The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-10-28

Development on
Pacific Coast

| Inc nyruO-e'ectTlC SyIemS OF tHe
West, the greater part of which have
been built in a period of about IL
years, constitute in the aggregate one
of the biggest industrial develop
ments tails country has ever known,
says the November Popua ar Mechan-
les Magazine. This development Is
due not only to the demands for
power, but to the fact that because
of its topography this section of the
country Is particularly favorable for
the generation of electric current on
an extensive scale by means of n.y.
droelectric plants. 1t is estimated by
| government experts that out of a
total of about 10000, 900 horse power
which It is possible to develop in
this way in the entire country, near
ly 100000 horse power lies west
of the Rocky Mountains. Conditions
for hydroelectric development are
particularly favorable in the three
states of the Pacific coast where the
waters from the melting SHOWS, dis
charged down the precipitous slopes
of the high sierras, provide one of
the greatest natural resources in
the world for the production of cleo
trio energy.
Electrically, the Pacific coast may
he divided into distinct zones center
ing about the five principal cities.
In California alone there are no res
ervoirs for hydroelectric purposes
with total storage capacity of $780,
SO,OOO,OO0 gallons.
1t is the tremendous and precipit-
Gus fall of the water as 1t passes
from the high sierras to the valleys,
feature Characteristic of the coast
bet. that makes hydroelectric devel-
opment on such a scale possible. Or
dinarily the water goes tumbling
down the canyons, the fall being so
broken up that the water is prac-
| tically useless as a source of power.
| The usual method of hydroelectric
development consists in building a
dam high up in the mountains near
| the source of power, and in c"rdurt-
ing the water from the reserI or thus
| formed through q canal that has just
enough fall to cause the requisite
amount of now, to a point where the
entire fall can be concentrated in
one tremendous drop. Such a canal
must necessarily wind in and out for
miles along the mountain sides and
its construction is usually a thing
involving many difficult engineering
problems. At the lower end of the
canal are the penstocks through
which the water drops down the
mountain side through the turbines
that drive the electric generators
Many of tho plants operate on yer
tical fall, or head, of a few hundred
feet, while there are number that
operate on heads of from 100 to 1000
feet.
Under such heads as the latter the
water strikes the turbines at an enor
nous velocity, the pressure being sc
great that no attempt Is ever made
to shut off the water at the lower enc
owing to the danger that he entire
plant would be wrecked by the re
sulting water hammer. With plants
that operate under a head Of 100 Of
200 feet the high line canal is usual
ly dispensed with, the penstocks tax
ing the water direct from the reser
voir and delivering it to the powe
house located below the dam. From
the generators the current is sent t.
the distributing centers over trans
mission lines which carry voltage o
from 10000 to 100000.
The article, which Is profuse'y II
Illustrated with Photographic view
and a map Of the principal transmits
sion lines and plants on the Pacih'
coast, describes in detail the essen
tial engineering features and capaci
ties of the installations supplying thu
five zones referred to.
|