The Niagara of the Northwest: Wiring Snoqualmie Falls to Seattle
A new company with $2 million in capital proposes to harness a 265-foot waterfall 23 miles east and sell 5,000 horse power of electricity to the city — if the capitalists will foot the bill.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The prospectus of the Snoqualmie Falls Electric Power company, which proposes to transmit power from the falls to this city, has just been issued and thoroughly explains the advantages, cost and prospective revenue of the enterprise. It provides that the capital stock of the company shall be $2,000,000 in 20,000 shares of $100 each, and first mortgage bonds, $650,000 of an authorized issue of $1,000,000. The directors are Daniel H. Gilman, of Seattle; Hon. Watson C. Squire, of Seattle; Griffith Davies, postmaster of Seattle; Hon. Smith M. Weed, of New York, and Charles D. Wells, of Brown & Wells, of New York.
The prospectus states that the company has acquired 350 acres situated on both sides of the Snoqualmie river, thereby controlling the power of Snoqualmie falls, 23 miles east of this city. This is the largest water power in the state and is finely located for inexpensive development. The height of the falls is 265 feet and the theoretical energy is 51,600 horse power. The company's plan is to develop and deliver by electrical transmission 5,000 horse power in this city. It is claimed that about this amount of power is now generated by steam in this city at an expense of $60 a year per horse power.
The company has an offer from the parties who successfully completed similar work at Niagara Falls to furnish the electric plant complete, with the copper cables to connect the plant with this city, for $350,000. The falls and the property on both sides of the river have been conveyed to the company for $230,000 of its bonds and $1,100,000 of its stock. The company will retain in its treasury $350,000 of its bonds and $500,000 of its stock to provide for an increase of the plant. The remaining $300,000 in bonds and $400,000 in stock are to be sold to provide for the electrical and hydraulic plant.
The largest electric light and power company in this city has offered to purchase its entire stock of electricity from the company at a price that would pay the interest on the bonds and a dividend on the stock. If the company sells only 3,000 horse power per annum in Seattle at $30 per horse power instead of $60, it would yield a profit, clear of interest on bonds and operating expenses, of $42,500 per annum. The sale of 5,000 horse power in Seattle at $30 would net over 6 per cent on the stock, with extensions to Everett and Tacoma adding further revenue. An appended letter from the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company states that electric power can now be transmitted over long distances with the best results, and cites the Niagara Falls plant, which will soon deliver power to Buffalo, twenty-two miles away, as proof that the scheme is no longer an experiment.
“The height of the falls is 265 feet and the theoretical energy is 51,600 horse power. The company's plan is to develop and deliver by electrical transmission 5,000 horse power in this city.”
Snoqualmie Falls did become the engine of Seattle's electricity — the plant that followed lit the city and stood as a marvel for generations. This 1895 pitch shows the booster logic of the era: dangle a wonder of nature, price it in horsepower, and sell the future of a city to Eastern capitalists.
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