Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/499

Rh granted. Some failed to effect organization because the present requirements of such an undertaking demand enormous capital. Some were limited in respect to the amount of water they may abstract from the river, as the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Co., to 462,000 cubic feet per minute, and the Niagara Falls Power Co., to 516,000 cubic feet per minute. Others were restricted in the amount of power to be produced, as the last named company, which may not exceed 200,000 horse-power. In most cases, however, no limitations were placed either on power to be produced or water to be abstracted. Several were limited as to the time in which they were to begin work in good faith, two of them to five years, two to

ten years. Three if not four of the charters are dead by limitation, one company sold its franchise to another, one is slumbering with an occasional show of life, another is leading a questionable life and two are producing and selling power.

The Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Co. and the Niagara Falls Power Co., the productive organizations, are alone to be credited with the really amazing industrial developments at this place, and they are still far within their statutory limitations in the consumption of water. With this superb display of mechanical