562 



NIAGARA FALLS. 



NICARAGUA. 



Falls where the river is navigable for vessels. 

 Hence, vessels passing through the great west- 

 ern chain of lakes can come down Niagara 

 river with their loads of lumber, grain, coal, 

 etc., and unload them on the wharves and 

 docks of the mills and factories. Canal-boats 

 can also receive and discharge freight at the 

 mills, as Niagara river connects with the Erie 

 Canal at Tonawanda, seven miles distant. The 

 tracks of the New York Central, West Shore, 

 Erie, Grand Trunk, Rome, Watertown and 

 Ogdensburg, Lehigh Valley, and Michigan 

 Central railways adjoin and run parallel with 

 the proposed tunnel, and the entire plot of 

 mill-sites of the company, with provision for 

 sidings to each mill-site. 



The estimate of the cost of the tunnel, in- 

 cluding lands, docks, conduits, cross-tunnels, 

 etc., is $3,000,000. This represents 238 mill- 

 sites, varying from 75 by 200 to 200 by 400 feet 

 each, with streets 100 feet wide between the 

 rows of lots in the rear of mill-privileges, and 

 also with 100 foot reserve between the rows 

 of lots in the rear, for railway sidings. To 

 each site is allowed 500 horse-power, with con- 

 duit and cross-tunnel, bringing the water with- 

 in 50 feet of each lot. 



Another plan, also controlled by a corpora- 

 tion, proposes the building of a large canal 

 from Niagara river to the city of Lockport, 

 where much of the power of the combined 

 locks is already in use. A third plan, which is 

 of local interest to the city of Buffalo, is taking 

 shape under the stimulus of a prize of $100,- 

 000 offered by the business men of that city to 

 the inventor who shall successfully use the 

 power of the nine-mile current that runs past 

 the city. Several designs of wheels and chains, 

 with feathering buckets, have been submitted, 

 bnt nothing has yet been decided upon. Some 

 of these plans are likely to become of practical 

 use very soon. They are all based upon the 

 proposition that the water-power of the United 

 States heretofore available is steadily diminish- 

 ing as the country becomes more thickly set- 

 tled. At many places in the Eastern States it 

 has become necessary to supplement the water- 

 power with steam, in order to be able to run 

 machinery during the entire 24 hours, greatly 

 increasing the cost of production. Nearly all 

 of the water-power in use in various sections 

 of the country has been produced by the con- 

 struction, at great cost, of dams for storage 

 during the dry season. These devices have at 

 times proved inadequate to supply the water 

 required for inanufacturing purposes ; and, at 

 other times, when freshets prevailed, the dams 

 have given away. The cost of constructing 

 dams, the unreliability of the water-power, and 

 the isolated location of many establishments 

 on slender lines of railroads where rates are 

 high, owing to a lack of competition, place 

 manufacturers under great disadvantage with 

 those who have the benefit of a steady power 

 and abundant railroad and other shipping facil- 

 ities. It is said that the power can be rented 



cheaper than it is in the following places ; the 

 figures being for one-horse-power per year : 

 Paterson, N. J., $37.50; Birmingham, Conn., 

 $20; Manayunk, Pa., $56.25; Dayton, O., 

 $38; Lowell, Mass., $20; Lawrence, Mass., $20; 

 Cohoes, N. Y., $20; Holyoke, Mass., $20; Lock- 

 port, N. Y., $16.66 ; Rochester, N. Y., $25. 



NICARAGUA, a republic in Central America. 

 Area, 51,600 square miles; population in 1884, 

 259,794. The capital is Managua, population, 

 15,000. 



Government. The President is Don Evaristo 

 Carazo, whose term of office will expire on 

 March 1, 1891. The Cabinet was formed of 

 the following ministers : Foreign Affairs, Don 

 Adrian Zavala; Finance, Don Fernando La- 

 cayo; Interior, Don David Osorno; Public 

 Works, Don Ladislas Argiiello; War and 

 Navy, Gen. J. Elizondo. The Nicaraguan 

 Minister at Washington is Don Horacio Guz- 

 man ; the Consul-General at New York is 

 Alexander Cotheal; at San Francisco, Fran- 

 cisco Herrera. The American Consul at Mana- 

 gua is Charles H. Wills, and at San Juan del 

 Norte, William A. Brown. 



Finances. Early in 1887 the Government 

 sent to London Don Jose Pasos, Director- 

 General of Mails and Telegraphs, with instruc- 

 tions to negotiate a six-per-cent. loan for 285,- 

 000, the proceeds to be spent on public works. 

 This loan was placed by the city bank at 92. 

 The actual expenditure of the Government, 

 which was $2,191,076 in 1885, amounted to 

 $1,998,687 in 1886. The total amount of Ni- 

 caraguan bonds canceled in London, under the 

 contract effected by Mr. Norris with the Gov- 

 ernment, was $245,260 silver, equivalent to 

 41,956. Between June 30 and Oct. 6, 1887, 

 there had been withdrawn from circulation 

 and destroyed $158,599 paper money, leaving 

 in circulation at the time $203,553, and in the 

 treasury, $449,270. 



Army. The effective strength of the perma- 

 nent army is 1,000 men, and there is also a 

 militia 4,227 strong. 



Postal Service. In 1885 the post-offices of the 

 republic forwarded 322,055 letters, 9,781 post- 

 al-cards, and 541,878 newspapers. 



Railroads. In December, 1887, a contract 

 was published in the " Official Gazette " of Nic- 

 aragua, between the Government and Mr. 

 Jericho for the construction of a railroad 

 which will run from the port of San Juan del 

 Sur, on the Pacific, through the towns of Ri- 

 vas, San Jorge, and Belan, and terminate either 

 in Masaya or Granada, about fifty-five miles. 

 The districts it will pass through are the rich- 

 est in Nicaragua. A short branch line will run 

 from the main track to the beach of San Jorge, 

 connecting it with the waters of Lake Nicara- 

 gua. Colored or Chinese laborers can not be 

 employed. 



In 1886 the eastern section of the Corinto- 

 Granada Railway was finished, connecting Co- 

 rinto with Managua, on Lake Managua, and 

 thence the latter with Granada, This section 



