New-York tribune., 1910-12-25

ment might be justified by the savings Ell
fected. The loss in the floods of 1867 in the
Ohio alone was S1O0,0O0,0O0. The objection
to the plan was practical-the storage dams
would be situated in mountainous country,
where there would be no nearby market for
the power which they would offer
With the public already partly awake TO
the problems of American rivers, the great
works which have been actually carried
out for solving some of them are of espe-
cial interest, for they suggest the tre-
mendous meaning of the forces that are
wasted day after day in a thousand
streams.
Only the other day Mayor Mahoo1 of Bal
timore, turned a switch in a new power
house beside the Susquehanna, a few miles
beyond the Pennsylvania border. a cur
rent of 10000 volts flowed through the
cables into the city of Baltimore, forty
miles away All the trolley cars, all the
electric lights and hundreds of machines
throughout the city and in the country
for fifty miles around the new power sta
ton will be operated by its current. 1t is
said to be the most powerful single elec-
trio generating plant in the world
a dam half a mile long-except for the
great works of the English on the Nile.
the world-hoIds back the Susquehanna in
a lake seven miles long and at places two
miles wide. Fffty-five feet high through
most Of its length, the dam is sfxty-five
feet thick at its base. A railroad track
could be laid along it's crest. The face lies
In a graceful curve, so that the water hugs
the surface from crest TO foot, with no
chance to wear it away.
0f
conpressibIe material inserted every forty
feet to absorb expansion and contraction,
and thus to prevent breaks in the struct-
ure. A huge rock fill and an auxiliary con-
crete dam several hundred feet in length
protect the power house from the rush Of
ice in the spring. The building is 500 feet
long, and when fully equipped will contain
ten electric generating units each devel-
oping 1850 horsepower
The cost of the work was s13.0O0.OO0. A
single item of 8, ,50O,090 went for raising the
tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad out OF
the bed of the new lake; 100000 more went
for building bridge that will be blown up
later.
Yet il is not hard TO see why the invest
ment in the plant was an exceedingly prof
liable one. Power in regions not imme-
diately adjacent to cities is usually reck-
oned as worth $50 a year a horsepower.
The horsepower of the McCans Ferry
power house is 135. 600 If the full power
could be profitably used it would be worth
81. .7o0. eco or about q per cent of the invest
ment.
With large engines OF the most efficient
type, engineers calculate that they obtain
one horsepower by the consumption OF one
and one-half pounds of coal an hour. OF
thirty-six pounds for a day To obtain the
horsepower OF the McCalls Ferry plant
would require 2.ls0 tons of coal daily OF
the highest quality and used In engines OF
the best type. In other words, the fall oi
the Susquehanna is as good as coal mine
| living on the surface OF the ground which
PRODUCES ., $50 tons day Only in two de
/ tails the advantage is with the power
/ house. It gets the same results with one
/ aftieth the number of men that a mint
would demand. and, unlike coal pit, il
cannot be worked out