Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1891 — Changes It May Make. [ARTICLE]

Changes It May Make.

—-nA natural harbor on the ocean or one of the great lakes, or a fall in a river beyond which large boats could not pass, determined the location of all the large towns in this country when heavy articles were necessarily transported by water. The introduction of railroads necessarily caused a great change in the matter of locating cities. They made it practical to have important commercial towns at a distance from a harbor or even remote from a body of water. In colonial times and for a considerable period after the founding of the nation all the large manufacturing towns were on streams that afforded good water power. But the invention of the steam engine made it practical to establish great factories and machine shops at any place where fuel could be cheaply obtained. The discovery of natural g-ca iff'"" various parts of the country gave them great advantages in the manufacture of iron, glass, brick and pottery. And now it is believed that electricity produce another change in determining where great manufactories will be built. In Switzerland, it is ~gaid; n~- large number - of factories are being erected near small streams that flow down the sides of mountains and afford sufficient power to generate electricity. By using electrical instead of water power the mills can be built at some distance from the Streams, whore they will be in no danger of being swept away by floods. As fuel is scarce in Switzerland stoam engines cannot be used to good advantage. Duluth, “the zenith city of the unsalted sea,” is talking about utilising the falls on the St. Louis River to generate electricity that shall not only light all the streets and houses, but run the cars,'elevators and all the machinery A city without smoke and with power furnished at a nominal cost would have advantages few towns possess. Its only great need would be natural gas to produce heat for warming buildings, smelting iron ore, melting the materials for making glass and burning 1 articles made of clay.—Chicago Herald.