The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-01-10
WATER POWERIS
Great FACTOR IN
FRENCH FIGHTING
Industries Turning Out Mu-
nitiOns Owe Much to the
Mountain Streams

Paris, Jan. 1O.-The water power Of
| the Alps, the Pyrenees and the CEN
| trail mountainous region is playing
| big role in the military effort of
France and will have an even greater
share in the after-war economic
struggle.
Many new hydraulic power plants,
| born of the war needs, are turning
out shells, chemicals and other neces-
stiles for the army. Many others,
| born of the coal famine and it's les
sons will replace steam power after
the war.
France utilized thirteen per cent. of
tbs total estimated natural water pow
er in 1914. She was utilizing more
than twenty per cent. in July of last
year and the proportion is every day
increasing. Competent engineers fix
at 100000 horse power the energy
France could secure from its water
falls at low water, while 100000
horse power is the estimate for aver
age seasons. The total steam en-
ergy used in France before the war
was only about 100000 horse pow
err divided among about $4,000 estab-
lishments.
The water power of the Alps has
given the name of the yale of Alum
num- to the Valley of the Arc, where
$4,000 horse power is used transform
ing alumine into aluminium bars. La
Romanche in the wild valley from
Bourg d'Oisons to Pont de Claiz is the
valley of carburet and metallic al
1oys," absorbing $4,000 horse power.
Electric steel plants are concentrating
in the basin Of the Arly where one
concern has installed complete mill
with electric furnaces run by turbines
of $4,000 horse power. Seven i'm
| portant new plants are being built in
the region of Grenoble.
| In the valley of the Durance new
| plants aggregating $4,000 horse pow
err for the electro-chemical industry
| are under way, while above Modane
one Of the biggest chemical works in
France has acquired rights to about
| 10000 horse power of water fall that
will be utilized speedily.
! Hydraulic electrical plants in Cen
| trail France have saved the family
ribbon industry Of Saint Etienne. The
little home shops had begun to dis
| appear-unable to compete with the
mills. Electric motors Of quarter
1 Of horse power have set this domes-
tic occupation going again, keeping at
home men and women who would
! otherwise be driven to the looms of
the big mills. Little motors are used
all through that region for cabinet
making. Had they not existed before
| the war, it would be necessary to in
vent them or something equivalent for
the use of manned soldiers.
The electric motor is counted upon
also to solve the problem of farm
| help in regions accessible to current
cooperative societies are being form
ed to buy current for distribution
among the members: the installation
of a power station is being considered
by one of them. A law to encourage
and help such projects is now being
considered in the Chamber.
Electric energy for Paris brought
from the Alps is the most ambitious
project for the future. A dam rs
yards high in the Rhone at Genissiat,
backing the water up IA miles to the
Swiss frontier, will furnish a fall
sufficient to operate power station
of 1926, 900 horse power and 240, 900 XII
lowatts. The energy is to be trans
ported to Paris in the form Of an al
ternating current under a tension of
10000 volts. The line of trans
mission will be 312 miles long.
I One hundred and twenty million
francs is the estimated outlay-the
cost Of about a day and half Of war
to France.
This enterprise would alone econo
mize 100000 tons of the 20 million
tons Of coal France imported annual
ly before the war. Engineers figure
that current brought from the Swiss
frontier may be sold with sufficient
profit in Paris at 8 centimes a kilowatt
hour; an economy Of about so per
cent on the cost of current produced
by steam before the war.