Show THE washington POWER CO heavy equipment being installed at its long lake plant special correspondence spokane wash june 25 when the washinton washington t ton water power company completes its power plant at long lake twenty three miles north of spokane where four turbines with a maximum capacity of 90 horsepower are to be installed it will be in position to deliver electric power to any mining camp within miles of spokane the plant including the railroad from spokane to long lake involves an expenditure of more afore than 17 already has been invested in street railway lighting and power systems in and near spokane W A white of new york chairman of the finance committee who was at spokane recently with a party of eastern stockholders in the company announced that the weir dam at long lake will be the highest on this continent if not in the world the structure upon which work is now under way will be feet in length feet in height and feet in thickness at the bottom the dam will take the entire pressure of the spokane river at flood time discharging the surface over the top instead of diverting it through another channel the four turbines using a foot head of water the current will be conducted over high tension lines to points in eastern washington northern idaho and western montana and possibly into eastern oregon practically all the power used in the mines and mills in the coeur dalene district miles east of spokane is supplied by the washington water power company between 8 and horsepower is sent to that section every day some of it from the post falls plant some from little falls and some from the two plants in spokane the power distribution is all controlled by a man in the main office at spokane who handles it as a railroad dispatcher controls the trains on his division reports are made to him at frequent intervals from all the power stations and sub stations as to the load used and the overload with this information the power distributor tri butor directs the throwing of certain switches or may send power from the little falls station to within a mile of the montana line using the post falls power in another place where it will be cheaper three men have control of this phase of distribution of power each working an eight hour shift when on duty each man has the control of thousands of horsepower he is in direct communication with all the plants and sub stations of the company and if any trouble occurs he can rectify it by changing the load on some other plant or by cutting out faulty circuits power sent from spokane is used in large and small mines and mills at wardner and kellogg the federal mining smelting smelling Sm elting company uses it in its concentrator below wardner among the smaller mines in the district is the stewart which uses quite a large portion of the power in its upper and lower workings at wallace power is used in two the federal companas comp anys mills while electricity again plays its part in the workings of the standard mine at mace in the upper and lower workings of the hecla mine the rex sisters and a score of others also come in for their quota on the mullan division the big workings of the federal company in the morning mine also are operated by power furnished from spokane and the river bearing the name that derives its power from the very country back to which the power is sent on a small thread of copper wire strung from pole to pole through forest and meadow other mines in this portion of the district receiving the power are the gold hunter the snowstorm alice star national copper company and the calumet the power lines extend to within a mile of the montana state line principally the power for this portion of the great power distributing system is furnished by the plant at post falls though a portion or a whole of it is often sent from the little falls the spokane auxiliary of spokane water power plants the load varies a great deal of the time according to the amount of work being done the current being changed to suit the demand in the system of transmission of energy what is known as the high tension system is used with an alternating current which has been found best when transmitting a long distance at a high potential |