lO ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



])o\ver must be immense, — and commensurate with this country in other 



respects. 



The above applies only to the tributaries of the St. Lawrence and the 



Ottawa, and to the northern watersheds so far as these may be utilized. 



The Canadian portion of the water power of the St. Lawrence, from 



Lake Superior to Montreal, in which there is a fall of 546 feet, is not 



included, being below the level of the tributaries. 



We have measurements of the flow in both the St. Lawrence and 



tlie Ottawa in cubic feet per second, as folloAvs : 



c. ft. 2)er sec. 



In St. Mary's river, outlet of Lake Superior 80,000 



In St. Clair river, outlet of Lake Huron 225,000 



In Xiagara river, above the falls 205,000 



In St. Lawrence river above the rapids 300,000 



In Ottawa river, above Lake of Two Mountains 35,000 



Canada's share of the St. Lawrence water power from Lake Superior 

 to Montreal would be about ten million horse power. 



Canada has half the water of the St. Lawrence from Lake Superior 

 to Cornwall, and all of it between Lake St. Fi'ancis and Montreal; but 

 only a portion of this half could be utilized, — and this would apply more 

 or less to the Ottawa and other rivers, where all the power could not be 

 utilized without an expenditure probably beyond its value. 



The power at Xiagara has been estimated at seven million horse 

 power, from less than half of the fall between Lakes Erie and Ontario, 

 but the flow of the Xiagara Kiver, as given above, does not support so 

 high an estimate. The whole of this fall (over 320 feet) can be utilized 

 on the Welland Canal, but the quantity is comparatively insignificant, 

 from the limited channel and necessarily low velocity of the current in it. 



In like manner the whole fall upon our canals in the St. Lawrence 

 can be utilized subject to the limitations imposed by tlie requirements 

 of navigation. Because these canals have not had the work for which 

 they were intended, they have in some cases become mill races rather 

 than slack water channels. This has been the less felt, hitherto, on ac- 

 count of the lightness of their west bound traffic, the strong current to- 

 ward the mills being in favour of the deeper laden east bound craft, thus 

 incidentally coinjjcnsating for a violation of canal maxims. 



While water power was at first the only substitute for the windmill 

 in new countries, and its economy as well as superiority has always been 

 recognized, several causes have contributed to limit its more general ap- 

 plication. Before the invention of the turbine in the first half of the 

 ])resent century heads exceeding about seventy feet could not be utilized 

 on account of the comparative weakness and excessive cost of wheels of 



