1896.] on the Utilisation of Niagara. 279 



and is therefore an independent unit. Owing to the better lay of the 

 land, the tunnels carrying off the water discharged from the turbines 

 on the Canadian side will have lengths respectively of only 300 and 

 800 feet, thus avoiding the extreme length and cost unavoidable on 

 the American side. With both the Canadian and American plants 

 fully developed, no less than 350,000 horse-power will be available. 

 The stationary engines now in use in New York State represent only 

 500,000 horse-power. Yet the 350,000 horse-power are but one- 

 twentieth of the 7,000,000 horse-power which Prof. Unwin has 

 estimated the Falls to represent theoretically. If the 350,000 horse- 

 power were estimated at 4Z. per year per horse-power, and should 

 replace the same amount of steam power at lOZ., the annual saving 

 for power in New York State alone would be more than 2,000,000Z. 

 per year. 



Let me by way of conclusion emphasise the truth that this splendid 

 engineering work leaves all the genuine beauty of Niagara untouched. 

 It may even help to conserve the scene as it exists to-day, for the 

 terrific weight and rush of waters over the Horse Shoe Fall is eating 

 it away and breaking its cliff into a series of receding slopes and 

 rapids; so that even a slight diminution of the whelming mass of 

 wave will to that extent lessen disruption and decay. Be that so or 

 not so, those of us who are lovers of engineering can now at Niagara 

 gratify that taste in the unpretentious place where some of this vast 

 energy is reclaimed for human use, and then as ever join with those 

 who, not more than ourselves, love natural beauty, and find with them 

 renewed pleasure and delight in the majestic, organ-toned and eternal 

 cataract. 



[T. C. M.] 



