Niagara's Power - A Prediction Made by the Inventor of the Great Ferris Wheel

Mr. Ferris, who has derived fame enough from his big wheel at the Fair to make his opinions of weight in popular estimation, predicts that in a few years the water power in America will be largely used in creating electricity, as will soon be done at Niagara Falls. Many electricians have been interested in the statement but the general opinion seems to be that one big obstacle is yet to be overcome the difficulty of transmitting the current long distances without too great loss of power.

It is stated that if electricity could be conveyed long distances without loss and at moderate cost, every factory wheel in the State west of the Hudson River could be run by the electric energy which could be obtained from Niagara Falls water power. That is a big hope to hold out before the electricians who are sitting up o'nights wrestling with the problem. And the force now going to waste at Niagara is but a small fraction of the country's total water power.

Nikola Tesla, the brilliant young electrician whose name has been connected with so many recent discoveries in electricity, thinks he has found the secret, but his theory has not yet been tested. Many other electricians are conducting experiments with the same end in view and likely enough some one of them will be ready with a feasible invention by the time the Niagara Falls tunnel is completed. Whether they are or not, power can be transmitted to Buffalo by present methods without too much loss. — Buffalo Express.