Tomorrow It Comes, electricity to be transmitted from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, transcribed article (Tonawanda News, 1896-11-13).jpg
Dublin Core
Title
Tomorrow It Comes, electricity to be transmitted from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, transcribed article (Tonawanda News, 1896-11-13).jpg
Description
In addition to many wonderful detail and prophesying about the hugeness of the event, a Niagara Falls Power Company rep notes that the power is passing THROUGH the city, with no local power company organized or formerly applied for local distribution (e.g., Tonawanda & Wheatfield Electric Co.).
AI TRANSCRIPTION:
THE
ESTABLISHED 1880.
TOMORROW IT COMES!
Before Sunset Niagara’s Mighty Power Will Be Flashing Over the Cables to Turn the Wheels of Enterprise and Industry.
EVERYTHING IS NOW IN READINESS
And Late Tomorrow Afternoon the Current Will be Passing Through This City—The Power Will Not Be Used Until Sunday, Though—Final Preparations For the Important Event as Witnessed by a “News” Reporter—“Everything Will be Ready,” Says Supt. Brackenridge.
Before sunset tomorrow the great electric current from Niagara Falls will be flashing over the transmission lines through this city and on to Buffalo.
This current will be the first of the cataract’s immense power that has turned a wheel outside the Cataract City, and the turning on of that current will mark one of the greatest, possibly the greatest, engineering feats of nineteenth century electrical development. It is difficult to realize just how much it will mean until one comes to consider the fact that this is but the inception of a chain of power lines that will traverse the whole of the Empire State in the not far distant years and make of this State and the Western portion of it especially, the manufacturing and industrial center of the earth.
Realizing the great importance of what will take place tomorrow, a News man last evening went to the Falls and interviewed the engineer in charge of the great plant, W. A. Brackenridge, with the idea of presenting to the readers of this paper a clear conception of the character and importance of the work in hand and the events which will transpire tomorrow.
To a representative of this paper Supt. Brackenridge gave the first definite announcement of the time when the current would be turned on and come through the Twin Cities on its way to the power house of the Buffalo Street Railway, where the first power will be used. Tomorrow afternoon about four o’clock will witness the test, although the official turning on of the current will not occur until Sunday noon.
The transmission line is, according to what Supt. Brackenridge told the reporter, practically completed, and it will be in shape for testing at the hour named tomorrow, though several finishing touches will remain to be put on the line tomorrow evening or Sunday morning.
When The News man visited the power house yesterday a large force of men were busy in the various departments preparing for the test which is to come tomorrow and the practical business of furnishing power which begins on Sunday. A large force of men are working night and day to get the new switchboard in shape so that generator No. 3 can be placed in operation tomorrow to furnish the load in advance. All day and all night long men worked in water up to the knees in order that everything may be in shape for the test, and today and tonight the work will be rushed along without ceasing.
[one paragraph unclear]
“We shall be ready,” said Supt. Brackenridge to The News man, “and I am informed everything will in all probability be ready at the Buffalo end of the line. When the word is given, we will turn on the power, and that is all there will be to it. There will be no ceremony here. We will just turn on the power a little at first. As an added touch in launching 1,000 horse power, and more will follow as required.”
How It Will Be Done.
“What is to support this end of the line so that it will interfere with the turning on of the power on Sunday?” the reporter asked.
“I have been told that the Canal company at the Buffalo end is already ready to receive the current. I have not yet received notification from the main office to turn on the power on Sunday, but I have been instructed to be ready to do so.”
“Come with me and I will show to you the machinery in the transformer-house; that will explain to you better,” he said. With that reporter stepped into the strong archway that crosses the canal and divides the power-house on its two quarters. In the arch on the left-hand side were four ten cables running between the two “houses.”
“These are the cables that will conduct the current from the dynamos to the transformers,” Mr. Brackenridge said. “They are 1,000,000 circular mils capacity and will carry the current of power from this plant to Buffalo.”
Entering the transformer-house (covered here with a roof) under charge of A. L. Edmands, the engineer of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, that furnishes all the transmission machinery, Mr. Edmands exhibited the two step-up transformers and “choking” machine that will do the work of transmission toward the Niagara Falls power houses. These machines, you will notice, take up but very little floor space, each one perhaps no larger than a large piano. They are of 1450 horse power each.
[three lines unclear]
There is arranged room here for several more transformers that we think will be necessary in the work of supplying the demand that will be made in Buffalo within a year for Niagara Falls power.”
“How is the current passed through these machines?” the reporter asked.
“The power is brought on the four cables you saw in the arch to this building as a two-phase current, at 2,200 volts. It goes through the low-tension switchboard to the transformers, where the voltage is raised to 11,000. From the transformers it goes to the high-tension switchboard and then to the lightning arrester room, where it is sent out on the wires to the transmission line.
“The current then takes its way along the pole line to the Buffalo city line and then down and into the ducts under the canal towpath, under the streets of Buffalo and it reaches the power house of the Buffalo Railway Company. At this point the machines come into use again, two of them being there. These machines are stepdowns instead of stepups. They take hold of the current, work it around through rotary convertors and, after getting the required 600 volts’ capacity pass it out upon the wires that operate the street car lines.”
“In your machinery in this city and in Buffalo is it in readiness to do its work on Sunday?” Mr. Edmands was asked.
“Yes it is, so far as we are concerned there will be no disappointment about turning on the current on Sunday,” he answered.
“At what hour will it be turned on?”
“At noon,” said Mr. Edmands. “Or between that time and 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”
“Who will start the current?”
“I think that I will throw the lever myself,” said Mr. Edmands.
“Will there be any one with you from your company when you turn on the current?”
“Yes, F. H. Reavey, the Buffalo agent of the General Electric Company, will be at the railroad warehouse in Buffalo when the electricity reaches that point.”
TWIN CITY INTERESTS.
What Officials of the Power Company Said About Us to a “News” Reporter.
“No,” said Supt. Brackenridge, “we have not yet received any formal application from the Tonawandas for power. When we receive applications for the amount needed in the agreement we shall be ready to furnish it. Just as soon as you want the power there, we will begin the work necessary to furnishing it, and manufacturers there can have electrical power as soon as they make formal application for it—allowing, of course, for the time necessary for the erection of a power station and attending to other details.
“I have not yet heard of any power company being organized in the Tonawandas for the purpose of handling the power. If such is, we shall be glad to deal fairly with them.”
In conversation with The News man, secretary Grote said: “You Tonawandans have a great deal out of us, and it ought to prove very advantageous to your city. We have treated you pretty generously, and you should use us well. The Tonawandas are all right; they ought to prosper, and I believe they will. The organization of a power company there should be advantageous. Of course we would be prepared to do the right thing by such a company if one is organized. I know quite a number of your city’s business and real estate men, and I think there is a bright future before the Tonawandas.”
The Finishing Touches.
Mr. Wilson was seen by a News representative this morning and said that the White-Crosby Company has practically completed its work on the transmission line and will be ready for the current to be turned on for the test tomorrow. All that remains to be finished is the work of insulating a portion of the wire, and this will be completed tonight.
The White-Crosby Company and Mr. Wilson are to be congratulated on the manner in which the extensive work of erecting the famous power transmission line has been conducted. It has been a great work and has been done in a most reputable manner, and to the entire satisfaction of all parties directly interested. Mr. Wilson and his men will remain in North Tonawanda for several weeks to come, putting the finishing touches on the line, the painting and putting up of the guy posts and lines not yet being completed. This is nearing completion by the greatest line for the transmission of the invisible current that has ever been constructed.
WANTED.
[three lines unclear]
AI TRANSCRIPTION:
THE
ESTABLISHED 1880.
TOMORROW IT COMES!
Before Sunset Niagara’s Mighty Power Will Be Flashing Over the Cables to Turn the Wheels of Enterprise and Industry.
EVERYTHING IS NOW IN READINESS
And Late Tomorrow Afternoon the Current Will be Passing Through This City—The Power Will Not Be Used Until Sunday, Though—Final Preparations For the Important Event as Witnessed by a “News” Reporter—“Everything Will be Ready,” Says Supt. Brackenridge.
Before sunset tomorrow the great electric current from Niagara Falls will be flashing over the transmission lines through this city and on to Buffalo.
This current will be the first of the cataract’s immense power that has turned a wheel outside the Cataract City, and the turning on of that current will mark one of the greatest, possibly the greatest, engineering feats of nineteenth century electrical development. It is difficult to realize just how much it will mean until one comes to consider the fact that this is but the inception of a chain of power lines that will traverse the whole of the Empire State in the not far distant years and make of this State and the Western portion of it especially, the manufacturing and industrial center of the earth.
Realizing the great importance of what will take place tomorrow, a News man last evening went to the Falls and interviewed the engineer in charge of the great plant, W. A. Brackenridge, with the idea of presenting to the readers of this paper a clear conception of the character and importance of the work in hand and the events which will transpire tomorrow.
To a representative of this paper Supt. Brackenridge gave the first definite announcement of the time when the current would be turned on and come through the Twin Cities on its way to the power house of the Buffalo Street Railway, where the first power will be used. Tomorrow afternoon about four o’clock will witness the test, although the official turning on of the current will not occur until Sunday noon.
The transmission line is, according to what Supt. Brackenridge told the reporter, practically completed, and it will be in shape for testing at the hour named tomorrow, though several finishing touches will remain to be put on the line tomorrow evening or Sunday morning.
When The News man visited the power house yesterday a large force of men were busy in the various departments preparing for the test which is to come tomorrow and the practical business of furnishing power which begins on Sunday. A large force of men are working night and day to get the new switchboard in shape so that generator No. 3 can be placed in operation tomorrow to furnish the load in advance. All day and all night long men worked in water up to the knees in order that everything may be in shape for the test, and today and tonight the work will be rushed along without ceasing.
[one paragraph unclear]
“We shall be ready,” said Supt. Brackenridge to The News man, “and I am informed everything will in all probability be ready at the Buffalo end of the line. When the word is given, we will turn on the power, and that is all there will be to it. There will be no ceremony here. We will just turn on the power a little at first. As an added touch in launching 1,000 horse power, and more will follow as required.”
How It Will Be Done.
“What is to support this end of the line so that it will interfere with the turning on of the power on Sunday?” the reporter asked.
“I have been told that the Canal company at the Buffalo end is already ready to receive the current. I have not yet received notification from the main office to turn on the power on Sunday, but I have been instructed to be ready to do so.”
“Come with me and I will show to you the machinery in the transformer-house; that will explain to you better,” he said. With that reporter stepped into the strong archway that crosses the canal and divides the power-house on its two quarters. In the arch on the left-hand side were four ten cables running between the two “houses.”
“These are the cables that will conduct the current from the dynamos to the transformers,” Mr. Brackenridge said. “They are 1,000,000 circular mils capacity and will carry the current of power from this plant to Buffalo.”
Entering the transformer-house (covered here with a roof) under charge of A. L. Edmands, the engineer of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, that furnishes all the transmission machinery, Mr. Edmands exhibited the two step-up transformers and “choking” machine that will do the work of transmission toward the Niagara Falls power houses. These machines, you will notice, take up but very little floor space, each one perhaps no larger than a large piano. They are of 1450 horse power each.
[three lines unclear]
There is arranged room here for several more transformers that we think will be necessary in the work of supplying the demand that will be made in Buffalo within a year for Niagara Falls power.”
“How is the current passed through these machines?” the reporter asked.
“The power is brought on the four cables you saw in the arch to this building as a two-phase current, at 2,200 volts. It goes through the low-tension switchboard to the transformers, where the voltage is raised to 11,000. From the transformers it goes to the high-tension switchboard and then to the lightning arrester room, where it is sent out on the wires to the transmission line.
“The current then takes its way along the pole line to the Buffalo city line and then down and into the ducts under the canal towpath, under the streets of Buffalo and it reaches the power house of the Buffalo Railway Company. At this point the machines come into use again, two of them being there. These machines are stepdowns instead of stepups. They take hold of the current, work it around through rotary convertors and, after getting the required 600 volts’ capacity pass it out upon the wires that operate the street car lines.”
“In your machinery in this city and in Buffalo is it in readiness to do its work on Sunday?” Mr. Edmands was asked.
“Yes it is, so far as we are concerned there will be no disappointment about turning on the current on Sunday,” he answered.
“At what hour will it be turned on?”
“At noon,” said Mr. Edmands. “Or between that time and 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”
“Who will start the current?”
“I think that I will throw the lever myself,” said Mr. Edmands.
“Will there be any one with you from your company when you turn on the current?”
“Yes, F. H. Reavey, the Buffalo agent of the General Electric Company, will be at the railroad warehouse in Buffalo when the electricity reaches that point.”
TWIN CITY INTERESTS.
What Officials of the Power Company Said About Us to a “News” Reporter.
“No,” said Supt. Brackenridge, “we have not yet received any formal application from the Tonawandas for power. When we receive applications for the amount needed in the agreement we shall be ready to furnish it. Just as soon as you want the power there, we will begin the work necessary to furnishing it, and manufacturers there can have electrical power as soon as they make formal application for it—allowing, of course, for the time necessary for the erection of a power station and attending to other details.
“I have not yet heard of any power company being organized in the Tonawandas for the purpose of handling the power. If such is, we shall be glad to deal fairly with them.”
In conversation with The News man, secretary Grote said: “You Tonawandans have a great deal out of us, and it ought to prove very advantageous to your city. We have treated you pretty generously, and you should use us well. The Tonawandas are all right; they ought to prosper, and I believe they will. The organization of a power company there should be advantageous. Of course we would be prepared to do the right thing by such a company if one is organized. I know quite a number of your city’s business and real estate men, and I think there is a bright future before the Tonawandas.”
The Finishing Touches.
Mr. Wilson was seen by a News representative this morning and said that the White-Crosby Company has practically completed its work on the transmission line and will be ready for the current to be turned on for the test tomorrow. All that remains to be finished is the work of insulating a portion of the wire, and this will be completed tonight.
The White-Crosby Company and Mr. Wilson are to be congratulated on the manner in which the extensive work of erecting the famous power transmission line has been conducted. It has been a great work and has been done in a most reputable manner, and to the entire satisfaction of all parties directly interested. Mr. Wilson and his men will remain in North Tonawanda for several weeks to come, putting the finishing touches on the line, the painting and putting up of the guy posts and lines not yet being completed. This is nearing completion by the greatest line for the transmission of the invisible current that has ever been constructed.
WANTED.
[three lines unclear]
Date
1896-11-13
Citation
“Tomorrow It Comes, electricity to be transmitted from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, transcribed article (Tonawanda News, 1896-11-13).jpg,” North Tonawanda History, accessed February 21, 2026, https://nthistory.com/items/show/1418.