Cataract Construction Co. and Niagara Falls Power Company, 1890-1954

Cataract Construction Company and Niagara Falls Power Company

The Cataract Construction Company was incorporated in 1889 by William B. Rankine, Francis L. Stetson and Edward A. Wickes to build a power tunnel and central generating station for the Niagara Falls Power Company. It was a successor to the Gaskill Company, organized by Charles B. Gaskill, Peter A. Porter, Rankine, and T. V. Welch in 1886 to implement Thomas Evershed’s vision to build extensive tunnels and wheel pits to re-use tail water from upstream mills. Cataract Construction Company was liquidated in 1900 after completing its construction contracts for the Power Company.

Among the innovations of the Construction Company and Power Company were: The International Niagara Commission, created to encourage the best method for transmitting electricity over great distances (1890) •The concept of a central generating station to supply power for powering factories and for industrial processes (1891) •The adoption of alternating current as a standard, in collaboration with George Westinghouse (1893) •Supplying the first commercial power for industrial purposes (to Pittsburgh Reduction Company in 1895 •First long distance transmission of alternating current to Buffalo (1896)

Rankine is credited with the negotiations that brought The Carborundum Company, The Shredded Wheat Company, and Pittsburgh Reduction Company (later ALCOA) to Niagara Falls. He was also involced with The Niagara Falls Water Works Company, The Niagara Falls Development Company, and the Niagara Junction Railway Company.

The Niagara Falls Power Company was consolidated with the rival Hydraulic Power Company at U.S. Government urging in 1918, and merged into the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation in 1950. The Hydraulic Power Company (1900) was originally incorporated in 1878 as the Niagara Falls Power and Manufacturing Company, a year after Jacob Schoellkopf bought the hydraulic canal that supplied it with water.

William H. Siener, May 1, 2011

Historical note: The Cataract Construction Co. was incorporated in 1889 to build a power tunnel and central generating station for the NFPC.