The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-06-16
WATER POWER IN
NEW ENGLAND
Many ADVANTAGES Over Other Sections
In Fall and Flow of Her Rivers.
Industrial Boom Should Follow Their Use For
Hydroelectric Purposes-Fieures Show
She Already Leads.

third of a cent per kilowatt hour. But
even with its cost approximately that
of steam, with coal at its present price,
it cannot be doubted that the region
possessing a large and well distributed
supply of such power is going to prove
attractive to industry and particularly
to new enterprises. by reason of the
fact that through its use there is saved
to the manufacturer a large percent
age of his capital which would other
wise have to be expended in a steam
plant. This saving can be used to en-
large the size of the plant and increase
its capacity. Consequently with the
! completion of even a few of such by
| droeleCtriC stations as are now being
| erected New England should see d
! growth in her industries. though these
! plants encroach but little on her po-
| tential water power
That New England has long reCog-
| nZed the friendly power Of her streams
and been a leader in developing such
| power by the old methods in vogue
before the present age of electricity is
shown by the figures. The total de-
| veIOped water power OF the country at
the present time was estimated by the
/ commissioner of corporations in his
recent report at about 5000, goo horse
power. OF this New England had
about So per cent, New York 80, Min
nesota and Wisconsin II and South
Carolina 3. The minimum potential
water power-that is, all the power
lodged in the lakes and streams of the
entire country-was placed at $685.
900, including that already under de-
velopment. The maximum was placed
at 51,398,O00. At the recent Conserva-
ton congress it was estimated that the
utilization of even this minimum
amount would mean the saving o
0O,00O,000 tons of coal.
According to the census figures, TnOrt
than two ffths Of the total power de
rived from water wheels by manufaC
turing estab lishments is found in New
, England. More than one-quarter o
the total power of all kinds used il
New England's many factories is sup
| piled by water wheels. No such show
ing is to be found anywhere else in tn
, United States If this showing ha
= been made with the old form of powe
transmission, revealing as it does how
readily her rivers by reason of thei
great fall and flow have lent them
? selves to mans purposes in this re
e ! spect what must be the OppOrtunitie
for her industrial growth in the ney
I method of Harvesting the stream,
method by which the power repre-
, scented by the rivers fall is taken an
: converted into electrical energy an
e distributed throughout a territor
many miles in extent!
= Today no longer does man have {
come to the stream and build his plan
y, at the brink of the fall. Instead h
:. brings the power to him. Here is
n method by which the pIunging water
are led tamely through tunnel or cana
so that the force of their fall ma
+ move mighty dynamos, a method b
It which the hand of man, so to speal
So reaches out and, wrestling the powt
from the river, uses it to run his mill
light his streets and move his troIIe
N cars, though these may be a hundre
Is miles and more away. And yet tn
'e new method is practically in it's il
fancy.
il, The following table gives the amour
le of water power her plants are develop
re ing today and what they are Capab
he of, a distinction being made betwet
s. those establishments designed to Sc
at power for commercial purposes al
4 those run in connection with manufa
Sc turing plants