it certainly was a most original idea to place this thunder on
exhibition--"thunder on tap," a humorist might call it. The point chosen
for collecting the sound was near the Cave of the Winds, where at the
foot of the cliff one can get nearer to the waterfall than at any other
point. The Cave of the Winds is between Goat and Luna islands, and is
reached by the Biddle Stairway, a frail-looking structure built on the
face of the cliff, and the adventurous tourist who ventures down this
winding stair is almost deafened by the noise of the water as it strikes
the great rocks that lie just below him.
[Illustration: MOUTH OF THE TUNNEL.]
The mechanical arrangements for sending the sound were very simple. An
ordinary telephone, with the necessary apparatus, was placed in a tight
wooden box, so that the instrument might be protected from the spray.
Wires connected with the long-distance telephone were carried down the
side of the cliff and attached to the telephone in the box. From one
side of the box projected an immense tin funnel. This was the
sound-collector. The rest of the operation was very easy. The current
was turned on, and in a few seconds the sound was heard at the extreme
end of the line. In the centre of the hall where the electric exposition
was held was a working model of the Niagara Falls electric plant; around
this model were twenty-four telephone transmitters, and the visitor
could not only see the machinery moved by the power generated at the
Falls, but hear the ceaseless roar of the great waters.
The greatest distance that electric power had ever before been
transmitted was from the Falls of Neckar, in Germany, to a point 110
miles distant. Power for the exposition was to come nearly five times
that length, and the occasion was so momentous a one that the gold key
which President Cleveland used to set in motion the machinery for the
World's Fair was used by Governor Morton to turn on the electric current
generated by the Falls. As soon as the exposition was declared open,
Governor Morton, according to a previously arranged plan, turned on a
current from the Falls power which discharged a piece of government
artillery simultaneously in the public squares of Augusta, Maine; St.
Paul, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
[Illustration: TURBINE READY TO BE LOWERED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE
WHEEL-PIT.]
The capturing of Niagara and setting it to work is one of the greatest
feats of modern engineering. For years engineers have watched the power
going to waste down the great cataract, and studied how it could be made
available for mechanical purposes. The only device for using it was the
building of a hydraulic canal opening out of the river above the Falls,
and emptying into it at the edge of the bluff a mile or two below the
Falls. Power was thus carried to several mills built on the bank, but it
was a mere cipher compared to the great force daily poured over the
great precipice, a force which has been scientifically estimated to
equal nearly 6,000,000 horse-power, enough to drive all the machinery on
the American continent.
Many plans for using this power were made, only to be abandoned, till
Mr. Thomas Evershed, a division engineer on the Erie Canal, devised the
scheme of digging wheel-pits above the Falls, placing turbine-wheels at
the bottom of the pits, conveying water from the river to turn the
wheels--which should be used to furnish the power to generate
electricity--and carrying off the waste water through a large tunnel and
emptying it into the river. The plan was found feasible, and in 1886 the
Niagara Falls Power Company was incorporated by the Legislature of New
York. Millions of dollars and the service of the most skilful engineers
in the world were employed in carrying out the plan. Work was begun in
1887, and in January, 1894, the first great turbine-wheel was set at
work.
[Illustration: THE WHEEL-PIT IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION.]
The manner of using a part of the tremendous power of the cataract,
though constructed on so gigantic a scale, is as simple to understand as
the mechanism of a toy water-wheel, which, placed under a tiny fall of
water, turns a miniature windmill on the bank of the stream. An inlet
canal 1500 feet long, 500 feet wide, and 12 feet deep opens from the
river at a point about a mile and a half above the Falls. A short
distance from the side of the canal nearest the Falls, and near the end
farthest from the river, are two wheel-pits 160 feet deep, and at the
bottom of each pit is a 5000 horse-power Girard double turbine-wheel.
From the canal to these pits are head-races fitted with sluices through
which the water is admitted to the wheel-pits. Both the canal and the
head-races are lined with solid masonry, and the gates which regulate
the supply of water are open and shut by automatic levers. In each
wheel-pit is an immense iron tube reaching from top to bottom of the
pit, made of boiler iron. This tube, called a penstock, is seven feet in
diameter, and the water pours down this huge pipe into the wheel-case in
which the turbine revolves. A turbine-wheel is a vertical wheel which
revolves from side to side like a top, the name being derived from the
Latin word _turbo_, whirling, or spinning like a top.
[Illustration: SECTIONAL DIAGRAM OF POWER-HOUSE.]
Now a stream of water seven feet in diameter, falling from a height of
140 feet, must cause this mammoth water-top to spin round in its case at
rather a lively rate, and so it does, for the turbine shaft revolves at
the rate of 250 times a minute, and the speed can be increased to twice
that number of times. The vertical shaft of the turbine is attached to a
propeller shaft which rises to the floor of the power-house--built over
the wheel-pits--where it is attached to a dynamo. Though the dynamos are
the largest in the world, they are not the size originally designed,
owing to the fact that no cars were large or stout enough to transport
them, so the size of the base-plate of the dynamo was limited to one
which could be carried by rail from the manufactory to the Falls.
Standing in the visitors' gallery of the power-house and watching these
great dynamos whirling round so swiftly that the eye can scarcely
perceive their motion, and remembering that it is caused by the
expenditure of but a fraction of the power flowing over the Falls, one
can form some idea of the great force which it has so long been the
dream of engineers to turn to account.
Almost as great a feat as the digging of the wheel-pits and placing the
turbines at the bottom, was the excavating of the tunnel to carry off
the waste water. This tunnel, which is 7000 feet long, starts near the
bottom of the wheel-pits, runs under the city, and empties into the
river just below the suspension-bridge. It is horseshoe shaped, is 21
feet high, and 19 feet wide, in the curve. It is lined with brick,
overlaid with rubble above, and the outlet is lined for 200 feet back
with heavy cast-iron plates. The water does not run directly into the
tunnel from the wheel-pits, but flows into it through a lateral tunnel
or tail-race. This tail-race enters the main tunnel at an angle of sixty
degrees. Both tunnels are horseshoe shaped, and where they unite they
each curve differently, and it required a skilful mathematician to
calculate the cutting and fitting of the stone for the bisecting of the
arches.
It is interesting to see how this powerful machinery is kept in working
order. From a circular opening in the floor of the power-house a winding
staircase descends to the elevator landing. From this landing one may
pass directly under the electric generators and see the various pipes
which convey oil and water to the different parts of the machinery. One
pipe carries oil to the upper, and a second pipe oil to the lower,
bearings of the dynamos. A third pipe allows water to pass to the
cooling chamber of the upper bearings, and a fourth, water to a similar
chamber in the lower bearings.
The tank which holds the oil supply is placed near the roof of the
power-house. After the oil has passed to the bearings of the dynamos and
shafts it is conducted into a filtering cylinder; the clean oil runs
into a tank below the cylinder, from which a pump forces it back into
the supply tank. The pumps are run by the waste water in the bottom of
the wheel-pits.
The main-shaft bearings are oiled in a novel manner. An immense iron
cup, large enough to serve as a drinking-cup for the greatest of
Gulliver's Brobdingnagians, is attached to the revolving shaft below the
bearings. A pipe dips into the oil with which the cup is filled, and the
centrifugal force of the revolving shaft is so great that it forces the
oil up through the pipe to the top of the bearings, which it thoroughly
oils, and the waste oil finds its way back into the cup. All that is
necessary to supply the cup with fresh oil is to open a valve at the
bottom, the dirty oil runs into the filtering cylinder, and the cup is
filled with fresh oil from the supply tank.
An elevator descends to the bottom of the wheel-pits, where there are
four galleries which enable the engineers to pass round the turbines and
examine the workings. On the upper elevator landing one may see the
gearings which connect the governor with the dynamos and with the
turbine shaft, and the perfectly balanced levers which open and close
the water-gates.
One of the interesting features of the power-house is a
travelling-crane, which commands every portion of the floor of the
building, and is capable of handling the largest piece of machinery in
the works. If anything goes wrong with any part of the machinery, it can
be removed with the greatest expedition, and a similar piece fitted in
its place by means of this useful crane.
In July a company was incorporated under the name of the Cataract Power
and Conduit Company for the purpose of furnishing electric power to the
city of Buffalo from the Niagara Falls plant. Niagara Falls at once
became the centre of interest for manufacturers, engineers,
electricians, and scientists, and two days after the company was
incorporated the electric plant was visited by a large party of
distinguished men from different parts of the country.
Among the number was the great electrical magician Nikola Tesla, who
believes that sooner or later the electricity in the earth may be pumped
out of it at any point where it may be needed. The opinion of Mr. Tesla
on the possibility of transmitting the power from the Falls any
considerable distance was awaited with a great deal of eagerness.
"The project is sure to be successful," said Mr. Tesla, after inspecting
the marvellous electrical machinery and viewing the almost unlimited
capacity of the water-power.
The contracts for constructing the transmission line were let at once,
and on November 4--two days after the election of the next
President--Buffalo will be receiving power from the Falls of Niagara.
The lines through which it is to be sent will be capable of transmitting
40,000 horse-power--enough to turn all the wheels in the Minneapolis
flour-mills and whirl all the spindles in busy Holyoke.
The present power-station at the Falls, when fully equipped, will
contain ten dynamos, the combined capacity of which will be 50,000
horse-power. Besides this station the company has a permit for
constructing another canal the same size on the American side, and a
franchise for a similar work on the Canadian side, provided the work is
begun in three years from the granting of the franchise.
Everything connected with this work is on so gigantic a scale that it
will not be surprising to learn that the tunnel through which the waste
water is discharged is the largest hydraulic tunnel in the world, and of
sufficient size to carry away enough water to develop 120,000
horse-power. Even this great volume of water diverted from its natural
channel will not perceptibly lessen the 7000 tons which leap over the
precipice every minute.
The end of the tunnel opening into the river is fifty feet lower than at
its beginning, and as there are no rocks or stones to impede the passage
of the water, it slides over the smooth floor at a tremendous speed,
taking but a little over three minutes from the time that it enters the
tunnel before it reaches the outlet. It rushes out of the tunnel with
such force that it creates a cross-current far out into the river.
Knowing from whence it came and what it has been doing, one cannot but
think, as he sees it come tumbling, leaping, and roaring out of the dark
underground passage, that it is like a boy who has just finished some
irksome task and is at last free to run and shout and play.
RABBIT-HUNTING IN THE SNOW.
BY ANNIE T. ASHMORE.
Jim and Ned were evidently bound to be good business men. Some of their
plans for money-making were very peculiar. They lived side by side on
Staten Island, in places where there was a magnificent view of the bay
and harbor, and whence incoming and outgoing steamers could be seen to
great advantage. They fitted up an office in a room in the attic of
Jim's house, hung up a sign, "Shipping Office; latest news furnished of
incoming and outgoing crafts"; and as they went at it in a systematic
manner, had a capital spy-glass, and had been drilled from their
earliest infancy in the knowledge of the different boats, they were
often called upon by their neighbors to tell when a ship was due, or if
it had already entered the Narrows. For this information they charged
varying sums; and while not on the high-road to fortune, still made
enough to provide many bottles of sarsaparilla, and more chewing-gum and
bolivars than were at all good for the digestion.
Another scheme was selling eggs to their respective mothers, and they
really had a very good chicken-yard for a time, while a mysterious
account-book which bore the heading "JimandNedeggs" occasioned much
merriment among their families (of course unknown to the boys). But
latterly business had been dull. The best hens had succumbed to an
epidemic, nobody wanted to know about the ships; it was early winter,
and there were no more walks to be raked; in fact, a financial crisis
was fast overtaking the two partners. Something had to be done, for
there were Christmas presents to be bought, new bob-sleds to be had, and
of a kind more dangerous than any they had yet risked their lives on. It
was evident that only serious and concentrated thought could extricate
the firm from the situation in which it was placed.
"Ned, we must think of some way in which we can make money. I was
talking to Tom about it the other day, and all he would say was, 'Marse
Jim, you leave it to me, and I'll think out a plan.' But not a syllable
will he say as to what the plan is. He came up to the dining-room last
night and called me out, said he had something of importance to tell me,
and all it was, he asked me to ask mother for five dollars. Now you know
as well as I do that mother won't let me have another cent for I don't
know how long. She's mad because that money she gave us to put into the
incubator was all thrown away by our forgetting about it, and leaving
the eggs in there till the lamp exploded, and the eggs too. No, there's
no use; we've got to find our way out ourselves. What do you think of
our going out on a musk-rat hunt, and then selling the skins?"
"All very well," said Ned, the more prudent of the two; "but where are
you going to find musk-rats, to begin with? How are you going to catch
them when you do find them, and who's going to skin them?"
Blank despair settled down upon the two boys' countenances, and two more
unhappy-looking individuals have, fortunately, rarely been seen.
Suddenly around the corner of the house appeared a colored boy of about
eighteen, black as the ace of spades, but grinning from ear to ear with
good humor and amusement.
"What you sitting here in the cold for, you boys? Marse Ned, Marse Jim,
you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. If missus found you sitting in
the cold, she won't give you no more money for your 'lowance, and you
dun bus' now, you tole me."
"Oh, Tom, do tell us a way to get out of this--a way to make money!"
said the two boys, simultaneously.
"Well, this nigger ain't much good making money, but you two boys come
in the black hole and talk it over, and Tom'll help when he can."
The black hole was in the cellar where the furnace was, and was a
favorite resort of Tom's. As they talked now Tom looked up suddenly. An
idea had come to him, and he said: "Marse Jim, Marse Ned, you better
raise rabbits. Then ask yer mother to let me go to New York jus' befo'
Christmas-time; I'll sell 'em in the streets, fifty cents and dollar
apiece. Rabbits don't cost nuffin' down hyar, to begin with, and we'll
make so much money that you boys will give Tom 'nuf to go down South
with an' see his poor old father and mother."
The scheme sounded very plausible, told in Tom's excited way; but then
Ned suddenly said, "Tom, where are we going to get the rabbits to start
with?"
That was rather a poser. But Tom had his answer ready.
"You boys, now listen to me. I wah just now chasing a rabbit harder'n I
ever chased one befo'. Dat ah rabbit, he lives down the big hedge round
de garden; he got sisters, brothers, cousins, lots of 'em. We ketch
father and mother rabbit, then when we have lots of little rabbits we'se
all right. Tom'll build big house for rabbits, keep it outside dar in
the coal cellar, and feed 'em every day regular; no trouble at all after
we catch father and mother."
The boys knew what rabbit tracks looked like in the snow, and the plan
proposed by Tom was that, the first morning after a light snow-fall,
they should get up early, and follow the tracks to the part of the hedge
where the rabbits lived. He would every night put out some chopped
carrots and turnips, and just as soon as the rabbits appeared, they all
being in hiding themselves, jump out and catch them. After a long
consultation they agreed the old plan was the only safe one--that of
tying a string around their big toes, hanging the string out of their
respective windows down over the piazza, then Tom would pull the string
attached to Massa Jim's toe, and as soon as Jim was dressed, he'd run
over and pull the string attached to Ned's. This plan had its
disadvantages in summer, for mischievous elder sisters and brothers who
sat up late in the evening had a nasty way of pulling the string before
they went to bed, and more than once the boys had gotten up in the
middle of the night, accordingly, and dressed themselves to go out, only
to be met downstairs by the other members of the family with the news
that it was still night, and not morning. In December few people sit up
on the piazza, so there was less danger, and finally that was settled
upon as the best way to do.
Several anxious days passed without any more snow, and the parents of
the boys could not understand their sudden interest in the weather, as
they generally didn't care at all. They read the weather reports until
their eyes ached, but the only snow in sight was out in western Dakota,
and it seemed as if it never would come to this region of the country.
But as all comes round to him who will but wait, Jim was awakened one
night--or as it seemed to him, night--with a hideous dream in which a
rabbit was eating off his toe, to find that the string was being
violently jerked. It didn't take him half a minute to get to the window,
and when he looked out there was the sun just coming up and the ground
covered with the loveliest, whitest snow. Jim did not wait to perform a
very extensive toilet, and was over at Ned's, pulling the string
attached to his toe, in less time than it takes to tell about it. Then
as soon as Ned got out the two boys went in search of Tom, who was in a
great state of excitement, and who had collected together two other
darkies. The air was decidedly cold, but nobody minded it, so great was
the excitement; and when some tiny little marks were seen in the snow
the boys felt as if it were the greatest moment of their lives, all the
more delicious because they all had to keep absolute silence. They went
in single file, following down the little footfalls of the rabbit, when
suddenly, just ahead of them, they saw the animal they were in search
of, and not one only, but three of them. They looked so pretty nibbling
away there at the carrots and turnips, and so wise with their long ears,
that the boys could not bear to have them interrupted, and watched them
for some little time.
[Illustration: A NICE LONG CHASE HE LED THEM OVER HILL AND DOWN DALE.]
Suddenly, as though scenting danger in the air, the biggest fellow sat
up on his haunches, then gave a sideways leap, and went down the hill
with big bounds. This was too much for the darkies to stand, and with
wild whoops of delight they followed, Jim and Ned also joining in the
chase. But Master Rabbit did not intend to be caught so easily, and a
nice long chase he led them over hill and down dale. One of the darkies
who was holding a big stick flung it after the rabbit, and came within
an inch of hitting him; but that put an end to the fun, for while Jim
and Ned wanted to catch the rabbits, they were not willing to see them
killed, and they called to Tom to stop--the game was up.
"Tom," said the boys, "we want to catch those rabbits, but we do not
want to kill the animals."
"All right, massa," said Tom, "we catch 'em, not kill 'em"; and like a
general marshalling an army, he gave each boy directions where to go.
They formed in a ring, and gradually drew nearer together, until the
rabbit lay quite still, utterly tired, and quite at the mercy of his
captors. Tom then slipped him into a bag, which he slung over his back,
and they went back to where the other rabbits were feeding again. They
had returned, and by a little strategy another one was caught, and the
boys declared they had had enough of it for the day. They had gotten two
fine rabbits, and soon had them safely ensconced in the rabbit-hut. They
took good care of them, and with Tom's constant aid and attention the
scheme proved a good one; and yet, strange to say, the boys never went
rabbit-hunting again after that first morning. They could not forget how
piteous the poor little animal had looked when the darky wanted to throw
the stick at him, and as they had enough to get along with, they
concluded they'd rather try another plan next time.
Colored people have a great weakness for what they call hares--they like
them almost as well as they do watermelons--and it is sad to say that
the three darkies who went on that expedition went on many another
before the winter was over.
[Illustration: INTERSCHOLASTIC SPORT]
Lawrenceville defeated Andover in their annual football game a week ago
Friday. This result was doubtless a surprise to those who had witnessed
the Exeter-Andover game of the previous week, but it was an event not
entirely unlooked for by the Lawrenceville coachers.
The game was interesting and exciting from start to finish, and the
result doubtful until the last moment of play. The strength displayed by
Lawrenceville was no doubt largely due to the good advice they have been
getting during the past few weeks from Princeton football-players, who
had been trying to knit some sort of a team out of the many individuals
that had been developed by the work of the early fall. Lawrenceville had
hoped that this method would culminate in a general successful movement
by the entire team, and after a week's hard work just this result was
obtained. I do not think that Lawrenceville has ever before put into the
field an eleven that played so steadily as these men did in the Andover
game. The necessity for steadiness was urged upon the players, and they
were well aware that this must be their only reliance, since no man upon
the team could be termed a brilliant player, and looked to for some
dashing performance at a critical moment.