Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

296 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. MAP OF NIAGARA FALLS, SHOWING POSITION OF THE POWER-SUPPLY COMPANIES. 1. Intake and head works of the Ontario Power Company. 2. Conduits through Queen Victoria Park. 3. Generating station. 4. Distributing station.—5. Intake of the Electrical Development Com- pany. 6. Generating station. 7. Distributing station. 8. “Dead Water ” tunnel under river bed and centre of the Horse-shoe Fall.— 9. Canadian Niagara Power Company's head works and generating station. 10. Distributing station. 11. Discharge tunnel.—12. Power-house No. 1 of the Niagara Falls Power Company. 13. Power- house No. 2. 14. Underground discharge tunnel.—15. Niagara tails Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company's canal. 16. Fore-bay. 17. Power-house No. 2. 18. Power-house No. 3. the world and the Mecca of electrical engineers, some knowledge of the water system of the region is almost indispensable. The Niagara River and its rapids and cataracts are a link in that chain of great lakes, long since united by navigable channels, which give to the United States and Canada, in the heart of a continent, what is virtually a third sea-board. Between the surface of Lake Superior and the water level in the estuary of the St. Lawrence there is a difference of 596 feet, and of this descent a fall of no less than 326 feet occurs in the thirty-six miles of river, flowing northward, which unites Lakes Erie and Ontario. This river, the Niagara, on issuing from Lake Erie, is about three-quarters of a mile wide, but as it flows on it broadens considerably, embracing many islands. Of these Physical + k i x • ,i Features, the largest is Grand Island, 12 miles long, and from 2 to 7 miles broad. At the foot of this, 11 miles from the Falls, the river is contracted to a width of 2| miles, and gradually narrows as it proceeds. This and a descent in the channel of 60 feet within a mile produce the swift currents known as the Rapids. Immediately above the Falls, which are 22 miles from Lake Erie, the river is divided by an island, having an area of about 75 acres, called Goat Island. Consequent, however, upon a sharp bend in the channel, most of the water passes to the Canadian side, and is precipitated into the lower river over the Horse-shoe Fall, a mighty cataract more than 2,600 feet in width and 159 feet high. To-day its title is somewhat less appropriate than when originally , bestowed, for, as a result of continual wearing away, the curve has become al- most angular. The separation of the channel caused by Goat Island leaves a long wall of rock be- tween the Canadian and American Falls, the latter being again divided by an islet close to Goat Island. Just above the American Fall, which is nearly ten feet higher than the Horse- shoe, but only 1,000 feet in width, the river is divided by Green Island, and spanned by bridges connecting this and Goat Island with the shore. The greatest depth of the river immediately below the Falls is about 192 feet. The strength of the current lessens for about