In 1895, the world’s first major hydro-electric plant was opened: the Niagara Falls Power Company. The plant was built by some of the most brilliant minds in history; including Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. One of three original buildings, known as Adam’s Station, or Power House #3, still stands to this day.
But when the ball started rolling, so to speak, things didn’t turn out the way they had hoped. Luckily, between the two scientists, they were able to work out the kinks and power up the world, so to speak.
In the late 19th century, Niagara was known as the Honeymoon Capital of the World. After more and more publications were released about the wondrous sight, more people became interested in seeing it for themselves. And once the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, it was easily accessible to tourists, which caused an even larger influx in travel to Niagara.
But it wasn’t just young couples eager to wed by the falls that were attracted to the area.
Entrepreneurs of all sorts flocked to Niagara, ready to open hotels and restaurants and cater to all of the newlyweds and other tourists. But another group of individuals soon had their eye on the area: industrialists that realized there was something about the falls themselves that they could harness for power and finance.
Once they made the connection that this incredible hydroelectric power source could provide the electricity, they needed to power their factories – and that’s just what they did.
Tesla and Westinghouse both had a knowledge of alternating currents going into this work, and when they paired up, they were able to determine how to reroute power all the way from the falls to New York. Tesla’s invention of the alternating current induction motor would prove to be one of the greatest in history – and one that is still used today.
Using Tesla’s technology, the falls is one of the world’s best and biggest sources of hydroelectricity. These days, the falls are able to generate nearly 5 million kilowatts, which is enough to power up over 3.5 million homes.
As you can imagine, it takes an incredible amount of water to produce so many million kilowatts of electricity. Over 3,150 tons of water falls every second – that’s nearly 800,000 gallons – in 60 seconds alone!
The falls, which is split across Canada and the United States, plays host to nearly 30 million visitors every year. Those numbers continue to rise as more time passes.