Evening star., 1924-02-10
MAY CALL EXPERTS
ON FALLSPR Project
House Members Greatly I'm
pressed by Power fossibiIi-
ties of Potomac.

Greatly impressed with possibili-
ties for economical power develop
ment from the Potomac riyer al Great
Falls and Chain bridge. members Of
the subcommittee of the House Dis
trict committee Investigating the
project plan to call Army engineers
before them within a fortnight to ex-
plain in detail the proposed develop
ment.
Maj. NJ. c. Tyler, Engineer Corps.
author of the Tyler plan for power
development of the Potomac. will be
one of the first experts to testify be-
fore the committee.
Electricity at l cent per kilowatt
hour for Washington is within the
bounds of possibility if the water going
over Great Falls and past Chain bridge
is put to it's greatest possible use, Rep
resentative Oscar Keller Of Mime
sofa believes. Representative Keller
is familiar with the engineering and
legal side of power development prof.
ectS through his connection with the
city government of St. Paul, Mimi,
where he was employed as a special
counsel in utility matters.
Hearings Next Week.
Hearings scheduled for the week
of February II will bring out all the
salient facts regarding the Tyler
plan and any other suggested de-
velopment Of the Potomac for power
purposes. Mr.. Zihlman said. The
Maryland representative and Repre-
sentative Moore of Virginia are joint
authors of bnl which would authorize
the Secretary of War to proceed with
construction of the several dams and
power plants looking toward de-
yelopment of hydro-electric power
from the river, and the hearings are
intended to clear up many points not
clear to other members of the sub
committee.
Total cost of all the projects sug-
gestcd in the Tyler plan would be in
the neighberhood of S3S,000,000. in
cluding two 115-foot dams, one at
Great Falls and the other just above
Chain bridge. dams at the head
waters of the Potomac above and be-
low Harpers Ferry and construction
Of power plants at the two lower
dam sites.
More than $4,000 acres of lowland
in the Potomac river basin would be
flooded and converted into two great
lakes by erection of the two lower
dams. Along the borders of these
two great lakes would be construct
ed attractive driveways and park
areas under the ultimate development
proposed in the Tyler plan. Where
these two great lakes would be in
the future now lies nothing but the
on both sides by low hills that slope
down to the river. The material
loss would not be large, while the
esthetic and practical gain would be
great, for little of the land which
would be flooded by the two lakes
il in cultivation
Extent OF Lakes.
ing from a. point half mile above
the falls itself, would extend
back distance of about thirty-three
miles, reach far toward Harpers
Ferry. while the lower lake would
extend back from a point just above
Chain Bridge to within a mile of the
Falls.
a thousand tons of coal per day,
now sued by the steam-power plants
in Washington developing electric
power, would be saved by the water
power development, Maj. O'Connor
told the committee, yesterday. He
foretold the lighting of thousands
of homes in the Potomac valley
and power plants linked from
tenn which would develop and trans
nit power to all points along the At
lantic seaboard from Washington to
Maine: Present steam power plants
IN this locality would not be abol-
fshed under the Super-power plan
proposed several years ago. but would
be used as adjuncts to the hydro
electric developments in this and
other regions.
Area Drained BY River.
The Potomac river drains an area
estimated at 1850 square miles.
with an annual average rainfall of
between 80 and 40 inches. Under the
super-power plan all the dams and
forebay projects would provide a
enbc feef Seaa af 5 feet s. O0a adO
would be available for utiliza ton by
the two dams proposed at Chain
Bridge and Great Falls.
Al! these factors entering into au-
thorization to go ahead with con-
etruction of power development plants
at Great Falls will be considered by
the subcommittee, according to Mr..
Zihlman, it's chairman. And, Incl
dentally, yesterday members of the
subcommittee proved themselves good
track walkers. for in their haste to
get back to town after a thorough
inspection of the proposed dam site,
they walked the ties of the Washing
ton and Old Dominion Railway Com
pany rather than wait for a car to
make its appearance on schedule to
carry them back to their automobiles,
a mile and a half below Great Falls.
The committee which visited Great
Falls yesterday was composed of
Representative Zihlman, Maryland: r.
Walton Moore, Virginia; Blanton,
Texas: Gibson, Vermont; Hammer
North Carolina, and Keller, Minnesota.
A0hAN oNunnl nDnAflllN