224 THE UTILIZATION OF NIAGARA. 



Fall, of 1\ inches, and of the Horse Shoe, of 2.18 feet, would probably 

 have been much greater had the water been less limpid. 



The roar of the falls, which can be heard for many miles, has a deep 

 note, four octaves lower than the scale of the ordinary piano. The fall 

 of such an immense body of water causes a very perceptible tremor of 

 the ground throughout the vicinity. The existence of the falls is also 

 indicated by huge clouds of mist which, rising above the rainbows, 

 tower sometimes a mile in air before breaking away. 



It was Mr. Thomas Evershed, an American civil engineer, who 

 unfolded the plan of diverting part of the stream at a considerable 

 distance above the falls, so that no natural beauty would be interfered 

 with, while an enormous amount of power would be obtained with a 

 very slight reduction in the volume of the stream at the crest of the 

 falls. Essentially scientific and correct as the plan now shows itself to 

 be, it found prompt criticism and condemnation, but not less quickly 

 did it rally the able and influential support of Messrs. W. B. Eankine, 

 Francis Lynde Stetson, Edward A. Wickes, and Edward D. Adams, 

 who organized the corporate interests that, with an expenditure of 

 £1,000,000 in five years, have carried out the present work. 



So many engineering problems arose early in the enterprise that 

 after the survey of the property in 1890 an International Niagara 

 Commission was established in London, with power to investigate the 

 best existing methods of power development and transmission, and to 

 select from among them, as well as to award j)rizes of an aggregate of 

 £4,400. This body included men like Lord Kelvin, Mascart, Coleman 

 Sellers, Turrettini, and Dr. Unwin, and its work was of the utmost 

 value. Besides this the Niagara Company and the allied Cataract 

 Construction Company enjoyed the direct aid of other experts, such as 

 Prof. George Forbes, in a consultative capacity; while it was a neces- 

 sary consequence that the manufacturers of the apparatus to be used 

 threw upon their work the highest inventive and constructive talent at 

 their command. 



The time-honored plan in water-power utilization has been to string 

 factories along a canal of considerable length, with but a short tail race. 

 At Niagara the plan now brought under notice is that of a short canal 

 with a very long tail race. The use of electricity for distributing the 

 power allows the factories to be placed away from the canal, and in any 

 location that may appear specially desirable or advantageous. 



The perfected and concentrated Evershed scheme comprises a short 

 surface canal 250 feet wide at its mouth, \\ miles above the falls, far 

 beyond the outlying Three Sisters Islands, with an intake inclined 

 obliquely to the Niagara River. This canal extends inwardly 1,700 

 feet, and has an average depth of some 12 feet, thus holding water 

 adequate to the development of about 100,000 horsepower. The mouth 

 of the canal is 600 feet from the shore line proper, and considerable work 

 was necessary in its protection and excavation. The bed is now of clay, 



