The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-10-02
keokak Dam May Solve the
Smoke Problem Of St. Louis
Some Time in 1913 the Trolley Cars Of the Missouri
Metropolis Will be Pushed Along Olive Street
by Power From the keokuk Dam

{ ST. LOUIS. Mo-, Oct within
two years the trolley cars along Olive
street and all the other avenues of
\ st. Louis will be pulled to and fro
\ by power brought all the way from
! Iowa.
The arc lights In the homes. stores
and factories and along the street will
draw their illuminating energy all the
way from Keokuk.
Sometime in 1913 the whole system
of the trolley cars and the lighting
plan of ST. Louis will be changed. In
day 1t will be reversed. The big
power houses now In use for that pur-
pose will be mere auxiliaries. The
real power in use every minute will
be leaping the rivers, the valleys and
hills that lie between st. Louis and
the big dam at Keokuk.
Not far from where Jim Bludso OF
the Prairie Belle died hero, mile
long dam is being stretched across
the Mississippi. 1t will be the second
greatest dam in the world. The As
souan Dam, on the upper Nile. is the
greatest.
The Keokuk dam will develop more
power than any other plant in the
world, with the single exception of
that clustered tangle of power houses
that line Niagara Falls. From this
dam over 100000 horse power will
pour along the $50 miles of cable into
st. Louis.
Creeping out from either shore, the
day Is not far off when the concrete
wall across the Mississippi will be
finished The big power houses are
already under way. Ten carloads OF
concrete are going into the arches
that are creeping across the river be-
tween sunset and sunrise every day.
It will take tremendous wall to hold
the mighty force that lies in the cur
rent of the sweeping Mississippi.
The surveys for the lines of cable
that will run from Keokuk to ST
Louis have already been made. How
ever, the company that is back OF
the project is in no hurry. Two years
remain before the titanic horse power
of the river will need pathway to
carry it into st. Louis. In the mean
while they are making careful inves
legations of the various routes that
have been proposed That it will fol
low the river is certain Just how
er matter That it will come into st
Louis ultimately is most certain Of
all.
The big dam creeps across the riv
er an arch at a time. There will be
1Is of these curious concrete arches
c.. S. Ruffner, St Louis representative
of the dam interests, estimates thai
the work is Is per cent finished.
Some time it 1913 we will call Il
done" says Ruffner. There has beer
no pause since it was begun. A vas
amount of preliminary work was ne
.cessary, but that is finished. Tn
building of the transmission line from
the dam down into st. Louis will b
but a small part of the great tasf
Work really began as far back as De
cember, 1910. Keokuk has been hoI
ing for such dam for a generation
hut had almost given up in despair
lit was juhlilant town when the dar
began to creep our from the Iowa an
Illinois shores
Electrical engineers all over tn
world will watch the experiment tina
will take place in ST. Louis when tn
far-off power is at last turned into tn
railway and lighting systems OF s.
Louis There is no precedent for wha
will happen Turn 10000 horse pow
er into an existing force of 100000
and no man can say just what the re
suit will be.
81 wish l could tell what will hal
tpen," says c. s. Ruffner. I'VE don
know That is what will make tn
experiment interesting There will b
difficulty in speed regulations mos
icertainly There has never been any
thing attempted just like this will BIZ
That the trouble will be serious n
one thinks but 1t is problem of al
sorbing interest to the electrical er
gineer The existing plants that nov
supply the current for the street raj
ways and the electric lighting system
OF ST. Louis will not be dismantlet
- he pldntS Will uS run III pdluliCi VII
the new stations and substations tina
will be built to handle the curren
from Keokuk."
The gigantic undertaking is goinl
to cost a tremendous sum. To brin
the current all the way from Iowa I
the first substation outside of s.
Louis will cost in the neighborhoo
of s16,000.O0o From 100000 t
s10,0o0,o0o more will be requil
ed to put in the new system throug
the heart of St. Louis and in the va
ious outlying stations that will be II
auired by the change moderat
estimate puts the cost of the Who'll
Goes Farther, Costs Less, than Soap
.Io...:.