Niagara Falls： Where Nikola Tesla Made His Mark on the World

Niagara Falls, where Nicola Tesla made his mark on the world

Let's go to Sight at Niagara Falls in America. Sites at Niagara Falls in Canada, two stops in each

First off, Niagara Falls State Park. We parked the car and walked through into the park, headed straight to the pedestrian bridge to Goat Island

It's where you can see the American Falls and Bridal Fale Falls. This statue has been moved around a bit

It is now located on Stedfens Bluff across from Luna Island, behind K

of the wind's entrance. In 1884, Nikola Tesla, a 28-year-old Serbian immigrant, came to the United States

with a dream of engineering the production of alternating current. That's AC to you and me

electricity. He became a consultant to George Westinghouse, who won the contract to harness

the power of Niagara Falls to produce AC hydroelectricity. The Westinghouse Tesla team

engineered a water tunnel two miles long and 160 feet deep from the rapids to the

River just past the American Falls. Some 300 tons of Earth were removed. 20 million bricks were

used to line the tunnel. When completed, the Adams powerhouses accommodated 10, 5,000 horsepower

generators. Tesla Hydro, capable of delivering AC electricity on November 15, 1896. For the first time ever

the long-distance transmission of alternating current was achieved from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, New York

some 23 miles away. Ultimately, the entire civilization adopted AC transmission. Nikola Tesla's achievement was described in 1896 by the Buffalo Enquirer, the city newspaper

as Journey of God's Own Lightning, to the employ of all mankind. Tesla died in Manhattan

here at this hotel, on the corner. What is it? Oh, it's the Nikola Tesla Corner on West 40th Street

Please be sure to subscribe. I love New York. A full video guide on Niagara

Falls State Park is coming soon. In this video, we're talking about Niagara Falls, where Nikola Tesla made his mark on the world

Sites at Niagara Falls in America. Our second stop is the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, Power Authority of the state of New York

This is Power Vista. Get your pass so you can walk on through. It free and has phenomenal exhibits But we are aiming at the Nikola Tesla display And I will be doing a full video on the Niagara Power Vista It coming soon also

The exhibits are phenomenal. It does require a lot of reading, but there are some hands-on experiments and displays

I was drawn to these banners, Nikola Tesla, Alessandra Volta, Michael Faraday

The Tesla Polyphase System in 1896 is undoubtedly the most tremendous event in all engineering history

This man and Tesla were at odds, I would say most of the time, and his name is much more popular than Nikola Tesla

His name is Thomas Edison. And if it weren't for the Tesla car, I'm not sure people would even know the name Tesla

Much less know about Nikola Tesla, the man behind the power. There is an interesting display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan

The cabinet display includes information on Nikola Tesla, including his death mask, and Thomas Edison

men were strong rivals. One was AC current and one was DC current. You see that little vial on the

bottom left behind Edison? That's his last breath. But moving on. As I mentioned, they have lots of

hands-on displays and experiments explaining more about direct current, DC current, and alternating current

AC current. Down the escalators, you'll hear some voices. And what is it? It's Edison and Tesla sparring

What happens here at Niagara Falls with better people's lives around the world

And that is why Niagara Falls needs to generate DC power. To change the world, we must produce AC

Ladies and gentlemen, the cataract company plans to build an electrical power plant in the city of Niagara Falls

It will be the largest such facility in the world. The proposed plant will take the immense energy of Niagara Falls, transform it into electricity, and then transmit this power all the way to Buffalo

an unheard-of distance of 20 miles. But the company is dithering. It cannot decide which kind of electricity to generate

Should it be direct current or alternating? Let me explain. AC is superior to DC because AC reverses the direction of the current many times per second

creating a wave form These waves actually make it easy to increase and decrease voltages which in turn allow us to transmit current over very long distances

With my AC system, the Niagara plant will not only power Buffalo, it will light up Chicago and New York as well

They may have had the ingenuity about the power, but this is the board of directors of the Catara

construction company, these men had the real power, money. And these men, they put elbow grease

to the whole project. Niagara Falls is one of the most beautiful places in the world, where the

electrification of the world started. Niagara Falls are the final victory of Tesla's polyphase

alternating current electricity. Nikola Tesla designed the first hydroelectric power plant in Niagara

Falls, and this was the final victory of Tesla's alternating current over Edison's direct current. This is

the interior of Powerhouse Number 1 of the Niagara Falls Power Company. Many of you have seen this

photograph or the photo of a man sitting in a chair who is Nikola Tesla with some sort of

contraption that looks like this being electrified. That's because it's Nikola Tesla. He is the

father of high frequency, high voltage electricity, which is used today in radio and other communication

devices. Here is a photograph from Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1899, illustrating the computer

capacity of the oscillator to create electricity of millions of volts and a frequency of 100,000

alternations per second. And I've got to make a little sidebar about Colorado Springs. I had heard

that there was a Nikola Tesla Museum in Colorado Springs. On our trip many years ago to Colorado

Springs, this was one of the places we intended to visit. Just to find out that it had recently

closed and the whereabouts of the contents of the museum was unknown. While our next stop was in Moab, Utah

there is a rock and mineral shop there that we always like to stop in and there was this curtain and it was

pulled and we asked the gentleman behind the counter what's behind the curtain oh just a bunch of

Tesla stuff we went what yes the owners of the rock shop had gone and purchased many of the

Tesla items that were in the former museum in Colorado Springs that was a really interesting find

for sure now let cross the border the international boundary line is in the center of the Niagara River More than double the tourists visit the Canadian side of the falls than the American side And one visit you know exactly why

If you go to the United States side, if at all possible, if you have your birth certificate or a passport

feel free to walk or drive across to the Canadian side for extravagant views and lots of fun things to do

There is a variety of passes available to help you. Enjoy your time on many fantastic adventures

But here we are at Nikola Tesla Plaza. It's our third stop

It's near Table Rock. Approximately, oh, I don't know. We walked forever that day, it seemed

I would say it's a mile and a half from the bridge. Nikola Tesla was born July 10, 1856, and he died January 7, 1943

He was born to a Serbian family in the village of Smiljan, Croatia

He was a brilliant child who, when only 12 years old, upon seeing a lithograph of Niagara Falls

declared that one day he would put a wheel under it, and power the world. Working with George Westinghouse, Tesla made the use of alternating

electrical current, a practical and efficient system for delivering power. The power plants of Niagara

Falls were based on his inventions. The first of these new plants began generating energy in

1895, and his technology is still at work today. Nikola Tesla was credited with hundreds of

inventions in his lifetime, but it is his work on electricity that harness the force of Niagara Falls

and forever changed the way we live. Do not forget to subscribe

And now our fourth stop. It's at the lobby of the Falls View Casino

And for those of you having a reason not to go into Casino, you can see the Teslatron

It's right out front in the lobby. It's decorated seasonally, and the decorations for fall had just been completed

the day before we visited. Coming soon, a video on sites at Niagara Falls in Canada

You won't want to miss that video. Gorgeous views of the Falls. The observation tower at Skyline

A great lunch at the rotating restaurant? A ride on the skywheel at night

Taking a voyage into the mist of Horseshoe Falls. And, of course, returning in the evening for the fireworks and light show

It's all stunning. It's all fabulous. Sandals on the ground. And classic road trip

Don't forget to subscribe and leave a comment. Let me know if you've been to Niagara Falls

What was your favorite thing that you did while there