page_title: Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company
section_title: Niagara Falls Power Company
hierarchical_section_title: Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company / Competitors / Niagara Falls Power Company
caption_attribution_description: English: MAIN (EAST) ELEVATION - Edward D. Adams Station Power Plant, Niagara River &amp; Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY
context_page_description: Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company was an American company, based in Niagara Falls, New York that was the first company to generate hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls in 1882. The company built upon several predecessor companies efforts to construct a canal used for hydraulic mill power. In 1918, the company merged with Niagara Falls Power Company, which later became Niagara Mohawk and in 2002 was acquired by National Grid plc.
context_section_description: In 1889, developers organized the "Niagara Falls Power Company" and the "Cataract Construction Company" (incorporated June 12, 1889) to carry out the new plan.  Edward Dean Adams, as president of the "Cataract Construction Company," directed plans to construct a central generating plant and to solve the problem of transmitting electricity over long distances. Adams and the "Cataract Construction Company" began constructing a central power station immediately, however, the problem of how to transmit electricity long distance was not yet solved. On December 20, 1892, the Evershed tunnel and the Edward Dean Adam's power house inlet canal are completed.
  Therefore, the "Cataract Construction Company" sponsored the "International Niagara Commission", which met in London in June 1890 and was headed by Lord Kelvin. The commissioners offered a $100,000 (equivalent to $2,846,000 in 2019) prize for a solution to the problem. The commission received seventeen submissions from experts around the world only to reject them all. The schemes ranged from a system using pneumatic pressure to one requiring ropes, springs and pulleys. Some proposed transmitting direct current electricity, including one endorsed by Thomas Edison.
  On May 6, 1893, after the commission failed to award a winner, Lord Kelvin and the commission asked George Westinghouse to use alternating current to develop electricity at Niagara Falls. The construction lasted for several years and was funded by an interest composed of notable businessman including: J. P. Morgan, John Jacob Astor IV, Lord Rothschild, and W. K. Vanderbilt. The Edward Dean Adams Power Plant, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, first produced power on August 26, 1895, and in November 1896, power generated from Niagara Falls reached Buffalo. The first 1,000 horsepower of electricity transmitted to Buffalo was claimed by the street railway company, with the local power company putting in orders for 5,000 more.
  Similar to the "Hydraulic Power Company of Niagara Falls" arrangement with the "Cliff Electrical Distributing Company," the "Niagara Falls Power Company" sold power to the International Railway Company which obtained the right to install its rotary converters in the Niagara Power Company's generating station, but paid nothing additional (i.e. rent) for the installation.
caption: Edward Dean Adams Station Power Plant, Niagara River & Buffalo Avenue
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