Niagara Falls 



1903 embody the results of the experience gained in operating the first 

 Van Cleve power house, the distribution of current between the two sides of 

 the canal, and the added security against interruption of service. 

 In other words, the eggs would not all be in one basket. 

 This second wheelpit has now been completed and six 5500 

 H. P. turbines with their shafting and generators are now 

 installed in it. Five additional units are ordered and their installa- 

 tion has now commenced. By next fall such units will be com- 

 pleted and the Niagara Falls Power Co. will thus have a total 

 of 1 10,000 electrical H. P. for sale. 



'*. * * • * 



Time forbids more than a brief reference to that most inter- 

 esting problem, the manner in which electric power is transmitted 

 to Buffalo. The current from the generators flows to the switch- 

 board where the controlling devices are situated and thence to 

 the largest transformers ever manufactured where the voltage or 

 intensity, of current is raised from 2200 volts to 22,000 volts. It 

 then passes over bare copper wires through the intermediate towns 

 to the terminal house in this city where the voltage is reduced to 

 2200 volts for local distribution to the various sub-stations. Three 

 separate and distinct transmission lines of three wires are now in 

 use and if any of these lines is interrupted the current can be 

 transmitted on the other two lines. These lines are daily patrolled 

 and constant watchfulness is exercised to prevent such interruption. 



But while power development on the American side has thus 

 been advancing by leaps and bounds, the Canadian shores have 

 not escaped the attention of capitalists anxious to utilize a part of 

 Niagara's energy. The material features of the problem there 

 presented are quite similar to those already described, but the 

 business aspects of the case are somewhat different. The 

 Province of Ontario has set aside for park purposes a large tract 

 lying between the upper Suspension Bridge and the Dufferin 

 Islands and in addition control a strip of land 66 feet wide extend- 

 ing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. As the works of any water 

 power plant must necessarily cross under or over, or be situated 



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