USA > New York > Niagara County > Outpost of empires; a short history of Niagara County > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
Why is the Union Carbide Corporation a good example of business co-operation?
The Union Carbide Corporation began as the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation with three companies in 1917. The first was the Union Carbide Company, makers of acetylene gas. Later the Electro-Metallurgical Company was formed to develop processes discovered by Union Carbide. It also made alloys-a mixture of two or more metals. One of these alloys was fine stainless steel. In 1910, National Carbon, the third member, moved to Niagara Falls to make carbon electrodes, so necessary in electro-chemical industries. Its chief customers were Union Carbide and Electro-Metallurgical.
These three companies, already working closely together, joined with two other companies to form the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. The other two were Prest-O-Lite, which made acety- lene gas from the calcium carbide made by Union Carbide, and Linde Air Products, which supplied oxygen for acetylene torches and other cutting tools using acetylene gas. Each of these five companies used products made by the others.
Through the years, other companies whose products were useful to Union Carbide and Carbon joined the corporation. In 1920, Carbide and Carbon Chemicals, users of acetylene gas, became part of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. In 1925, the Niacet (shortened name for Niagara Acetylene) Chemical Corporation joined the others. Acheson Graphite followed in 1928. Then came Republic Carbon and, later, the Union Carbide Corporation operated the Vanadium Company, maker of alloys. Over the years the corporation has gone through mergers and reorganizations, until the present Union Carbide Corporation emerged.
We have seen how five companies making products needed by other companies joined to form the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation in 1917. And we have also seen the corporation grow
by adding other companies through the years. This corporation is not the only example of companies growing together. But it is a good example. This helping of one another is an important thing to remember about Niagara Falls industry.
In the past few pages, we have tried to give brief histories of some of the important companies in Niagara Falls. These are not the only important industries. But they do give a picture of how industry in Niagara Falls developed. The complete story of every industry - of Bell Airo-space, Stauffer Chemical, and many others - would take several books the size of this one.
However, before we leave the story of industry, we ought to mention one of the great industries that grew up in Niagara Falls that does not have the usual production line. This is the chemical research industry. This area probably employs more research chemists than any other area in the nation and it produces some of the world's important products and processes. Some of the im- portant laboratories are Union Carbide Metals, Hooker Research Center, Speer Carbon Company, and the E. I. Du Pont de Nemours.
So far we have told only the story of industry since 1895. It is now time to turn to power again, for without power there would have been little industry.
1
138
15. Man finds new ways to in- crease Niagara's power output
The final conquest of Niagara had to wait for the coming of bigger and better machines-machines that could take the smash- ing power of tons of water falling hundreds of feet. The old mill- wheels were useless against such power. It took time to develop new machines. This is why Lockport, rather than Niagara Falls, became an early power center. Mill-wheels at Lockport could handle surplus Erie Canal water and the quieter waters of Eighteen Mile Creek.
But through the years more and more of Niagara was brought under control. In the 1870's and 1880's, better machines gave men like Horace Day and Thomas Evershed the idea that the power of the Niagara River could be used still further. By 1895, a good part of the river was doing man's work. Now the power center began to shift from Lockport to Niagara Falls. World War I brought still more control. In 1958, with more knowledge and newer machines as weapons, the final campaign for the conquest of Niagara opened. And in 1961 the last battle was won. Niagara was chained.
Those final battles from 1895 to 1961 make up this chapter's story.
An important product of Niagara Falls is aircraft parts.
139
The conquest begins
What were some early steps to chain the river?
The Niagara Power Company stepped up output Two companies produced power in 1895- the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company and the new Ni- agara Falls Power Company. Industries came to the city to take advantage of this power. Soon industries wanted more power. But it did not pay to make more power avail- able than industry wanted. When this happened, power companies went bankrupt-as Horace Day could well testify. Usually power would spurt ahead, wait for industry to catch up, and then spurt ahead again. When industry did catch up, power men were eager to start new projects that would use still more of the river's water to produce power.
Further increases in power were challenged
The year 1900 was such a time - a time when power men fought to develop needed power. But fight as they might for power, their way was blocked by a group of hard and determined people.
All the trouble began over water. Water was the source of power to make electricity. Any increase of power meant more water taken from the river. Men interested in power were quite willing to take all the water in the upper river and leave none to run over the falls. But with nature lovers it was a different story. They saw the falls as a natural wonder. They looked upon any increase in water taken from the river as a disaster. Naturally, power men and nature lovers looked at each other as enemies. With two groups feeling so strongly about the river, a knock-down drag-out fight was bound to come.
The Burton Bill limited the amount of water power from the river Around 1900 the battle opened on several fronts. Opposing forces fought in Canada, England, and the United States, the nations controlling the river. Wherever they met, it was not long before arguments and in- sults and threats followed. The group trying to save the, waterfalls fought hard and long. They hammered away at Congress with demands for water control. At last the lawmakers weakened. In 1906 they passed the Burton Bill limiting the amount of water that could be taken from the river. Power men threw up their hands in disgust. They were sure that misguided nature lovers had halted progress.
The Boundary Waters Treaty The United States Government also had more to say about how much water the two brought more control power companies could use. In 1910 it made the Boundary Waters Treaty with Canada. The treaty set up a commission to determine how much water could be taken from the river without spoiling its natural beauty. For a time it looked as if there would be no more power for in- dustrial growth. Many gloomy power men said that the industrial city of Niagara Falls had reached its limit. As they saw it: "No more power-no more growth."
World War I created a need for more power
Then came World War I. The United States asked for more production. And Niagara Falls turned out a flood of war goods-
Carborundum, aluminum, carbides, and other chemicals and metals. Finally, plants reached a point where they could not increase production without more power. The cry for more power was heard in Congress.
The time was now ripe for the government to take a hand, and it sent a commission to look over the power problem and make suggestions. The commission urged the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power Company and the Niagara Falls Power Company to join. The larger and more efficient company could then produce more power. In 1918 the change was made. The new company took the name "Niagara Falls Power Company."
Increased efficiency brought increased power. But still more power was needed. The War Department asked for 100,000 more horsepower of electricity. To get this much power, the Niagara Falls Power Company had to enlarge its canal. This took more river water. Because it was wartime, nature lovers went along with the government's request. Besides, the government said the increase would be temporary. But in March, 1921, the Federal Power Commission gave the Niagara Falls Power Company a fifty- year lease on the water rights granted in 1918. Also about this time a pressure tunnel was built to supply water to the high bank for more power. This was a heavy blow to those who were fighting to save the beauty of the waterfalls. But the power men were pleased. They boosted power output to 452,000 horsepower in 1924. Efficient operation Since 1924, a number of power companies of merged companies have joined together or "merged." By supplied more power merging, companies reduced operating costs and cut down the inefficiency that resulted when several companies supplied the same area. During this time, the Niagara Falls Power Company joined a state-wide corporation,
140
although still operating under its own name. This period of mergers reached its peak in 1950 when the Niagara Mohawk Power Corpo- ration took shape. The Niagara Falls Power Company became part of this giant, and dropped the name Niagara Falls Power Company. It was re-named the Niagara Mohawk Power Company.
Niagara is finally conquered
How did this come about?
The formation of Niagara Mohawk did not end power develop- ment. In the 1950's, the United States and Canada made another treaty to develop more power for both nations from Niagara. The two nations worked out a plan to use more water and still save the beauty of the falls.
Some people feared that it would take all the water in the river to produce the power the new plant would generate. But that prob- lem was solved. At night much of the water in the upper river would be used, some to run the generators and the rest to fill a huge man-made lake or reservoir. At night, of course, only a thin sheet of water would tumble over the falls. During the day, the gen- erating plant would cut down its use of river water. Using some river water and all the reservoir water, the generators could still operate steadily at top speed. Under this plan, visitors during the day could still marvel at the wonders of the waterfalls and yet industry would have more power.
Private business tried The plan was a good one. But disagreement to get the right to develop power
over who should carry it out nearly wrecked it. Private businessmen wanted to develop and control the power, but others believed the State of New York should do it. The battle between those who wanted private power and those who wanted public power con- tinued for years. Private industry fought public development with all the wealth and influence at hand. And for a time victory seemed within their grasp. But a hard-fighting group of men in Congress and in New York State blocked action by private businessmen.
New York State Power Authority developed Niagara
Finally, a power disaster forced Congress to make a decision. In 1958, part of the Niagara Mohawk Power Station was de- stroyed by a huge rock slide. The chief source of power in Niagara Falls was all but gone. Action had to be taken to relieve the power shortage. Since something had to be done, Congress finally gave the New York State Power Authority the right to develop the power alloted to the United States by the treaty with Canada.
Legal battles slowed construction
Public power's road now seemed clear. But the Power Authority, headed by Robert Moses, ran into a tough fight with Niagara Falls and Lewiston over how the water from the upper river should be carried to the reservoir and generators at Lewiston. The Power Authority wanted open canals through the city of Niagara Falls. Officials were opposed to having their city chopped up by open ditches. And naturally, the people of Niagara Falls protested against the dangers to children and the traffic jams that would result.
This battle the city won. The Power Authority agreed to build two concrete tunnels, or conduits, in deep ditches and then to cover them with earth. When the job was finished, there would be no sign of the conduits. Instead, parks and playgrounds would mark their underground route from the upper river to the Lewiston generators. Indians fought to keep their land While this battle was going on, the Power Authority ran into more trouble, this time with the Tuscarora Indians. The reservoir which would feed water through the turbines during the day was to be built partly on the Tuscarora Reservation. But the Indians refused to sell their land. The Power Authority took them to court. The Power Authority won the first round and began surveying and clearing Indian land. The sheriff had to be called out to protect workers on the reservation from angry Indians.
Most people thought the Power Authority would win in the end. But in the second round, the Indians left court victorious. They forced the Power Authority to move off the reservation and to repair any damage done by the workers. Rather than hold up construction any longer, the Power Authority started building a smaller reservoir. But the final round was yet to be won.
In 1960, the Power. Authority pressed a court battle for part of the Tuscarora Reservation. The Power Authority argued that with a smaller reservoir, it would have to cut down its expected output of electricity. Robert Moses and the Power Authority won the final court battle, and expanded the reservoir and increased power. And the Indians, as so many times in American history, lost part of their land to the whitemen.
The Authority overcame their legal troubles The Power Authority's legal battles were not yet ended. Home owners refused to give up their homes to make way for the project. Niagara Falls and Lewiston wanted the right to tax the Power Authority to make up for the loss of taxes resulting from the destroyed Niagara Mohawk Power Plant. Tl
141
Authority fought successfully to clear away these difficulties. It won the right to remove buildings for a right of way, and to be free of taxation as a public non-profit organization.
How did construction of the Niagara Power Project progress?
The land was prepared In January, 1958, the construction of one of the world's greatest hydro-electric power projects began. First came the surveyors measuring and laying out roads, bridges, conduits, and a reservoir. Sheds and other buildings sprang up about the area to shelter machines and tools, and to serve as offices. And everywhere steel- helmeted and muddy-booted men, browned by sun and wind, swarmed about. Driving, hauling, pounding, cutting, heaving, saw- ing, shoveling-and sometimes dying-they built this great monu- ment to man and his hopes for the future.
Housemovers came, punched holes in foundation walls, slipped beams under houses, and lifted them onto wheeled platforms to be moved to other sites. The huge swinging weights of wrecking cranes battered buildings to rubble. Giant mechanical shovels scooped up tons of earth and rubble and dumped their loads into dozens of monster trucks that rumbled through the city. Bulldozers roared night and day, ripping out trees, tearing up brush, and pushing, piling, and leveling.
Work went on at many places at the same time. Throughout Niagara Falls the earth trembled as the trenches were blasted from bed rock for the conduits. Workmen-digging, blasting, scooping and dumping-slowly dug two huge trenches across the city, turn- ing up ugly clay and rock. Sometimes these trenches were over eighty feet deep and forty feet wide. They stretched from the upper river to Lewiston where the generators were installed.
Work went on day and night. After dark, strings of powerful lights turned night into day. Near Lewiston, workmen tore off the face of the three hundred foot cliff. They molded it to wear a con- crete mask of turbine pits and water shafts. They built a temporary steel bridge out from the cliff face. Small trains ran out on the bridge, carrying hoppers of concrete. A crane lifted the hoppers from the train and lowered them to the steel forms on the cliff face. Into these, men dumped the concrete. Nearby, stone crushers and a cement mixer fed oceans of concrete into the hoppers.
South from Lewiston, at Niagara Falls, more changes were taking place. On Goat Island and in Prospect Park, men operated
other bulldozers, cranes, and trucks, building new roads and bridges. And toward the east, along the upper river from the Grand Island Bridge to Prospect Park, buildings disappeared to make way for a park. Huge trucks dumped countless tons of rock into the river for the foundation of part of the Niagara Parkway, that runs along the river from the Grand Island Bridge to Lake Ontario. Completion spurred industrial growth Some people wondered, while the city lay ripped and torn, if chaining the river was worth the trouble. But in October, 1959, they got an idea of the gift the river had given them. Robert Moses, Chairman of the Power Authority, told how the new low-cost power would be used. Two hundred thousand kilowatts would go to local industries. These industries, in turn, would spend one hundred seventy million dollars on new buildings and equipment. This would create 3100 new jobs besides providing temporary construction jobs.
Moses also listed the plants that would be using more electric power. According to the report, the Hooker Chemical Corporation had the biggest plans for expansion. The Hooker corporation asked for and got 55,000 kilowatts of electricity. Hooker announced a fifty million dollar expansion program. Other local industries were high on the list of power users; Carborundum would use 29,000 kilowatts, Pittsburg Metallurgical 28,000, and Great Lakes Carbon 13,000.
Not all the companies that asked for power increases got them. If they wanted more power, they had to take it in blocks of 5000 kilowatts or more and use it before 1962. Among those turned down by the Power Authority were Du Pont, International Paper, and the National Biscuit Company. The tremendous increase in power brought new industrial growth. And as industry grew, a steady stream of people flowed into the area.
The conquest of Niagara has come. Press a few buttons and the river nearly stops flowing. Press other buttons and the river plunges into the gorge with all its old wondrous beauty. The dreams of Joncaire, Augustus Porter, Horace Day, Jacob Schoellkopf, Robert Moses, and others have come true. The mighty Niagara River has been made to do the work of man.
Now it seems that Niagara has reached the limits of power development; because no more water can be taken from the river. But it is possible for men to build new machines to use the river more efficiently, as they have done so often in the past.
142
Your History Workshop
Words and terms you should know
subsistence farming dismal
temperance tail water
mill-race head tail-race hydraulic canal
aloxite carbide chlorine conduits
reservoir lease
alternating current Carborundum
Where is it on the map? Erie County Cattaraugus County
Who's Who in history? Edward Acheson Charles Jacobs Thomas Willson Franz Roessler
Chautauqua County Bath Island
Monongahela
Jacob Hasslacher
Elon Hooker
Samuel Moore
Isaiah Roberts
John R. Carter
Robert Moses
Henry Perky
How carefully did you read?
1. What were pioneer farms like?
2. What effect did the temperance movement have upon Niagara's orchards?
3. How does today's corn production compare with that of 1849?
4. Why is Niagara County called the "Orchard of New York"?
5. Today farming is scientific. What agencies and specialists help farmers grow better crops?
6. How did Joncaire harness waterpower for his sawmill?
7. What were some of Manchester's industries just before and after the War of 1812?
8. What effect did the Erie Canal have upon Niagara? the Tona- wandas? Lockport?
9. What was Thomas Evershed's plan to improve Niagara's power output?
10. How was hydro-electric power sent to Buffalo?
11. Before industrialization, how did Niagara Falls appear to a visitor ?
12. How do Niagara Falls industries help each other ?
13. What was the purpose of the 1906 Burton Bill? the Boundary Waters Treaty?
14. What effect did World War I have upon Niagara Falls?
15. What role did the New York State Power Authority play in 9. Lyman Spaulding development of Niagara's power?
16. How has the power project affected the industrial growth of 10. William Marcy Niagara County?
Activities to help you understand Part V
1. The Story of Electro-chemical Industries at Niagara Falls. Complete the following chart. Name of Industry Founder Products
Other Interesting Facts
Pittsburgh Re- duction Company Hall
Charles Aluminum
Became part of the Aluminum Company of America. Is no longer located in Niagara Falls.
2. Make a bar graph which shows the production in recent years of bushels of oats, barley, rye, and buckwheat.
3. What fruits does Niagara region produce? Make a chart which shows the main fruits and the varieties of each.
4. Make a pictorial map of New York State which shows the location of either the fruit- or grain-growing areas.
5. Construct a miniature water-wheel and demonstrate its opera- tion to your classmates. Include an explanation of a mill-race.
6. On an answer sheet you have prepared for this exercise, write the letters of the Descriptions after the numbers which cor- respond to the Names. Some may be used more than once.
Names
1. John Bartram
2. Nathan Comstock
3. J. S. Woodward
4. B. Wheaton Clark
5. Chaubert Joncaire
6. Augustus Porter
7. Darius Comstock
8. Lewis Payne
Descriptions
A. Began the conquest of Niagara with a mill-race
B. Botanist who wrote of Niaga- ra's fruits in 1740
C. Second owner of land along the canal at Lockport
D. Started veneer and plywood in- dustry in Lockport
E. Built a flour - mill which used water-power from the Niagara Hydraulic Company
F. Bought the Hydraulic Canal from Horace Day
G. Started cotton and wool batting industry in Lockport
H. Took over Niagara Hydraulic Canal Company from Caleb Woodhall
I. First to suggest arsenate of lead to control orchard insects
J. First to bid for water rights at Lockport
Part 5a
leach black salts fodder wheat midge .
11. T. P. Baily
12. W. S. Levan
13. Stephen Allen
14. Horace Day
15. Charles Gaskill
16. Jacob Schoellkopf
P. Built alternating current gen- erator to transmit electricity to 11. Buffalo 12. If you have visited an industry in Niagara County, ask your teacher to let you describe it to the class.
17. Thomas Evershed
Q. Founded, with Washington Hunt, the Lockport Hydraulic 13. Company to develop the town's power
18. George Westinghouse
R. Started the second apple or- chard in Niagara County
7. Many crops and domestic animals are found in Niagara 15. Prepare a floor talk on one of the men in Part V. Point out how County. Through the years crops and animals have increased he contributed to the county's economic growth. or decreased in number. Indicate this and the reason (s) by 16. Write a dialogue between Thomas Edison and George Westing- completing the following chart : Have
Products Animals Increased
Have Decreased Reasons
wheat corn oats alfalfa
grapes
peas cabbage
horses hogs sheep poultry
K. Founded Manchester ; controlled portage, built a mill-race at Niagara
L. Planned to develop Niagara power by having large tunnel beneath the city
8. How did Niagara Falls make use of its water for power? Ex- plain this by sketching the layout of and relationships among the falls, upper and lower rivers, high bank, basin, mill- and tail-races, and hydraulic canal.
9. Write a brief account of the hydraulic canal at Niagara Falls and the companies which helped to develop it.
M. Created the "Niagara" grape 10. N. Built first steam sawmill in Tonawanda Which of the many Niagara County industrial companies in- terests you? Write to the company of your choice and search the library for illustrations, materials and information. Use O. Vice-president and treasurer of Niagara Hydraulic Company these to write a brief history. Include whatever pictures, charts, graphs, and other visual aids you feel will help to tell the story.
Make a poster advertising Niagara Falls electric power.
With your teacher and classmates, survey the possibility of a trip to one of the community's industries.
14. Draw an outline of New York State. On it show by pictures and drawings the important events in the harnessing of Ni- agara Falls' power.
house over whether alternating or direct current would better transmit electricity from the Falls to Buffalo. Before you be- gin, review proper use of quotation marks.
Part 5b
Part VI
NIAGARA EXCITES MAN'S IMAGINATION
16. Men Challenge Niagara
143
Man Meets the Challenge
Hinan killed the serpent of the falls
Thousands of years ago, a huge snake lived in the swirling waters deep beneath the great Falls of Ongiara. This serpent was an evil spirit who spread much sickness among the Indians. Many people died. Nothing the Indians could do would free them from his horrible spell.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.