\ QTie Suicide of the Horseshoe Fall THE SUICIDE OF THE HORSESHOE FALL JOHN LYELL HARPER Member American Society of Mechanical Engineers American Society of Civil Engineers American Electro Chemical Society Fellow American Institute of Electrical Engineers John Lyell Harper John Lyell Harper, Vice-President and Chief Engineer of The Niagara Falls Power Company, died at the Memorial Hospital, Niagara Falls, New York, November 28, 1924. Recognized by the engineering world as one of its great geniuses, Mr. Harper occupied a supreme place in the field of water-power development. His association with the Niagara-power industry be^an in 1902 when he joined the organization of the Niagara Falls Hydraulic & Manufacturing Company as assistant to Wallace C. Johnson, engineer. From that time until he ceased to live, the life of John Lyell Harper is the romantic story of the development of Niagara power. The in- dividual was merged into the institution with which he will always be united in the minds and memories of his myriad friends. His imagination and foresight were astonishing. He seemed always to be ready when the time came for action. It is some slight consolation to those who shared his labors that he lived to see the completion of the latest power plants, for they are the developed children of his master mind. The most famous power development in the world, from both the standpoint of its engineering and of the service it renders to humanity, is situated in the gorge below the Falls of Niagara. It stands as a monument to the genius of John Lyell Harper. John Lyell Harper 1873 - 1924 FOR generations the Greater Fall at Niagara with its horseshoe form, set in a rainbow of colors, has greeted the thousands of bridal couples, extending to them the felicitations of success and happiness at the very beginning of the most important phase of their life. Now, it is rapidly and definitely departing from the em- blem of good luck, and taking on a new form, lacking both in aesthetic beauty and munificent prophecy. The progressive disease which is destroying the beauty of the Horseshoe Fall has been often improperly diagnosed. The results and effects of this disease are apparent to all, but the would-be doctors have allowed their passion for sensationalism and personal profit to hide from their eyes all the causes of trouble except those which they desired to emphasize. Within the memory of our older generation of observers it is apparent that where the sides and heels of the Horseshoe Fall were in the past well covered with water, they are now depleted to mere shadows of their original beauty, and the main volume of water is passing over the cliff at the toe of the horseshoe. These evil results have been imputed wholly to the diversions of water from the river, whereas, under a true diagnosis, they are due almost entirely to another cause. Many unqualified practitioners have given the Falls ab- sent treatment, based on legendary knowledge and distorted data. These have, almost universally, demanded the cessation of diversion. Real physicians, having the cour- age of their convictions, and taking the personal trouble to determine the real conditions of the Horseshoe Fall, have determined that the depletion of the cascade on the sides of the horseshoe is almost entirely due to the gathering of a Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/suicideofhorseshOOharp greater volume of water into the center of the river. This is caused by the more rapid deepening of the river at that place, and following the ordinary laws of nature, is produc- ing a still more rapid erosion at that point. An entire cessation of diversions from the river would not retard the self destruction of the horseshoe form, but would rather tend to accelerate it. Indeed, no negative action by any Government or People can preserve the horseshoe, but positive action must be taken with courage, and intelligence, and as soon as possible, so that the greatest scenic spectacle of the United States may not be allowed to commit suicide. The "American," or lesser fall, carries only slightly more than five per cent, of the total discharge of the Niagara River, and yet, it forms at least twenty-five per cent, of the total scenic spectacle. In these days, when engineers do not shrink from under- taking what has seemed in the past to be impossible, it should be the policy of those controlling the Falls at Niagara to have constructed in the bed of the river, above the Horseshoe Fall, invisible current deflectors which would make impossible the gathering of the whole river into a deep narrow gorge, and would again deflect its water over the sides and heels of a reestablished horseshoe, not only improving the present spectacle, but causing the whole contour of the fall to wear uniformly, so that coming gener- ations in viewing its beauty may also have before their eyes, the emblem of good luck. The progress toward the destruction of the horseshoe form of the fall is shown in an illustration, upon which is shown the location of the crest of the fall, as it existed in the years indicated. From actual observations made during the past ten years, it is known that the crest is re- ceding at the point of greatest erosion at the rate of ap- proximately eight feet per year, while on the sides and heels almost no recession is noted. Flying a banner with the slogan "Save Niagara," many good citizens have expended a great deal of energy in "Preserving the beauty of Niagara Falls," either for aesthe- tic enjoyment, or possibly from a desire not to diminish the sale of coal, and have bent their efforts toward the adoption of "do-nothing" tactics. The only result has been to deprive the citizens of the whole country of the benefit of the proper and reasonable development of one of their principal resources, to the detriment of scientific research and accomplishment. This result has, within the last year, been brought forcibly to our attention by the shutting off of importation from foreign countries of commo- dities and manufactures, which could and should have been manufactured by the resources at our own command. A comparison of the American Fall and its small over- flow, with the Horseshoe Fall and its deep overflow, may well be made by all observers, and judgment given as to whether the difference in aesthetic value of the two spec- tacles warrants the constant expenditure of energy amount- ing to at least two million horsepower, the replacing of which, in our economic life, requires the burning of one hundred million dollars' worth of coal per year. As the Falls are viewed by approximately one million people in that time, the monetary value of the difference in spectacle to each person would be one hundred dollars per look. There are few homes in the United States in which life is not now made brighter and happier by the use of mater- ials and commodities already made available by the devel- opment of ten per cent, of the potential energy of Niagara, and is it not well to consider at this time the greater bene- fits to be derived, — not only by each individual citizen, but by the whole nation through the possibility of develop- ment and manufacture of the elements necessary for our national protection, which could be made available by the commercial utilization of two million horsepower now expended for difference in aesthetic spectacle? The American Fall with its outflow of five per cent, of the volume of the river and one thousand feet of crest can be maintained exactly as it is now. Thirty-five per cent, of the outflow of the river can be properly distrib- uted over the three thousand feet of crest of the Horse- shoe Fall, covering it with a cascade more than twice as deep as that of the present American Fall, and with the much smaller amount of water produce a scenic effect equal in grandeur and greater in extent than the present one. This would, at the same time, arrest the destruction of the beauty of the horseshoe shape which is now daily disappear- ing under the eroding forces of the misdirected torrents, and the loving and courageous hand of direction replace the wastefulness and destruction which must follow negligence and inaction. NIAGARA PRINTING CO., INC.