The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-02-02
ELECTRIC
PLANT WAS CRUDE
BUT RESIDENTS LIKED 1T BE-
CAUSE 1T MADE THE CAMP
LOOK MORE STABLE
When it Rained there We're All Kinds
Of Pyrotechnics Caused by Short
Circuiting from the Moisture;
Barbed Wire Used in Transmitting
the "Juice."

When the first electric lamps cast
their rays over the heterogeneous
population of the camp, Butte was in
her wild and woody" days, if that
offensive phrase could at any time be
justly attached to the town. The
pioneer plant which furnished the
Juice" was not a thing of beauty but
it's installation caused much rejoicing
for it gave an added touch of stabil-
ity and responsibility to the young
camp and marked another milestone
in it's progress to greatness. But if
the plant was inartistic in its main
features, its setting was even more
incongruouS-it was a scream. LO-
Gated down in the placer diggings be-
low Mercury street, the plant had all
the appearance of having been flung
there by some mighty windstorm and
left there. 1t vas deep-set in the
ravine between walls of alluvial
gravel which had last been worked
by Cinnamon in the final cleanup of
the gulch, and here and there in the
banks were holes gouged, evidencing
efforts to locate another paystreak.
The shack which housed the ma
chinery was topped by a decadent
roof through which the seasons
floods streamed during showers. On
such occasions the ~pyrotechnic dis
play was awe-inspiring, for the rain
dropping on wires and dynamo caus-
ed short circuits that sputtered and
flashed and weirdly Illuminated the
interior. The sensation was so thrill
ling that usually the lone operator
of the plant sought safety outside in
the storm until the dOwnpour ceased.
When the plant was installed there
evidently was a shortage of wire to
carry the current through the streets.
When the wires were strung it was
found the supply was short a span
of about a whole city block. There
was no time to order more for trans
portation facilities were slow. The
promoters of the enterprise were not
very we'll versed in electrical lore,
so they decided to substitute some
other kind of wire to fill the span.
The only available wire to be had just
then in Butte was of the barbed va
riety much used by ranchers for i'm
pounding and impaling live stock. So
a coil or two of barbed wire was
brought out and the connection
made. For a time it seemed to answer
the purpose just as well as the high
priced insulated material and every
thing was lovely until the first thun-
der storm rode rough-shod over
Butte. The span of barbed wire was
nearest the plant and it certainly in
vited the special discharge of the
electric fluid in the atmosphere. The
operator was astonished when, after
the first flash outside, the business
end of the dynamo spun round in a
ball of fire and waves of sparks leap
ed t~hreateningly from wire to wire
inside the building. This playing
with chain-lightning was not includ-
ed in his contract so the operator
hastily closed the engine throttle,
banked his fires, put on his coat, and
quit. He could stand the playful
pranks of the rain-drops, but he drew
the line at "bolts from the blue"
AS the incandescent then was in
it's experimental stage, of course
only the arc lights were in use. To
the old-timers of the candle-light
lays, to whom the kerosene lamp was
still a novelty, the new-fangled con
traption was a source of much Won
der, interest and admiration. 1t took
some time and a few painful shocks
to get it through their noodles that
there was extreme danger in becom-
ing too friendly with the thing. But
as they overcame their curiosity they
dionnunrnd fhat tho ctrnnt 1Qmnc fur-
nished them with an excellent target
for pistol practice when they felt
the need of a little celebrating sport.
But it was on the eve of the new
year, when all ordinances relating to
firearms were automatically annulled
and the bars were down, that the old
boys were in their glory. Before the
advent of electricity one of the popu-
lar targets on such occasions was a
ssplug hat on the head of some I'M
wary tenderfoot who had not been
warned in advance of the William
Tell tendencies of the roughnecks.
So when the boys emerged from their
retreats of pre-Volstead days
at the witching hour of twelve to as
sist in the birth of a new year by
discharging their artillery at the
stars, the radiant glow of the electric
arc was too prominent a target for
them to ignore. Here was a target
beautifully illuminated and when
you hit the bulls-eye the light went
out. The only regret was that there
were not individual targets enough
to go round and so .massed attacks
had to be made on one. And then
consider how embarrassing it was
when two shots rang out together,
followed by a crash of shattered
globe and the extinguishment of the
light, and each of the shooters claim
ed the credit. Happily, the usual
mode of settling the dispute was
bare knuckles OF the street OF
adjoining lot. Rifles, s%hotguns and