OCR Text |
Show upileuteut . 0 it n ei fa NO. PROVO, UTAH, 1 R. F. D., THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1936 VOL. IV. THE ROMANCE OF ELECTRICITY A MAGIC CHANGE, fy ii itoto Dteam oecnurnc COAL TO ELECTRICITY Aiew II A Woman Visits the Power Plant make no pretensions Im just an ordinary housewife and vJI c Symbol of Power Companys Faith In Utah to knowledge concerning such mysteries as whats wrong when is likeliest candimy car starts using too much oil, or w'ho the date ot win in the next election, nor what it is that makes our electric lights glow when we push a switch. But my pride was hurt this morning when the electric toaster suddenly Now sputtered and grew cold, for when I innocently asked, what could have done that?" my husband answered with a somewhat sarcastic tone in his voice, My dear, it means the will never hive power plant has caught fire. Too bad. We And then he went back to his newspaper leaving toast again. me sputtering inside at his too plain implications. I made some resolutions, one of which I began carrying out this very afternoon. Since a new steam electric plant was well on its way to if I could completion at Olmstead, I drove out there to see find some sense in the whole electric procedure. I learned about a lot of things though I cant explain them in the bigof a big sounding way I heard and saw them. This telling and words story may lack the dignity and he when it read will but no man anyway phrases it deserves emthe woman some save and it learns a woman wrote it may barrassment I have known. Funny Smokestack As I looked down upon the plant from the top of the that is part of the road from Orem, the outstanding thing smokestack. It is an enormI saw was a mishappen-lookina ous thing that towers over good part of the building. As soon as Mr. Verne Clawson, the Construction Superintendent, found me and began showing me around,! asked him about it. ; Its not misshapen", he said, but very expertly formed to take efficient care of escaping and expanding gases and high-soundin- it: r r ji. - g Km. g smoke. - t: 1 v i p r' - Do you intend to build fires here so big that that giant will be necessary?" Oh yes. This plant, when running at capacity, will burn 7500 tons of coal a month. Think of it, 150 car loads of coal every month!" "That ought to make the coal dealers feel good, I re? joiced, Where will you get it From Carbon County. The Denver and Rio Grand Railroad will do the hauling. The' coal item will give sales and employment that is very considerable. ( That part sounds fine, Mr. Clawson, but I should hate to be in the plant, large as it is, w'hen that fire starts burning. You wont be able to get workers who can endure the heat. .Mr. Clawson laughed and answered, "Come with me and Ill show you how it all works. The building isn t hot now and it wont be any hotter when that furnace starts going, But although there will be plenty of heat inside the furnace. thats the big idea: make heat, heat, heat, and conserve every ' bit of it to be used in the manufacture of steam. Heat economy is one of the means by which we will make electricity cheaper.' Our engineers have been studying for approximately fhc last so fifty years to perfect the machinery we have here, just there will .be no waste anywhere. Queer Bottomed Hole the west During this speech, we had been walking over to side of the big red brick, generously window paned building, until now we stood before a good sized cemented hole in the There were ground with a smaller queer looking bottom. Mr. Clawof it and some railroad tracks leading to the edge son went on explaining. "The car of coal will come to the edge of this track hopper and dump. Then the coal will be let through the bottom and ' taken on this conveyer to that coal bunker up there. The conveyer looks something like the carriers on water wheels except they go straight up instead of around. Or perin the place of haps more like an escalator with deep dishes So high and treads. And you should see that coal bunker it. I made a at me made it up that around looking dizzy big mental not to tell John (thats my husbands name) about it especially, just to keep him a little more satisfied about keepfilled during the winter. ing our 1 (Continued on page four) V tv I Hugh 18750 KW. ah. Turbo-Generat- or The development of the electrical industry in the United States during the past half century is one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of civilization. The industry now represents an investment of It may help to apwhat that amount is preciate if we remind ourselves that since the birth of Christ not many more than 1,000,000,000 njinutes have been ticked off. First Power Company in dug-wa- y 1 Epic Story Of Electricity rn a r .4 mi View of the new $1,600,000. Provo steam electric plant at the mouth of Provo canyon as it appeared on completion, August 5. The New Plant is in active operation today, adding another major industry to Utah county. Story Of Construction Of New Power Plant By M. B. Brown. The inception and construction of the new $1,600,000 Provo steam electric project is a tribute to the initiative, enterprise and efficiency of privately' operated business in America. The decision to build was based on such accurate estimates of the Utah area; the plans so need for power in the so and work the energetically carried forexpertly drawrn, of the much lost glamor that feeds on ward, the enterprise With such speed headlines. and hardships, red tape, delays are finished that amazed, to learn was the huge project people will be that the 25,000 horsepower plant shooting current into Utah homes, industries and commercial establishmepts by August 15. The Provo Steam Electric Station is situated at the base of towering Mount Timpanogos and at the mouth of the beautiful Provo Canyon on the west banks of the Provo Bench Canal and a stones throw from the highway between Provo and Heber. The plant is ideally situated from an engineering point of view in that it is centrally located geographically with respect to demand for electricity. There is an abundant supply of cold water for cooling purposes and the source of fuel is close by. These three points are the prime requisites for an economical plant. Actual construction of the Plant was started in February. A blanket of snow covered the site when the engineers drove the first stakes marking the limits of the excavation for the massive concrete foundations required to support the structure and the turbine foundation. south-centr- al ' -- k ; H - - . ... .1:-- " ' ' y , '. A B. D. A contract for excavating was let to Palfreyman. A steam shovel was used for this work. Excavated material was loaded into dump trucks and disposed of in a fill for a spur line from the Heber track of the Denver and Rio Grand Rail Road at the Carayhurst siding to the Power Plant. Some 12,000 cubic yards were moved from the foundation site to the railroad embankment. The spur itself was constructed by the D. & R. G. R. R. force and involved the construction of a bridge over the Provo Bench Canal and nearly a mile of track. t While this work was" in progress, a six inch service water supply pipe line was laid from the Hydro Plant pen stocks to the plant. The intake and discha-g- e structures were also built on the banks of the Provo Bench Canal. These structures extended well below the water level of the canal (Continued on page ten) V :v - - - " "A ' Edison organized his first power company in 1882 and by the end of his first accounting period had secured 59 customers at a loss of $4000. There is now in the United States more than 25,000,000 electric customers who use in the aggregate more than kilowatt hours per When we remember that year. each kilowatt hour represents the muscle work of thirteen laborers for an hour we can appreciate what a tremendous factor electricity is in building of our nation. When George B. Ogilvie staked out the first mining claim in Utah September 17, 1863 he little dreamed that Bingham one day would be the site of the largest open cut copper mine in America. that electric shovels would one day move more tonnage from the hills of Bingham than would be taken from the bed of the Panama canal during a similar period of time. Changed World When that band of pioneers first turned water across the plot of ground which is now First South and Main street. Salt Lake City, they could hardly be expected to foresee the magic power of electric pumps in extending their project out to the farthest corner of the intermountain area. How an ox team would sigh at the ease with which a tractor turns over a couple of acres. How a pony express rider would shake the dust from his chaps if he could pull up in front of the Tribune building to hear some ones voice projected over a wire to Kansas City with the ease and speed of magic. How a band of immigrants would look up in wonderment when, camped at a point of the mountain after a long days journey from Salt Lake, they would watch autos swing by on a hurried run from Salt Lake to Provo in less than an hour, or when they couy hear the whirr of a plane making the same distance in 10 to 15 minutes. Who would have guessed on that morning when This Is The Place echoed out across a sage brush valley that within eighty years many thousands of workers in nearly 300 industrial plants would be turning out anually products with a value running into millions. AN - ,' v View of Site of Provo Steam Plant Feb. 3, 1 . 1882 Candles vs. Electric Light 1936 How a girl of 1860, who attempting to keep a flickering candle from going out under (Continued on page three) |