Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-10

II
million cubic feet In the latter the artificial lake
created by the dam is twenty-five miles long, ten miles
wide, and two hundred and thirty feet in maximum
depth 1t would be convenient in some localities,
however, to provide several small reservoirs, locating
of suitable size each of the important
tributaries of great stream.
THE city of New York today is by steam power: be-
fore long it will be run by water power The water
powers available for use bv the metropolis are more
than ample, and their employment up to the present
time has been delayed only by the difficulty of sending
electricity economically long distances. This OBJ
stacle has been far overcome that measures for
the identification of New York already being under
taken an extensive scale. There to be three
great dams the Sacandaga, Genesee, and Racket
Rivers for converting the energy of those streams into
electricity, and of these the Sacandaga, two
hundred miles north of Manhattan Island will be the
largest power dam in the world.-two hundred and
thirty feet high and eight hundred feet ong-and will
store water enough to yield thirty thousand horsepower
at the dam site.
Supplemented by dams the upper Hudson, the
Esopus, the Waikiki the Housatonc and other streams,
these works will furnish all the electricity required by the
metropolis, which is the greatest generalization
ter in the world The electricity will be delivered at
suitably located SubStaonS, each OF the latter taking
certain amount of current off the wire and supplying
given with it. The current thus supplied will drive
the machinery of all factories in New York and its
neghborhood. 1t will all surface cars, well
the trains of elevated and subway roads. 1t will furnish
power for the elevators in thousands OF office buildings
and apartment houses. But of its most important
will be for heating and Illuminating dwellings, and
to take the place of coal for cooking.
When wire brings into the house all the energy
quired not only for lighting and cooking but also for
heating purposes, the inmates will enjoy degree of
comfort unknown to them hitherto. The heating
rangements will be SO distributed through the
to furnish moderate amount of pleasantly warmed air
instead of a small quantity of overheated air. The
kitchen will be of the coolest in the house
summertime the range being replaced by an ordinary
table, which few simple pieces of apparatus will
suffice for all culinary operations The heat will be
turned with switch when 1t IS wanted, and there
will be no ashes to be carried out and no dirt
Before very long all big cities will be similarly cleo
tried the of coal being almost entirely abandoned
Thus will arrive the beginning of emancipation from
the thraldom of coal, upon which absolutely
dependent industrialy and for ordinary comfort. IL
Eliminating gas will be driven altogether by electric
at rapid pace 1t furnishes artificial daylight that
indispensable in many places where real daylight
not obtainable during any hour of the twenty-four
There are for example, millions of electric lights New
York City in the huge office buildings, in the subways
and in the tubes under the rivers that never exn
guished Tens of thousands of dark similarly
illuminated by day well as by night For with the
growth of modern city there arrives steadily ncreaS
ing darkness. Every tall building side of
shuts part of the light from shorter building
the other side The development of skyscraper
sruction represents struggle only for altitude but
for light And every such building has many dark rooms
IN former days necessary to locate mill at the
power site in order to utilize the energy OF a water
fall natural or artificial Thus about that the
cities of Lowell and Lawrence have literally grown up
round the falls of the Merrmac and the same with
Holvoke on the Connecticut and Paterson on the Pas
sale. But the factory put in whatever locality
may be most convenient for purposes OF trade ard