CHAPTER XVI 

 WORK 



189. About work in general. A great deal of the work of 

 running water is of no immediate benefit to man. The great 

 waterfalls of the earth may thunder away for many future 

 centuries without producing any noticeable change in the de- 

 sirableness of the surrounding region as a place of human 

 residence. To be sure, the gorge of Niagara may in time be 

 extended so far upstream that it will reach and partly drain 

 Lake Erie, but that event is far in the future, and in the mean- 

 time its work in loosening and transporting material does not 

 greatly affect any of us. As a sublime spectacle it may be of 

 very great value, but as a worker it is unimportant, because 

 its work is not of a useful sort. 



Of late years men have taken part of the water from the 

 river above the falls and caused it to flow through turbine 

 water wheels on its way to the lower level in the gorge. This 

 part of the water, therefore, turns the wheels and the dynamos 

 connected with them instead of wearing away the rock of the 

 falls. Thus the falls have been harnessed and compelled to 

 do useful work (fig. 87). The beauty and impress! veness of 

 Niagara Falls are so great that the falls are probably worth 

 more to us in their natural state than the power we could 

 derive from them would be worth, but there are many other 

 places where water power can be secured without destroying 

 great scenic beauty, as at Keokuk. It is necessary for us to 

 take advantage of water power and of other sources of energy, 

 for there are many kinds of work to be done in the world in 

 order that all of us may live. Buildings are to be constructed, 

 trains to be moved across the country, steamships to be driven 



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