St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-14
LIGHTING THE STREETS.
How Minneapolis Combated the
Darkness This Year.
The Character of Lights Used and the
EXpense--Facts and Figures.


The Character of Lights Used and the
Expense--Facts and Figures.
While the lighting facilities of Mime
apOlis are by no means commensurate with
the general prosperity, progress and intel
ligence for which it is noted, broad strides
towards the foremost rank in this par
ticular have been made during the past
twelve months. Illumination by electricity
is fast and properly superceding gas and
gasoline-''the light of other days"
With the beginning OF the year we
had, besides the mast on Bridge
square, only nine electric street lamps.
From time to time, as the months have
rolled by. the number has been gradually
increased by the city council until we now
have 200 electric lamps, in round numbers.
on our streets, and from twenty-five to fifty
more lamps are to be suspended soon.
The public lighting OF the city is done on
a graduating scale OF prices. On basis of
200 lamps, the price of the electric lamp is
$500 each per year, payable at the end Of
each month. The power of each street
lamp is 2, O00-candle power, and during the
post has been abandoned, and the later
mode of suspending over the center of the
street at the intersection of cross streets
adopted. The change gives eminent salts
faction and is a vast Improvement
over the old style. The Min
nesota Brush Electric Light company
has the contract. They furnish lamps,
poles and all the necessary appliances. The
growth and prosperity of the company is
source of congratulation. They started
in the year with siXty-four lamps and three
dynomos. They now have eight dynomos
Of sixty tive-light capacity and one sixteen
light capacity, and room to double it twice,
run by three Reynolds-Corliss condensing
engines, aggregating observation-disclosures
power. During the year 100 miles OF wire
have been strung and circuits extended to
Twenty-siXth avenue northeast, to Second
avenue north, to Twenty-eighth avenue
south, to Thirty-fourth street west, to Lake
Calhoun, to Thirtythird street and Cedar
avenue and to point below the Milwaukee
car shops. The expense in making i'm
provements, purchasing new apparatus,
etc., has aggregated between $500
and $4,000 during the year
1885. and incandescent lighting is now be-
ing done on the arc wires. The system of
llS UCCouiC OaCCCN-
inglY popular for business houses, offices
and residences.
THE ELECTRIC MAST
is a source of no small pride to every pa
triotic Minneapoiltan. 1t stands the tallest
of any in the world, (475 feet, aud for up
| wards Of a mile distant, without the aid Of
| any other light Oh the darkest of Egyptian
nights, any citizen can easily read the face
lNfo limo oh nd TOLL anf
| time of night. The contract price for
maintaining this wonderful lluminator of
eight 1900 candle power lights Is So, 900
per year. The following card from 7. S.
King, secretary of the Brush company. will
throw some Light on the subject;
| Minneapolis, Mimi, Sept. l, lSS5.-Our
| lighting station is brick and stone building,
60x140 feet, basement and one story. Our
power plant consists of three REYNOLDS
Corliss, condensing engines, aggregating
seven hundred-hOrSe power. We have dy-
namos with an aggregate capacity of about
500 arc lights of two thousand-candle power
each, and including city lights ordered, shall
operate $50 of said lights through about 100
miles Of circuit wire, reaching almost to the
city limits in either direction. Our bust
ness is growing rapidly, and the indications
are that we shall double the capacity of
our electrical plant, with corresponding in
crease in power plant during the next year.
We have exclusive control Of the Bru ,h-Swan
system in this state, have furnished incandes-
cent plants to the Washburn Mill company
(Palisade milI and the city at the city hall,
and this branch of business is growing rap
idly. We also furnished the electric light
plant at the West hotel, and wired the hotel
throughout for the Swan incandescent light.
Yours very truly, Il. S. KING, Secretary.
The Minneapolis Gaslight company holds
an exclusive franchise for gaS-lighting in the
~ {t,,f 10 !,
not small fortune. 1t has also been con-
slant source of annoyance to the city.
| When it was deemed expedient to substi-
| tute electricity as means of street illumi-
| nation, and the eXpedient was successfully
| tried, legal actions were brought against
| the city by the gas company on the strength
of the omnous exclusive franchise, but
| happily settlement of unpleasant litiga-
lions has been arrived at. The number of
gas lamps used for street lighting have
vascillated from month to month. At the
beginning OF the year many gas lamps were
displaced to give room to the electric
lights, but recently the gas company has
| laid gas mains into the suburbs, and the
number of street lamps are being gradually
and constantly increased until soon more
gas lamps will be in operation than before
during the history Of the city. The average
number of posts has been somewhere in the
vicinity Of roo posts, and at the present
time there are about 1000 posts in use at
the contract price of $15.63 per post, which
| is an important reduction from the price of
the preceding year, and this end was
brought about through the sharp compe-
| tition Of the electric and the gasoline com
panes.
The expense of maintaining the lamps of
Northwestern Globe Gas Light company has
been greatly disproportionate in comparison
with the other lights used. The expense up
| to the present time has been $24.5 per
post. but reduction has now been made,
so that the price for the balance Of the time
the contract is to run is $50 per post Yet
it is an inferior light and costs $4.37 more
per post than gas. But has to be used be-
cause of the fact that no gas mains have
been laid into the suburbs where the gaso-
line lamps are doing duty.
The expense attending street lighting for
the past twelve months has been as follows:
| December, 1854
Minnesota Brush Electric Co., mast
and gas lights NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1914 90
Northwestern Globe Gas Co., $50
| lamps NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. lab "a
Minneapolis Gas Co., 1913 lamps...... 1,O2O 60
Total. ,95s O9
| January, 1856
Minneapolis Gas Co., 37s lamps. -. 81, 020 90
| North western Globe Gas Co., 709
| lamps. l,56S IA
Minnesota Brush Electric Co., 9
lamps and mast Observation-Disclosures. 523 92
Total. ,I12 O6
| February
Minnesota Brush Electric Light COM
many. mast and lights 1924 az