The National tribune., 1907-06-20
SENDING $4,000 HORSEPOWER.
Kern River Plant Carries q Stream of
Water for Miles Thru Concrete Con-
duits md Steel Tube. Then Lets II
Drop ST. Feet to Impulse Wheels

Drop s77 Feet to Impulse Wheels
| Long Lines.
California. which, according to the
United States Census of 1900, excels the
world in the daring number and COM
mercial success of its long distance
electric transmissions. drawing power
| for distances of almost 200 miles, mas
added another great work to its list in
| the Kern River plant No. l, completed
within the last few weeks.
This power house generates $4,000
| horsepower and is the first of the
power plants by which $4,000 horse
power is to be developed from the Kern
River. n stream in the south central
part of California, rising in the Sierra
Nevada range.
According to President John =. Miller
of the Edison Electric Company Of Los
Angeles, which is carrying on the work,
it is the largest hydroclectric plant
west of Niagara but probably its most
novel feature lies in the fact that the
present % 900 horsepower, at pres
sure of $1,000 volts. is sent over line
to Los Angeles. III miles distant, the
longest distance for a pressure so high
of any line completed in the world.
Then. too. the source of the power
is novel. The river is detected and car
ricd through concrete conduit tunnel
cut through the rock of the mountains
and hills for "a miles, then shot
through Il steel tube LIB feet long for
Il sudden drop of ST7 feet at an angle
OF IS degrees against the Gig impulse
wheels which start the generating ma
chinery moving. 1t was in one Of these
tunnels through the there
are 20 in all, making practically
a continuous underground conduit
that Hicks. the miner. was cntombed.
Until The utilization of water power
from mountain streams was developed
the problem of fuel. which had always
been scarce and dear on the Pacific
Coast, waS 4 serious obstacle to manu-
featuring grAwth. The problem is now
fast disappearing. 1t is said that in
no other community in the country is
the consumption of electricity per cap
ita so high as in Los Angeles, and in
no section of the country, outside of
small part of the natural gas belt in the
middle West are the rates for power
cheaper. Through pumping power
supplied by the Edison Company 1000
acres of desert land tributary to Los
Angeles have been reclaimed.
Work nn the plant was begun in May.
1901. after the completion of the sur
vey. A dam was built across the canyon
OF the river at the intake far up in the
lower Sierras, backing the water of the
river up into 4 reservoir from which
the conduit tunnels are fed. Instead
of allowing the water of the river TO
fall nearly thousand feet on it's way
to the power house in small falls and
rapids in its own bed it is taken
through the tunnel for a fall of only
6S feet for practically the whole dis
tance. and its power thus conserved for
the sudden fall of S77 feet through the
steel tube directly above the power
house. 1t hits the impulse wheels at
a pressure of almost 400 pounds to the
square inch. The conduit is smooth,
concrete lined. and the depth of the
water is 6 Y feet. The tunnel through
the stone Is nine feet high and eight
broad President Miller says that it is
the longest underground tunnel in use.
This use of comparatively small body
OF water with a long head or fall at
the power house is peculiar to Califor-
MIA.
The pressure main directing the
water from the conduit to the plant is
steel tube encased in solid concrete
and lying underground from so to 15O|
feet beneath the sloping surface of the
mountain. Danger OF being thrown out
of place by the force of the water or
from falling bOulders lis thus avoided
Its maximum interior diameter is seven
and half feet. Branch pipes deliver
the water to the impulse wheels. which
drive the four units or generators in
the power house. the water flowing over
INTO ;allrace and back into the river
bed.
Further north in California, around
San francisco. are two transmission
lines from mountain power houses
longer than the Kern River line. TIC =
are the lines of the Bay Counties EIec-
trlc Light and Power and the Standard
Electric Companies. Tho first supplies
oakland from its power house on the
North luba River. 40 miles away. The
second runs its lines $50 miles to the
town of San Jose. In neither case.
however. Is the power generated or tho
pressure transmitted SO high as in the
Kern River plant.