Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-15
The Big Falls
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

strained, Is no less enthusiastic. Few
are disappointed; for the falls is truly
a bigger thing than the average mind
can preconceive.
After the glimpse OF the falls from
above, you climb aboard the Maid of
the Mist, the brides conceal their
loneliness in long rubber coats, with
immense hoods, and you experience
the thrill of going close enough to the
falls to have spray splashed all over
you.
Finally. II you are real American
tourist from up the country--the kind
that believes in doing the thing up
right-you will drop into little SOU
venir store and have your photograph
taken to show Ma and the girls, with
Niagara Falls in the background, the
falls, of course, being somewhat
crudely painted on the back drop.
There are innumerable other fas-
cinating souvenir stores to tempt the
nimkels and dimes and quarters out
of your pockets. That they do so sue
cessfully Is attested by the fact THAT
Niagara has grown from a town OF
10000 to one of $4,000 in the last
twenty years, and that many of its
hotel and store keepers spend their
winters In Florida
When business gets slack 1t is
customary in Niagara to plan an eX-
cursion from some part Of the state.
Although you would think that every
one in New York had been to Niagara
at least once, there are always thous-
ands ready to take advantage Of these
opportunities. The people Of Niagara
can calculate with great accuracy
Just what an, excursion will put In
their pockets, except for one uncer-
tain element and that is the weather.
They know that the average excursion
day tourist will spend exactly 81 in
Niagara. On an excursion from central
New York few weeks ago. they con-
fidently predicted that 5000 persons
would come to the city, provided it
did not rain. Betting on the weather.
all the hotel and restaurant keepers
engaged extra walters and prepared a
dinner for the crowd. But they lost.
1t rained all day, and exactly twenty
Ave bedraggled strangers showed up
at the feast. Needless to say. Niagara
went in the house on that excursion,
The tourists. however, are not
Niagara's only source of wealth by
any means. About a mile above the
rapids stand two stately buildings of
Gothic architecture. surrounded by
pretty. .sloping lawns. They might we'll
be cathedrals, so dignifed is their ap-
pearance and SO quiet do they look at
a distance. AS matter Of fact. under
their gray roof and towers Is general
ed one of the most immense currents
Of power in all the world. These are
the plants where the waters of
Niagara (, are caught and plunged
through great penstocks to turn the
turbines in the wheel pits far below
The wheel pits in which these tur,
bines are located are 200 feet deep,
and in tiny elevator the privileged
visitor is dropped to the very bottom
Of them. Descending this brilliantly
lighted shaft with the hum and whir
Of the nightly machines in your ears,
conveys almost as great an impression
of the mighty power of the falls as
looking upon the waters themselves
These great power plants are
models of efficiency. There has been
scarcely . hitch or an accident in
their operation. An exception occurred
recently when lightning struck one Of
the cables which carries power from
the plant to little town about fifteen
miles away. The lightning bolt was
carried by the cable directly to the
great generator, completely burning
out its armature. The damage was re.
paired. however, without causing the
slightest Inconvenience to any Of the
cities that are lighted by the power Of
the falls.