The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-04-22
Shipping Coal By
Means Of Wire

Not the solid coal itself, or course
It, which. after all. is what we want
We do not try to transport actual wa
ter from cur waterfalls when 1t is the
generats the power at the rail-: turn
It into electricity. and transmit that
by wire. Why should we bother ia
ship coal to industrial plants at great
it's stored energy into electric power
at the mine !: This question is be-
ing asked with greater and greater
practical outcome. Recently a CEN
trail station of this character began
service at Springdale. Pa near Pitts
burgh. where it serves nearby mines
Robert q. Skerrett, writing in the
Scientific American New York;. says
that the generation of power on Il
Of the economic strides forced upon
US by our participation in the worlds
war. He proceeds:
ITO mine 9O.OOO.OO0 tons of anthra-
cite in n year involves the consump-
ton in isolated steam plants at the
mines of quite 100000 tens of coal,
while if the needed power were gem
Grated for this service at a great cen;
tral plant only 100000 tons of fuel
would be required. That is to say, 1t
would be possible by such a proceed
ss per to ces hese sf fae;s sars
us it is comparatively easy to appre-
ciate the significance Of the Springdale
saetpcity ,e Is considerable nabsr
of mines and to seel-mflls and steel
furnaces lying within its zone of dis
The Springdale power-staticn ia the
outcome of a contract entered into be-
tween the government and the power
cSmpany con aa;. in the latter part OF 1918.
pittsbnryh' district str.;, in ,sssssaa etnring
ships. setc.. and to stimulate the out
out the country. While the rearing of
the structure. and it's equipping were
effected too late to serve these ends
tion will. nevertheless. be a source Of
Industrial strength for years to come.
The successful operation of great
central station within easy reach of
such plant in the heart of coal
field and next door to a mine- mouth
II i! equally indispensable that there
supply of water for condensing pur-
poses, SO that the hct water obtained
by condensing exhaust steam can be
sening the amount OF fuel TO be burn
ed to bring that water up again to
the boiling point. The bigger the steam
plant the greater the amount CT wa
The vein OF coal. which will prob
ahly suffice to meet the wants of the
plant Tor halI o century. has a gen.
eral vertical thickness of seven and a
half feet. When the coal in the line
or the tunnels has been removed. as
the miners progress frcm west to east.
the seam will then be followed through,
out the property situated ON the far
shore. and the tunnels will thereafter
serve as transportatfOnal channels
through which the mine-cars win
travel to and from the hrist SHAFT
connected with the tipple
The successful running of a com.
mercial power plant Of this kind is
contingent upon an uninterrupted
power plant shrdlush hrllshrdlushrd iu
supply Of coal at a fairly stable cost.
AS may be realized. Springdale lies
within the great coal-nroducing area
or the western section Of pennsylva MIA
and In that region there are hundreds
OF mines requiring purchasable power
service. An idea OF the nature cf this
demand can be gathered from the fact
that a group of something like thirty
nve mines has monthly consumption
~ SOC. 900 klloWatt-hours:
I'm the tributary Pittsburgh district
there are steel plants that use large
blocks Of electrical energy, and these
patrons, with their divers needs. can
u. supplied from this great station
without the movement Of a single ton
or coal upon the railroads in the VII
ctnlty-xat least so far as furnishing
power for operative machinery."-ThS.
Literary Digest.