Industrial Niagara 



A description of the Falls, with an estimate of their power potentialities, 1912 

 and an account of the influence of that power on various industries. Agassiz 



Gone is the Indian's superstition, the red man's impotency — 

 terrible no more is the " Spirit of Niagara," ominous no longer 

 is its voice. Where stood the Indian maid we now see in phan- 

 tom a thousand temples of industry ; where rode the mist, a cloud 

 as of smoke wafted toward the setting sun; where rested the 

 rainbow, the bridge that points man across the great divide. The 

 44 Mighty Thunderer " that for untold centuries has run his 

 relentless way, checked only by the martial legions of King 

 Winter, still hurls his troubled waters down the awful abyss ; his 

 voice still speaks forth from the unfathomable depths; his relent- 

 less spirit is still unassuaged, his pristine omnipotence still unchal- 

 lenged; but these waters have been trained to another task, that 

 voice finds echo in the whirr of myriad wheels, that power is 

 reflected in a million ways; the "unconquerable one" is still 

 unconquered — he has become a mighty ally in the upbuilding of 

 civilization. 



But the total power potentialities of the 44 Mighty Thunderer " 

 will not be available for man's use for many generations to 

 come, for conservative legislation on the part of the governments 

 of Great Britain and the United States will hold in reserve so 

 much of it as competent engineers deem essential to preserve the 

 scenic beauty of the cataract until such time as its development 

 shall have become an economic necessity of the hour. 



Already, it might be said, the people of Ontario, with peculiar 

 acumen and foresight, have created, in what is officially known as 

 the Hydroelectric Power Commission, a government-controlled 

 body, whose purpose is to distribute Niagara-developed power 

 throughout the Province at cost, thus superinducing her indus- 

 trial upbuilding. 



This commission already has constructed 565 miles of trans- 

 mission lines, to what effect can be best seen by a study of the 



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