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OFFICIAL BLOG OF NIAGARA FALLS TOURISM |
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NIAGARA AND ALUMINUM
By GEORGE BAILEY
2010-11-18 08:50:29
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Here’s a little known fact. The inventor of the electrolytic process to recover aluminum, Charles M. Hall, used the abundant and inexpensive electricity at Niagara Falls to recover aluminum. As a result the price of aluminum dropped sharply making it accessible to a larger audience.
Hall’s Pittsburgh Reduction Company (it was renamed in 1907 the Aluminum Company of America-ALCOA) was located in Niagara Falls, N.Y. in 1895.As a result of the cheap electricity in the Niagara area the price of aluminum dropped from $8.00 a pound in 1887 to 75 cents and by 1914 to 18 cents a pound.
In the late 1800’s ten electrochemical companies produced different chemicals and alloys because of the abundance of inexpensive hydro electricity produced at the falls. All of these companies are now gone and Niagara Falls relies today on tourism as its main source of income.
I’ve attached a photo of some of these industries found in the 1800’s on the bank below the falls.
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Photos by George Bailey...
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