The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-11-25
STREET CAR SYSTEM PARALYZED
BY FAILURE OF POWER PLANTS

IL was not the snowfall in the city
that played havoc with the street car
system; but the high tension lines of
every part of the system broke down,
and chaos for n timo was the result,
At 3 O'Clock in the morning, Just as
soon as possible after the night serv"
ice, crews with snow plows were start
ed 10 clear the lines This was kept up
until time to start tho morning service,
and at that time the tracks were open
and in good condition. At $40 the
service was begun, and almost immc-
dlatclY the high tension lines connecting
the Ogden plant gave way. This ser
iously crippled the service, as the Bear
river plant was already down and out.
At 6:30 the Telluride plant, one of the
duplicate supplies, was IN operation,
and this continued until about 7:45,
when the strain proved too much and
power from that source ceased. The
cottonwood plants were also dlsorgan-
lied. so no power came from them, and
all that were in operation were the three
steam plants, one on West Temple, one
at Fourth West and the other at Jordan
river,
Manager Hunt Explains.
Assistant General Manager +. L,
Hunt explained to Tribune representa-
tive that the steam plants only gencr-
ate sufficient power to operate the
lighting system; they are totally made
quate TO in any way operate the street
car system; had they had sufficient
power preference would have been given
to the street cars. Up until 7;45 the
cars had been In operation somewhat
fitfully, the service was not complete
or adequate. but business was being
COPIED with.
It was most unfortunate that the
crisis in the power plants occurred at
Al.
which business men and women desired
to be conveyed from their homes to
business; the hour at which the children
left for school, and thus the greatest
Inconvenience and confusion resulted,
But in the condition of affairs the man
agement of the street railroad system
claim they were helpless. The regular
line and the duplicate lines used in
times of emergency all failed, and in
the neighborhood of some $4,000 or 49,
900 horsepower was rendered useless
for the time being by tho elements.
Spasmodic efforts were made from
7:45 until 1870 o'clock to run few
cars. The lighting service was being
maintained as good rs possible, and
depot. At 1920 o. clock the lines con-
Meeting the Ogden and Bear River
plants were repaired, and this brought
about S000-borse power into use. The
Cottonwood plants and the Telluride
plant were still out of repair, but with
the other two street car service was be-
gun At q late hour in the after
noon no power was being received from
the Telluride company. From 1880
a. IN. on throughout the day, however,
the service was maintained. In the
evening the extra cars, or "trippers,
were brought out, and the patrons were
taken care of. But it was the noon
hour before the entire system was un-
der way.
Inspectors at Work.
The management states that inspec.
tors are kept travelling over the
route of the high tension lines night
and day. They ride over the route, and
when they cannot ride over the noun
tains, they make the journey on foot,
so whenever a break occurs no time is
lost in locating it,. notifying head
quarters and having it repaired.
Great difficulty was also experienced
in having the circuit grounded all over
tho system Those defects had IA hp