THE MENACE TO NIAGARA. 



495 



granted. Some failed to effect organization because the present re- 

 quirements of such an undertaking demand enormous capital. Some 

 were limited in respect to the amount of water they may abstract from 

 the river, as the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing 

 Co., to 462,000 cubic feet per minute, and the Niagara Falls Power 

 Co., to 516,000 cubic feet per minute. Others were restricted in the 

 amount of power to be produced, as the last named company, which 

 may not exceed 200,000 horse-power. In most cases, however, no 

 limitations were placed either on power to be produced or water to 

 be abstracted. Several were limited as to the time in which they 

 were to begin work in good faith, two of them to five years, two to 



The American Bank below the Steel Akch Bridge, showing the waste of water and 

 power from the spillways and tail-races of the factories. 



ten }-ears. Three if not four of the charters are dead by limitation, 

 one company sold its franchise to another, one is slumbering with an 

 occasional sIioav of life, another is leading a questionable life and 

 two are producing and selling power. 



The Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Co. and 

 the Niagara Falls Power Co., the productive organizations, are alone 

 to be credited with the really amazing industrial developments at this 

 place, and they are still far within their statutory limitations in the 

 consumption of water. With this superb display of mechanical achieve- 



