Nikola Tesla Books
insisted that direct current be used. It is interesting that Tesla, already as a pupil in Karlovac, dreamed of going to America and harnessing the falls of Niagara.
While that power station was still under construction, it was visited by many distinguished people, but Tesla himself did not tour it until July 1895. That visit attracted great attention in professional circles and was regarded as a major event. About this visit the journal The Electrical Review wrote, among other things, the following:
Tesla's visit was, naturally, a great event, for up to that time he had not inspected this largest power station. For a full four years he had not managed to leave his work in order to visit Niagara. It was more important to him to develop his theories and to wait for a favorable moment to see them realized in practice. Tesla was delighted when he saw how engineers had put his discoveries into practice. Without hesitation he declared that there could be no doubt about the success of this gigantic enterprise and that the power would be transmitted to Buffalo without the slightest error in all essential details. He took a keen interest in the operation of the transformers, which were his invention, and the great electrician stated that with their help one of the most difficult and most significant problems of electrical science had been solved.
Lord Kelvin, who at first had advocated direct current at Niagara, later realized that alternating current had many advantages and said:
Tesla has contributed more to the science of electricity than anyone before him.
At the end of the last century, Tesla foresaw that the time would soon come when enormous power stations, driven by water power or by coal energy, would be able to produce so much energy that it could be transmitted by electrical lines even to other countries.
