MAKING OUR RIVERS WORK.

Western Star, 6 April 1920, Page 4

MAKING OUR RIVERS WORK.

(By FLOYD W. PARSONS in the ‘Saturday Evening Post.’)

Enough hydro-electric energy is running to waste here in the United States to equal the daily labour of 1,800,000,000 men, or thirty times the adult population of the nation. So says Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior. If this is the case it is plain evidence that what we need to-day is a., wider and more intense application of mechanical methods for doing tilings. s Though the total industries of the United States use about 180,000,000 horse-power annually the manufactories of the country require for motive power about 25,000,000 horse-power. Of this amount approximately 18,000,000 horse-power has been developed by coal. Conservative estimates indicate that we have at least 40,000,000 water horse-power in the United States still undeveloped, or a total greater than the power now employed in all the manufacturing and electric plants in the entire country. The records show that in producing our bituminous coal we employ about 1.21 men per annum per thousand tons of coal mined. In the transportation of each thousand tons of coal the services gf 1.02 mien are required to work a year. In handling and firing each - thousand tons of coal in our central steam stations we further require the services of half a man, so that the total labour required in the production and consumption of every thousand tons of bituminous coal, on a basis of one year’s time, is 2.73 men.

Now practice lias shown that in this country a thousand tons of steam coal produce- approximately 128 horse-power for a year of time. ' As a consequence it is evident that if we were to develop all our available 40,000,000 water horse-power, and put the same into service we should do away with the necessity of mining 312,500,000 tons of coal a year. If 4 we carry the thought a little further we discover that in the mining, hauling, and utilisation of this vast quantity of coal we must employ 853,125 workers of one kind and another. But to operate the 40,000,000 available water I horse-power we should need only 45,000 men. Therefore we are able to reduce the matter to the substantial fact that the harnessing of all our water power would release more than 800,000 men for other work than mining and handling coal. Stated another way, we may saw that for every 49 hydro-eleotrio horse-power we develop and utilise, one man is released from a mine, railroad, or power plant. Coal has been our principal source of power, but as the years pass this fuel is rapidly beink exhausted. The use of water power, unlike coal, does not reduce the total supply. Engineering’ knowledge, coupled to a study of Nature’s laws, - has greatly increased the efficiency that may ho had from water-power developments. In earlier days the engineer considered himself lucky if he could succeed in utilising 35 per cent, of the actual power iu the minimum flow of a stream. To-day an able engineer using direct-oonuected hydraulic turbines of modern design can get effective service from 90 per cent, of the atual power in the flow of the stream. The art of using water power, of course, is not new. The Chinese employed crude wheels on the Yellow lliver, and the Hamiite® on the Nile three thousand years ago. The power thus generated was used principally ■for grinding corn. Undershot wheels were used until the middle of the eighteenth century, when John Smeatou showed that if the bucket wheel were changed into an overshot form its efficiency could be nearly doubled—that is, increased, from 35 per cent, to more than (10 per cent. The overshot wheels were built otf great size. One in the Isle of Man built in 1085, and said to- be still operating, is 72 feet iu diameter, and develops 150 horse-power. A number of overshot wheels are s;tid to be still used to furnish power for old mills in New York State. An interesting example of this type of wheel is the Burden water wheel at Troy, New York. It is constructed off iron and is 00 feet iu diameter. It has a horse-power capacity of about 200, and was in-’ ■ stalled to operate compressed-air blowers in the manufacture of iron. It might J>e interesting ■ to people who relish stories of engineering achievement if I stopped here long, enough to tell of the use otf impulse wheels in India, Egypt, and Syria; of how the first radial outward-flow turbine was. installed in France iu 1827; of the work of Henschel, who built the earliest type of axial-dis-charge turbine iu 1837; of how the city of Lowell and many other New England towns owe their early prosperity very largely to the water-power development of the mighty power of Niagara Falls, which oommieuced iu 1861 ; then of how water power was applied for driving dynamos, and finally how, in 1882 ,the first hydroelectric station to be built in the United States was erected at Appleton, Wisconsin. However, let us pass over this epoch of engineering romance, retaining only the thought that the earlier peopßs of the world seemed content to use a certain type of machine for several thousand years, when suddenly there came an awakening, and now not only does' the succeeding generation refuse to copy its forbears, but the same generation insists on constant change. In a thousand years hence how will mankind regard the achievements of today ? Nothing should give us more satisfaction when, we look into the future, bearing in mind the rapid, depletion of our coal and oil than this amazing story of hydro-electric -.development. Investigators estimate that the total water power of the world represents about *700,000,000 horse-power. When the greater part of this is finally developed considerable relief will be afforded to all nations in their ifnel demands. Hero in the bnit'ed States (.■von uoiv, assuming that one hydraulic horse-power corresponds to an annual coal consumption of eight tons, it follows that our present use of developed * water power is saving us about 56,000,000 tons of coal annually. In its distribution our waterpower seems to have been wisely located by Nature. The Pacific Coast is practically without coal except a little in the''state fc Washington, yet

California contains more water power than any other State. Aside,from the important saving in fuel that results, there are many other good; reasons why the people of this country should give careful thought to hydro-electric developments. The loss to 1 the United States each year from floods amounts to several hundred million dollars. Power developments on our inland waterways will materially reduce the number of floods and the damage done. iSuch developments will greatly benefit many communities by increasing the efficiency of river navigation and by making many streams that are not now navigable into waterways of commercial value. Every claim that is built should be constructed of adequate height to permit of possible hydro-electric development. As an example of how thought mtiy 1m given to both navigation and power let me cite the case of the hydro-electric development of Keokuk, lowa. In this instance the Federal Government granted a ■ private company the privilege of constructing a dam clear across the Mississippi River, the result being a huge power development as well as a notable river improvement. 1 The exercise of proper engineering skill will give us power from the waters oif bur various canals, and in the case of municipal water-supply ■systems the opportunity is immense. One of our important cities had to go more than two hundred miles for its water, and decided to utilise the flow of this water for the generation of electric power. As a consequence of this unique scheme it is estimated! the sale of energy produced at power stations placed along the route of the aqueduct will take care of all the bonds and interest charges on both, the water system and the entire hy-dro-electric installation. The opportunity for using water power on our' farms is also great. Not only can the electricity so generated lie easily distributed to scattered buildings, but this practice reduces fire risk in yn industry where firefighting appliances are limited. In many districts there are small streams whose wasted energy mjght easily be developed and applied to doing the hard labour on the adjacent farms. A number of individual farmers acting together might find such a venture both possible and profitable, for small water power plants to-day are relatively inexpensive. Out in the Far West- the mighty rivers are being made to furnish power to irrigate the arid lands of the- neighbouring plains. One great project in Arizona will open up more thaw a quarter of m million acres 1 for* oiwtivation and useful production. Perhaps no greater field for 'hydroelec trio power exists than in connection; with the operation of the nation’s railroads. Especially is this true in the mountainous regions of our Western States. ' One authority estimates that 5,000,000 horse-power would-be required to electrify the 50,000 miles of railroad in these Western* States, nr loss than one-fifth of the total hydfo-clqeirie jxnVojr that ft U jytK&iblo

to develop in the territory traversed by these railroads. As a start, in the right direction one road is operating 440 miles of its main line with power generated in near-by hydro-electric stations.