Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1909-02-12
CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS.
LBy A. 8. Hardy. Letter No, 2, ]

lBy A. 8. Hardy, Letter No, 2,
The city of Niagara Falls had it's
first settlers about the year 1906, but,
being directly on the border, was sub
ject to tomahawk treatment by Indians
in British employment during the war
of 1872. Consequently it was not at
that time quite so attractive as pleas
ure and residence spot as at present.
The land on which the city is mainly To-
Gated was taken up by Col. Augustus
Porter, who served in the American
Army under Gen, Scott at I.undy's
Lane, just across the river, and which
the General declared in after years to
be the most stubborn fighting he ever
saw. A descendent of Col. Porter (Col.
Peter A. Porter) at present represents
this district in Congress.
This city is built along the banks of
the Niagara river, commencing at point
probably one-and-a-half miles above
the Falls, to like distance below them,
has population of SO, 900 andis having
remarkable growth. In 1892, which
was the date of incorporation and
birth of electric power here. the popu-
lation was l0,000 p. o. receipts $l3,-
055. 07; 1902, population 20, 900, P. o. re-
ceipts $53, 1864; 1905, popul&tion &c.
ASS, p. o. receipts $72, 592. "a; 1908, pop
ulation 3S, 000,P. o. receipts $l2O, ,2S5.S5.
Now this looks something like boom
town, but sensible consideration of
the following facts will show the reason
for its past and future growth.
There comes flowing each hour to
this city millions of horsepower
which can be harnessed and utilized
as needed, and which is furnished to
consumers cheaper than anywhere else,
as the following table of its cost in
other cities will show:
On a basis of 100 HIP. per month,
in Boston it would be $937.5O, PhiIa-
delphia $3.50. %, New York City $699. 81,
Chicago S629.43. Cleveland $559. so,
Pittsburg $419.62, Niagara Falls s144.17.
Then there are nine different rail-
road lines entering the city with
four splendid bridges across Niagara
River to accommodate our trade, and
still another is projected. 1t is also the
radiating point for the trade over the
Erie and Welland Canals and the Great
Lakes, and fifty million people of
this country and Canada live within 500
miles of this spot, and this area in
cludes the bulk of the material in this
country (excepting cotton) to be man
ufactured, and the following will show
that this sis most agreeable home for
the hundreds of immense manufacture
ing plants now in operation here and
projected.
We have n miles of improved streets;
IL miles of street railway; Y schools,
besides several colleges; ] university;
% churches; hospitals; ALP acres of
beautiful parks; SO daily mails; 60 miles
of sewerage facilities and more under
construction, and the output of its man.
ufactured goods for 1908 was over
twenty millions. When the great Lord
Kelvin, who more than any other man
met and overcame the difficulties in lay
ing and working the first Atlantic ca
bles, besides a number of other great
scientific triumphs, was here some years
ago, he emphatically declared that the
natural advantages of this section
would make of it the greatest manufac-
turing city of the world. Add to this
the fact that these advantages are To-
Gated in the midst of the most mag.
nificient scenery of the world, which il
seen by an annual average OF 800, 00(
visitors.
The power houses of the Niagars
Falls Power Co. are located about l.:
miles above the falls, on opposite sides
of canal 119 feet wide and IL fee
deep. These buildings are built Ia
feet deep, ten stories in the ground ant
three above, are fitted with 81 genera
/ tors of 5000 HIP. each, and each gen
, orator weighs 78 1-2 tons. These worl
on the top end of steel shaft, las fee
1 long, IL inches in diameter, on the bottom
! end OF which is the turbine driving wheel
each wheel being fed separately b.
, the water through steel penstock l..
= feet in diameter, which receives waite
) from the canal above and delivers
' direct on the wheel 145 feet below
These immense generators revolve 25
t times per minute, and yet so fine is tn
8 machinery and so perfectly adjuste
that hardly tremor is felt. Visitor
are sometimes admitted, but all ar
most careful not to monkey with switch
: es, wires, ETC., as touch on the wron
$ thing would surely cause sudden los
of interest i'll what is going on.
e This company is not only doing a
i sorts of work here and in Buffalo, {
: miles distant, and in other towns an
a cities, running street cars, lighting an
heating houses. cooking food, furnish