A GIGANTIC UNDERTAKING.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12497, 25 March 1909, Page 3

A GIGANTIC UNDERTAKING.

From time to time different schemes havje been projected for the estabr lishment of industries in the WesternHighlands, but they all pale into' comparative insignificance before the, gigantic undertaking now in course, of development at the head of Loch; Leven, in Argyllshire (says an :ex-j change). - ; . ..Kinlochleveri three years ago : was; a lonely Highland glen, given -over; exclusively to sport, and inhabited! only by a few gamekeepers and gillies. To-day the red deer and ■■ the ; . eagles look' down in astonishment on. the; busy hive of industry that has sprung' up in their ancient haunts; in fact/ the, transformation that has taken" place within the last three years is' comparable only to those magic effects in which the genii. of the Arabian fabulists raised palaces in a night. A Highland solitude has been trans-* formed into a busy town of close upoir 6000. workers— a town, which, when, completed, will have- urban advan-i tages unknown. to many other' towns in the north of Scotland. "':-.,; "It is built -on the model-town sys--tern. Large, roomy", self-contained, cottages, mostly of two stories, they, look very substantial, and are fitted up on thoroughly modern lines. Many are already occupied by the engineers and foremen of the works.- , The dwel-' ling ouses and streets will be lit by electric light, and a water supply equal to fifty gallons* per head per! day of the anticipated population is provided. A number of shops have already opened, and the town is equipped, with a harbour, an electric rail-' way, a" custom house, a post office, a school, a hospital, an: hotel, while the Church of Scotland has: prepared plans -.for. the erection of a church for the new.comunity. The sewerage system is of the latest character, and a destructor, is also included in the scheme.. Other additions "to the amenities of this wonderful town will be' recreation grounds, public: baths and a park. •■ _ The colossal undertaking owes its inception to the unique natural advantages which Kinlochleven offered _to the originators of the^cheme' In the production of aluminium a heat is required greater than can be got from ah .ordinary furnace, and; these degrees of < heat are readily obtained from electric furnaces. The, cheapest way to make electricity is, of course, by water-power, -and the promoters of thi^ mammoth enterprise could not fail to be. impressed by the rushing torrents and "waterfalls which rushed, down the River Leven from the string of three- lochs . lying in the valley immediately north of Glencoe. These three lochs are:: joined together by intervening waterways, and the;ingenious idea was conceived of damming them all up, so that instead-of having threecomparatiyely small lakes they would have an immense reservoir nine miles in length, an- average width of over half a mile. The api proxjniate capacity, of this big loch— when completed it will be the largest artificial reservoir in Europe, if. not in the world, will be about 20,000,000 gallons ; . and as it is situated in a district where the average rainfall is nearly 120 inches per annum* there can ; be no dubiety- with regard toan. adequate supply of wSter.