The Bozeman courier., 1925-03-25
POWER Plant
now in OPERATION
Mystic Lake Installation Com
pIete After Three Years
Construction Work

Without fuss or ceremony, the new
81, 900, 900 Mystic Lake plant of the
Montana Power company in Saltwater
county was put in operation at $40
a. m. Friday, and all Of eastern Mon
tana served by the company's lines
gained a potential addition of 10000
kilowatts Of electrical energy.
A StupendOus Job
The new project, which has been un-
der construction for the past three
years, is located upon the west fork
of the Rosebud river, approximately
43 miles south Of Columbus, the near
est railroad station. The county high
way leads from Columbus and Alb
sarokee' to Fishtail, a little beyond
which point the power company was
obliged to build some IA miles of
brand new highway through the west
Rosebud valley to the site of the
plant. One and three-quarters miles
beyond the plant and more than a
thousand feet higher lies Mystic lake,
access to which was reached by the
stupendous task of hewing from the
precipitous granite cliff a pipeline
grade on which was laid the wood
stave line conveying the lake water
to the plant. The actual intake from
the lake is through a tunnel bored
through the mountain side and ex-
tending in under the lake bed for some
distance and located fully 25 feet be-
low high water level.
The 15-mile, $4,000 highway built
by the company into the plant from
the county road will be turned over
to Saltwater county without cost.
The power was turned on by NJ. E.
Buck of Butte, general superintendent
of the Montana Power company, and
the starting of operations was wit
messed by Ralph Schuyler, operating
superintendent of the Billings district,
and William Spratt of Livingston,
who will have charge of the Mystic
lake plant.
Preliminary Tests
Preliminary testing of the entire
installation began on the 18th, when
the water from the lake, nearly two
miles distant from the plant, was
turned into the 9,0OO-foot wood stave
pipe line, after which it was sent
hurtling through the hundreds of feet
OF steel pipe feeding the water wheels
at the plant.
On Wednesday evening water con-
nection was made with the first unit
in the plant and on Thursday with the
second unit. Then came the tests of
the electrical machinery. Both water
and electrical tests being found salts
factory, at $40 Friday morning Mr..
Buck threw the switch that sent a
modest current Of 1000 k. W. pulsating
Through the feed wires running so
miles north to Park City to join the
main transmission line running from
the Madison river plant to the city
Eof Billings.
/ When operating at full capacity
the new plant at Mystic lake, thu
fourteenth on the system, will add t;
third more to the present amount o.
electrical energy now going to Bill
, lings and the whole eastern section
J. Of the company's system, which here
tofOre has had to depend solely upol
the power generated at the more re
| mote plants at Great Falls and on tn
2 Madison river.
{ Engineering Feat
The new plant is one Of the highes
so-called 'high-head" plants in tn
, northwest, and the first Of its kin
lever built by the Montana Power com
pany. From the intake at the lake t
the tailrace at the. plant, the waite
falls 1,1OO feet.
One of the most delicate feats G
! engineering ever performed anywher
in the world was the construction G
: this tunnel last fall beneath the lax