Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-10-04
wAreR.PowEa DEVELOPMENT.
The Vernon Power Plant.

Brattleboro organized informally and
procured surveys of the Connecticut
river in that vicinity for the purpose of
determining the opportunities for the de-
veopment of water power That move
ment resulted in the creation of the
Connecticut River Power company by
the legislature of 1902, with charter
amendments in 1904 and 1906. Many sur
veys were made and large amount of
preliminary engineering work was done,
and finally the requisite capital was in
terested, a like charter procured in
New Hampshire, and in 1907 was begun
the construction of an electric power
plant on the Connecticut river, with the
power house in the town of Vernon;
and power was first delivered in the fall
of 1909.
The location of this plant makes the
enterprise an interstate one. How much
Of the plant Is actually in Vermont and
how much in New Hampshire depends
on the location of the boundary line be-
tween those two states, which is in dis
| pute, and, because of steps taken by
| the town of Walpole, New Hampshire.
relative to taxation of property at Bel
lows Falls, is likely intimately to be
| determined by the Supreme Court of
| the United States.
The plant at Vernon is operated from
| the Vermont side The operatives live in
Vernon, and the transmission lines "a
| necticut River Power company owns the
| plant and all its transmission lines in
| Vermont and New Hampshire The
| transmission lines in Massachusetts, are
| owned by a Massachusetts, corporation
that Is auxiliary to the Vermont cor
poration and controlled by the same
parties. The undertaking. aside from
| rights, franchises, etc, has cost more
| than $35OO,OOO The Connecticut river is
| damned, giving head of 80 feet, and
| forming pond % miles long which COW
| ers, including the river surface nearly
| 1000 acres. The plant generates from
| $1,000 to $1,000 horse power, which is
distributed by seventy-nine miles of
| transmission line. The plant is one of
| the most modern and efficient in the
| United States. The dam and power
| house foundations are of solid concrete
The power house is of brick, and con-
| tains eight main generators and their
appurtenances, each with a capacity of
more than 1000 horse power. The gross
! earnings of the company in 1911 ex-
1 ceeded 100000 1t furnishes substantially
all the power used in Brattleboro, as it
| furnishes electric current for domestic
| lighting and power to all the industries
| and for the street railway. 1t has re-
| duced the cost of electricity in Brattle-
| boro substantially 40 per cent, and slim
ulated its industrial activity Several
new and important Industries have al
ready been attracted to locate in Brat
| tleboro because of this power, and sew
eral others are already planning to To-
cate there. About 100 new tenement
houses were built there last year. and
as many more will be built this year.
The plant also lights Vernon in this
state, Hinsdale, Keene and Winchester
in New Hampshire, and Marlboro and
| Gardner in Massachusetts, and interven-
| ing towns.
DeerfieId River Power Development.
In 1908 the parties that financed the
Vernon plant became interested in the
Deertield river. A charter was secured
from our legislature in 1908, and in due
course charters were procured in Mas
sachusetts covering the part of the riv-
er in that state. The company acquired
substantially all the rights from Shell
| burne Falls, Massa chusetts, to Somer-
set, Vermont, about 90 miles of the river
in each state. A plan was formulated to
acquire rights sufficient to warrant the
development of storage in the head
| waters. 1t Is claimed that the project
when completed will result in the de-
velopment of $4,000 horse power contin-
uously for every hour in the year.
There will be ten separate generating
plants, five in Vermont and five in Mas
sachusetts Six of those plants are now
under construction, including the great
storage reservoir at Somerset, which is
by far the greatest part of the whole
undertaking. A dam is being there con-
structed, after the engineering designs
of the Gatun dam at Panama, to be
nearly 1000 feet long, 100 feet high and
800 feet thick. Construction work has
been in progress now for some months,
and more than 400 men are employed
| thereat. and it probably will not be
completed till the fall of 1913. The pro-
ject requires four miles of construction
track, seventy dump cars, six locomo-
tives and two large steam shovels. A
construction camp of an unusually sub
stantial character has been established
there. Before this work was begun the
population of Somerset probably did not
exceed 20 persons. Since then streets of
houses, sewer system. a hospital,
stores, club rooms and an electric light
plant have been constructed. The ulti
mate expenditure for the reservoir and
power plants at Somerset will approx
innate $1,000 900. The pond will cover 1000.
acres. 1t is proposed to hold the whole
flow of water at that point, to be let
down the stream in times of low water.
These plants are being connected by
transmission lines with the plant at
Vernon, so that the system of power
distribution will run from one to the
other, and their transmissions of power
be mutual. making thee two systems a
unit, or rather an organism, and CIV
| ing 10 the WnOle service the cOmDlned
power producing capacity of the two
rivers. The completed project will in
size and quality be second in the United
States only to the electric plants at
Niagara Falls
"Flfteen Miles Falls" Power
Development.
The same financial interests that con-
troll the two enterprises just described
have also acquired a large portion of
the rights on what is called the Fifteen
Miles Falls in the Connecticut river
opposite the towns of Waterford. Con-
cord and Lunenburg in Vermont and
Monroe, Littleton and Dalton in New
Hampshire. A charter for the develop
ment of this property was granted by
our legislature in 1910, and a like char
ter has been procured in New Hamp-
shire Preliminary engineering work
covering the watershed has been done,
and carefully prepared development
plans have been completed Corpora
tons have been organized, and in due
time the Connecticut river will be dam
med between the towns of Waterford,
Vermont, and Littleton, New Hamp-
shire, and a large electric power plant
| constructed, 1t is asserted that from So