The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-07-18

a remarkable thing will have been
accomplished by the brainy man who
is directing the work, and by his
capable lieutenants. In the twink
ling of an eye the turbulent stretch
of water which has long troubled the
navigators of the Mississippi river,
will be transformed into a placid
lake rejecting unmarried the clouds
that float above. This great body of
water will in fact constitute an i'm
mense storage tank of latent cleo
trical energy. By the marvellous
governors that will control the
slightest demand for energy the tur-
bines will be fed with water suffi-
cient to supply the exact demand,
always ready at a moments notice
to increase the output or to decrease
it instantly as the demand is made.
Back across the river the observa-
ton train returned to see more of
the interesting sights, the men of
explaining with care and in most
interesting manner every detail of
the work.
The visitors were amazed and de-
lighted with what they saw. They
absorbed information and filled up
on wonders. They saw giant ex-
cavator eating the rock out of the
river bottom as child dips up it's
mush They felt the thrill of rush.
ing water and witnessed the fright
full swing of pondrous cranes lifting
tons of weight like the toys of in
fants. They heard with awe the
casual statement of the chief engi-
neer that every rainy day cost the
company $4,000 in interest on the
investment by reason of the delay in
the work. They heard it stated with
amazement the statement that $780,
600 worth of timbers would be used
in the construction of the dam at a
cost for carpentry hire of 1000, 900,
and that after all was finished not a
chip of wood would remain in the
great structure, every particle of it
being used merely in concrete forms
and falsework, ultimately to be dis
carded. They were astonished to
learn that 100000 had been spent
on the dam before a spadeful of
earth was turned.
Returning to the starting point we
were then escorted up the bluff to
the Riverside Club, where there is an
immense observa ton pavilion, and
were the guests of the Power Co. at
a fine banquet Here we met Hugh
l.. Cooper, the chief engineer, and
listened to a plain talk from this
great man, who is building the
greatest dam in the world, but he
does not pose as a great man, and
says anyone could have done what
he is doing. He avoids any notoriety
for himself, but wants all the credit
given to the Power Co. We could
write many pages in regard to what
we saw at the dam, but will have to
confine ourselves to few statistics.
The capital stock of the company
is 100000, and there are stock
holders in Keokuk, Boston, New En-
gand, Canada, England, Germany,
France and Belgium. The dam, lock,
sea wall and other parts, all, one
concrete monolith measures 1875
feet or two and half miles. The
length of the dam alone is 4,273
feet. When completed the dam will
develop 3OO,6O6 horse power, and
$4,000 horse power has aready been
contracted to St. Louis. The ball
ance will be used for operating fac
tories, electric light plants, interur-
ban railroads and similar enter
prises. There are about 1900 men
employed in the construction work,
and over $1,000,000 worth of con-
struction machinery, nearly all Of
which is operated with compressed
air. The dam will provide an eight
foot and over deep water way for a
distance of IS miles up the river.
The work will be completed by July
1, 1918, but they will have a part
of the power in use before the COM
ing winter.
In conclusion we desire to say that
it is well worth the time and ext