Preservation of the Falls 



deficiency average for any one year was for 1895, being 31,800 19U 

 c. f. s., or fifteen per cent. 



Power Possibilities of Niagara Falls. — Many statements 

 of a misleading character — no doubt, sometimes, through 

 ignorance — have been published regarding the water-power pos- 

 sibilities of Niagara Falls. Theoretical quantities of available 

 horse-power have been presented to the attention of the public, 

 while quantities of actually developed horse-power have been the 

 units in which power companies have required their concessions 

 from the government. Comparisons should be made with cor- 

 responding units. 



Under conditions of average discharge the Niagara river, from 

 lake Erie to lake Ontario, with its total fall of about 325 feet, 

 would, theoretically yield about 8,000,000 horse-power. The 

 fall in the Niagara river from lake Erie to the surface of the 

 water below the Falls is about 226 feet, and from the head of the 

 rapids above the Falls (forebay of the Ontario Power Company's 

 head works) to the foot of the Falls, about 212 feet. The 

 Ontario Power Company operates under a normal head of about 

 180 feet; consequently this company utilizes about eighty-five 

 per cent of the available head of 212 feet. This is a larger per- 

 centage of the total head than is utilized by other companies at 

 Niagara. The combined efficiency of the turbines and generators 

 constituting the large units at the Falls is about eighty per cent, so 

 that only eighty per cent of the eighty-five, which is sixty-eight per 

 cent, of the possible development, is available as developed elec- 

 trical horse-power. Hence, one of the first things we have to do 

 is to cut the theoretically possible horse-power down over thirty 

 per cent. 



Again, in estimating possible available horse-power, it is cus- 

 tomary to base the estimates upon the minimum discharge, or flow. 

 Such is the basis employed for the estimates given in the Hydro- 

 Electric Power Commission and many other reports. Now, if the 

 power at Niagara falls is considered on this basis of minimum 

 monthly discharge, then, a further reduction of twenty per cent 



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