The Washington herald., 1907-07-28

pounds 20 the square inch. whereas steam
pressure Of 80 pounds Is rare The water
IS brought 20 the steel c0uduits through a
tunnel driven through the mountain from
an artificial lake on the other side of the
peak The electric current prod dccs lights
for a large portion Of the city Of Colorado
Springs and. after IL has driven the dy-
namOs. the water IS turned into the mains
Of that pretty town and nearby Manitou.
There IS an interesting hydro-eIectric
development az Portland Greg. where
street railroads are operated largely with
current generated by water wheels forty
miles away from the city. at Cazardero.
on the Cl8ckemas River. This installation
has head OF from l3S 20 III feet. accord
ing TO the staEe of the water, and now
develops l5.ooA horsepower, which is to be
Increased 90 25.O)9.
Fine Plant Near seattle.
There is another interesting development,
at Saoqualmie Falls. some forty-eight
miles from Seattle, which develops II 0O0
horsepower for that thriving town. The
generators are at the bottom of the 960-
foot-deep wheel pits and not az the top.
~ they are at Niagara and at Rochester
the earliest big water turbine develop
ment IA this country-and elsewhere gen
orally
Seattle gets electric current also from
water power stations that are operated on
the streams fed by melting glaciers at the
foot Of Mount Rainier This plant will de-
vel0p 20,000 horsepower ultimately, and
has been IN operation three years Og-
den ard Salt Lake City, in Utah. are
furnished with electrical currents from
water plants ia the Wasatch Mountains.
for which the largest dams IN the world,
built mainly 10 store water for electrical
purposes, have been erected.
a particularly interesting form of hy-
dro-electric development has been put in
operation az Chamberlain. s. Oak. as well
as in other parts Of that State. and in
Florida. The vicinity of Chamberlain
abounds in artesian wells used for irriga-
ton purposes. The water rises with great
force, being driven several feet in the
air by the pressure from below. Some in
genlOus individual conceived the idea of
fitting one of the wells with an inverted
turbine water wheel and connecting II
up with a dynamo. This was done and
a fine power was obtained. 1t Is under
stood that this scheme VIII be Initiated
Ia tho East before long as il undoubt-
edly will be also in Texas.
Much Done I'm Recent Yenrs.
Many who read this article can remem-
Der very well when all the enormous and
immensely valuable electrical development
Of to-day was in the future. Electric
street cars were hardly more than a
dream then. and the first really practi-
cable trolley limo was not operated until
twenty years ago in Richmond. Va,
Frank J. Sprague being the inventor Of
most of the devices used. and Maurice
Flynn, once a well-known New York
politician, furnishing the capital Edison
and Daft Henry, Of Kansas CITY. who
introduced the trolley pole. Van Depoele
and others had been doing pioneer cleo
trical work fer ten or a dozen years and
earlier. but practical success did not come
until 1899.
The last cable traction line was put
down in 1880 or 1891; after that electric
traction began to grow ike corn under
a hot July sun To-day the big steam
roads are beginning the work Of electri-
flying their lines. No one who reads
Alright the electrical signs Of the times
doubts that the steam locomotive will
eventually be sent to limbo on all but
lines whose traffic IS small while the
Introduction of electric light and of cleo
trio motors In place of isolated steam
engines is going on more than twice
as rapidly as the Introduction OF cleo
trie traction.
Copyright; 1877 by Dexter Marsaan