THE AGE OF WATER POWER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 115, 13 May 1912, Page 3

THE AGE OF WATER POWER.

PROGRESS IN AMERICA

POWER\FOR THE TR-AMOAES

A new era in tho utilisation of wjiter power\ is beginning in America .Tlkv hydroelectric companies in America at tho present, day are to ho numbered by hundred's, and it is hard to point to -a. singel instance, when competent engineex-s have been en | gaged to report upon the scheme, j where success of a. striking character j lias not resulted. j it is not alone in coal-lessor oil-less regions that a development in this •ri-oTv field of engineering, activity, s taking place. Even where plentiful j suppffes of coal exist, hydro-electric j power had driven its dirty --competitor j from the field on account of its superior cleanness, cheapness, reliability, and freedom from interruption How" great its advantages are is abundantly proved by the fact that sever?,! coal mines (such ■as tho Pocahonta?.,) afro now Uvsirig hydro-electric power to I operate their hauling and pumping plants. i IMPETUS TO INDUSTRY. Wherever power plante of this kind arc to be found in America, somewhere in their radius of distribution will be found' also, numbers of new industries springing up which 'would! never have been established1 but for the fact that a constant supply* of cheap power was ready to hand For even where coal exists it must be remembered' that ;t is not only the mining of it that requires manual labor. Its carriage «and distribution need the services of a. large; number of men, so that a strike hot only of miners, but also of ■transportation workers, Can entirely disorganise the supply. Hydro electric power, on the contrary, rt) quires only a very few men to watch bhe turbines and .dynamos, aJid once generated' the current flows of its own volition through the distributing channels, provided, and reaches the' consumer at a price which does not have to bear the cost of-carriage from tho source of supply,,....eptoept for the interest oh' the capital cost of .the distributing system. Bearing in. mind these factors, it "is obviously- merely" stating a, sell'-evidont-fact.t-o- assert .thiit the future wKead. of. well-consider-ed ■hydro-jEdectiic Enterprises jih[ Amer■ ' ica contains prospects which few .Industrial undertakings^ can look forward to. CANADIAN EXAMPLE. The experience of the British Columbia. Electric Railway. Company, 'which, in addition to generating electricity from water power to operstte its electric traction system 185 miles in extent in the neighborhood of Vancouver, also supplies private'consumers, and provides the city of Victoria (population 45,000) with lighting and power current is an instance of tho rapid growth of enterprises of .this character. Last, year this company completed a huge plant on the Jordan Itiver, capable of delivering 6000h.pSo greatly had the demand for power developed that almost before this unit wan completed arrangements were made for. the installation of another set. of turbines a.nd dynamos of equal capacity. This is almost the universal experience The success attending the completion of a hydro-electric plant is so* rapid that, extensions havo to bo put in H&ikl very soon after bhe delivery of power has been made. In Eastern. Canada, no less than in Bri. ti'.ih Columbia., the results achieved n<re most .striking. Thus the Montreal Street Railway and the Montreal Light; Heat, and Power Company operate 232 miles of electric tramway -, in the city and adjacent districts, besides supplying the city with electric light, power, and gas. _ Most of this electric -energy is. furnished by x.ht" Shawinigsm Water and Power Com J pnny, the source of supply being.the rails on the St. Maurice River', mid way between Montreal and Quebec. Not only Montreal, , but Quebec Thro rivers, Joliette, Sorel, and Thetford derive much of their'supplies of electrical energy from these falls. Another extenive jjowe-r plant of recent completion in the Kakabeka Falla generating station of;the Maministiquia- Power-.Compmiy,/which sup- ■ plies Port .Arthur and Fort William, at the liead of Ln,ke' Superior tho ports through which "the/ bulk of the Western wheat crop pasaesi on its way to the markets of Eastern Canada., the United States, and Europe. Li-GHT AND POWER. Turning to the United. States, the Mississippi Kiyer Power Company j\s, engnged in building.'a-d-am at the De's Moines Rapids, near Koekuk, lowa. which when complete will enable tho company to furnish 200,000-h.p. to ;> thickly, populated portion of the middle west. Large quantities of power have already boon applied for, i\nd „ th*completion of the undertaking -?s bound to witness the development ->f a number of thriving industries whic'i could never h;.ve been established without the certainty of being able to derive the neccisary electric energy to operate their plant. In -Mexico several large companies i:.re now <n operation. "The Mexico- Tramways -Gonipany operates 171 miles of line in tho Federal district, which has a population of 800,000. and an affiliated concern—-the Mexican -Light and Power Company—Supplies■' it with power,-and' distr'ib rites; it with light, and power1 throughout the capital and the surrounding district. Further north the Mexican Northern Pow«r Company, taking its energy from the Conchas River, will supply its over the greater part of the State of Chihuahua,, in which are to be found n number of prosperous copper and sil ver mines. BIG UNDERTAKINGS. On the South American continent the Rio de Janeiro Tramway, Light, and Power Company either owns or controls sources of hydro-electric supply which are capable of furnishing 200,000-h.p. This company operates 213 miles of electric tramway, uikl supplies power and light to the entire city, besides working the telephone system and gas. plant: ,The town r;f ,Sno Ptulo, jjgith a population of aver---300,000, is : similarly «ery<s.sy. the- Sao Paulo /Tramway, ;|Ligui;, jmd./; Power Company, which operates 105 miles■■«..*' electric 'tramways' in < tlit? .toivn a nri suburbs. ~ ' ■■■:-.; ( The foregoing are only a few h\~ stnncerv of the development .which n;rts taken place in this field. The uniform success that has resulted' from thoir operations' has abundantly fulfilled, md in most cases exceeded, expoctti^jonsi. In these eiiixmmsfcanoes it is not .surprising that an increasiig amount of public attention is being directed towards this class of undertaking, and a survey of tho position of the common stocks of the princip-.il coni])!inies, now at work or about to commence operating, offers a sufficient explanation of this ottitude on the part of investors.