THE UTILIZATION OF NIAGARA. 231 



per year. Where steamboat haulage for 242 tons of freight now costs 

 about 6^d. a boat inile, it is estimated that electric haulage will cost 

 not to exceed 5|d., while with the energy from Niagara at only £4 per 

 horsepower per year it will cost much less. Some two years ago the 

 first attempt was made in the United States on the Erie Canal with 

 the canal boat F. W. Hawley, when the trolley system was used with 

 the motor on the boat as it is on an electric car, driving the propeller 

 as if it were the car wheels. Another plan is that of hauling the boat 

 from the towpath, and that is what is now being done with the electric 

 system of Mr. Richard Lamb on the Erie Canal at Tonawanda, near 

 Niagara. Imagine an elevator shaft working lengthwise instead of 

 vertically. There is placed on poles a heavy fixed cable on which the 

 motor truck rests, and a lighter traction cable is also strung that is 

 taken up and paid out by a sheave as the motor propels itself along 

 and pulls the canal boat to which it is attached. If the boats come 

 from opposite directions they simply exchange motors, just as they 

 might mules or locomotives, and go on without delay. 



On its property at Niagara the power company has already begun 

 the development of the new village called Echota, a pretty Indian 

 name which signifies " place of refuge." I believe it is Mr. W. D. How- 

 ells, our American novelist, who in kindred spirit speaks of the "repose" 

 of Niagara. It was laid out by Mr. John Bogart, formerly State engi- 

 neer, and is intended to embody all that is best in sanitation, lighting, 

 and urban comfort. It does not need the eye of faith to see here the 

 beginning of one of the busiest, cleanest, prettiest, and healthiest locali- 

 ties in the Union. The workingman whose factory is not poisoned by 

 smoke and dust, whose home was designed by distinguished architects, 

 whose streets and parks were laid out by celebrated engineers, and 

 whose leisure is spent within sight and sound of lovely Niagara, has 

 little cause for grumbling at his lot. 



The American company has also preempted the great utilization of 

 the Canadian share of Niagara's energy. The plan for this work pro- 

 poses the erection of two power houses of a total ultimate capacity of 

 125,000 horsepower. Each power house is fed by its own canal and is 

 therefore an independent unit. Owing to the better lay of the land, 

 the tunnels carrying off the water discharged from the turbines on the 

 Canadian side will have lengths respectively of only 300 and 800 feet, 

 thus avoiding the extreme length and cost unavoidable on the Ameri- 

 can side. With both the Canadian and American plants fully devel- 

 oped, no less than 350,000 horsepower will be available. The stationary 

 engines now in use in New York State represent only 500,000 horse- 

 power. Yet the 350,000 horsepower are but one-twentieth of the 

 7,000,000 horsepower which Professor Unwin has estimated the falls to 

 represent theoretically. If the 350,000 horsepower were estimated at 

 £4 per year per horsepower, and should replace the same amount of 

 steam power at £10, the annual saving for power in New York State 

 alone would be more than £2,000,000 per year. 



