Arizona republican., 1899-02-28
MONTANA'S BIG DAM.
Completion of a Great Missouri
 River Power Plant.
Two Hundred Men Have Been at Work for Two Solid Years on
 the Great Under- taking.

Helena's fondest dream has been re- alized-the great Missouri river dam
 has been completed, an electric plant exceIled only by that at Niagara Falls
 has been installed and is in daily opera ton; every industry in this immediate vicinity is supplied with power there- from, and but four-tenths of it's ca- pacity is utilized Immense smelters, eoncentrators, mining machinery, mine
 hoists. street ears, electric light sys- tems, telegraph and telephone batter ies, newspaper plant and in fact almost every power plant in Helena, East
 Helena and Corbin are either now or will be propelled by that silent yet po- tent fluid known as electricity, derived
 primarily from an electric plant To- cated at Cannon Ferry. distant 1G miles
 from Helena. which in turn is supplied
 by the swiftly flowing Missouri riveri i'll it's passage through the main chain of
 the Rocky mountains.
 A few days ago, without the least os-
 tentation on the part of the company owning the plant, the current was
 turned into the network of wires eX- tending in several directions from the
 dam site, and save only those ac- quainted with the plans few realized that the source of power had been changed from coal and steam to that of nature. So perfect were the plans fer the substitution that not a hitch of any kind occurred; in fact, it has been found that the plan of level wires
 Ga comparatively new theory in the transmission of electricity has re- suited in fully five per cent. less loss than was anticipated, and for that req son a higher voltage was achieved at the distant end resulting ir better lights than under the old system.
 The wires have been strung to the ''porphyry dille" (about 30 miles), and as soon as the necessary electrical appa- ratus arrives many stamps will be op- erated under the new method, state ment probably needing an explanation to fully comprehend its significance. The dil1e is an immense mountain of low grade free milling gold ore. Its loca- tion and elevation make the cost of re- fining the ore quite expensive, and in some instances .prohibitive. owing to the scarcity of water to operate the stamps for pulverizing the ore and the expense of hauling coal up seven or eight-mile mountain road
 It is estimated that where the pres eut cost of treating the ore is two dol lars per ton this can be reduced to 75 cents. With the above for an example, it may be seen that the claims of the promoters promising to almost revOlu tionize mining in Montana has some foundation at least, and when it is re alized that the mineral output of this state is over 5O,0OO.OOO annually, the exultation noted at the beginning of this sketch is at least pardonable.
 To construct this dam the labor of goo men was required for two solid years, at a cost of half a million dol lars. In it were consumed 3,000000 feet of timber. 45,000 cubic yards of earth and 5O,COO cubic yards of granite quarried at the dam site.
 Four large penstocks, about 50 feet long and 45 inches in diameter, each water wheels revolving at tine rate of 147 times per minute, fur pish the primary power, which is equiv alent to about 12.5CO horse power, but this may be increased in the ratio of four to ten, or 31.25O horse power, 9HOulU lAC CCSdnlOA eo ueLdHu'
 It is the sanguine hope of the com pany to eventually extend their lines tc Butte, ''the greatest mining camp on earth" distant about 40 miles overland, a plan believed by electricians to be en- tirely feasible and, highly profitable. provided the traversing of the main range of the Rockies does not result in l too great loss of power.-St. Paul Dis | patch.