The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-09-12
LIGHTING A SMALL TOWN.
d1gh Development of the Electrical
Supply Business

1lSh Development of the Electrical
Supply Business
There is little town in Eastern Illi
lois which in matters electrical can
:lVe points to many a city of ten times
is size. In this tOwn-Danville- which
aas only 1S,C0O Inhabitants, the light,
'eat, power and street railway services
re admirably administered by a single
orporation. The resources of the DOW
IL are such that any possible kind of
1emand is readily met. From this one
supply station, arc and incandescent
lighting, both alternating and continu-
JUS current, motors and the electric
'ailWay are all dealt with. Beyond
his the private houses of the city are
:upplied with steam for heating Dur-
)oSes by an elaborate system of six
md tWelve-inch street mains. Usually
he exhaust is sufficient to meet the
temand but III winter it is generally
necessary to add a modicum of live
steam. This branch of the business is
:ound to be not only lucrative in itself,
)ut valuable in bringing in new GUS
o1ners for electrical energy, and ar
:angements are being made 10 extend
lie heating mains in all directions.
There is a good demand for arc light
ng. private customers taking $50, and
he municipal authorities 11G for street
lighting. There are 5000 lamps en-
he incandescent mains, the area of
supply being comprised in a circle Of
Jour miles in diameter. The wiring of
consumers premises is done by the
company practically free of cost, and
10 charge is made for renewing lamps,
)ut the installation remains the prop
erty of the company. It might be
thought that specially favorable local
conditions must exist to render this
1igh development of the electric sup
ply business possible in so small a
own; but this is not the case. Coal is
certainly cheap, but this is the My ad-
| 7aDtage attributable to this locality.
The success of the installation tan be
| duplicated in many towns IF larger
size. Its secret is that instead of be-
| ng merely an electric light station,
! die during the day, and carrying all
| is load at night, the station is also q
cover house, and, therefore, rOfitably
| employed for the greater portion of
he twenty four hours. This is quite
IN advance on English practice, in
which the station is intc AIDED for light
| ng only, power business being only
ately thought of. Some of. the com
ments. when the Danville instalIa ton
was described in the English electrical
journals, are amusing. One, for in
stance, showed how, "in this country.
| rho dow loo n ic nffnY, 11tforJu inc
:ant sometimes consisting of fan or
TWO. BARRIERS brush and a few ciga1 =
ighters). and the customers for mo-
tive power can generally be counted
J lpon the fingers of ones hand" In
Oanville, on 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
sompany's works. Six printing shops,
numerous machine shops, chemical
works. shoe, cracker, shirt and bicycle
factories, Il planning mill and a laundry
ire among the customers. Electric ell
avators for both passengers and goods
are to be found in. all the hotels and
stores, and last summer more than 100
electric ventilator fans were in use, a
aumber to be greatly increased this
season. Even on farms outside the
Town. electric motors are used for
pumping water and other uses. The
overhead trolley is used on nine miles
IF track. When supplied unit, but CON
tracts for fixed sum are often II ade,
and the company finds that to have a
large number of customers at cheap
:ates pays better than to charge , high
rate and frigbten the customers away.