Niagara Not the First

When the electrical water power transmission scheme at Niagara falls is finished, it will be the greatest enterprise established for such purpose on the globe. But it is by no means the first, nor was it when it was planned. Already in the west, particularly on the Pacific slope, water power transformed into an electrical current has been sent to places where power was needed miles away. The San Antonio (Cal.) Light and Power company has for several years dispatched power to a plant 30 miles away. Scores of other establishments in California and other western states transmit power from water falls electrically over anywhere from 4 to 15 miles of wire. The great 5,000 horse power dynamo made for the Niagara plant is constructed on the latest idea of Tesla. If power can be sent electrically 30 miles, there is no reason why it cannot be sent 200 miles. That seems plain.