Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1903-10-02
ELECTRIC POWER At PUYALLUP

ELECTRIC POWER At PUYALLUF
Visit So the Great Water Electric Plant In
der Construction.
An hour and half run on the Ia
coma and Eastern railroad through a
once heavily timbered but now logged
off country, gravelly and with few
widely scattered settlers, and we reach
Electron. 1t is situated in the timber
A! at the foot OF high, steep ridge, OF
rather mountain, at the lower end OF
Lake Kapous, in and near the Puyallup
river. A triangular.shaped shed of a
building of rough implanted boards, a
board Electron Hotel" three tents,
and two small houses away off in the
woods, constitute the city. The most
striking object is a steep railway
track climbing straight up the noun
tain, at an angle OF about 30 degrees,
with q great steel cable for hauling
cars up the incline. Towards the left
along the foot of the ridge the railroad
upon which we came extends, and fol-
lowing it we soon reach the river and
continue up its left bank some dis
lance to the site of the power house.
The river here is q yeasty white, gla.
cial torrent, roaring down a deep mar
row gulch between the mountains. A
tall precipitous crag confines it on the
right bank. On the left the mountain
ridge abuts, and at its foot is to be
built the power house, while five great
steel pipes, each LOO feet in length,
will convey the power.yielding water
from the tiume and reservoir on top Of
the ridge to the Pelton wheels at its
foot. An hundred men, or more, are
here blasting, digging and moving
rock and earth, and preparing the
ground for the power house and the
steel conveyors. But only = begin.
ming is yet made. Thousands OF yards
OF solid rock and stiff clay must yet be
removed before the site is ready for
the foundations of the power house, or
Tor the heavy concrete piers to anchor
the conveyors. The rip.rap OF the
bank OF the swift turbulent stream
terribly furious and powerful in floods
lis but just begun, and il continued
with no heavier rock, is likely to be
swept away in the next freshet. A
wide track or bed for the pipes has
been cleared OF trees and brush and
partially graded, and extends almost
straight up overhead, so terribly steep
it appears, thousand feet in vertical
height.
Two hundred yards below the power
house site, q narrow, steep and muddy
path winds up the steep hill side, and
soon leads to wide terrace, or fiat, on
the mountain side. Here, among the
heavy timber is the workmen's camp.
A wood road leads past the camp, and
through the timber and in a quarter
OF q mile intersects the inclined rail.
way track. This. after crossing the
fiat on nearly level grade, climbs the
balance of the mountain, some 600
feet, even sleeper than the lower pitch.
Another fiat extends at the top. Here
is an Office and storehouse, the engine
house for hosting the cars, a sswmill,
piles of timbers, and large force at
work clearing the land of trees and
stumps and burning them, and exca-
waiting and grading the channel be-
tween the reservoir and pipes. The
reservoir is-to be dug here, II acres in
area and 20 feet deep, at cost Of $780,
600, with capacity sufficient for one
days supply of water. This is but
just begun.
Ten miles higher up the river are
located the head works-the dam and
headgates. Thence q plank and tim
Der fume, s feet wide and s feet deep
will extend along the mountain side
over ten (l0) miles to the reservoir.
The dam will be 200 feet long, nearly
80 feet wide at the base and 5 feet high,
and will be covered with timbers one
foot square. As the bed OF the river is
here composed OF gravel and boulders,
four rows Of sheet piling will be driven
across it or rather placed, for they
cannot be driven in such material. 1t
is proposed to pass the entire river
through the head gates and . short
distance down the fume and empty
it back into its bed below the cite of
the dam. This will be further pro-
tected by a Golfer dam. Work on the
head gates and intake is not yet COM
pleted. and consequently nothing has
been done on the dam. What will
happen TO this plan when the river
rises in food under a prolonged winter
storm? The building of the dam will
have TO await next summers low wa
ter in all probability.
The ten mile fume is one of the
most interesting parts of the work, as
we'll as that upon which tho most has
been done. Starting from the reser.
vOir, a complete line of trestles, sur
mounted by Q railroad, has been COM
pleted midway along the steep noun.
tain side for 8 miles. The bents are
l6 feet apart, built Of three peeled logs,
Is to "a inches in diameter, resting on
timber mudsills, and securely braced
with heavy plank. Four strong 8 by II
fir timbers form the stringers. The
smaller timbers for the fume, cut and
framed, are temporarily laid across as
railroad ties and the track il spiked to
them. The railroad will be used to
carry out along the line the lumber
for the flume, as we'll as cement for
the dam and other material. The
building OF the flume will commence
at the head gates, and the railway will
be taken up as it progresses. It is
proposed to replace it by a light cleo
trio railway on top of the hume. The
construction of the flume proper has
not yet been begun.
The trip out on the railroad is
novel and startling experience. The
line lies close to the steep hill sides,
winding in and out as crooked az q
snakes trail. Some OF the trestles are
GO to 70 feet high, others have the up
per end only few feet high while the
lower end rests on ground Is or 20 feet
lower down. On the upper side the
mountains extend up hundreds of feet,
very steep, in places almost vertical,
while on the river side you look down