Seward daily gateway., 1924-04-25

equipped. Large metal vanes, held in a
framework in such way as to move
somewhat like ships sail and gather
maximum of the winds force, cause
the whole upper works of the turbine
to revolve tunable fashion. This re-
volving motion is communicated to the
electrical generator. Up to the present
time the name of the inventor has no
been made public.
The aerial electrical plant is being
installed at the top Of Sugarloaf noun
tain, lone, sentinel-like peak in
desert valley about twelve miles south
of Delta town in Southwestern Utah.
The peak, which has long been cele-
brated for the rather stiff breeze which
almost constantly fans it's. summit has
a flat top we'll adapted to a project of
this character.
There is a single steep trail leading
up a canyon to the top of the noun
tain. Without advance notice of any
kind engineers appeared in the local
| ity several months ago and opened ex
tensive construction work on the flat
peak, hiring men from communities a
considerable distance from Delta, al
| though most of the construction ma
terial, such as cement and lumber, is
said to have been purchased in the
nearest town.
At the present time it is declared
that approximately 100000 must have
been spent on the preliminary con-
struction work alone, which is said to
consist almost entirely of broad COLI
crete works, such as might be expected
to support the turnable portions of
the turbines. Men who have worked
on the project indicate that apparent
ly the erection of several air turbines
is contemplated. The total height Of
each turbine above the concrete plat
form on which it is to rest is said to
be 105 feet.
Virtually all Of the piecemeal infor-
nation obtained to date Regarding the
unique project has been gathered by
engineers and officials of hydroelec-
trio companies serving the district
with power which is used largely by
pumping water for irrigation.
While ready to condemn the expert
ment to utter failure, these same en-
giners have shown an unusual inter
st in the whole mystery. During the
early portion of the construction work
atop the mountain the single trail was
carefully guarded to keep inquisitive
persons from reaching the scene of
operations. One engineer, more in
quisitive that the others is said to have
evolved the idea of making dash up
the trail in a high powered automobile
ostensibly to test out his motor. The
plan worked, until his car stalled few
hundred feet from the summit, after
which he was told by a man with a
+ ISSllLS dSIOSo q p
that it would be safer to turn around
and go back down the trail according
to story related in Delta. The en-
gineer never reached the summit of
the mountain.
An important feature of the propos-
ed electrical development in which en-
gineers of the local companies are es-
pecially interested in picking flaws is
a new type storage battery in connec-
ton with the air turbines by which
it is proposed to store 5000 horsepoW-
er of energy for use when the wind
fails. Engineers of the hydro-electric
companies contend that no battery
with capacity Of this size has ever
been constructed.
So far the only name mentioned
which would give clue to the hackers
of the strange enterprises is that of
the United States River Hydro-Elec-
trio Light and Power Company of Los
Angeles.