The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-01
A Sudden Boom in Schemes
for Transmitting Electro
Cal Energy.
MOST OF THEM YET IN AIR
Many VIII Await the Trial of a Few
Important Plants Soon to
Be Operated.

| He is the promoter of new electrical,
| enterprises, and especially just now the
| promoter of schemes for the long-distance
| transmission Of electric power.
| The air of California, and the whole Pa
| cific Coast for that matter, has all at once
| become filled with talk about setting up
water-wheels in lonely mountain places
and making them give light and cheaply
turn other wheels in towns miles away.
From Shasta to San Diego men are or
ganizing, or trying to organize, local OF
San Francisco companies to utilize in this
way the water-power in particular local
tiles.
| A few OF these power-transmission en-
terprises have been successfully organized
by business men of capital and the work
Of establishing them has been actually be-
gun. The rest are yet in the air and many
Of them will remain there for long time.
! But the interesting fact is that the State
is full of inquiry" in this direction, and
consulting electrical engineers and agents
OF manufacturers are kept busy answering
questions in person and by letter and max
| ing preliminary estimates of cost.
These are the men who quickest feel the
pulse of the electrical business, and what
| they say shows that this business field was
the first to feel the revival of business con-
| fldence and to feel a new life. 1t is now a
very active field and competition is keen
and increasing. Big and little companies
| that make dynamos, motors, transformers,
| meters, conductors, wire and the hundreds
OF other things in the way of harness for
electricity have agents here who are after
every rumor OF new railway, light, power
or other plant anu they keep to them
selves every pointer they get to avoid send
ing a lot of competitors after their
| customers. Local manufacturing estab-
lishments are rapidly going into the manu-
facture of electrical machinery.
While the actual business done is mainly
| with new railway and lighting plants and
new buildings, the activity over power
transmission is the most interesting if not
the most important thing to the general
public.
The transmission of electric power has
just entered upon its second stage. For
years it has remained in the stage of the
DRY and experiment.
Great public interest has always been
taken in the theory, and there has for
years been a general and almost an enthu-
siastic confidence in the prophesy of cleo
trical engineers that the vast amount
of power running waste in hills
cheaply utilized by Transforming it
into electrical energy and taking it long
distances to where It would be practicable
to use it. In this State it has long been a
popular and somewhat inspiring idea that
the power in the streams and reservoirs of
the Sierras would light the towns of the
valleys and foothills, and SO cheaper
power in them that industries would be
stimulated.
But there have been and there are yet
many practical problems to be solved be-
fore the long-distance transmission of
power can be placed on an exact business
basis. While it has recently been demon
strated to be practicable over compare
lively short distances, each new plant is
yet, in considerable degree, an expert
ment.
Exact percentages of loss in transmission
and other practical problems cannot yet be
Inquired out certainly when so or 100 miles
OF distance are concerned. Buffalo now
badly wants power from the big new plant
by Niagara Falls, but the power company
will not yet risk the investment necessary
| to reach and supply Buffalo and offers
only to sell power cheap at its water-wheels
| II Buffalo wants to take it home.
This conservatism Of capital is the rea-
son why the projects of bringing power to
San Francisco from Clear Lake in Lake
County and from Blue Lakes in the
Sierras will wait until the Buffalo and
other experiments are made.
But the success of the experiments at
Portland, Redlands, the Bodie mines and a
few other places, where from twelve to
twenty-five miles have been covered, has
warranted the various new enterprises
which contemplate providing power and
light to towns in the Sacramento and San
Joaquin valleys and in the foothills So
they have suddenly sprung up in numbers
and the second stage, that of practical
business, has just been fairly entered.
Sacramento is to be the first town to get
river power. from distance on large
scale. The big plant near Folsom is to be
ready for operation in four or FIVE weeks,
and then 5000 horsepower will be kept
pumping into Sacramento over twenty
miles. away to run the trolley lines and
give light and power
The new company is invading the field
OF the gas company in the light business,
to run motors Of any size will be sold to
everybody who will buy it by the kilo-
watt.
The South Yuba Water Company is get
ting ready to do big and interesting things
in Placer County. 1t controls an
immense water system in Placer and
Nevada counties, and has practically I'M
be utilized eheaply at high heads. The
company expects to have in operation by
August plant that will light Newcastle,
Penryn and Loonis
IL Will begin with 100 horsepower and
$4,000 plant, with water used at AGO feet
pressure. The company is said to plan
invading Sacramento, twenty-five miles
from Rocklin, with light and power, and
scheme to operate an electric road from
Marysville to Newcastle, along the foot
hills, is being much talked about.
Another enterprise that has passed the
stage of talk is one to supply power to the
big groups of mines about the region of
Grass Valley and Nevada City. This CON-
pany, which is composed of miners, pro-
poses to sell power to mines for miles
around at SIS per horsepower per year.
Heretofore the power used at the mines
has been mainly water-power, sold by
water companies at from $125 to $3.50 per
horsepower
1t is in the mining regions that the use
OF electric power will naturally be most
rapidly developed, and many mining COM
panies are now figuring on establishing
plants for their individual use.
One of the most interesting schemes that
have been launched is that of tie San
Joaquin Power Company, which is per-
fecting plans to bring light and power into
Fresno from one of the forks of the San
Joaquin River, forty-three miles northeast
OF Fresno. This company is composed of