White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1924-02-08

Pacific Northwest will receive great
Puget Sound Power & Light Company
that it will Immediately begin the
construction of $4,000 horsepower
hydro-electric plant on the Baker
River in Skagit County, representing
an investment of $6,OOO,0O0. Founda-
tions and approximately depth of
so feet of the dam are scheduled for
completion this year and the entire
work will be finished in 1925-regard-
ed by engineers as remarkable speed
for hydro electric construction.
To meet immediate demands for
larger production of electrical energy
the same company is spending anoth-
er million dollars in the enlargement
of the capacity of the White River
plant, located between Seattle and Ia
coma. Together with the scheduled
outlay for extensions it. means that
the company this year and next will
invest upwards of $1O,OOO00O in the
enlargement of it's facilities for serv-
ing the people of Washington.
Interesting Project
The Balsor River dovo1opnao1lt 10
looked upon as one of the most inter
esting electric generating installations
in all the Northwest The Baker Riv-
er flows down from Baker Lake, close
up to Mount Baker and Mount Shek-
san, to Baker Lake and through Sui
phur Canyon, where there is SPLEEN
come as soon as needful following the
completion of the present installation
at Eden Canyon, IL miles below Sui
phur Canyon. Water from the i'm
pounding dam in these canyons will
create lake approximately eight
miles long and reaching almost to the
upper canyon. This lake will be 1,6O0
acres in extent, storing $4,000 acre
feet of water.
/ Eden Canyon is but short distance
from the confluence of the Baker and
Skagit rivers, just outside the town
of Concrete. A narrow chasm of solid
rock has here been hewn out by ma
ture leaving an ideal location for the
installation of concrete dam that
will be 235 feet in depth from the
solid rock at the bottom of the can
yon to the upper edge. When the
lake is created above the dam the Ba-
ker River and Shuksan Railroad,
which crosses Baker River at the head
of Eden Canyon, will be submerged
something more than so feet. This
railway is now used for transporting
limestone from the quarries of the
Superior Portland Company to the
plant at Concrete. To take the place
of the railway the cement company
will probably install an aerial tram
way at a cost of 100000.
1--WE are pleased to announce the
beginning of construction on this i'm
portant unit of our power develop
ments," said A. w. Leonard, presi-
dent of the Puget Sound Power &
Light Company eve expect to be
generating 10000 horsepower of cleo
trical energy at the Baker River plant
by the end of next year, and later will
install an additional turbine to bring
the full capacity up to $4,000 horse
power.
Second in Capacity
"fhe Baker River will therefore be
the second Of our plants in point of
capacity, with the White River plant
now producing 61,662 horsepower, and
another unit soon to be increasing its
capacity materially Snoqualmie Falls
and electrom now produce each ap-
proximately $4,000 horsepower These
new installations, together with our
other hydroelectric plants and. our
steam plants, will provide us with ap-
proximately 225,OO0 horsepower OF
electrical energy serving some 2b0
cities, towns and communities from
the Canadian border into Northern
Oregon and across the Cascades into
the Wenatchee Valley"
Next on the program after the an
nounced development on Baker River
probably will be the installation of a
hydro-electric plant at Sulphur an.
yon almost as large as that near Con
crete. The waters of the Baker River
will then be utilized in two steps, the
Sulphur Canyon site having not quite
the same amount OF water available,
due to the fact that two or three trib-
utaries flow into the Baker River be- |