In 1877, when the Niagara Falls Canal Company went bankrupt, Schoellkopf purchased the hydraulic canal at Niagara Falls at auction for $71,000,[1] (equivalent to $1,705,000 in 2019) in order to develop a plan for utilizing the power of the Niagara river. The canal was later conveyed to a corporation known as The Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company, which by 1882 was the first company to generate electricity from Niagara Falls.[2]