Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

 810 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Burlington Beach 150 feet and 175 of all this power The transmission line to Toronto is built on a private right-of-way, 80 feet wide, on which it is proposed, later on, to run electric cars between the Falls and Toronto, a dis- tance of 88 miles, at a speed of 100 miles an hour. The steel towers carrying the cables are usually 46 feet in height, higher where there are depressions along the right-of-way, and in two places—where navigable channels at the Welland Canal and are crossed—not less than feet high. What will be the effect development upon the great cataracts over which the waters of Niagara River have passed for countless centuries ? The Falls rri . Imperilled ? The (luestl0n 1S a timely one, for there are not lacking pro- phets to declare that the doom of the American Fall is already sealed—that some amongst us may live to walk dry shod across the river bed between Prospect Park and Goat Island. During recent years several measures have come before the Legislature of the Empire State asking for new power grants and further diversions of the waters of the river. Public opinion, however, proved too strong for the promoters, and the bills were either killed in the Capitol at Albany or vetoed by the Gover- nor. Nor is it likely, in face of the present lively regard for the conservation of national resources, that greater success will attend other similar efforts. As regards the Horse-shoe Fall, the present, and probably next, generation need entertain no serious anxiety. Not only are the Com- missioners of Queen Victoria Park likely to prove obdurate in the matter, but there seems scant opening between the upper line of breakers in the Rapids and the Fall for any considerable further development. For pos- sible danger to the cataract, one must look to water-diversions, yet only very dim in prospect, far away to the west. It has been estimated that the normal dis- charge of the Niagara River into Lake On- tario is 222,000 cubic feet per second, and that the five great power companies to which we have particularly referred abstract from the upper river about 50,000 cubic feet per second. But how about the Welland Canal and the power development along its channel ; the new barge canal, following the line of the Erie Canal, from Buffalo to Savannah ; the Chicago drainage canal ; and other under- takings ? The reply is that the aggregate diversion of water from the Great Lakes above Niagara Falls still fails to exceed 75,000 cubic feet per second. No attempt will be made her© to enumerate the manifold purposes for which the power generated at Niagara is used. Let it suffice to say that it furnishes the greater part of the public and private lighting of the country round for a distance of nearly one hundred miles ; operates electric furnaces for the re- duction of ores for the manufacture of cement, calcium carbide, and lime nitrates ; furnishes energy to a large number of tramway systems and inter-urban railway lines ; and is applied over a large and ever-increasing area to practically every industry for which, power is required. Thanks to the remarkable development of hydro-electric power of which it has been the scene, and assisted in no small measure by exceptional railway and shipping facilities, the Niagara frontier has become, in the course of a few years, one of the great industrial centres of the world. Established within a few miles of the Falls are iron and steel works, second only in magnitude and output to those of Pittsburg ; and flouring mills, which ar© close rivals to those of Minneapolis. Less than twenty years ago three towns, with an aggregate population of 10,000, were con- tained within the limits of what is now the city of Niagara Falls, which has 30,000 in- habitants and an. assessed valuation of over £1,000,000. Along two miles of river frontage,