Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1904 — WATER POWER IN MEXICO. [ARTICLE]

WATER POWER IN MEXICO.

Enormous Amount of Hydraulic Force Going to Waste. Modern Mexico has often had occa* sion to call attention to the fact that; though fuel Is very scarce In Mexico, still the country is supplied with aa abundance of power for the movement of prime motoi-s. We refer, of course, to water power. The construction of electric plants for the purpose of fui> uishing light and power has hardly begun In proportion to the demand and the water power available. Mexico, which undoubtedly stand* in much greater need of electric power than either France or Switzerland, on neount of the higher price of fuel, 1* supplied with an almost unlimited amount of hydraulic force. In the central mesa of the republic, which averages G,OOO feet above sea level, rise a great number of rivers and streams, the Balsas, Lerma, Tames! and Panuco being but a few of the more import ant. While no accurate estimate ha* been made of the available water power, It Is probable that at least 15,000,000 horse power are running to waste at the height of the dry season. Lese than one-half of 1 per cent of tbit amount, or say, 75,000, is being utilized for motive power, lnclud ng thaf used directly by flour mills, and absorbed by electric plants for transmission to distant point*. In the City of Mexico, under present conditions, It probably costs at least $l9O a year, Mexican money, per horse power to produce power from steam, and even In the most favored districts, where fuel Is cheap, it will reach $125. The coal barons of the United States are, perhaps, her most solid aristocracy, and those who get control of “La Huille Blanche” (the white coal) of this country will hold in the near future a much more important position. The power is here, on top of the ground. It does not have to be mined or transported. It will carry itself with bat • wire to go on, and Mexico Is a country that offers many conditions favorable to gigantic Industrial enterprises.—Modern Mexico.