as your committee, after diligent inquiry and search, have been enabled to ascertain. Two of these companies are actually using the waters of the Niagara river; one of them has begun the construction of its canal, and one, incorporated last winter, is making preparations to begin work. All of them have received extensive powers and privileges, and their operations can be carried on almost without limit.

As to the danger which may result to Niagara Falls and the State Reservation from the operation of these companies, your committee is of the opinion that the amount of water which is at present taken from the river will not make an appreciable difference in the appearance of the Falls and the rapids above the Falls. It may be said, however, that of the immense amount of water flowing over the precipice, not more than one-fourth or one-fifth goes over the American side. As stated before, the only two companies that are at present drawing water from the Niagara river above the Falls are the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, and the Niagara Falls Power Company-the first, by canal, which at present has a capacity of 211,000 cubic feet per minute, and which will, when the plans of the owners are carried out, have a capacity of 462,000 cubic feet per minute. The limit prescribed by statute for the Niagara Falls Power Company is 1,032,000 cubic feet per minute, or a total for both companies, of 1,494,000 cubic feet per minute, or a little over nine per cent. of the total flow of the river. The companies which are incorporated, but have not yet begun to operate, are not limited in the amount of water which they are authorized to use, and while the completion of their plans must require immense sums of money, yet in these days of large enter

prises your committee does not apprehend that the want of money, if their plans are likely to prove profitable, will be the chief obstacle in their way.

In return for these immensely valuable franchises, the State of New York has not received one cent or any consideration, except the condition by the Niagara Falls Power Company to furnish the Niagara Reservation with water and light; while your committee understands that for a grant similar to the one obtained on this side of the river, this same company has agreed to pay our thrifty Canadian neighbors several thousand dollars per year rent, viz., about $25,000, depending upon the amount of water used.

The State Reservation at Niagara, according to the figures from the Comptroller's office, has cost the State of New York in round numbers $2,500,000. This Reservation was founded and this immense sum has been expended to give the people not only of the State, but of the whole world, an opportunity to view at slight expense one of the grandest and most sublime scenes on the face of the globe, and if corporate and individual ambition is not checked and made subordinate to public rights, there is certainly danger that the Falls of Niagara, like the Falls of Minnehaha, may live in the tradition of song and story, but will be sadly deficient in the amount of water flowing over their brink.

The point above the Falls on the American side, at which the water may be taken, is also of serious moment. A small amount diverted from the river a short distance above the cataract will affect the American Falls more than an equal amount taken from the river farther away. The currents of the two Falls are divided by Goat Island. The head of this island is about 3,000 feet

above the Falls. It necessarily follows that any water taken from the river on the American side, between the Falls and the head of the island, or at any distance above where the influence of the island in dividing the current is felt, will be largely drawn from that portion of the river which, if left to itself, should flow down the American channel. But if the water is taken from the river above and beyond the influence of the island, the level of the water will be restored before reaching the dividing point, and the bad effect will not be entirely on the American side.

But it is not likely any company can take water within a distance of three miles above the Falls, except the Niagara Falls Power Company and the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, for those two corporations and the State almost entirely own or control the bank of the river for that distance. The danger is, however, that the companies who propose to operate above this three-mile limit, being unrestricted in the amount of water they may use, are liable to draw so largely as to seriously interrupt and lower the entire stream. especially when their use is added to that taken below them.

It is doubtless true that the people in the extreme western part of the State, to whom the sight of the Falls and river is a stale and almost daily exhibition, view with satisfaction the increased prosperity which may come to their particular section as the result of the operation of these various companies, and look with disfavor upon any attempt to preserve the property of the State, which may, at the same time, curtail their individual

success.

Believing, as your committee does, that the property of the State may be seriously injured and antagonized by the acts of

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