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Show I Pioneer Power Equipment A Presented To University Marshall, Wayne B. Hales and Carl ! F. Eyring, physicists. , j "It is of interest to me to know j that the first line that carried anywhere any-where 40,000 volts was established here and that the first alternating current generator installed in a plant on Provo river," Dean Hoyt said. "Though lines of much higher high-er voltage are now used, the Provo installation was standard for years, and the same line, in part, and some of the insulators are ptill in use. "I think it is fine, too, to have this pioneer equipment remain here on pioneer soil where electricity, through the pioneering work of the Nunns, rr.c tremendous progress. In those days little was known about the mysterious force that flowed through wires. The Nunns V Several thousand dollars' worth of laboratory equipment was added i to the iihvsirnl laboratories of Tr!rhfim Young university 4 when ; I the Utnh Power and Light com-! 1 pany prcsentd - the school with j equipment once used at the Olni-: Olni-: Ftead laboratory. This equipment 1 was used by the company and its predecessor, the Tolluride Power ': f rom'nnnv. in nil of the experimental j ivork in developing suitable insula- j j prs, towers, insulation pins, for j high pension lines from Alexander, j Idaho, on the north to Delta on the ' south, where the company's lines are joined by those of the Telluride I Power company which cover all of t i southern Utah, i This Jnborator" equipment, be- i sides being worth several thou sands of dollars, has a historical i value due to the fact that it war pioneer equipment in the field of electricity, according to Harrison V. Hoyt. former dean of the Col-' Col-' lege of Commerce of Brigham Young university, who has been l' connected with the company for years. Some of this equipment. Dean Hoyt says, was used in the company's preliminary work in Col- i orado before the plant was estab lished at Nunn's, or Olmstead. As an indication of the interest which attaches to some of this equipment Dean Hoyt pointed out 1 that the generator recently given to Brigham Young university by the power company is the first al- I ternating current generator ever built for power service. This gen-i gen-i ei'ator was placed in" the power house at Nunn's in Provo canyon and from it a 44.000 volt transmission transmis-sion lino was extended to the mills in Mercur, about 50 miles, west. I The line at that time, according to Dean Hoyt and to historical records m possession of the company, was the highest voltage alternating current cur-rent line in the world and was the world's standard for years. The story of power told by Dean Hoyt in connection with the gift is one of the romances of the west. Provo river was selected by the Nunns, L. L. and P. R., as the location loca-tion of one of their pioneer electrical electri-cal projects which had begun at Telluride, Colo. Before their day, steam furnished the only dependable depend-able power with the exception of water. As a result, power costs of some of the Colorado mines were enormous. Coal for steam was transported to high altitudes only at tremendous costs which bankrupted bank-rupted all but the very richest mines. The Nunns got the idea that they could harness the water and transmit the power by wire to the mines. The first mine so operated oper-ated by means of electric power was the Gold King mill, situated at an altitude of 12,000 feet. This power pow-er machinery was installed in 1890, about 50 years ago. Since that time electricity has been harnessed to every type of machinery. Dean Hoyt went to work at the Telluride laboratory at Olmstead in 1906 and has seen the gradual growth of the electric business since that time. He was very much elated when the Utah Power and Light company intimated that they would be glad to give the laboratory labora-tory equipment to Brigham Young university as were . Drs. Milton had to establish their own school for. the training of their own workmen. ' "Although the equipment, much of it can be made very useful in the laboratories of Brigham Young university, I think much of the worth lies in its historical interest." |