The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1896-10-31
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LIGHTING A SMALL TOWN.
High Development of the Electrical
supply Business.

Hish of the Electrical
Supply Business.
There is a little town in Eastern Illi-
hOis which in matters electrical can
give points to many Il city of ten times
ITS size. In this OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
mas only $4,000 inhabitants, the light,
neat, power and street railway services
are admirably administered by a single
corporation. The of the pow
er are such that any possible kind of
demand Is readily met. From this II
supply station, arc and incandescent
lighting, both alternating and continu-
Gus current, motors and the electric
railway are all dealt with. Beyond
this the private houses of the city are
supplied with steam for heating Dur-
poses by an elaborate system of six
and twelve-inch street mains. Usually
the Exhaust is sufficient to meet the
demand, but i'll winter it is generally
necessary to d a mOdicum of live
steam. This branch of the business is
found to be not only lucrative in itself,
out valuable in bringing in new cus-
toners FOR electrical energy, and ar
langementS are being made 20 extend
the heating mains in all directions.
There is a good demand for arc light
ing. private customers taking $50, and
the municipal authorities 116 for street
lighting. Their are 5000 lamps on
the incandescent mains, the area of
supply being comprised in a circle Of
foul miles in diameter. The wiring of
consumers premises is done by the
company practically free of cost, and
no charge is made for renewing lamps,
but the installation remains the prep
erty of the company. 1t might be
thought that specially favorable local
conditions must exist to render this
high development of the electric sup
ply business possible in so small a
town; but this is not the case. Coal is
certainly cheap, but this is the My adj
vantage attributable to this locality.
The success of the installation Ian be
duplicated in many towns Of larger
size. Its secret is that instead of be-
ing merely an electric light station,
idle during the day, and carrying all
its load at night, the station is also n
power house, AMI, therefore, rofitably
employed for II greater portion of
il twenty. four hours. This is quite
an advance on English practice, in
which the station is into lded for light
ing only, power business being only
lately thought of. Some of the com
ments, when the Danville installation
was described in the English electrical
journals, are amusing. One, for i'll
stance, showed how, lin this country.
the day load is often utterly insigniti-
cant sometimes consisting of Il fan OF
two, a BARRIERS brush and a few ciga:-
lighterS), and the customers for mo-
tive power can generally be counted
upon the fingers of ones hand In
Danville, Oh the contrary, the motive
power business runs the lighting and
traction departments close for first
place. Nearly every user of power in
the district takes his supply from the
company's works. Six printing shops,
numerous machine shops, chemical
works. shoe. cracker, shirt and bicycle
factories, a planning mill and a laundry
are among the customers. Electric ell
pvators for both passengers goods
are to be found in all the hotels and
stores, and last summer more than 1OC
electric ventilatOr fans were in use.
number to be greatly increased this
season. Even OF farms outside the
town, electric motors are used for
pumping water and other uses. The
overhead trolley is used on nine miles
of track. When supplied unit, but con
tracts for a fixed sum are often IL ade
and the company finds that to have q
large number of customers at Chea}
rates pays better than to charge , higl
rate and frigbten the customers away