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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Fig. 8. Ontario Company's Power House (270 feet long) immediately 

 below the Falls in the Canadian Park. This is only a third of the proposed 

 length ; even at present it is a most striking obstruction of the gorge, as seen from 

 the New York side. 



on the New York side are not in the park and can not be seen from 

 the falls, but the eastern banks of the river below the park are crowded 

 with works. 



18. Effects on Navigation. — The canals and harbors are much shal- 

 lower than they used to be. Several inches of this are due to the power 

 diversion, which, however, is not at present seen, owing to very high 

 water. The lowering of the level of the basin above the Upper Rapids, 

 increasing the slope of the river, and consequently the velocity of the 

 current, also lowers the level of the lake above. An increased dis- 

 charge of 22,000 cubic feet per second lowers Lake Erie by one foot. 

 On the large steamers in the carrying trade, each inch of draft repre- 

 sents a return of $100 in extra freight receipts. The canals and 

 harbors should not be reduced in depth by power diversions at a 

 time when there is a clamor for deeper channels. The impairing of 

 navigation, under conditions as shown above, threatens to reach two, 

 or even two and a half feet. Under the estimate made for the 

 American Section of the International Commission, the cost of repair- 

 ing the damage caused by the -Chicago drainage canal was found to 

 exceed $12,000,000, so that the total costs to both countries on account 

 of power diversion promises to reach twenty-five millions of dollars or 

 more. Are the power companies willing to pay for their share of this 

 costly franchise, and for the loss owing to the diminished business 

 going to and at the falls, which may reach $25,000,000 a year? 



