Col. Albert D. Shaw, formerly U. S. Consul at Montreal, Canada, and
later at Manchester, England, is at the head of a company which proposes
to produce electricity on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. This
company has secured the passage of a bill through the Ontario Parliament
permitting the incorporation of a company with a capitalization of
$3,000,000, and a privilege of bonding to the extent of $5,000,000, with
the object of producing electricity by means of a tunnel upon the
Canadian side.
In conversation with a writer for the Philadelphia _Press_, in April of
this year, Col. Shaw said the Canadian company had not been organized to
compete with the American company, but rather to supplement and act in
concert with it. He explained that as the land on the Canadian side is
devoted to park purposes, it cannot be used for the location of
manufactories, and therefore the power produced must be transmitted to
other points. In this connection he went on to say:
“Such power can certainly be carried to Buffalo. An electrical
plant has been established about 16 miles from the city of Rome,
N. Y., and the power there furnished is conveyed to Rome with
perfectly satisfactory results. Buffalo is only a little more
than 20 miles from Niagara, and with the higher voltage which
can be obtained there is no doubt that city can be furnished
with electric power sufficient to run all the manufactories of
New York State were they located there. After our company is
organized in harmony with the New York company we shall begin
work, and I think can complete it within a year.”
“The water power furnished by the Niagara River above the
Falls,” continued Col. Shaw, “is estimated to be equivalent to
3,000,000 horse-power. When we recollect that the Connecticut
River at Holyoke only furnishes about 24,000 horse-power, and
the river at Minneapolis only 18,000, some idea can be obtained
of this enormous power which has hitherto been going to waste.
The American company has built a tunnel 8,000 feet long. The
entrance to it is a long distance above the Falls, and the exit
where the waste water flows into the Niagara River is just below
the suspension bridge. This tunnel is capable of furnishing
power equivalent to 140,000 horse-power, an amount of power
which vastly exceeds anything furnished anywhere else in the
world. The Niagara River never runs dry. There never is an
appreciable diminution in its body of water. Everywhere else
where water power is used manufactories are compelled either to
have a steam plant which can be relied upon in dry weather, or
else to run the risk of shutting down for lack of power. That
can never happen on the banks of the Niagara.”
Col. Shaw went on to speak of the plans of the American company, with
which he is familiar. After stating that manufacturers from all parts of
the country have been in communication with the American company with a
view of locating plants in the city of Buffalo, and that expert
engineers estimate that the electric power which can be developed and
furnished will be practically illimitable, he said:
“The Canadian company will be able to furnish tremendous voltage
whenever wires properly insulated are ready to receive it. The
New York capitalists who virtually own the American company, and
will be in harmony with the Canadian, are even more enthusiastic
than they are in Buffalo. I have talked with a number of them
since I have been in the city. They are careful men, not likely
to be carried away with false enthusiasm, and who look at such
things purely from a commercial point of view. They are of
opinion, as I am, and as everybody else is who has made a study
of this matter, that the great manufacturing city of the future
is to be located upon the bank of the Niagara River, and the
time is not far distant when the city of Buffalo will extend
from its present site full twenty miles to the north. The number
of manufactories which have already decided to move from various
other towns, some of them in the far West, to Buffalo, is an
indication of what the future will be.
“The power is permanent and is dependent upon no changes of
the weather. Moreover, it is cheap power, and will always be
sufficient, no matter how greatly any manufacturer may desire
to increase his plant. Furthermore, the contiguity of this
place to convenient transportation is another temptation to
manufacturers. For instance, it has been demonstrated that the
grain of the West can be brought there and manufactured into
flour at least 10 cents a barrel cheaper than in the great
milling cities of the West, and that of itself is a handsome
profit.
“Furthermore, transportation charges, such is the relation of
Buffalo and its vicinity to water and rail routes, will be
cheaper there than at any other manufacturing center in the
United States. The raw material can be brought either by the
lakes or by rail to the doors of the mill, and the finished
product can be sent out by lake, by the Canadian Canal to the
St. Lawrence River, by the Erie Canal during the season when
water transportation is open, and there are 26 different lines
of railway centering there. The manufacturers have been figuring
pretty closely. Competition is so great that it is frequently
the economies which represent the difference between success and
failure, profit and loss. All those of them who have already
decided to locate in that vicinity and utilize this great power
are of opinion that the saving in expenses will of itself
represent a fair profit on the capital invested. Within 20 years
it would not be surprising to see a city, or a link of cities
practically one, containing 1,000,000 people, and perhaps the
largest capital investment in manufacturing in the United
States, with perhaps one or two exceptions.
“It is strange that this magnificent power which has been wasted
heretofore should not have had earlier development. Several
attempts have been made to develop it, but capital has been
timid until some of the great financial geniuses of New York
City became interested.”