Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-12-15
POWERS ON DEERFIELD RIVER
$4,000 900 to Be Spent Developing $1,000 Horse Power
Dam Mile Long Somerset Will mpound Storage Reservoir
Covering 1900 Acres


Massachusetts corporation with $S,0O0,-
600 capital is now building four develop
ments on the Deerheld river, three near
Shelburne Falls and one in Somerset.
After the energy from these present de-
velopments has been disposed of further
developments will be made and it is ex-
pected by the company that the total de-
veloped head on the river will be APP
proximately 1000 feet, and that the total
storage capacity on the upper waters
will amount to 7,000,000 900 feet. When
these developments are completed the
river will be capable of generating APP
proximatelly 240, 1000, 900 kilowatt hours Of
primary power or about 10000 horse
power. Some of this power will be used
by the Boston and Maine railroad to pull
trains through Hoosac tunnel
Transmission lines are now being con-
structed under a contract calling for
completion by January Is, to connect the
Deerfield river power plants with that or
the Connecticut river power company at
Vernon, and these lines will be extended
west from Sheburne Falls to North
Adams and other towns in Berkshire
county. The Deerfield valley plants and
that of the Connecticut river power
company will run in parallel, and the
energy from them will be supplied over
the entire transmission system, which
line on the west to Marlboro on the east
The water rights and franchises on the
Deerfield were acquired by Chace IL Har-
riman, Inc, of Boston, who have general
supervision of the company. The securi-
ties of the company are being underwrit-
ten by the following firms: Baker, Ayling
q Co. of Boston, Chace & Hartman, Inc,
of Boston, Estabrook & Co. of Boston, w.
r. Grace & Co. of New York and Henry
Phipps of New York.
The following are the directors of the
New England power company: George B.
Adams of Adams, member of the
Adams manufacturing company and vice
president of the Greylock national bank;
Charles L. Ayling of Boston, of Baker,
Ayling & Co.; George b. Baker of Boston,
of Baker, Ayling q Co.; Stedman But
trick of Boston, of Estabrook &c Co..
Walter Calender of Providence, r. l., Of
the firm of Calender, McAuslan & Troup;
Robert X. Cassatt of Philadelphia of Cas-
satt & Co.. Malcolm G. Chace of Provi-
dence, r. l.; j. Sloat Fassatt, capitalist,
of Elmira, n. Y; Clarke c. Fits of Brat
tleboro, former attorney general of YER
mont; Henry l. Hartman of Boston, of
Chace & Hartman, Inc; George NJ. KIM
ball of Concord, n. H.; vice president Of
the New Hampshire savings bank and di-
rector of the Concord and Montreal rail-
road company; Roland o. Lamb of Boston,
president of the John Hancock mutual
life insurance company; Arthur II. Lowe
of Fitchburg, connected with the Parkhill
manufacturing company and the Fitch
burg Lancaster mills of Clinton; Dana
Malone of Greenfield, formerly attorney
general of Massachusetts; John S. Phipps
of New York. capitalist; George S. Smith
of Boston; Philip Young of Boston, of
Baker Ayling e Co.; L. E. Sherman of
New York, of W. R. Grace e Co.
The general contract for all the work on
the river is held by the Power construc-
ton company which now makes it's
headquarters at Shelburne Falls where it
has a suite of administrative offices,
drafting rooms and large number of
officers and employees of various grades.
This company has the contract to build
the power developments and to turn them
over entirely equipped and ready for
operation. They are also building the
transmission line from Vernon, and will
build the one to the west into Berkshire
county. Each of these lines will be about
20 miles long and will be strung on steel
towers and equipped in every way re-
quired for the safe and efficient trans
mission of high power.
The officers of the Power construction
company are: President, George w.
Bunnell, now living in Shelburne Falls
vice president, Malcolm G. Chace of
Providence, r. l.; secretary and treasurer
w. w. Brooks of Boston; construction
manager ]. n. II. Cornell, now of Shell
burne Falls; chief engineer, A. A. Conger
The company maintains resident engn-
GERS and construction superintendent on
each job, a special man in charge of the
transmission line work and also a chief
electric and hydraulic engineer. In addi
ton to these there are of course, numer-
Gus trained assistants, and a large force
employed in the drafting work. Associat-
ed with the Power construction company
as consulting engineers are j. G. White
& Co. of New York; Charles T. Main of
Boston and +. *. Stearns of Boston. Mr.
Stearns was one of the government en-
gineers for the Gatum dam of the Pana
ma canal, and has been employed by the
Power construction company with especial
reference to the huge dam of the storage
reservoir which is to be built at Somer-
set.
The Power construction company is do
ing all of the engineering work for all of
the contracts and is to build the storage
dam and reservoir in the upper valley
This company is also doing the
work of stringing the transmission lines
from Vernon to Shelburne Falls. The
power from Vernon will be used in work
on the contracts as soon as the lines are
strung. The three developments now I'M
der construction near Shelburne Falls
have been let to subcontrac tors as fol-
lows: Contract No. A. SCOTS bridge,
Fraser Brace company of New York for
1904, $50; No. 3, at the falls of the river in
the village, Fred T. Ley &, Co. of Spring
field for $1S6,202; No. ?, three or four
miles below the village, Fraser Brace
company for 1892, 800. These subcontracts
call simply for construction work and do
not include power-house equipment,
which will be installed by the Power con-
struction company itself.
Before describing in detail the work
that is now under way, it would probably
be well to say something concerning the
Deerfield river and why this stream has
been considered worthy of such great in
vestment. The Deerfield is the principal
tributary of the Connecticut river, and
rises in the southwestern part of YER
mont. The Deerfield has no one par
ticular source, but is really formed by the
conhux of a number of streams which
drain a considerable area in southern
Vermont, and whose only outlet is
through a single narrow valley to the
south. The branch of the river which
keeps the name Deerfield rises in the
town of Stratton, VT and flows southerly
through Somerset and into Searsburg,
where it's volume is considerably increased
by a large sized brook, which Is called
the East branch. This East branch rises
in the town of Somerset, and near Its
Headquarters, at a place known as Pecks
mill, the first of the development projects
is to be undertaken.
From the town of Searsburg the Deer
field flows easterly into Wilmington
where it receives another stable addi-