Taking up first the application for permits for diversion on the American side, there is not room for discussion or difference. The Niagara Falls Power Company is now using about 8600 cubic feet of water a second and producing about 76,630 horse-power. There is some question as to the necessity of using some water for sluicing. This must be obtained from the 8600 cubic feet permitted, and the use of the water for other purposes when sluicing is being done must be diminished. The Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company is now using 4000 cubic feet a second and has had under construction for a period long antedating the Burton Act a plant arranged to divert 2500 cubic feet a second and furnish 36,000 horse-power to the Pittsburg Reduction and Mining Company. A permit will therefore issue to the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company for the diversion of 6500 cubic feet a second, and the same rule must obtain as to sluicing, as already stated.
[Illustration: The Riverside at Willow Island.]
As the object of the act is to preserve the scenic beauty of Niagara Falls, I conceive it to be within my power to impose conditions upon the granting of these permits, compliance with which will remedy the unsightly appearance that is given the American side of the canyon just below the falls on the American side, where the tunnel of the Niagara Falls Power Company discharges and where the works of the hydraulic company are placed.
The representative of the American Civic Association has properly described the effect upon the sightseer of the view toward the side of the canyon to be that of looking into the back yard of a house negligently kept. For the purpose of aiding me in determining what ought to be done to remove this eyesore, including the appearance of the buildings at the top, I shall appoint a committee consisting of Charles F. McKim, Frank D. Millet, and F. L. Olmsted to advise me what changes, at an expense not out of proportion to the extent of the investment, can be made which will put the side of the canyon at this point from bottom to top in natural harmony with the Falls and the other surroundings, and will conceal, as far as possible, the raw commercial aspect that now offends the eye. This consideration has been in view in the construction of works on the Canadian side and in the buildings of the Niagara Falls Power Company, above the Falls. There is no reason why similar care should not be enforced here.