Industrial Niagara 



In the year 1885 there came to Niagara Falls in the course 1903 

 of his professional services for the State of New York an engineer 

 whose name should ever be remembered by those interested in the 

 commercial prosperity of the Niagara Frontier, Thomas Ever- 

 shed, the man with the idea. Engaged in plans to prevent the 

 spoliation of one of the most sublime of nature's spectacles, he 

 saw that such plans were not inconsistent with the utilization of a 

 part of the enormous power represented by Niagara's falling 

 waters. He believed that by driving a tunnel from the lower 

 river to a point above the mouth of the Hydraulic Power Com- 

 pany's canal such tunnel could be used for the discharge of water 

 from the upper river after it had done its work in the generation 

 of power. This idea of a discharge tunnel was not entirely a 

 new one, as it had previously been employed at St. Anthony's 

 Falls on the Mississippi, but the application of this principle to 

 Niagara had apparently never been suggested until it was advo- 

 cated by Mr. Evershed. Having the courage of his convictions 

 he soon interested local business men in his scheme and a com- 

 pany of eight was formed which on March 3 1 st, 1 886, obtained 

 from the State of New York a special charter which permitted 

 the diversion of sufficient water from the upper river to generate 

 250,000 H. P. On June 1st, 1886, Mr. Evershed issued his 

 first formal plan and estimate to which the attention of capitalists 

 was soon attracted and in 1 889 was formed a strong combination 

 of men whose financial reputation was world-wide. They organ- 

 ized the Cataract Construction Co. to build the plant of the 

 Niagara Falls Power Co., the parent Co. The Cataract Con- 

 struction Co. has now practically gone out of business, the 

 investors who formerly composed it having acquired a control- 

 ling interest in The Niagara Power Co. and continuing operations 

 in its name. The plant of this company, especially in its earlier 

 stages, has been so fully described in both the engineering press 

 and in the local papers that its principal features are familiar to 

 you all and it is the intention of the present lecture to call atten- 



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