The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1901-10-11
THE GREAT FLINT CREEK DAM
AND ELECTRIC POWER PLANT
The Mammoth Works Planned Over Ten Years Ago Now In Successful
Operation monuments to Granite County Enterprise.

4 LITTLE over a week agn the an
~ nouGcement was made Of the sue
cessful completion Of the great Flint
Creek dam, built by the Montana Water,
Electric Power and Mining company on
Georgetown Flats. The harnessing of
Flint Greek Falls and the employment of
this great natural force in the operation
of the mines and mills in his district have
been subject OF discussion for
many wears, and while the work was iL
progress it furnished topic interesting
to everyone. Originally this enterprise
Was paned by Messrs. Baker & Harper,
the ell known firm of civil engineers of
Butt, who incorporated the Flint Gre elk
Pow C mpany and commenced operat-
iols durlng August, 1891. Work was
subseq rntly suspended aud it looked for
a time us if the project had been ahau-
doued IN May 1859, the Mont ,nA
w ter, Elect ric Power and Mining com-
pany was incorporated by Messrs Panl
~ L ttNH. 4fi lsiij@tf, H. AE' lOltItHtN ntl'E
c. Jagels and This company suoseuleut-
ly acquired thu interests OF TIL Flint
Creek Power company. Work was resum-
e !, and up to week 4g the 5cena about
the Falls has been one Of continual ac-
tivity. During last Year the power honse
was completed and he powerful eleclrl-
Cal machinery installed and on Angust
8, 1900 the use pf steam at the Binetalllc
mill was discontinued and electr city,
generated by the waters OF Flint creek,
seven miles distant, was substituted.
While this practically completed the cleo
tr1c power plant, yet a great deal remain
ed to be done to insure permanent and
steady supply of water at all seasons of
the year, and it was with this object in
verts large portion of Georgetown
Flats into great storage reservoir, WAS
| planned and constructed. The site
chosen was where a small dam had been
built at the inception of this gigantic
project At this point bed rock comes
nearly to the surface and an ideal found
a ion was thus provided by nature. The
old dam was removed and for nearly ten
months force of men, at times number
ing considerably more than a hundred,
has been constantly at work on the mass
i've structure.
The dam is 30 feet thick at its base by
IS feet long and tapering inward to-
wards the top where the thickness of the
wall is Z feet. 1t lis 30 feet high
and at the top 26O feet long and
is securely anchored to bedrock on both
sides of the gulch, as we'll as at it's base.
Neither water nor time will have any de-
structive effect upon this piece of archi-
lecture and it will stand a monument
to it's builders ages hence.
$4,000 cubic yards of Granite blocks,
9, 900 barrels of cement GO carloads) and
five times that quantity 10000 barrels)
Of sand entered into it's construction.
The granite and sand was all hauled
from near Georgetown, distance of
about four miles. On the upper, CT
water side, the dam has been strength
ened by a clay fill of nearly 100000 cubic
Yards.
On the outer side of this great wall in
the center and near the top stone tablet
bears the inscription, montana Water
Electric Power and Mining Co., 1901, Paul
A. Fusz. President; E. l. Holland, Agent"
The storage capacity of this great res
ervoir is at this time difficult to estimate,
as there will not be enough water to fill
it until the melting snow and spring
freshets will augment the present flow
The height of the cam is sufficient to
back the water up over a mile and
while the lake thus formed is not very
wide in places it will nevertheless more
than insure the needed supply of
water at all times and dry seasons or
draughts will not hinder the operations
of the power station or lessen the power
supply at the works.
From the dam the water is conducted
through a plank fume 1900 feet long,
with carrying capacity Of 1000 cubic
feet flow per minute, to penstock or
head-box. From this penstock 36-ins
diameter steel pipe 1900 feet long with a
fall of 800 feet carries the water to the
receivers at the power house, which is
situated in Flint Creek canyon short
distance below the Falls and about 8
miles from Philipsburg by wagon road
The power house is a plainly but sub
stancially constructed building 100x30x40
feet. It is heated as we'll as lighted by
electricity. The receiver is built to sup
ply four water wheels The generating
unit installed consists of two 55O-kilowatt |
(7S7.h. p.) Westing house three-phase