Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1913 — PLAN TO HARNESS THE TIDES [ARTICLE]

PLAN TO HARNESS THE TIDES

An Old Story in ' Canada, but It la ..."..-llii. Heard Once Again. Canada hears every little while that some one Is going to harness the mighty tides of the Bay-of Fundy and put them to work; but the tides have gone on doing as they please and the. story has been ranked with 'the report— which usually originates in Maine—that gold is to be extracted from the sands of the sbtqihore. A tremendous amount <n power is going to waste all the time in the Bay of Fundy and the scheme to put>this power to some account is reasonable enough on paper. It has been proposed again by J. L. Weller of St Catherine’s, Ontario, who is organizing a company and has applied for a charter from the Dominion Governuient ..... ...

The tide rises in the Bay of Fundy sometimes as high as sixty feet A rise of forty feet is ordinary. When It is remembered that the tide is either rising or falling for more than twenty hours out of the twenty-four it will be seen that there is almost continuous power. The vast extent of the tidal area is the most difficult factor in the prob--lem. The water sweeps up broad estuaries for the most part; at few places is there such a thing as a narrow passage through rocky walls. To harness the Fundy tide will require long stretches of heavy stone embankments.

Mr. Weller's plan, so far as he has announced It, is to build power plants below Moncton, N. 8., on the Petitcodlac River, at Amherst, N. S,. on an arm of Cumberland Bay, and at some points on the/Basin of Minas. The movement of the tide In the Petitcodlac River represents an energy of about 3,000,000 horse-power a day. The river bed below Moncton Is mdre than a mile wide. The banks are gentle slopes. It Is here that the bore, a wall of water that marks the coming of the tide, Is seen at its best Its power seems quite worth while harnessing, for in spring tide seasons it is some six feet high and it rushes up the river at express train speed. ) Following the bore the tide pours in steadily and forcefully. It has the strength of a spring freshet. In a mountain river. Mr. Waller's plan is to bAilld extensive dams In the river b«| in order to force all this power Into one spot The dams would be built so as to catch the power of the falling tide as well —to get It coming and going. The alm Is to develop only 100,000 horsepower at first The problem at Amherst seems easier, for there the water is confined within narrower Unfits. In the Basin of Minas the problem is the hardest for there is little natural opposition. There is a good market for power all around the Bay of Fundy. It could run the electric lines in the cities and towns. It could work the mills, it could be used in developing the oil lands near the mouth of the Petitcodlac and the coal mines near Amherst The work at Niagara has made the distribution and employment of collected energy a simple matter. Canada, however, will not believe until it sees.