Graham guardian., 1901-06-28
POWER FROM
COLORADO CANYON.


Backed by one of the largest
banking houses in America, a par
| ty of Denver and New York men
have begun work on plans for har.
Messing the mighhest natural pow,
er in the world-the torrent of the
Colorado river, where it tears
through the Grand Canyon in
northwestern Arizona.
Engineers have long gazed in
wonder on the matchless oppor-
tunity to capture force sufficient to
turn the wheels Of a thousand mills
and operate railroads and power
plants innumerable. Now they
are turning their thoughts to more
practical operations and setting
their stakes for the actual work of
controlling the forces Of nature.
Enormous as seems the task on
first thought, the magnitude Of the
undertaking is not realized until
the gigantic plan is outlined.
First and foremost it is the pur-
pose Of the company to operate an
electric railroad built into the cliffs
Of the Canyon, operating for fifteen
miles from the end of the branch of
the Santa Fe railroad, which car
ries thousands of tourists to the
edge Of the Canyon annually.
Power will be transmitted to all
the principal towns and cities of
Arizona and Southern California
The dry atmosphere Of the south
west and freedom from electrical
disturbances through the greater
part Of the year make it an ideal
section for the transmission of the
current
The city Of Los Angeles is at
present furnished light, heat and
power from the plants Of a com
pany which has its power stations
over 100 miles apart, on either
side of the city. When a storm
occurs in one direction the power
is brought from the other. This
will be the method applied by the
new company on the Colorado
river, varied by the use Of storage
batteries of great capacity, sutfi-
cient to furnish light, heat and
power for half dozen cities, while
the plant may remain closed dur
ing any storm that may occur.
The rapids of the Colorado river
furnish the greatest amount of ma
tural power Of any stream in the
world. Niagara Falls are lillipu-
tians by comparison. Within a
mile it is possible to generate more
power than dozen Of the great
American cataracts could produce.
In order to do so, however, the
flood that pours through the rock
ribbed gorge at terrific pace must
be diverted through channels to
turn power wheels. To do this
will require the use Of thousands
of tons of steel and iron structural
material and other thousands of
tons of stone, rock and concreate,
This summer it is supposed to
complete the installation Of the
first power plant, sufficient in size
to furnish power and light up near
by towns, cities and mining camps
and for an electric railway. This
initial point will be utilized later
in furnishing power and the base
of construction for the larger
plants to come.
More than a year ago the COM
pany was formed and began ac-
quiring title to property along the
Canyon for power plant sites. The
portion of the stream to be devot-
ed to this use extends through
some Indian reservations and
across government forest reserves,
The permission Of the government
as well as the approval of the at
fected Indian tribes will have to
be secured before the promoters
can carry their plans to compile
ton. However the latter has been
secured almost to a certainty, and
the general government never
stands in the way of movements
for the upbuilding of the country.
Many mines Of value have been
idle for years in Arizona because
it was impossible to secure power
to operate them. The scarcity OF
{ water in many locations makes il
impossible to furnish sufficient fol-
engine power, and the necessity OF
hauling fuel long distances has
another deterring influence. Both
these difficulties will be removed
when the Colorado River Power
Co., plant shall be in operation
and it's lines Of copper stretch
through the air to these mines.
The many applications to which
electricity may profitably be put
in the treatment of ores, particu-
larly copper, with which the cogn-
try abounds, makes the plan still
more important. 1t is claimed
that the company has secured the