The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-05-27
Plans for Harvesting Deerfied River and Generating
$4,000 Horse Power Being Pushed by
Chace 4 Hartman.
RESERVOIR MILES LONG BELOW WILMINGTON
Contour Fume From Davis Bridge to Zoar Will Make 500
Fl. Drop-Projec Part Of a Scheme That Embraces the
Vernon Power An Necessary Water Rights and Lands
Have Been Acquired.

| The industrial future OF New England
may be deeply affected BIS a big powell
development plan which Is under way
along the Deerheld rivcr, and which
when completed, will include an eight.
mile storage reservoir and generating
station where the fall 81 water may be
a. much - 500 feet The project Is part
Of the scheme which embraces the BIG
power plant that has been developed At
Vernon. II Is positively known tha, the
promoters Of this plan and the capital
lists who are behind them have faF-reach-
ing plans which will, II worked cut sue
oessfully, provide thousands Of horse
power for New England industries and
be mighty factor in increasing the pres
tigc Of New England rs a manufacturing
section. The storage lake, according 10
the plan as outlined, will be between VIII
mington, Vt. and Davis Bridge, VI, a
few miles over the border line from Alassa-
chusctts. The water impoundcd IN the
storage reservoir will be carried by a
fiume 20 Zoar, which is on the Dcerheld
river, south OF the Hoosac tunnel. The
power developed might be as much a.
25.000 horsepower, for, be il remembered,
500 feet OF head or even GOO. puts the
scheme in class by itself as far as the
power development in the East is con-
cerned. The reservoir in Vermont, 10
or 20 miles north of Zoar, where the power
would be developed, would, it is estimated,
hold 80 days supply OF water.
The story OF the project Is Interestingly
told in the following article which APP
peared in the Boston Transcript of We'd
nesday, under Zoar date-line:
The scattered villages OF the Deerheld
Valley are all agog over the mysteriously
whispered plans of great water-power
development scheduled TO eliminate at
this point. This town will be remembered
by patrons Of the Fitchburg railroad a.
the second station on the Boston side of
the Hoosac tunnel, the first one bearing
the name of the tunnel itself where a
narrow gauge line starts for Readsboro
across the Vermont line, originally built
for the conveyance OF wood pulp, but
now known rs one of the most pictur-
the Colorado sense-oi New
England railroad lines. The second sta
ton east Of the tunnel is this one, unknown
TO fame except for its peculiar name, but
utsllntu' III tnt pitetilt piahS hlht'ii'h~''
to become one of the great power-produc-
ing points OF New England.
The popularity OF the project here,
which takes it out of the ordinary, Is the
height of the head. A drop Of not far
from 500 feet is expected. This would
be common enough in the Sierra Nevadas,
where small bodies OF water, but falling
from very great elevations, have reyo-
Iutionized the industrial life OF the Pacific
Coast. In California, power plants with |
heads running as high as 1900 feet are in ,
successful operation. Projects along the
same line have been developed in India,
IN Switzerland, and in Spain, but in New
England most of the water-power devel-
)pments are from twenty-five to tity
'eet. The only one approximatlng $40
'eet is a small one in Vermont, used for
street railroad transportation, which rs
-eally monument to the wealth and IN
,enuity of its original promoter.