That well-known and successful financier, Erastus Wiman, of New York,
who is deeply interested in electrical enterprises, read a very able
paper at the convention of the National Electric Light Association held
in Buffalo in February, 1892. In his paper he devoted considerable
attention to the Niagara Falls tunnel scheme, and among other things he
said:
“How vast is the internal commerce that throbs and pulsates over
this fair land we may not now stop to estimate, and how
important a part this great city of Buffalo is destined to play
in it, electrically, we can only dimly guess. * * * The whole
electrical community are watching with intense interest the
possibility of the development in this city of Buffalo
electrical transmission arising out of the successful effort
which is now being made to harness the power hitherto latent in
the Niagara River. The boldness of the proposal, the extent and
character of the enterprise which is now nearing completion in
this effort, the pluck and push in the work, challenge alike the
attention of the engineering and the commercial world. The
relation of this enormous power of nature to the transmission of
electricity is the most important consideration which now
occupies the thoughts of those most interested. The success
which has attended the three-phase current from Lauffen to
Frankfort in the transmission of power 112 miles, without
material loss, comes just at the right moment to make it seem
possible that the enormous potentialities in the forces of
Niagara can be made to reach a degree of usefulness never dreamt
of in the past and hardly realized in the wonderful present. It
seems fortunate, therefore, that the convention which is here
assembled should, as it were, be in the presence of the most
stupendous event possible in the history of the science of
electricity. In the development of the next few years will be
found ample food for thought and effort, out of which may grow a
relief for electric lighting plants of the greatest possible
consequence. If in the city of Buffalo and from the Niagara
River there can be transmitted power in such enormous
proportions as are now contemplated, sub-divided and reduced, so
that into every factory and almost into every house the force
and energy can be controlled and operated, there is latent in
every central station the possibilities that may come to every
town in the country and to all electric light plants now lying
idle during the day, an imitation in modified form of the power
that of all forces in the world, Niagara is the best example.”
“THE MANUFACTURING CENTRE OF THE NATION.”
Within the past year or two, and particularly during 1892, Buffalo has
received a great deal of attention from the press in all parts of the
country. The leading newspapers of the large cities have discussed the
question of Buffalo’s future growth, and the general concensus of
opinion has been that it will be phenomenally large.
Among the newspapers that have entered into this discussion is the
Chicago _Tribune_. It stands in the front rank of the great journals of
the United States. It is very ably edited, is a sterling, conservative
newspaper, and its editorial utterances carry great weight. In its issue
of March 13, 1892, it printed a leading editorial about Buffalo, and it
is here produced in full:
“A recent article in the _Tribune_ setting forth the prospect
that this city will ere long be the centre of operations in the
United States for the largest electrical company in the world
has incited more than one good-humored protest that the people
here are expecting too much. The New York _Tribune_ and the
Buffalo _Express_ both call attention to the fact that Buffalo
has great expectations in this matter of being the electrical
centre of the world. With Niagara Falls behind it, and a
consequence of the fact, Buffalo is claimed to be looming up as
the chief manufacturing and shipping centre of the interior.
“In the course of a few months from now the practicability of
converting the Falls into a source of power, light, heat, and
refrigeration is to be demonstrated. A company is now
constructing tunnels and setting a series of turbine wheels in
position from which it is expected to obtain 120,000 horse-power
without the combustion of a single pound of fuel. If it succeeds
in this, every wheel in Buffalo can be turned and every building
lighted and heated at the lowest possible cost. With this
enormous electrical power transmitted to the city and
distributed through it coal will no longer be burned there, and
the steam engine will be dispensed with in manufacturing
processes. By virtue of having the cheapest power for turning
its machinery Buffalo will inevitably become the manufacturing
centre of the nation. This is the forecast made by practical
electricians and endorsed by shrewd business men as a sound
deduction, warranted, too, by a glance at the remarkable
progress achieved by the city during the last decade.
“In that period the city at the foot of Lake Erie increased its
coal traffic 387 per cent., its iron receipts 226 per cent., its
population by 89 per cent., and fully doubled its grain receipts
and lumber shipments. It is already the largest grain-receiving
and coal-distributing center in the world, the principal lumber
port in the country, and one of the greatest markets for live
stock and fish. Its number of manufacturing establishments
increased 200 per cent. from 1880 to 1890, and it is now
considered certain that they will more than treble again by the
end of the century with the conversion of the Falls into a
source of electrical power, while the population will increase
from 300,000 to 1,000,000. And it is said ‘Buffalo now seems
destined to gain steadily upon Chicago in the race for
commercial supremacy.’
[Illustration: