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Show I UTUf SOON TO GET I POWER Fill ill Big Plant at Grace Is Being Rapidly Pushed to Completion. H IS GREAT UNDERTAKING Utah Power & Light Com-pany Com-pany Engaged in a Mam-moth Mam-moth Enterprise. .lanuury 1I91-4. is tho date set by Hj iho officials of the Utah Power & Light company for tho first electric power from tho new eloctric power jilani on Bear river at Gracej Idaho, now under erection as an important unit in the company's plans for devcl-opinp devcl-opinp man' thousand horsepower of olcctrical cncrg3' along this river for distribution in southern Tdaho and Advices received yesterday from (inu-e at the general offices of the company horo. indicato that the con-atruction con-atruction work on the now pipe line mny be finished shortly beforo Janu-, Janu-, ary 1. This new pipe linet clevon feet n diameter, aud running irom a point farther up the river -23.000 feet across laud to the plant, will deliver water to the turbines of the power house. With the steel work ncaring com-lilctiou com-lilctiou and scores of workmen swarin-int,' swarin-int,' through the high girders of the superstructure, while tho concrcto gangs 100 feet below spread, tho great dippers of material that aro swung down to them from the mixers, tho new lant is rapidly assuming shape. Description of Plant. Grace is sixty-seven miles down Bear rjver from thb junction of the now Rainbow canal and Bear river just worth of Bear lake, in Idaho., and tho Id aud new power houses at Graco will be tho first two plants on Bear mer below the Rainbow canal. .fust before the river reaches the site of the two plants, it takes :i big B beud to the north. Water for tho tur- B oiucs of both plants is carried across B land 23,000 feet through wood stavo B pipes, and after being sent through B In: turbines this water escapes again B into .the river, tho two power houses oci iiir luca'tcd on the river bank. B Tho new power houso will develop B '.."..OOu horsepower of electrical energy. B The j)ower house proper is fifty-seven B .ct. above ground, and the excavation 'or the turbines and other equipment. B ' im to a depth of thirty-seven font bo- B 'ow ground. Tho power house will he B ''orly-five foot wide and 150 feet long. B More than 7000 cubic yards of exen- mating was necessary for tho powor iiouse proper, and over 25,000 cubic B varda of tnatorial were oxcavatcd in I'oustructing the tail race, More than o000 cubic yards of concrete went into 'he foundations for the plant, and some B of the heaviest electrical machinery B ever shipped to Idaho is being installed. B The rotors of tho generators weigh B thirty tons each and the transformers B "ifty' tons apiece. Specially built, elcc- B rrically operated steel cranes, working B ''ron i girder- in tho ceiling of the B power plant, will handle these hugo B pieces of equipment. Big Construction Problem. B Tho excavation for tho tail race and B for the-foundations of tho new powor B houso, taken in conjunction with the B other work that has followed, presented B a good deal of a construction problem B for the company. B A small area existed from -which a B very large amount of material had to B oc excavated and an extremely heavy B tonnage of concrete installed, while a B big force of men had to be worked B night and day, with a time limit sot B on tho work 'that necessitated forcod B speed. B Rocky ground was encountered in B all the excavating work, and in digging B the tail race boulders weighing eight B tons have been handled. Derricks -wore Bj used toa earn,- tho material from the B excavations. The new power house ud- B joins tho present plant, and ono of the B moat ticklish phases of tho work was B excavating thirty-five feet down the B sido of the old power houso building B without endangering tho foundations B of the latter. Tho work was 6ucccss- fully accomplished, however, and tho B operation of tho heavy generating ma- B cliinery in tho old plant was not dis- B turbed. B Tho main walls, below ground, of tho new power houso arc twolvo foot thick at their base, and tnpor to n thickness of four feet and tour inches. Tho deepest portion of tho powor houso is underlaid by a concrete mat throo foot thick, and tho concrete work forming tho subterranean chambers of the plant aro equipped -with emorgoncy BJ passageways for wator in caso abnor- BBj mal pressure on tho turbines occasions BS troublo. How Power Is Handled. B The powor gencratod by the new BB plant at Graco and by tho present BBj power hotieo at that station will be BB taken direct to tho now substation go- BBJ iDg up west of Salt Lakot by means of BBt tho 135-mile steel tower lines tho Utah BB Power & Light company is construct- BBj ing, Tho first of thoso two tower lines BBJ is now under way. The present power BBJ houso at Grace wtib erected by tho for- BB mer Tcllurido company, and. was pur- BBt i-hased by the "Utah Powor & Light BB company Into last year following the BB organization of tho' companv. BBT' There is already a doublo pole trans- BB' mission lino running from Graco down BBJ: tho riyor and into Utah, and thitj will BB: bo utilized for distribution purpoaoB BB ' upon the completion of the new trans- BB mission lines. There is also a pipe line BB at Graco that fumishos water powor BBj to tho present plant, and this will be BB continued in use, as the pipe line now BB' under construction will xnrnish water BB to the turbines of the now plant only. Strictly Up-to-date. B The new powor house will be one BBj. of the finest of its sizo in the country BBr. when comploted, aud its equipment will BBl be the best money can buv. Tho Grace BBjl plants are tho first on Bear river in BBM the Utah Power & Light company's BBf plan for developing many thousands BBJ, of horsepower of electrical 'power along BBJi the river, and the transmission tower! BB' lines start at theso two plants, picking. BBJj up tho power from other plants to be BBJi erected farther don the nvcr. BBJ; The .whir and hum of tho bic gon- erntors in the old plant, the crash of the concrete mixers, the rattle and clank of giant derricks as they swing their creaking loads high abovo tho workmen, the steady undertone of hundreds hun-dreds of laborers scattered over a small area, nnd the rumble of machinery, mingle picturesquely through every , hour of tho hurrying, busy days n't .Grace, and before colu weather sets in, I this important feature of the Utah i Powor & Light companv's dovelonment operations will bo well "on toward com-pletion. |