A Gigantic Undertaking.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 26, 26 June 1912, Page 47

A Gigantic Undertaking.

The greatest hydro-electrir installation at present under construction is situated on the Mississippi at Kockuk, in lowa. The mighty river is nearly a mile wide at this point and has a rock bottom and high banks. The engineers have cut a transverse channel in the bed and have constructed a concrete dam seven-eighths of a mile long to confine the waters. At one end a harbour has been built, with locks for the use of the river steamers. The surplus water will make its escape over a spillway some 4000 ft long, fitted with 119 steel gates. The fall at the power-house will range from 21ft to 39ft, and the mini mum volume of the water available for the turbines will bo 20,000 cubic feet a second, producing 120,000 horse-power of electric energy. The scheme, which b now' nearing completion, has cost already about £3,000,000. hut the city of St. Louis, situated 140 miles from the dam. has agreed to take enough power to pay interest on the expenditure. The company that has carried out this big work, under authority from the Federal Government and the State Legislature, is ready to deliver high-tension current at points 250 miles from the powerhouse, and its prices, which will be calculated generally on the basis of the cost of coal, will be exceedingly low, particularly in the winter, when the river will be high.