Imperial Valley press., 1924-08-20
Electric Power p.l. :
,ss-s.sass sNisss Ssss,s s-@R N~'
Tie7fIn Is Made
With San Diego
(Continaed from pnee ~ n

(Continned from paee ~
this situation, contracts were enter.
eds into by the Southern Sierras
Power company early this year with
the San Diego Consolidated Gas and
Electric company of San Diego for
5000 X. w. to be delivered to
the Southern Sierras by the latter
company att Rincon, In San Diego
county, about. IA miles northwest of
the Henshaw Dam, on the Warner
Ranch, from their .Escondido sub
station.
Current Made by Steam
This current is generated by steam
at San Diego. There was already u
low voltage line running through
Rincon to the Henshaw Dam from
Escondido, built to provide power
during the construction of the dam,
bit this practically had to be re-
built to carry the~ high voltage for
which the Imperial Valley intercon-
nection is designed. 1t was also
necessary for the San Diego com
pany to install new 10000 X. V. A.
transformers at theirs Escondido
substation.
The Southern Sierras began work
on the new line June 2S at point
between Ell Centre and Imperial,
preliminary surveys having been
made, camp sites located, and de-
liveries of material scheduled be-
fore the construction crew set, the
first pole Work was speeded up
when the gravity of the, state wide
water-shortage became manifest,
and increasing pressure on eastern
manufacturers had insured delivery
Of the Escondido transformers 30
weeks from placing the order in
stead of 4S weeks thereafter, as the
easterllers at firsts insisted was the
best they could do. A special agent
of the Southern Sierras was sent to
the ~Pittsffeld and Schenectady
plants to- expedite in every way
possible the fabrication and ship
ment of the heavy substation equip
ment and once again the impossible
was achieved.
The real heroes of the job Ehow-
ever. are the men who set the poles
and strung the wires and kept the
supplies and materials moving to
schedule during two and one half
months of fighting against the heat,
sand and wind of the worst part OF
the Colorado desert midsummer.
There were times when the mercury
stood above 1873, according to the
special thermometers used for eX-
tremes Of temperature in relation
to the sag of wires througTexpan-
sion. There were sand storms that
flayed and excoriated hands, arms
and faces, and heaped almost i'm
passable drifts across roads.
For more than 60 miles the heavy
80 and 60 foot poles were set deep
in the compacted mud of the old
sea bed formed when the Gulf of
California extended to the ancient
beaches below which the line runs
The. holes were chiselled and dyna-
mited out by inches in this stub
born. and heart breaking subsoil, in
which the deadmen at the end of
the guy wires had also to be set. In
all there are 1888 poles, carrying
265 miles of copper wire, weighing
2l27 pounds to the mile, strung in
three strands on metal arms OF
modified Wishbone type, with sus-
pended insulation.
Route Of Line
The line, roughly, runs from a
point betwene Ell Centre and I'm
perial, between Superstition noun
tain and Fish mountains, past the
San Felipe Springs, passes south of
the Borego Valley, through the mar
rows by Yacqui Well and Grapevine
Springs and into the valley in which
Warmers Ranch lies. 1t crQsses the
southeast corner of the ranch and
runs thence to the Henshaw Dam