The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-06-28
"a Lengthy Article In Metropolitan Newspaper
Speahs in Most Favorable Terms OF the
Proposition and Predicts lis Erection.
POWER TO BE SENT DOWN THERE


I, make use Of the wasted power of
| these rapids, but 1t will aid navigation
flor many miles above, by reason Of
slack water it will create.
| The people living above the site of
| the dam have done great deal to for
| ward the plans. While the intimate
aim is to transmit the greater part of
the power secured to tun the public
utilities OF st. Louis and other cities,
1t is said that the factories OF Hamil-
ton and Keokuk, Iowa, the nearest.
will be able to take advantage Of the
low power rates made possible. It will
be great thing for the entire Mississ-
| ippi Valley. engineers declare.
In order for the layman to get
| just idea Of the magnitude Of this pro-
ject, comparison with other similar
undertakings Is merely necessary. We
4 find that in the lead come the great
| Niagara gorge power turbines, furnish
| ing Rochester, Buffalo and the vast
industrial community thereabouts with
| light and power. The Niagara tur-
bines generates minimum OF 200 900
horse power and running consider
| ably more at times. Next in water
| plants we find the one at Massena, N.
r., on the st. Lawrence River, where
there is development OF 40,000-horse
power conveyed to the nearby factor
/ les and towns. Next ON the list comes
4 the protect at sault ste. Marie, where
!. II Is said that another 40, ,000-horse
power Is latent IN the swirling rapids.
4 On the Columbia River, at Seattle,
Wash, there is another 4O,OO0-horss
power plant In operation Duluth
j MINI, gets 81 ,O00-horse power out of
her waterway, and Spiers Falls, Hud-
! son River, N. Y, comes at the bottom
! with total Of 1S,800-horse power
/ / 2oo,0oo-Horse Power.
4 Next to Niagara on this list comes
4 the great plant now almost under way
4 to supply the City OF st. Louis. The
4 greatest quantity OF jower anticipated
from this situation is given at 200. 900
| horse power, while the minimum for
q four months in the year is paced at
4 60,000-horse power.
4 When In ages past rivers and noun
tains were formed out Of chaos and
when, far back in the dim centuries.
the great Mississippi valley took
q shape out of the mist, there was q
grand scheme in the laying of the
greatest river in the world, where
in time to come, will be located the
s richest habitations OF MANN the
a Mississippi valley. Foreigners have
come here and seen the great river
formed in these dark ages. In its
sluggish current the more thoughtful
have Depicted great things, latent
! only to be realized when civilization
needs them. Chief among the great
predictions made by science is the
one that points to the rapidly ap
preaching age when the coal mines
of the world will have given out
when the timber shall have beer
burned and cut and when man will
fall back on water power for both
Fuel will be unnecessary. Men will
keep warm, run their looms and ma
chine, light their streets, run cars BY
the latent power of water and the
power contained in the sluggish cur
rent of the Mississippi is said to bt
.. practically beyond an estimate. There
! is one force that does not give out
: that is, not dependent upon the Law
of demand and supply; that acknowl
!, edges no strikes" or lockouts, ant
: that is patient and steady in the in
terest of man and that Is water power
!, : The tale told by the old mill whee
:. is the basis of modern engineerin,
!, feats. Since the world began NAL
! has used the rapids and the dam t.
! grind his grain. Through ages thi
: primitive wheel has not changed. Th
:. powerful turbine is but an offspring o
i, the ancient mill wheel made famou
!. in the literature and poesy Of ages.
!. It is interesting to note that fift
i years ago-a mere day to the histor
of England-old mill wheels groun
4 much of the grist of England. Today
! when the Mississippi valley is scarce
tly 100 years settled by civilized mar
we are constructing one Of the great
est engineering feats the world ha
ever known right in the heart of wha
:. was not very long ago total wilder
! ness abounding with wild game an
! savages.
e To Build on Rock.
d Nature has particularly favored tn
q site Of the Keokuk dam. The rapid
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