Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-07-05

Ooan Robinson recently addressed
the appended communication to the.
Aberdeen Daily News. 1t is herein
reproduced because it contains much.
information which will undoubtedly
interest readers Of The Saturday
News.-Editor.)
Editor Daily News: I have read
with satisfaction YOU editorial, "The
Missouri River Bends and thank
you for the continued interest you
have shown in the development Of
Missouri River power. However, / am
of the opinion that the people of this
state should not permit these power
sites to pass into the hands of any
private interest but should retain
them for the public as it may do IN
der the powers granted by the pend
ing sspower amendment to the CON
Stitution. There are one OF two
points in YOU editorial upon which I
wish briefly to comment: You state
that it will cost $40, 100000 to develop
Little Bend. This sum l believe to be
tremendously excessive and would
deter the people from considering de-
velopment.
The Probable Cost.
The most expensive item in little
Bend development will be the neces-
sary barragA in the main stream to di-
vert the flow through the canal. West
inghouse, Church, Kerr & Co., esti-
mated this barrage built of solid con-
crete into bed rock from rim to rim
at ten million dollars; by the new
method of hollow reinforced concrete
construction upon steel foundation
this cost will be divided at least by
three. The "a foot head dam in the
Wisconsin river at Prairie du Sac cost
uader 1914 conditions $514 per lineal
foot. The dam at Little Bend would
be 1900 feet long and would upon
the same basis cost $2,364,000 In
this connection a few facts about
Little Bend may be of interest.
16-Foot Fall.
The actual fall across the neck ac-l
oording to the army engineere is 16.5
feet. (Other engineers have made it
10 feet.) For the complete develop
ment must be added to this the height
OF the barrage, which may in fact be
Just as high as the engineers have the
nerve to go. Forty-three and one-haIf
feet is by every one deemed entirely
practicable, SO that the total fall will
be go feet, and the minimum flow of
the stream, 100000 second feet, will
produce $4,000 actual operative horse
power every minute in the year. OF
course this power will be tremen-
dously increased with the higher wa
ter, but the minimum would be avail
able at all times. This is more than
thr9e times the entire power new
employed in industries in all Of South
Dakota.
Four Fundamentals.
Your suggestion that the govern
ment has passed UP Little Bend to To-
cate sthe nitrate plant at Mussel
Shoals, is not, at least yet justified,
though that may be done II a hydro
electric plant is built by the govern
ment at all, which now seems doubt
full.
The government demands for the
location Of the nitrate plant four fun
damental things:
1. Location outside the danger
zone fixed by the war college. Both
Mussel Shoals and Little Bend have
the location.)
2. Stream flow, at the proposed
site or within easy transmission dis
lance of it, that will produce 100000.
horsepower every day in the year.
little Bend alone can meet this re-
quirement. Mussel Shoals is far short
of IT'D
8. An abundance of limestone Q
veniently at hand. lBoth Mussel
shoals and Little Bend have lime-
stone in abundance.)
A An abundance Of cooking coal
conveniently at hand. (Mussel Shoals
can meet this requirement and prob
ably Little Bend cannot meet it, but
coal can be transported; the stream
dow must be used where II ISL
Thus it will be seen that each Of
the chief candidates for tbe location.
can qualify upon three Of the four
fundamental requirements Since the
whole enterprise II to be ~predicated
upon hydroselectric development, the
promoters Of Little Bend are not dis
couraged ii this process is 70 Pc en-
Ployed.