The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1922-03-11
COMPLETE work
on WATER PLANT
At COST $4,000
WsshIta River Dam Of chIcksuha
Gas and Electric Company In.
proved: orsa ter gMI-
cheney 10 Insured. -
LEsSFS spRise SAFc5sS sfoSS yRcM wS4fRs
Reservoir for Surplus Water osIIt;
VIII Make esthIne and Fishing
Lake; Plan One Of First
In state.

started several weeks ago at tho
chickasha Gas and Electric COM
pany's water power plant three miles
southeast Of tho citv has been com.
pleted. Y. d. shaffer. manager Of
the company, announced today.
Extension OF the retaining walls.
reinforcement OF the dam. building
OF new dikes and TIE making OF
other improvements we're included
on the program. The work was
done by the Western Engineering
Construction company OF this city.
The Improvements consist OF an
earthen dam extending west from
the spillway for a distance OF $40
leet the greatest height being IA
feet Another earthen dam 400 feet
long extends from the poworhouse
to the east. The wingwalls OF the
spillway on the west side upstream
were raised. and the downstream
wing walls extended 20 feet. The
downstream wing walls are keyed
into the solid rock for depth OF
five feet A log opening IN the
center OF the spillway has been
filled with concrete. In order to re.
cover two feet more OF head, the
tail race from the units numbers
one and two has. been excavated the
work involving the moving OF $50
cubic yards OF solid rock. The
draft tubes Of these units being cx.
tended 12 feet.
Five acres of ground on the north
of the new dixie have been excavat.
ed and reservoir formed When /,
the power plant Is not In action, the
reservoir will be filled with running
water to level with the dam. The
advantage afforded by the reservoir.
1t is pointed out, is that the plant
will have surplus of water In case T
of emergency. Enough water can
be stored In this excavation to run
the hydraulic machines two hours.
This lake will afford an ideal
place for bathing and fishing, COM
pany officials say.
Guard Against Floods.
Precaution has been taken to pre-.
vent the overflowing OF water near
the plant when the river Is on a
rampage. An additional "a feet OF
spillway which has been provided
by cutting down the walls OF num-
ber three pit to the level of the
spillway. This extra spillway ac-
rording to w. DeRohan, construction
engineer, will take care of from
1900 to 1000 second feet of flood
water, while the original spilway
will discharge from 1000 to 5000
second feet. This means that the
danger of flood damage in the fu.
ture Is considerably minimlzed, II
not entirely removed, the engineer
says.
Last year, considerable damage
resulted from the overflow of flood
waters near the dam.
1t is the intention of the company
to raise the water at the dam three
feet by means of flashboards, in or
der to get additional power. These
flashboards are SO designed, that
when the water rises six inches
above them, the flashboards wash
out, leaving 1O4 feet Of spllway
open for flood discharge instead OF
80 feet as before. BY means OF the
flashboards, the capacity Of the
plant has been increased 40 per cent.
Additional storage has also been OBJ
tanned by cutting through the river
bank to the borrow bit from which
the earth was obtained for the dam.
Represents Large Investment.
The Chickas1a Gas and Electric
company's plant represents an In.
vestment of more than quarter Of
a million dollars and furnishes elcc-
trio light and power to Chickasha,
Ninnekah and verden. The plant
was constructed in 1908 when the
generation of electrical power from
water power plants was in its in
fancy in this section.
Dennis O'Brien, Chas. e. Ross and
Lawrence Martin were the promot.
ers of the project. Mr.. Martin now
lives in this city and is one o. the
stockholders of the Chickasha Street
Railway company.
MANY difficulties were encount'
cred by the promoters and the plsrt
was several times threatened by tie
mad waters of the Washita. It was
finally placed on conservative
basis and is now one Ut the rev
water power plants in the south
west. it is said. -