electricity. He proposed twelve canals to direct water from the upper Niagara River to remove power production from the River bank. The canals would feed 238 waterwheel pits with water plunging into the pit, rotating the turbine, and redirected through a huge tunnel into the gorge below the Falls. It was determined that Evershed's plan was too expensive, so Edward Dean Adams and others decided to develop hydro-electric power. New plans called for a central generating station and a shortened version of Evershed's tunnel. Niagara Falls Power Company In 1889, developers organized the "Niagara Falls Power Company" and the "Cataract Construction Company" (incorporated June 12, 1889) to carry out the new plan. Edward Dean Adams, as president of the "Cataract Construction Company," directed plans to construct a central generating plant and to solve the problem of transmitting electricity over long distances. Adams and the "Cataract Construction Company" began constructing a central power station immediately, however, the problem of how to transmit electricity long distance was not yet solved. On December 20, 1892, the Evershed tunnel and the Edward Dean Adam's power house inlet canal are completed. Therefore, the "Cataract Construction Company" sponsored the "International Niagara Commission", which met in London in June 1890 and was headed by Lord Kelvin. The commissioners offered a $100,000 () prize for a solution to the problem. The commission received seventeen submissions from experts around the world only to reject them all. The schemes ranged from a system using pneumatic pressure to one requiring ropes, springs and pulleys. Some proposed transmitting direct current electricity, including one endorsed by Thomas Edison. On May 6, 1893, after the commission failed to award a winner, Lord Kelvin and the commission asked George Westinghouse to use alternating current to develop electricity at Niagara Falls. The construction lasted for several years and was funded by an interest composed of notable businessmen including: J. P. Morgan, John Jacob Astor IV, Lord Rothschild, and W. K. Vanderbilt. The Edward Dean Adams Power Plant, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, first produced power on August 26, 1895, and in November 1896, power generated from Niagara Falls reached Buffalo. The first 1,000 horsepower of electricity transmitted to Buffalo was claimed by the street railway company, with the local power company putting in orders for 5,000 more. Similar to the "Hydraulic Power Company of Niagara Falls" arrangement with the "Cliff Electrical Distributing Company," the "Niagara