Industrial Niagara 



Jacob F. Schoellkopf and Mr. A. Chesborough who organized 1903 

 the present company. The number of mills utilizing this source an cve 

 of power has steadily increased until at the present time the 

 various industries in the lower milling district (so called) develop 

 about 7,500 H. P. including that in use in the lower mill of the 

 Cliff Paper Co. Most of these factories have constructed their 

 own wheelpits and installed their own wheels. 



A good indication of the progress made in hydraulic develop- 

 ment in the last few years is the fact that the original grants of 

 the Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. did not include 

 the slope of the bank between the bottom of the vertical cliff and 

 the edge of the lower river, giving a right to excavate only 100 

 feet below the top of the bank, as it was considered that wheels 

 would never be constructed to operate under a greater head than 

 this, and it was not until 1886 that the Hydraulic Co. secured 

 deeds for this lower slope. As a matter of fact none of the 

 mills thus far mentioned utilized a head of more than 50 or 60 

 feet and many of them used a still lower fall. The consequence 

 is that an engineer when looking at the cliff below these mills and 

 seeing the large amount of water falling from the outlets of the 

 various wheelpits is impressed with the vast amount of power 

 going to waste. At least 10,000 H. P. is thus lost, or enough 

 to supply all the industries of many a good sized city. 



In 1881 the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manu- 

 facturing Co. installed their first plant for supplying power. 



In 1892 the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manu- 

 facturing Co. commenced to enlarge their canal to a width of 

 70 feet and a depth of 14 feet. In the same year a change 

 was made in the plan of development and a system inaugurated 

 which was in many respects similar to that now employed. The 

 Cliff Paper Mill desired additional power for grinding pulp and 

 as the capacity of the original canal was exhausted and they were 

 not willing to wait for the completion of the canal extension, it 



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