Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1889 — TO HARNESS NIAGARA. [ARTICLE]

TO HARNESS NIAGARA.

A CfclMRO Mm rrifMW to Makt Cap. Wm That Great Water Pewerw TV problem of how to utakze the water power of Niagara river for manufacturing; and other purposes is in a fair waj of being solved toy at Chicago man. Prac tlcal engineers have declared the project feasible, and plans have been formulated with the object of Undertaking Die work. C. B. Bartlett, the engineer and contractor of that city, has been Tor some time engaged upon the preparatory work, and the result of his labors have not only received the approval of capitalists bat are protected by letters of patent issued by the Government last month. During the current week application will be made to the New York Legislature for the necessary authority to undertake the work. The application is indorsed by prominent citizens ol Chicago, and it is not thought there will be any difficulty in securing the legislation desired. The bed of Niagara river at the foot of the fulls is said to be 160 feet from the bed at the brink of the cataract. Mr. Bartlett proposes to first tunnel a series of tail-races from the river bed at the foot of the falls a distance of from 200 to COO feet up the river, on either the American or Canadian side. These completed he will commence excavating on a direct line to the upper bed of the river. When the work has reached a given point between. the upper and lower beds, coffer-dams 100x000 feet in dimensions will be employed for the purpnse of obtaining space in the formCTTo continue the excavation from the upper bed of the river, and the same will be prosecuted until a junction is made with the excavation from below. This completed, hcayy iron beams will be anchored in the solid stone walls composing the sides of the shaft, lo prevent clogging by debris, ice, etc., caught in the river current in its course from Lake Erie. The same course of operations will he continued until a tunnel, so to speak, of a - par-iliei-wtdth-or forty-two lee l has"heetT excavated from the American to the Canadian shore. Ten feet below these girders a water-tight reservoir will he constructed of durable'material, extending longitudinally front shore to shore. It will be forty fiait in width and otherwise sufficient in size for the service. It will he supported in the center by the bottom of the excavation and securely held in place,.jS"x feet below the reservoir the workroom of the hands wiil be built on another set of girders, also mor ticed into the rocky sides of thu passage. From the working floor a double row of iron pipes, live feet iu diameter, will he located at a distance of sixteen feet apart throughout the entire lengfh of the tunnel, extending from top to bottom. The interior of each will be equipped with a turbine wheel of the latest improved pattern, and each of the pipes will connect with, the reservoir by means of teninch pipes, supplied wit'fT valves to regulate the flow of water by dynamos to the number of 100 will be placed at the bottom of the shaft. By opening the valves a flow of water of incalculable force wiil pass through the ten-inch pipes into .the five-foot pipes, Startimr the turhlrfC wheels, apd the power thus applied to the dynamos is transmitted O-ver -wires to any given point within a radius of fifty miles, where it can be utilized as a very cheap substitute for steam or other motive agency. If the right of way is secured in New York a company will be organized for the development of this invention, —and the preliminary work upon the excavation will be commenced. The work, it is claimed, can be concluded and in operation within a year.