur n1sh additional power in such cases. As to the aggregate possibilities of the talls, l quote the figures that are given : here. There is no doubt but that the force , is gledter than South Africa can use for century to come. As for myself, l doubt ! the statement that it so far surpasses f Niagara, for the reason that there are 1 times of the year when the Zambesi is low, and a waterfall of this kind can only { be gauged by its minimum flow. The , zambes can certainly furnish several 1 million horsepower year in and year out. Will 1t Injure the Falls? 1 One of the great questions in connec- l ton with Niagara is whether the taking
 away of the water for electricity will eventually destroy the falls. It is claimed <, that the volume of water flowing over the
 American falls is already much less and , that the total diversion, when all the f, works now operating or under construc- tion are carried out will be equal to about 40 per cent of the minimum dls- charge of the Niagara river. At present | the plants are said to have a capacity Of about fifty thousand cubic feet of water
 per second. whereas the normal discharge