The Rural Voice, 1993-10, Page 31Encyclopedia Britannica tells us the
ancient Greek word for amber was
'electra' so this mysterious force was
called 'electricity'. As it stayed in
one place, and did not move, we now
call it `static electricity'.
"Nothing was done with it for
centuries, in fact, until 1569, when
William Gilbert, an English medical
doctor, played with it as a hobby. He
invented the magnet. He also drew
plans for a machine to create the
force. Although he never made the
machine, his plans earned him the
rating of 'the father of
modern electricity'.
"Also in England,
Michael Farraday took up
Gilbert's plans. Farraday
had no formal schooling,
but by reading and
experimenting he was
eventually asked to teach
science at the university.
After his death, in 1867, his
machine was completed by
Gramme of Austria, who
demonstrated the first
workable dynamo at the
Vienna Exhibition of 1873.
Charles Brush, of
Cleveland, Ohio, saw the
exhibit and improved on it..
"In 1876 a Russian
military officer invented his
"electric candle" using two
rods of carbon with
electricity leaping between
them creating light. With
the improved dynamo of
Brush it was the beginning
of electric arc lighting
which replaced gas on
lighting many streets
Hamilton, Ontario, was the first city
in Canada to install such lighting.
Shortly after, Thomas Edison
promoted the brilliance of his
incandescent bulb, which took over
from arc lighting.
"The Brush Electric Company, of
Cleveland, was the first to use the
force of the mighty Niagara River to
power its dynamos. This was in
1881, but it was not until 1889 they
were able to transport the power to
light the streets of Buffalo, 20 miles
away.
"By 1902 Canada had 126
privately owned electric facilities.
Most were powered by steam and
centred in Ontario. They used coal
which came from Nova Scotia in the
east and Alberta in the west.
Transportation was costly. The great
force of the waters of the Niagara
Falls system was the logical answer.
The ancient Greek word for water
was 'hydro', thus the new company,
organized to harness this great
source, was named The Ontario
"Hydro" Electric Power Company.
Mainly through the efforts of Sir
Adam Beck it was formed in 1906,
after much political and economic
infighting. It was the first publicly
our use?" We all nodded.
"Someday," he continued, "she
will only have to turn a switch.
Electricity will bake her things — a
controlled fire, also."
"Fire!" broke in Ebenezer with a
fierceness that surprised me. "Yes —
there'll be fire — right here, over us,
when these two lines meet. When
two ee-lec-tric wires meet there's
fire, all right! I've read about it."
"Yes," put in a neighbour,
catching the excitement of the
moment, "and I read about this big
war that's going on, and
Adam Beck (second from right), even had the school children
attend when he demonstrated an electric milker at the farm of
Alex Anderson at St. Thomas in 1912. Below, the travelling
Beck Circus is on the road bringing the message to farm homes.
owned electric power company in
North America...
"And now we are here," smiled
our guest, looking around for
questions.
All this history had been
interesting, but took a while to sink
in. There was a long silence, broken
by Ebenezer muttering "It's big. It
skeers me. It's sinful."
"That's what some of the churches
are saying in the papers," commented
Dad.
"But," remonstrated the Hydro
man, "when your good lady baked
these biscuits she put wood into the
stove to create heat. Wasn't that
controlled fire given us by God for
whole regiments are going
to be blotted out by one
flash of ee-lec-tricity.
Powerful stuff!"
"That has not happened,"
Dad raised his hand to quiet
things down, but Ebenezer
held out.
"We can't let these two
lines meet," he said, then
more quietly with great
sincerity. "The wrath of
God will be on us!"
There was a long silence
after this outburst. The
Hydro man shook his head.
"I have read these articles,"
he said, thoughtfully, "and I
can understand your fears.
But, let me assure you,
electricity has no such
powers — wiping out whole
regiments? No such force
has been invented.
Sometime in the future it
may come, but if it does I
have enough confidence in
people and science to
believe it will be controlled
and become a blessing in its time.
Electricity is the blessing of our
time."
He was like an evangelist, pleading
"Let's give it a chance to make our
lives better."
On Mom's suggestion there was a
fresh cup of tea all around before the
Hydro man left. We were a
thoughtful lot, discussing cost, which
we knew about anyway, comparing it
to the price of coal oil and so on.
Then there was the fear of fire, and
all the things it was going to do for
us.
Ebenezer looked at his son, Willie,
who really ran the farm now. Willie
fidgeted a bit, then faced his father.
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