The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1911-02-22
ELECTRIC POWER QUESTION
Secretary of the Interior to be
Petitioned to Grant Trans
mission Line Erection.

A number of the citizens of Fallon,
including the members of the council,
conferred ";.h Chief Engineer, Arthur
P. Davis, Supervising Engineer D. c..
Henny and Project Engineer D. w.
Cole at Reclamation headquarters Fri
day morning relative to the possibility
of getting a portion of the electricity
that will be generated under govern
ment auspices at the Truckee chute.
Nothing of a definite nature came from
the conference, for it seems that mere
~ recommendations can come from the
officials named above and that all final
action is up to the secretary of the in
terror. In this connection Mr. Davis
stated that the reclamation department
was anxious to promote the beet inter-
ests of this project, in every way pos
sible, but that the proposition of de-
veloplng power under government aus
picies for the City of Fallon would be
largely financial one.
Mr.. Davis as the chief engineer of
the service, said that If his recommen-
dations were carried out by his super
iors no difficulty would stand in the
way of effecting an arrangement, II the
terms would be satisfactory TO the
citizens of Fallon. The plant under
consideration will be sufficient. in size
to furnish power for all dam construc-
ting machinery and produce sufficient
amount in overplus to allow of the city
getting all needed.
But the building Of the trans mission
line distance of II or Is miles proved
the insurmounting stumbling block in
the mornings conference. Mr.. Davis
stated that at the present time there is
neither money or authority to set aside
money for this purpose and that this
phase of the proposition would neces-
sarily have to be handled by the city.
Inasmuch as the line proper would cost
from $1,000 to $1,000 per mile and the
transformers an additional sum bring
ing the total cost of equipment to Sc
cure the power from the governments
plant to around S25, 900 the project does
not appeal. to the business men of the
town as one altogether practical. 1t is
pointed out that the town has already
pledged itself to issue bonds in the sum
of S45, 900 for the purpose of installing
water and sewerage systems and to at
tempt to raise this amount to $40, 900
does not seem to the men interested TO
be an act savoring of business, nor do
they believe it would augur for the
good of the town.
In addition to the expense of install
ling the transmission line much objec-
tion is put forward to the shortness of a
10-year contract and that the term of
contract would not justify the expense.
In other government irrigation pro-
jects, the government is selling power
at widely varying rate, depending
largely upon the nature of conditions.
In this instance it is pointed out that
inasmuch as the water generating the
power would be lost to storage and con-
sequently to irrigation during the
greater part of the year, higher rate
would have to prevail than in projects
where waste water is used exclusively
in developing the power, Mr.. Davis
stated that ~ cents per kiowatt hour
would be about the rate that would
prevail in this instance, which would be
around $3.50 per horsepower per month
as the first cost.
As matters stand, the city is about to
install water system, the type of
which has not been definitely estab-
lished, and sewerage system. From
the nature of things, the water system
must be an adjunct of the sewerage
system for the latter must be flushed
regularly with water if it is to serve
the purposes for which it is intended.
To operate the water system, power is
necessary, and while the price of the
transmission line is prohibtive, other
forms of power will be nearly, if not
quite as expensive in the end. 1t
would seem that the logical thing to do
at this time would be to frame petit
tion to the Secretary of the Interior,
literally signed, reciting in briefest
language, the conditions existing here !;
that Fallon is a new town in new pro-
ject, and already carrying a consider
able financial load as a result of the
governments undertaking here. That
the government expects reimburse
ment for its projects first cost, but
that in turn, it owes Fallon the chief
and only project town of note, some-
thing, aud asking that this something
be given us in the nature of the trans
mission line.
A committee could ascertain in a few
days the amount of power that would
be taken by the city for lighting and
power and the additional amounts that