By 1895 the plant itself was complete and was supplying power locally, to tiny Niagara Falls; in November 1896, point-to-point transmission began to Buffalo, where the availability of constant power almost immediately began attracting large manufactories making things like abrasives, silicon, and graphite on an industrial scale. Perhaps most important to America’s future, it was in Buffalo, with the force of Niagara’s own power, where the manufacture of aluminum first became a profitable enterprise. Finally we had a light, strong metal for our airborne and land-bound engines; the era of the
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