Falls Harnessed for Buffalo

Niagara's Power Transmitted Back 27 Miles.

ENTERPRISE IS A SUCCESS

To-day a Street Car Line Will Utilize the Current — Splendid Triumph of Science.

BUFFALO, Nov. 16. — At midnight last night the turning of a switch in the big power house at Niagara Falls completed a circuit which caused Niagara River to flow uphill, so to speak, by returning a fraction of its resistless energy, which already had swept past the gates of Buffalo, back into this city, twenty-seven miles distant.

The harness was buckled that hitches the factory wheels of Buffalo to the greatest cataract on earth. On Monday morning the street cars of this city will move by falls power.

The buckling of the harness was to have been done twelve hours earlier, but the father of William B. Rankine of New York, secretary of the Niagara Falls Power Company, is a clergyman, and in deference to his wishes the Niagara Falls power was not turned into the transmitting system on Sunday.

WORK OF PREPARATION.

The force of experts having the work in charge was busy all Saturday night and until late last evening testing the various connections and going over the machinery to make sure that everything was in proper order. When everything was in readiness for the switch to be thrown over, the electricians were confident that there need be no cessation of the current set flowing over the wires of the Buffalo street railway system.

The distance covered by the line between Buffalo and the falls is considerable, but the electricians who have the work in charge estimate that the loss of energy will be less than 10 per cent. and may not much exceed 5. Careful tests are to be made in this connection, the tests covering both night and day and clear as well as rainy weather. The electricians are paying particular attention to this test, as on the perfect insulation of the carrying line depends much of the success of the undertaking.

SUBSTANTIAL STRUCTURE.

The line that has been built to carry the current-bearing wires is of a most substantial nature. Unlike the ordinary telegraph line the poles are placed close together, and are braced in such a manner as to be proof against heavy storms. At curves the poles are set double and are guyed to numerous smaller poles to prevent sagging.

The overhead line extends from the power house at the falls to the city limits of Buffalo, where the wires enter cement conduits. On the overhead line glass insulators were found unequal to the strain, and porcelain insulators were made specially to hold the wires.

These insulators were subjected to a current of 30,000 volts before being put in use. There are at present on the poles eight cables, each with a carrying capacity of 5,000 horse power, or 40,000 horse power in all. The poles are of such a substantial character, however, that this number of cables can be doubled without subjecting them to a greater strain than is considered safe.

ONLY ONE CONTRACT.

The only contract made so far for the delivery of power in Buffalo by the power company is that with the Buffalo Street Railway Company for 1,000 horsepower. Under the contract with the city the completion of the undertaking of delivering power in Buffalo was not obligatory before next June. It was in order to procure the contract with the street railway company that the work was hurried through so far ahead of time. Contracts with others desiring to use the electrical power will now be made, and it is thought that by the opening of spring the power will be well distributed throughout the city.

The company frequently has called upon Messrs. Edison and Tesla for advice, and these famous masters of electricity have been frequent visitors to the Niagara Falls power house to solve technical problems. The power will sell in Buffalo for $36 a horse power a year, and under its contract with the city the company must increase its capacity 10,000 horsepower a year until the maximum of 50,000 horsepower has been reached.