Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1910-11-10
Elsctncib for The CIinchfisId.

NNfs"J Aue bUutullstUa
The wonderful confidence which the
Chnchheld Coal corporation has in the
future OF its plants and conl properties
Is best demonstrated by the contract
which that corr Orstioa has Just closed
with the Westinghouse Electric and
Manufacturing Company, of Bluefield,
w. Va. This contract calls for plan
Of construction which, it is expected.
will take care of the company's BUSH
ness for years to come and provides for
plant which will be one of the largest
of its kind in the world. The estimated
cost by the experts who figured on the
job reaches the vast sum of half a mil
hon dollars. The Clichfield Corporation
owns large acreage of coal and for
years many of the people interested in
the business have wondered if the COM
pany planned to develop its own coal or
lease the land to operating companies.
The letting of the contract to the West
Inghouse Company practically decides
the matter and it is likely that the COM
psny will mine its own coal, which will
be sold through the Clinchfield Fuel
Company.
The holdings of the company extend
over the greater part of Dickenscn and
Russell counties, while the company
also has holdings in Wise and Buchanan
counties, all of which are located in
Southwest Virginia. To operate over
this property will necessitate many of
the plants, being widely separated,
electricity from the main station will
have to be carried by wire to the sub
stations, which have been provided for
in the plan. AT the present time the
company has about a dozen mines To-
Gated in the neighborhood of Dante and
Clinchfield, on the Carolina, Clinchfield
and Ohio Railroad, which was built to
develop this property. No other rail-
road reaches the property, although the
Norfolk and Western is close by. 1t
can be easily seen that to develop this
wide territory of coal some definite
plan would have to be adopted.
The Westinghouse plan, which has
been adopted, will involve a central
power plant containing initially two
turbine units of I,25O kiIowats each
generating power at 5000 volts, three
phase, sixty cycles and transmitting at
the above voltage to all sub-stations
within radius of ak miles. Power
will be converted without the aid of
Transforming apparatus from this volt
age to $50 volts direct current through
synchronous motor generator sets. For
points outside the radius just mentioned
but within radius Of twenty miles. the
power will be STEPPED up to p, 900 volts
potential and converted through trans
formers and motor generator sets to
$50 volts, direct current. at the pro-
posed sub-stations.
Turbine units are of the same design
as those in use at the plant of the Poca-
hontas Consolidated Galleries Company
and of the United States Coal and Coke
Company.
The letting of this contract is in keen
ing with the Clinchfeld way of doing
things. In the first place a railroad was
built to develop the property over the
mountains of Virginia, Tennessee, North
and South Carolina The company has
right Of way to Charleston, S. c., and
1t has been reported that this extension
would be built shortly. After the con-
struction of the railroad the company
made appropriations of millions of dol
lars and made model mines. homes and
buildings and adopted the most modern
equipment TO operate the mines. Every
thing has been done on such stupendous
scale that even large operators have
trembled when they heard of some new
undertaking.