The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-06-01
THE SOMERSET DAM
viii Be Visited BY Engineers and
Officials on June II.

viii Be Visited BY Engineers and
Officials on June II.
Gov. John A. Mead has written the
following letter to the Rutland Her
aid:
Rutland, VT, May q, 1912.
To the Editor of the Herald Rut-
land, VT
My Dear Sir You may be aware
that there is very large dam which
| understand is TO be 100 feet or
more in height and at least 1000 feet
in length extending across the Deer
field River valley in the town of Som
erset Vermont. have heard very
much of the general feature of this
dam and regret that few of the peo
! pie in that valley are somewhat
| alarmed as to the general construc-
! ton of the same. ! have received
letters, and the nature of them was
such that | felt should take the sub
| ject under thorough consideration,
and that an examination of said dam
should be made and / have obtained
the services of no less an engineer
than Mr.. Alfred R. Noble. of New
York city.
Mr.. Noble was one of the Panama
Canal commission and one Of the con
sultng engineers designing the
Gatun dam al Panama and had gen
eral supervision of the Pennsylvania
railroad tunnols under New York
city. His selection is approved to
me by the engineering department
of the state of New York and the en-
cheering department of the war de
partment of the United States gov
eminent He is one Of the most
eminent engineers in America
Quite number of people in the
state have expressed a desire to visit
this dam and~to do so when Mr.. No
BILE is to be present. ! have had sent
to Mr.. Noble all the blue prints and
/, specifications necessary and he has
fixed on June 18th to make the ex
animation.
The development of this dam il
Somerset Is to be not only a very
large storage reservoir but there is
also to be constructed in connection
with it very large electric power
plant TO serve various towns in soutl
= ern Vermont 1t is one of a series
of developments which will numbe
: 10 in all, four others in Vermont an,
= fye in Massachusetts The propert,
:, Is being developed by the New Eng
= land Power company a corporation
= financed by very strong financial an,
, business men. Clarke G. Fits o
Brattleboro, attorney and representa-
, tive of the New England Power com
pany in Vermont has shown specia
Willingness to assist in making thi
Investigation as thorough as possibl
/ as TO the safety and general charaC
+! ter OF the dam and in caring for tn
y wants OF those who wish to be pres
= ent on this occasion. ! have alread
!. arranged with him to be in Bratl,
. boro on the afternoon of June 1Otf
then to go to Wilmington that nigh
by automobile. where we can star
y early in the morning of the 18th t
u visit the dam referred to.
y II will be one of the largest If nc
the very largest storage reservoir 1
II New England and one OF the larges
- electric power plants. This plant an
the other plants on the Deerfiel
% river and the one at Brattleboro o.
e the Connecticut will form by far tn
u largest hydro-electric development
j in New England. The capital repre-
- scented in the developments now &c
! ing on on the Deerhed river is a
II proximately 100000 and the tota
n expenditure to be made on the Dee
u field river will be S12.O00,00O
= Several members of the press c
y our state have already expressed
y desire to be present and thought
e wise to extend an invitation to a
those who would wish to visit III
dam on this occasion. II you wi
y kindly advise me of your wishes
~ your earliest convenience, will ft
.. ward the same to Mr.. Fits that h
~ may make suitable arrangements.
- Most respectfully.
\ John A. Mead.