The pioneers of '49 A history of the excursion of the Society of California pioneers of New England . servation, were subsequently erected the Stedman and Porter mills, the first structures ofthe kind on the Western Frontier. These were soon followed by the construction of the twolarge race-ways, which are still in existence, and which were occupied by manufacturing estab-lishments, as was also Bath Island, situated in the rapids above the American Falls. The water-power at Niagara was first utilized, on a large scale, by the construction of theHydraulic Canal, about three-quarters of a mile i
The pioneers of '49 A history of the excursion of the Society of California pioneers of New England . servation, were subsequently erected the Stedman and Porter mills, the first structures ofthe kind on the Western Frontier. These were soon followed by the construction of the twolarge race-ways, which are still in existence, and which were occupied by manufacturing estab-lishments, as was also Bath Island, situated in the rapids above the American Falls. The water-power at Niagara was first utilized, on a large scale, by the construction of theHydraulic Canal, about three-quarters of a mile in length, commencing at a point on the shoreof the river, above the Falls, where the river is deep and navigable, and terminating on thehigh bank of the gorge below the Falls. NIAGARA FALLS. 259 The sudden change of level in the Niagara River, constitutes a natural dam over whosecrest is discharged the surplus water of the most magnificent series of mill ponds in the world,comprising Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and Lake Erie, a total PIZtn O w o n>d H z >r oc; H w. of 87,600 square miles of reservoir surface, into which is drained 241,235 miles of watershed,a territory double the area of Great Britain and Ireland. With this immense reserve the levelof the river is practically constant, and it simply remains to work the water from the level of 260 PIOXEERS OF 40. the river above the Falls to that of the rapids below in such a manner as to utilize the energyof its descent to control a source of power which shall be constant year in and year out andevery day in the year, at no expense beyond the maintenance of the machinery of transform-ation and transmission, and the interest on its cost. On March ii, 1886, by act of the New York Legislature, the Niagara River HydraulicTunnel Power and Sewer Company was incorporated. The plan of this company is to bringthe differences in level in a vertical plane, not by the construction of a long canal from theri
Size: 1256px × 1989px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherbostonleeandshepar
