The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1909-03-12
U MATER PIONEER
Development, In AIl >obao, Ind,
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tine aud from ihr KashmIt valley
IT. india e. tbc outlet ~ Victoria
MAMA IN Attlea And thrf bach NJ
Thrift afeumoute with ihe statement
that coal wili be- exhausted early ~
the nest century aud tha, mineral
oil and natural pna vill Vanish with
the coal
Amid al This rtueuoaii,ailur and
arguing arises host of questions
about this water power which is to
keep us from freezing iu the nest
century. to turn The wheels OF our
Industries to prepare the food and
20 run our vehicles
Every stream Of running water
from the trout brook sporting
through the farm meadows to the
largest rivers, IL capable of produce
ing more or less power. A hundred
years ago, when steam power was
still I'm its infancy, water-power was
quite extensively developed In this
country but The steam engine, with
cheap wood and coal fuel quickly
reached the practical stage and the
| ovor-shot and under-shot water
| wheels were abandoned. Up 10 few
years ago IT was not practical to de
velop most water-power because
| this power had to be utilized on the
spot and very naturally the very
best waterfalls were located in the
wilderness, scores of miles away
| from the seaports, the railroads and
| the cities which needed It. But the
, invention of the electric transform
er changed all this and made II pos
sible TO transmit this energy for
hundreds of miles without serious
| loss.
The power OF water is greater
than any one without experience
can imagine. For many Of us have,
when In swimming, struck the wat
err sharp blow with the flat OF the
hand, or, when learning to dive,
struck the water flat instead or
head first only to learn that the H.
| ouid offered considerable resistance.
A stream from hreman's hose
viii knock n man down. The jet
| from nozzle In placer mining In
| the west eats away large piece or
land In a day and toys with great
boulders as II they We're pebbles,
There Is a story OF an eastern
| blacksmith who went west and made
u bet that he could knock n hole
through the Jet Of one OF those noe
zlos with slodge hammer He Int
ed his arms, swung the sledge and
came down on the ten inch stream
with force that would have dented
an anvil But the Jet, never pcne-
| trated, whisked the massive ham
mer out OF the blacksmith's hands
aud tossed II several hundred feet
away into the debris OF gold bear
Ing gravel beneath crumbling elm,
There Ia a power plant near Du-
range, Colo, whore u United States
cavalrymnn one day thought he had
an easy Job In cutting n two-inch
stream with his sword He made a
| valiant attack. The result was that
his sword was shivcrcd In two and
his wrist broken.
A little thinner Jet OF water des-
cending ZOO feet to n mandatory
at Grenoble, Spain, and travelling at
the moderate speed OF 100 yards n
second fractures the best blades OF
Toledo.
II II were possible to surround a
battleship with an inch sheet OF wa
ter Of sufficient velocity 1, would
ward OF the largest bombshells bet
ter than the best steel plate.
Water-power represents heat en-
ergy. The water In drawn up into
| the clouds by the heat OF the sun
and deposited on the distant noun
tains in the form OF rain. This wa
ter spends this acquired energy In
racing downhill. back to the sea,
| Water wheels are but devices to
| catch and utilize this energy which
| ordinarily Ia wasted on the unmov-
Ing rocks and stones. Water acts Az
II moving power, either by lts
| weight, which IL over sixty-two
pounds to the cube foot, or by its
pressure or impact. The power OF
fall OF water is equal to the weight
Of its fall To compute the power OF
OF lts fall. To commute the power OF
falling water II Ia necessary To null
tiply the volume OF flowing water
| IN cube feet per minute by fts
weight, GAS pounds, and this pro-
duet by the vertical height OF the
fail In feet. Thus stream OF water
when flowing over a weir fve feet