[D9211AKG1], Letter from Alfred Ord Tate to Toronto Globe, John Stephen Willison, December 23rd, 1892
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D9211AKG1
Transcription
Dec. 23, 1892. J. S. Willison, Esq., Editor, The Globe, Toronto, Canada. Dear Sir:- Mr. Edison duly received your letter of 10th instant, in which you ask his opinion as to the practicability of transmitting to the City of Toronto power generated at Niagara Falls by means of a cable across the Lake, and in reply he has directed me to say to you that the laying of a power cable under water I s only practicable method of accomplishing what you desire, for the reason that an aerial line would be affected by lightning. Mr. Edison says further that it is perfectly practical to convey twenty or thirty thousand horse power to Toronto from Niagara by submarine cable. The following questions occur to him, however, in this connection: 1. Would not such a cable as the one proposed be liable to be disturbed by ship anchors? 2. Is this the project commercial, and if affected could it compete with a quadruple expansion engine, with automatically stoked boilers situated in Toronto itself? Mr. Edison’s impression is that the last names method would be more commercial, notwithstanding the high price of coal in Toronto. Yours very truly, Private Secretary.