Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-05-30

"A X
complished at Keokuk, Iowa. Hitherto
the Mississippi river has been valued
chiefly because it afforded means OF
floating commerce The great posi-
bilities of power which lie in the
stream have been latent. With the
completion of the dam now being puil'
at Keoxuk the Mississippi will be
turned into power.
Surprisingly little has been written
about this dam at Keokuk, considering
the vastness of the enterprise ana the
benefits expected to flow from 1t. 1t
Is in fact. the largest single engineer
ing work going forward, with the
single execution of the Panama canal
The lock will be larger than any single
lock of the Panama canal, having the
same width and lift of forty feet com
pared with a maximum lift OF thirty
two feet on the isthmus.
G.. Walter Barr editor and pro.
nrietor of the Keokuk Standard. and
q lecturer on scientific subjects. writes
If the proposed Harvesting of the MIS-
sissippi in the Review OF Reviews
After referring to the fact that heo-
kuk lies in the central part or the
great agricultural area OF the unlleo
States, he goes on:
at is in this environment that tnere
is being developed 225,OOO klloWatts OF
mower, the equivalent Of over 3Oo,ooo
mechanical horse power. AT the same
time. without a cent Of cost to the
mblic. there Is insured deep-Water
navigation for sixty-five miles OF the
river where the Mississippi IS in its
maddest mood, and the Des MONIES
rapids stretch for a dozen miles an
fmpassable barrier which is thanked by
n government canal costing $S,000,OOO
and nearly worn out In service.
"These things are done with dam
which. with it's appurtenances, is the
longest monolith in the world, with
its length over all of 9,096 feet. The
power-house is over quarter OF
mile long, and will contain the largest
installation of turbines and electric
generators ever built, thirty duplex
units of $500 kilowatts each. The
lock provided for steamboats, to pass
the dam is greater than any one lock
in the Panama canal, having the same
width and a lift of forty feet, COM
pared with a maximum lift of only
thirtv-two feet on the isthmus; the
Keokuk lock is 400 feet long, and
there is also a large dry dock for the
use of the United States government.
All these structures are Of monoithic
and they involve several I'M
paralleled engineering features.
This one power house has an output
of electric power slightly over half that
generated by all the companies, on
both sides of the international boun-
Diary at Niagara Falls. 1t will be used
within a zone of $50 miles radies from
Keokuk, and chiefly along the Mississ-
ippi river, if present plans do not mis-
carry; it is desirable to use the power
near the site Of the dam and power
house-not on account of loss in trans
in. these later days SO much as
on account Of the cost OF mainta1ng |
lines and the necessity of
buying right Of way for these lines as
wide,as railroad requires
"St. Louis, 1875 miles distant by air
line, has contracted for 10000 horse
power for ninety-nine years. The cur
rent will be taken there by trans
mission line now building which will
carry 10000 volts, the highest electric
pressure ever used to transmit power.
better comprehension can be gained
of the magnitude of this new hydro
electric development in the agricultural
center Of this country by some compar-
lSOnS. Inc power ueFelOpeu dI neohuh
is about three times that now used in
curing in the state Of Iowa;
more than is now used in the state Of
and one-third that now used
in the state of Illinois, including Chi
cago and its environs. 1t is one-hfth of
all the water power now harnessed in
the entire United States, which was
1,647, 900 horse power by the last CEN
sus figures.
The three states of Iowa, Illinois and
at the junction Of which is
located this Keokuk installation, used
in manufacturing only 9s3.211 horse
power in 1905, the date of the latest
census data on this subject, and this is
only little over three times the out
put of the electric generators going in
where these three states meet in tn
middle Of the Mississippi. Figures for
1911, made by careful factoring Of per-
centages Of gain before and after 1905 !
show q large increase in Illinois to