Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1890 — Will the Steam Engine Go? [ARTICLE]

Will the Steam Engine Go?

A New York paper states that on the eve of his departure for Europe Henry Villard declared that he believed that few more locomotive engine would be built in this country. He added that he had recently come in possession of information which convinced him that electricity could be generated directly by combustion and that it would produce more force from the samp amount of fuel than steam applied to an engine does. One of his objects in visiting England and the countries on the continent is to examine the storage batteries, which have been much more successful there than here. He believes that electricity may revolutionize transportation. It already moves passenger cars over short lines of road, and the way to move both passenger and freight trains over long lines has been pointed out by them. Electricity has accomplished more for transportation than steam did in the same length of time. In Maine, which has the most abundant water power of any State, there is great excitement over employing it to generate electricity for moving trains and propelling machinery. It is thought that car may be moved on most of the railroads in the State by electricity generated by water power furnished by the streams and conducted by wires. Most of tho roads run near streams that furnish water power that is not now put to use. It is also thought that this water power can generate electricity that may be employed to run machinery at a distance from falls. Mills built In the Immediate vicinity of rivers and large streams are always in danger when the volume of water is unusually large or when great quantities of Ice and logs are carried down in the spring. By using water power to generate electricity the mills may be built in places that offer greater security.