Power Companies, Niagara Falls, United States and Canada

The Cataract Construction Co. 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 Co. It was a successor to the Gaskill Co., 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 Co. was liquidated in 1900 after completing its construction contracts for the Power Company.

Among the innovations of the Constuction Co. and Power Co. were: -The International Niagara Commission, created to encourage the best method for transmitting electricity over greater distances (1890).

-The concept of a central generating station to supply power for powering factories and for industrial processes (1891).

-Supplying the first commercial power for industrial purposes (to Pittsburgh Reduction Co. in 1895).

-First long distance transmission of alternating current to Buffalo (1896).

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

The Niagara Falls Power Co. was consolidated with the rival Hydraulic Power Co. at U.S. Govt. urging in 1918, and merged into the Niagara Mohawk Power Co. in 1950. The Hydraulic Power Co. (1900) was originally incorporated in 1898 as the Niagara Falls Power and Manufacturing Co., a year after Jacob Schoellkopf bought the hydraulic canal that supplied it with water. -William Siener, historian.