The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-02-04
THE GREATEST ELECTRIC SPAN.
IL is Nearly Mile Long and II Carries
Power to San Francisco.


Power to San Francisco.
More remarkable than the Niagara
Falls electric plant is one in the in
terror cf California on the Yuba River.
ZOO miles from San Francisco. The
California plant has water wheels of
greater capacity than any others of
the kind i'm the world. and It's genera
tors are the largest machines of the
type ever constructed. The generated
electricity, moreover. is carried Earth.
er before it is used than such power
has ever been carried elsewhere. To
get the electrical energy to its deStina.
ton one of the most remarkable
achievements in the history of engin.
eerinS has just been completed
The Straits OF Karquines, across
which it was necessary to carry the
electric power if the best market was
to open to il, connect San Pablo and
Suisan bays, which together form the
northern part of San Francisco Bay
Through this comparatively narrow
channel the entire central region Of
the State of California is drained. and
IN addition there is an ocean tide of
about five feet, so although the water
is more than 100 feet in depth, there is
at all times a heavy and dangerous
current Experiments proved that
while it was barely possible that a
telegraph or telephone cable might be
laid in these waters, the laying and
operating of the huge wire ropes de.
signed as tunnels for the passage Of
electrical power current was out OF
the question. The straits are about a
mile wide.
IF power cables cannot be laid un.
derreath the water, why not suspend
them above:' said the engineer. and
accordingly, the construction of ii.
gantic suspension bridge consisting Of
four cables was begun.
Two slender steel towers, each a.
high as an ordinary office building
We're reared on opposite points of land
overlooking this mile-wide waterway
The United States Government in
granting permission for the crossing
stipulated that the cables should be
suspended at least 200 feet above the
surface of the water, since the peak
of the highest mast of the Shenan.
doah, the largest vessel of the Amer
lean merchant marine, is 1J4 feet
above the waterline
The bluff on the north side of the
straits on which the tower is erected
is 1G2 feet above extreme high tide
and the great steel skeleton itself is
Do feet in height The tower Oh the
south shore is not in itself so lofty as
the other but being perchcd on higher
ground its top is fully eighty feet
higher than that of the other tower.
The erection of these towers probably
called for more daring on the part Of
The men who built them than any sky.
scrapec that was ever constructed
There is Il variation in temperature
of about sixty degrees at the Straits
of Karquines. and this will cause
variation Of fully five feet in the sag
of the great cables. The cables are
made of steel. and are each nearly an
inch in thickness, there being about
score of wires in the twisted strand
For each cable there has been provid.
cd an anchorage i'm the form of mass
of concrete almost as large as an
ordinary room, and the great wire
rore is wound around n wheel a cou.
pie of feet in diameter.
-Four cables span the Straits of Kar.
quincs, but only three are in use al
any one time, the fourth being held
in reserve. This enables the cables
to be cleaned or repaired at any time,
and 81 would be difficult to imagine
more exciting task than thai of the
man who must travel out over the cx
ransc OF water in tiny car suspend
cd from the cable. which he greases
rs he slowly glldcs below IT,
Strangely enough. the cables move
less on a windy day than ON a per.
fectly quiet one. ON a morning when
the air is still a person can put his
hand on the cables and feel a continu.
Gus Earring movement. whereas If he
takes hold OF the same cable when %
breeze is blowing he will find it free
from movement
Prior TO the erection OF thc cables at
the Karqunes Straits The longest span
ON the North American continent for
carrying electric power over water
was that of an electric lighting com
pauy ion British Columbia. which
SPAWNED the Columbia River iu r.
stretch of 1900 feet Inasmuch as
tIs new California wonder swings
through zine air for three times .lat
distance it is tha most remarkable
structure Of Tine Kind ON ,he g.0D.-
Sew Yoa, Sum-