Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-11-14
BEFORE

able asset, as they are more valuable
today than they We're the day they
were installed. The old records of the
companies show that timber is more
valuable for kindling wood now than
it was for telephone poles at the time
the companies began business. On the
other hand the telephone companies
say that an underground system can be
maintained for half what an overhead
system will cost for maintenance. In
the days when the Main street corners
represented a tangle of wires belong
ing to all companies operating in the
city. mixing of wires occurred through
storm and wind which put all compa-
mics out OF the business temporarily.
with regard to the districts connecting
with the shorted wires. The wires
running along the street sides were
continually coming in contact with wet
trees, which interrupts service. as the
| current makes II circuit With the
| ground in such cases and renders the
line unscrviceabln.
NEARLY HALE MILLION.
| The Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone
/. company has been put to the greatest
expense in complying with the city
| ordinance and renlod"ing the plant to
| comply with up-to-date maintenance
/
| constructed many years ago on the
| aerial plan. and until the present
change was made was supported and
| improved as such
The approximate total cost of get
| ting that company's plant off the
| streets OF Salt lake including the cost
\ of the new plant, underground and In
terror block plant and cost of removing
old plant from tho streets is, up 10
4 date s4T2,5Qo, and very much remains
to be done: for rs the streets are paved
the city ordinance demands that the
1 public service companies place theiI
/ wires underground. The company sun
! derground system in the city at present
| consists of 1926 trench feet of4condut,
i or 250.Sf6 duct feet OF conduit; 1877 75
| feet of lcad-covered cable containing
102, 06O,000 feet of wire. Wiring in
! buildings and apparatus is not included
| In these figures. The underground plant
of this company is distributed as fol-
| lows:
State from North Temple to Ninth
South; First South from Third West
| to Thirteenth East; Brigham from Sec
i ond West to o street; First avenue
from State to A street; Second Soutl,
! from State to Fifth West; Fifth South
from Third East to State; West Tenn
pie from Third South to Fifth South;
South. The necessary laterals to carry
the wires to the block interiors
PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT.
/ The company's plan of development
takes State street as the backbone
north and south and is TO build east
ward from State on the odd-numbered
streets and westward from State on the
even-numbered streets. This selection
of streets is based entirely on ditrbu-
! ton, that is, the evident growth OF
population and the facility of feeding"
! from the central office.
7 AS an underground duct makes nee
essary tearing up the paved streets at
1 the time of construction, 10 save a
| reinstallation at some future time when
the telephone demands will be much
| greater than they are at present the
company has put in plant much
I larger as have the other companies to
l accommodate what growth there may
be in the next 30 years. Studies made
independently by the Bell company in
/ dictate, say officials of that company,
! that the city will have population of
100000 by the year 1922, and plans are
being made on that basis.
| INTERIOR DISTRIBUTION.
Another Improvement on the old syss-
| TEN of pole arrangement is the placing
of poles in the rear of yards instead
/ OF on the street. This Is done where
there is no underground work, the in
| terror block distribution plan is fol
lowed. BY this plan aerial cables are
placed down the sides OF alternate
/ streets with "leads' to the block In
/ teriors. supplying subscribers from the
| rear instead Of the front. This ar
! rangement keeps the streets clear and
lessons the overhead plant which is so
i displeasing to the eye
1 LIGHT AND POWER PLANT
4 The next company in line of ex-
| penditures for removing overhead con-
/ struction Is the Utah Light & Railway
| company which has spent $4,000 in
/ removing its poles from the center Of
! the street and placed its feed wires
lin conduits in some parts of the bus.
i mess district. That company desgnat-
I es as the commercial district the ter
| ritory between South Temple and
Fourth West streets. and West Temple
L and State streets The poles which
hold the trolley wires In this district
are being removed and the trolley
+, wires VIII be held from steel poles sit
uated near the curbs, as those al /,
/ ready installed on Main street between
|, First South street and South Temple
street, Such a placement of poles In
terferes least with the openness of the
! streets The feed Wires which will carry
I the current 10 tiie ifoiieS wires VIII De
! run in cables in conduits and thus d
menace. high current wires overhead
| which has caused so many accidents
| in the past will be done away with.
! Although 1t is a great cost to the street
| railway company. to install Il new
+. plant. their reconstruction is partly
1 actuated by the same motive as the
. telephone company, outside of the de-
/ mands OF the cit ordinance: theif sys
/ TEN has been interrupted through mix
ms with the wires of other companies
| caused by storms and high winds and
I, that company also believes that the
| underground system VIII save them
/ much in the matter of maintenance.
! The material which they are replacing
1 viii be OF no use n .t;3erl in the under
/ ground plant. The engineer of the
!. Utah Light & Power company, COM