White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1925-03-06

All CniOgS come 10 tnOSe Wn'
wait" is an old saying. and whil'
some of us have sprouted fray
whiskers in the interim. that Pries
Rapids dam today locks more like
reality to the old timers than i,
ever has before.
When the news reached White
Bluffs Tuesday evening that the
permanent license for the develop.
ment of the project had been grant
ed that day, it was received by the
local people somewhat as delayed
proposal by an old maid-welcome.
but lacking to certain degree the
wild excitement that goes with
youth.
The issuance of the permanent
license. however. is gratifying news
to everyone interested in the val
ley. for the water power leasing
law provides that once the license
is issued. the construction work
must be started within a given
time and diligently prosecuted to
completion, also within time linn
its. And what is probably more
important is the apparent intention
Of the leasing company to get the
work under way and the project
completed at the earliest pos, ible
date.
When the work will start and
how long it will take to complete
the project are two of the interest
ing questions local people are ask
ing now, but of more far reaching
Importance are the questions of the
possibility for a permanent settle.
ment for the Hanford water right
owners and cheaper power rate
for pumping irrigation water. !
The magnitude Of the project.
some of the uses to which the pow
er will be put and other plans OF
the leasing company are told in a
splendid article in Tuesday even.
lng's Seattle Times and is re-
printed here in full:
Starting of construction work on
the great $l00, 100000 Priest Rap
ids hydraelectric power project on the
Columbia River, only 200 miles east Of
Seattle, was forecast today when it
was announced in Washington, D. c.,
that the Federal Power Commission
had acted favorably on the long pend
ing application of the Washington
Irrigation & Development Company
for a license to make the }deveiop.
nient.
The Washington Irrigation & De.
velopment Company, incorporated in
this state, is a holding company for
the General Electric Company of New
York, which for several years has
been known to be behind the Priest
Rapids project. Local representatives
of the development company con-
firned the announcement made by
the press dispatches that the devel-
opment license has been granted, but
said they had not yet been informed
when the work would start.
Complete Work in 80 Months
It is matter of common knowl-
edge in the electrical world, how
ever, that when the license was ap-
piled forr nearly year ago it was
the intention Of the fnanciers repre-
sented by the General. Electric Com
psny to begin work on the power
plant as soon as the license was is
sued and complete the development
within about thirty months from the
start of the work. :.
The Priest Rapids project is the
largest in America, completed or pro.
posed, with the exception of the in.
stallation at Niagara Falls, and is
planned to develop 100000 horsepower
at all stages of the Columbia River
which will be spanned by $4,000.
600 dam two and one-half miles long
to create the power reservoir. The
dam will be the longest in the world
and ninety feet high and plans for
the power installation call for the
expenditure of S17 100000 more fol
turbines, dyananos and other electri.
cal machinery.
To Build Industrial City.
The outstanding feature of the plan
however, is the announcement Of
ficialy made by the General Electric
Company group some months age
that SIS 5,oo0, 900 more will be spent in
building on what is now barren,
sagcbrush plain, a model and COM
plete industrial city that will have a
population Of about $4,000 and where
scores of basic products, including
aluminium, copper alloys, ilitrates, ex-
plosives and fertilizers will be manu-
factrired by electro-chemical pro-
cesses and distributed to all parts Of
the world.
In short the General Electric Com
pany and the capitalists who are in
terested with it, propose to make
Priest Rapids, which lies almost in
the geographical center of the state
Of Washington and in the heart of
the great Columbia Basin, second
Niagara Falls and to exceed anything
that has ever been promised by Henry
Ford or anybody else for Muscle
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