The Press., 1912-10-23
GIANT CATARACTS
Victoria Falls the Greatest of the
 Mighty Torrents
NIAGARA RANKS ONLY THIRD.
The Falls of the Iguassu River Hold Second Place, and These Three Are In a Class by ThemseIves-Their EIectric PowAr Possibilities,

Electric Power Possibilities.
 At one time waterfalls in large riv-
 CTS were interesting only because of
 their scenic beauty, and their very ex-
 istence was deplored because they ob- structed navigation. But man has found a way to harness these mighty power producers and today they are of the greatest value to the commercial
 world because the millions of water horse power can be changed into cleo tricity and transmitted for hundreds of miles to be used as a reliable sub stitute for our vanishing coal supply.
 When it is remembered that two cubic feet of water, weighing 125 pounds, by falling distance of only six feet will produce one horse power of energy, it is easy to comprehend that millions and millions of horse power are wasted every minute by the torrents of water tumbling over Mag ara,r the Victoria falls and the Iguassu river and many lesser falls throughout the world. This falling water is guided by steel and concrete penstocks to powerful water turbines which whirl great electric generators. The current produced in this way is easily trans mitted for hundreds of miles over small copper wires to the cities and towns where 1t is used to haul the railroad trains to drive the great manufactur- ing plants and to give us light and heat.
 Loyal as we all are to our country, we must admit that even the mighty torrent of Niagara ranks only third in size when compared to the waterfalls of the world The largest of the earth's waterfalls, the Victoria falls of the Zambesi river in Rhodesia, are 386 feet high and more than mile wide, and were discovered by Livingstone in 1855. The water power of these falls is estimated to be fully 35,OOO,OOO horse power, two and One-half times that of Iguassu and five times that of Niagara.
 South America possesses a waterfall which exceeds Niagara both in width and in height and is actually the sec ond largest waterfall in the world. This little known waterfall is that of the .Iguassu river, tributary of the Pa- rama, and, like Niagara, is situated at the boundary of two states, each of which owns half of it. The total water power of the Iguassu fall, which is 213 feet high and nearly two miles wide, Is estimated as about 14,OO0,O00 horse power. This is approximately equal to the aggregate water power of all Scan dinavia, which is rich in waterfalls, or about ten times the total water power of Germany.
 There is no other waterfall in the world which is at all comparable in greatness with the Zambesi, Iguassu or the Niagara. Asia, notWithstand- ing its colossal mountain ranges, is comparatively poor in large waterfalls, which are found most abundantly in Africa and North America. The lar gest African streams especially are 1n- terrupted by many falls of considerable height. The KongO has several high falls which owing to the great volume of the river, about sixteen times that of the Nile, may be counted among the most important sources of water power on earth. The Stanley falls, in the middle reach of the river, consist of seven successive falls, of a total height of 164 feet and width of near ly 4yO0O feet and offer an exceedingly rich source of power which probably will soon be exploited.
 Still more important is the total wa ter power which the KOngO develops in the non-navigable section extending from its mouth to Stanley pool. Here the river, confined in channel only few hundred yards wide and with depth of water of nearly 300 feet, flows with q velocity of fOrty-eight feet a second, so that at every point of the about 100000 cubic feet of water are hurled along with irresistible force, while thirty-two rapids and waterfalls lower the level of the stream by 82O feet in stretch of ITO miles.
 The lower Nile, in Egypt, possesses a series of rapids, the celebrated cata- racts of the Nile, but no waterfall in  waterfalls occur on the upper Nile, the most beautiful of them at the point where the stream issues from Lake Victoria Nyanza. This Ripon fall is only few yards in height, but the volume of water is so great that it presents magnificent spectacle.
 Comparatively few persons know which is the highest waterfall in Eu- rope. The most voluminous of Euro pean waterfalls. strictly so called, are the Rhine falls, at Schaffhausen, but the highest are the Rjaken falls of the Mann-Ef river, in the Norwegian province of Telemarken. The princi- pal fall is 800 feet high. and the total height of the two chief falls with the rapids amounts to 1887 feet, while the average flow of water Is fifty cubic meters, or 1.760 cubic feet second The Rjaken falls, with their total energy of 25OOOO horse power, have been converted to indus trial useA.-Electric News
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