Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-09-17
BIG DEVELOPMENT
IS UNDER WAY IN
THE SOUTHEAST
Governor Tells of Engineer
ing Feats Performed by
Utah Power & Light Com
pany in Bear Lake.

The gigantic work of the Utah
Power & Light company in Bear Lake
county where. by web of great ca
nails it seeks to divert water for power
purposes in it's big electric plants, is
one of the engineering marvels, second
only to Arrowrock dam. in the opinion
of Governor Alexander, who is back
from a trip to that county, where he
delivered a number of addresses and
inspected the Bear Lake project. When
interviewed he said:
u have been down in the southeast
ern part of the state. What did l
see? Well. l saw a lot of things, too
numerous to mention, but | did see
prosperity Astounding everywhere.
1T is hard to travel around the
city of Pocatello on account of the
brick and the mortar on the streets,
which is being used in the construc-
tion of new buildings. | guess there
will be a million dollars invested in
new buildings in Pocatello, and prob
ably more. Go to Paris, Idaho, and you
will find much building in course of
construction and cement sidewalks over
the entire city to the city limits. They
are talking about the erection of n
$4,000 hotel and you may be sure they
will build it.
montpelier has one of the best no.
tells in the state. Everyone has money
there and they all are either buying or
selling something. The golden harvest
of good times is just beginning.
Crops have been good and prices are
high and the people are too much en-
gagged in making money to talk much
politics. Everyone is looking to the
future with hopes and new ambitions,
to build and to construct, to SOW and
to reap.
BIG WO2k UNDER WAY.
Talk about big things that are be-
ing done in Idaho, the Utah Light &
Power company is doing the biggest
thing ever done in the state of Idaho,
with the exception of the Arrowrock
dam, and what they are constructing,
I believe, will cost fully as much as
tho dam. They are talking of spending
a million doll RS more on top of the
three million already expended, but it
will be more than a million when they
get through. What they are building
is built like the rock of Gibraltar,
solid firm, concrete, steel and the best
of everything.
This great gigantic undertaking of
which Idaho ought to be proud and Of
which so little is known in this section
of the state. is in charge of an emil
nent engineer by the name of Edison
G. Whitcomb. a man of unassuming
WAYS. but man of profound knowledge
and deep learning and in his line is a
leader men. He is a constructor Of
great things and knows his business
from ! to 2.
This man is n true example of the
leadership of men of what the future
viii bring to US He has charge of
the expenditure Of millions of dollars
and of hundreds of men. He is gen
tie to all, devoted to the interests of
his company and his work. He be-
lieves in doing what he is doing we'll
and on a broad scale and is setting
an example to be followed by others
who are engaged in large undertakings.
1.-THE work he is doing is of such
magnitude that I admit it was hard to
get the proportions of it into my head.
The work is building canals from
Bear river to Bear lake, to 10 miles
long, big as the New York canal here
and building canals from Bear lake
boNE INTO btdI river AGAIN ~ W Il
miles. with headgates. dams. earth
works concrete, steel gates, towers and
the Lord knows what else.
GREAT STORAGE PLAN.
"They are doing something that
probably was never done before. They
are going to take the flood waters of
Bear river and send them through their
canals and store same in Bear lake and
in the season when the water in the
river is low, take the storage water
from Bear lake and drop it again into
Bear river lower down to run their
electric machinery at Grace and other
points in Idaho. They are also in
stalling five great big pumps in case
of emergency when the water supply
would get too low, to pump the water
out of the lake into the river, where
their supply may be normal under
any and all conditions.
The undertaking is all too big for
me to comprehend 1t requires the
brains of such men as Engineer Whit
comb to fathom. | have had the work
explained to me, | have seen it, and !
know it is there, but the bigness of il
staggers me.
Mr.. Whitcomb runs two camps