6 UTILIZATION OF WATER POWER AT NIAGARA FALLS. 



that would not mar the scenic features of the falls and therefore 

 proposed that a canal should be cut from the upper river, just 

 above the rapids, to a point on the top of the high bank of the river 

 below the falls, the water from such canal to be discharged into 

 the lower river after operating wheels set below the level of the 

 ground surface. The almost level surface of the ground between 

 the points of entry and discharge and the substantial character of 

 the rock through which it would pass made the project an ideal 

 one. Nevertheless Mr. Porter failed to interest capital in this pro- 

 ject and it was not until after his death that work was commenced. 

 Even then the excavation of the canal was carried on intermittently 

 by various parties until in 1861 Horace H. Day completed a canal 

 4,400 feet long, 36 feet wide and 8 feet deep. At the lower end 

 of this canal was constructed a basin or forebay, parallel with the 

 face of the cliff and about 350 feet from it, the present size of this 

 basin being 70 feet by 600 feet although it was, of course, much 

 smaller at first. Even then the opportunities of the power do not 

 appear to have been appreciated and it was not until 1870 that the 

 first mill was built to use water from this canal. In 1877 the canal 

 and the property and rights belonging thereto were purchased by 

 Mr. Jacob F. Schoellkopf and Mr. A. Chesborough who organized 

 the present company. The number of mills utilizing this source 

 of power has steadily increased until at the present time the various 

 industries in the lower milling district (so called) develop about 

 7,500 H. P. including that in use in the lower mill of the Cliff Pa- 

 per Co. Most of these factories have constructed their own wheel - 

 pits and installed their own wheels. 



A good indication of the progress made in hydraulic develop- 

 ment in the last few years is the fact that the original grants of 

 the Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co. did" not include the 

 slope of the bank between the bottom of the vertical cliff and the 

 edge of the lower river, giving a right to excavate only 100 feet 

 below the top of the bank, as it was considered that wheels would 

 never be constructed to operate under a greater head than this, 

 and it was not until 1886 that the Hydraulic Co. secured deeds for 

 this lower slope. As a matter of fact none of the mills thus far 

 mentioned utilized a head of more than 50 or 60 feet and many of 

 them used a still lower fall. The consequence is that an engineer 

 when looking at the cliff below these mills and seeing the large 

 amount of water falling from the outlets of the various wheelpits 

 is impressed with the vast amount of power going to waste. At 

 least 10,000 H. P. is thus lost, or enough to supply all the indus- 

 tries of many a good sized city. 



