Our Power

Soon Niagara Will Be Harnessed to the Chariot of Industry and the Wheels Will Spin.

THE GREAT POSSIBILITIES.

The Men Behind the Wonderful Project Represent Not Far From Half a Billion Dollars.

CHAUNCEY DEPEW'S PREDICTION.

Within 25 Years There Will Be a City of a Million People Between the Shores of the Niagara River and Lake Erie — Wonders of Electricity.

Mt. Francis Lynde Stetson, standing over the vast shaft that leads to the great tunnel which has recently been constructed under the City of Niagara Falls, and through which the water which served its purpose by developing power, will be carried to the river below the falls, said: "I have all my life been a critic, an examiner of the plans of others, but I feel now almost as though I should be glad to abandon that vocation and become one of those who are organizing great works and constructing vast enterprises. This sight inspires me every time that I see it."

Yet Mr. Stetson himself was one of those who organized that colossal syndicate which, without timidity has been spending enormous sums of money in securing a plant which will utilize some portion of the power which has hitherto gone to waste over Niagara Falls.

There came to him a few years ago a young lawyer of Niagara Falls, Mr. Rankine, who was possessed of the idea, that the time had come for capital to avail itself of this power. Mr. Rankine looking about that he might discover great capitalists, for the work would be such as would require no others, remembered his friend of his early life, Mr. Stetson, who he knew had close relations with some of the strongest financiers of New York.

He went to Mr. Stetson and suggested that a syndicate be organized which would develop this power. The lawyer was half amused, that such a proposition should have been made to him. But afterward impressed by the earnestness of Mr. Rankine he gave the matter some thought so that he becane deeply interested himself and from interest passed to enthusiasm very soon.

The company was organized. In it were such men as Piererpont Morgan, the Seligmans, D. O. Mills, H. McK. Twombley and. perhaps half a dozen others of the greater capitalists of New York. The wealth which they represent is enormous, as a rough estimate being not far from half a billion dollars. They saw that to undertake this work would require very large expenditures and perhaps a considerable time of waiting before they could look for returns, but they have put their money into the work without hesitation, and even during the time of the panie last summer the construction went right along as though there were no such financial disturbance.

What the Power Company is.

Those who have looked at these works during the past summer (and there have been many visitors, some of them distinguished foreign engineers), have been impressed by the indication they have seen there, that this enterprise is likely very greatly to change the commercial and perhaps the social relations of the people of New York, Ohio and Canada within a very few years.

In a brief article like this it would not be worth while to go into technical details, and it is sufficient to say that they have constructed a tunnel more than 100 feet below the surface, 7,000 feet long, going through solid rock underneath the city of Niagara Falls, which will carry off the volume of water; they have built a large canal which is now nearly completed, almost ready for the coffer dams to be raised so the water will flow in from the river.

From this canal is delivered by various passages, water which before it reaches the turbine wheels will have very great force, suficient in the aggregate to produce some 100,000 horse-power, and the water which does this is equivalent in amount only to the withdrawal of one and a half inches from the Ningata river.

An Enormous Horsepower.

When it is known that the entire horse power made use of by the manufactories of the great city of Buffalo is only 40,000, it will be better understood by the comparison what this enormous development is. The ablest engineers of the world have been engaged upon the work, among them Forbes, of England, and Dr. Sellers, of Philadelphia.

Along the bank of the Niagara river there have been bought by the syndicate some 1,800 acres of land, upon which factories will be established, and, in fact, one paper mill, with a plant costing $700,000, has just been erected there, whose product is to be greater than that of any other paper mill in the world.

They have built a railway seven miles long, they have laid out a village, Mr. Stanford White of New York, being the architect, and he seemed to take quite as much interest in designing the cottages for the workmen as he did in designing the Washington Square arch. They have erected sewerage disposing houses, where the sewerage from this village is to be treated chemically, so that it would be as safe to drink as would spring water; they are erecting a great power house, a beautiful building architecturally, also designed by Mr. White, where are to be placed the dynamos which are to furnish electric power, and they have other subordinate departments, each of them separate corporations, but all really under the control of this one syndicate.

They have already expended $5,000,0000, and they have such faith in their investment that they expect to see in a few years a great manufacturing city built there.

The Utilization of the Power.

It was apparent to some of those interested in this work that even at the beginning the plant was going to furnish more power than could be immediately utilized unless arrangements were made for it. The water power right there will probably be taken up in a very few years, so that there remains the consideration of the electric force and its distribution for long distance.

It has been one of the problems of the electricians how to make commercially Available for long distances electric power, And it has seemed until recently that the great cost might make such use of electricity prohibitive.

But Nikola Tesla, who has been called one of the later wizards of electricity, after a long series of experiments claimed to have solved the problem. By his system he believes that it will be possible to convey without commercial loss, power from Niagara Falls to Philadelphia or to Chicago, and it is probable that his plan will be adopted.

Mr. Frank Hawley was of the opinion as long as a year ago that Niagara Falls could be made to serve New York State by propelling her canal boats and in a test made recently he proved that the current could be used for such purpose. The experts and engineers have been figuring that, in addition to such use of electric power, it might also be profitably served for manufacturing and lighting purposes, with the present plant at Niagara as far east as Albany or about 300 miles.

The right of way was secured from the New York Central people over their tracks, and a plant is to be constructed, extending that whole 300 miles. The experts figure that the electric power can be delivered as far east as Albany at a loss of only 25 per cent., and as it is possible to recoup some of this loss the wastage will not be over 18 per cent. They also figure that it costs on the average, depending something on the expense of coal, about $45 per horse power for 12 hours a day, but that the Niagara Falls power will enable them to furnish power all over the State where their plant may be erected for something like $30 per horse power for 24 hours of the day. And it is probable upon this difference in price that they rely very largely for their control of the market.

Its Influence on the State.

This is one of the enterprises, which, by reason of its enormity and its probable influence upon commerce and transportation, is to be regarded more in the light of a great public work than a private enterprise. The romance of capturing Niagara Falls and making that majestic cataract light, heat and turn the wheels of manufacture, transport the boats over the artificial waterways, and probably ultimately furnish the power for the railways of the State of course appeals very greatly to the imagination.

But thinking men who have been associated with the enterprise, or who have known of it, believe that in the next century, and early in the century, too, this development will play a mighty part in all the problems of transportation, and may have a very important influence in' respect to our relations with Canada.

Chauncey M. Depew predicts that within the next 25 years there will be a city of a million people between the shores of Niagara river and Lake Erie, and the greatest manufacturing city in this country, with the exception of New York and Philadelphia.

There will be drawn to it from all parts of the country manufacturers tempted not only by the cheap and sure power, for no drought ever effects Niagara Falls, but also because the place itself is admirably located for transportation of manufactured products all over the United States and to many parts of the country by water.

Of course, the withdrawal of manufactures from other cities and the location of them there must have not only important commercial but social results. So that it is easy for imagination to depict almost any mighty influences growing out of the development of this work. — Holland in the Philadelphia Press.