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Show Electric Generating Plant Mine-Mout- h Supplies 66,000 Kilowatts to Utah Central and southeastern Utah now have a new source of electrical energy derived from its own native coal. Last November Utah Power and light Co.s new 66,000 Carbon plant kilowatt, Castle Gate began whirring out power for the rapidly growing mine-mout- h in y area. Prior to operation of the new plant, electricity used in Carbon county and southeastern Utah, the southern end of the UP&L system, . f rpt 1 . . v ' ,5 ; Jri f, involved ;! V transportation of & energy. Carbon county coal was I 111 electo steam UP&L transported tric plants in northcentral Utah t. and to Salt Lake City. There, the rv electricity was generated and then f sent through transmission lines J? VU- - ' ' back to Carbon county. Tie in on the UP&L system of the $11,800,000 plant climaxed more than three weeks of tests and slow wind-u- p vv .vfc. process of the turbine generator. h Carbon plant at Split second timing required for 'UTAH POWER & LIGHT COS Castle Gate, Utah, is the first central electricity generating synchronizing and final tie in to the system was directed from the station in the area. The ready availability of coal was one of control the chief factors prompting UP&L to locate this new 66,000 plants instrument-cluttereroom by Superintendent John Conkilowatt generating plant in the growing central and south-centr- al dor. Utah area. The plants boiler at full capacity will consume pulverized coal, ground to talcum powder fineness, at the The plant has an installed capaenough city of 66,000 kilowatts rate of 750 tons per day, equal to 12 railroad carloads each day. electric energy to supply the needs The huge plant was placed in operation last November. of a city of more than 100,000. Located at Castle Gate in the Utah, including the coal mines. kwh unit at Gadsby plant on the midst of Utahs coal fields, Carbon fed west- west outskirts of Salt Lake City. be will power Surplus plant is the first central generatCarbon is the companys second ing station in the area to be con- ward over high voltage transmislargest power maker. Largest is structed at the mouth of a coal sion lines into the interconnected the plant, Gadsby steam-electri- c mine. system that supplies most of north- which will generate 241,000 kiloE. M. Naughton, UP&L president ern Utah and southern Idaho. watts when its third unit is comand general manager, said the of the Carbon plant pleted. Completion full at will draw plant capacity its fuel supplies at the rate of raised the total installed generating 756 tons a day from an adjacent capacity of the utility to 490,066 Down Up mine and other properties in the kilowatts. It is the newest plant coal-ricof the companys current building Carbon Emery fields. will see Each hour at full capacity, the program that by In Mining boiler will turn out steam completion of the third 100,000 from 30 tons of coal ground to the no longer a little mans Its fineness of talcum powder. Thats game, this uranium business. enough to heat five average homes That is the studied opinion of all winter. Howard Balsley of Moab, who Under steam pressure of 1250 has been in the uranium business pounds per square inch, the turbine since 1915. He warns that almost blades at full capacity will turn According to Mrs,- - Helen M. all of the surface uranium outat 3,600 revolutions per minute, or approximately 850 miles per Knight, Grand county superintend- croppings have been discovered ent of schools, a few elementary and from now on it will rehour. Mr. Naughton said basic task school is being erected at Moab, quire deep drilling and big money of the new unit will be to furnish and will cost $534,625. The school to seek it out. electrical energy to Utah Powers will be located in the west part of Balsley, now 64 years old, trampcustomers in central and eastern town on land secured from a ura- ed the mountains around Moab nium prospector. The building will staking uranium claims long behave 15 classrooms, being segment- fore geiger counters were invented. ed around a court yard. Porch He urges people not to risk their New Hospital to Be corridors will face the court, Mrs. life savings on uranium Knight said, and there will be hunting deals. coma gymnasium and auditorium Constructed at Moab He maintains there are two ways bined. of making money out of uranium. Thanks to donations from minThe new school will have a kitch- One it. The ing companies and related indus- en large enough and equipped other is by actuallyit. mining The latter inby selling tries and federal aid under the to prepare meals for as many as cludes claims and wild promotions Act, a $415,000 hospitfuriously selling stock. al will be erected at Moab, start- 400 children. But the ordinary smalltimer is Reason for the new construcing in May or June. The hospital will be located a tion can be found in enrollment much better off buying stock in a half-mil- e west of town in the fair figures. Over 164 new students have reputable firm and awaiting comcounsels Balsley. grounds area, and will have a 25 been enrolled since last year and pany growth, bed capacity, five doctors and a they still are coming, Mrs. Knight or indirectly, Balsley Directly, said. Classes have to be divided, has an interest in 50 to 75 claims staff of 25 others. The present hospital at and there now are three first around Moab. Several companies Moab is overcrowded the year grades, four second grades and are past the two sections in all others. Second mark in round. production off claims he grades are operating in shifts. has sold. Government and private interests There are more grade school Not always has there been plenty have drilled an estimated 1,000,000 teachers in Moab this year than and shelter for this feet while searching for uranium there were in the whole district of foodminer. In 1908, he recalls, on the Colorado Plateau. in 1950. his first four months in Moab netted him exactly 50 cents. Later he worked for $1 a day, and from that saved $30 and took a civil service examination for a clerical job in the La Sal National Forest Service office. He got the job and worked for nine years, ending up as acting supervisor. Then he went to work in a bank, remaining for several years until being elected county clerk, auditor and clerk of the district court. All formed one job in Grand County two-wa- y vy J jvVrf .'I ",? lb: s x t; g 339-to- n mine-mout- d It's and h mid-195- Uranium 5 y Moab Gets New Elementary School Becomes More U-Sea- rch Costly as Field Narrows The days when a geiger counter old state law dating back to tenV and a little luck were all that was torial days making it even rouglw needed to find uranium ore are er on shoestring operators. Thia figure law requires that a pit at least just about over. Geologists most of the areas on the Colo- 10 feet wide and 10 feet deep must be dug on each claim, just as ft rado Plateau easily accessible by jeep or truck were staked out last summer. And now uranium prospecting Is moving into the realm of big business, requiring airplanes and scientific searching parties. More and more the demand is for technical experience in mineral hunting. This new phase of prospecting, spurred on perhaps by the governments guaranteed ore purchasing program which will continue until 1962 unless ended by Congress, has attracted many miningcompanies and oil firms into the field. One oil firm staked out over 150 claims recently in some of the roughest regions of Colorado and Arizona. In Montrose county, Colorado they have claims in the Davis Mesa group, and they have another south of Glenwood Springs. Near Flagstaff, Arizona, the company staked claims in the Shadow Mountain group. And all of the prospecting done so far by this one company has required only about 50 hours flying time in small aircraft. According to one prospector, it is possible to obtain readings on scintillometers which narrow down the search to about one square mile. From then on, the search is by foot, trudging over mountains and around canon rims to remote areas where uranium deposits are suspected. Sometimes there is disappointment, too, when a study of maps has resulted in leading ground searchers to already claims. Too, hunting uranium is an expensive proposition. If by air, it is necessary to use a scintillometer which costs all the way from $500 to $2,000. Once the search is on the ground, there is a $135 geiger counter to be used, or even a 24 geiger tube nucliometer which costs as much as $445. Expenses dont stop once the claim is staked and the record filed at the county courthouse. The government insists that at least $100 a year be spent on each 20.2 acre claim, and that money cannot be marked off as geological expenses such as incurred when buying geiger counters. It must be spent in actual drilling or improvements such as road building. Then, in Colorado, there is an was in the days of the silver and gold rush. Wyoming recently changed tta mining laws to require only tho drilling of small core holes in o der to secure samples. That leaves only Colorado on the Colorado Plateau with the antiquated Earths bosom. New Phone System In Operation Soon Over $200,000 Is being spent by the Bell Telephone System to make connections with booming Moab, Utah, deep in the heart ol the Colorado Plateau uranium country. Representatives of Moabs Mid- land Telephone Co., report their bill for the cost of meeting Bell at Thompsons may run as high ax $50,000. At least 300 long distance calls a day go out of the swamped Moab exchange. And more than 300 are continually awaiting incoming line clearance. For 16 hours a day three operators handle nothing but toll calls. The new connections, which will be in operation by June, will provide eight more toll circuits ta Provo, and two to Price. Added to the present circuits, they will make 17 lines connecting with tho Bell System. Suffering under a burden of a 100 per cent yearly increase in service requests, the telephone Midland Co., is just completing work on a $50,000 dial system. Unlike the old system, carrying a capacity load, the new equipment is capable of expansion as more telephones are hooked up to homes and businesses. At present, as many as eight and ten connections are served on party lines in Moab. stak-ed-o- Six South African uranium ora processing plants, along with three Canadian, one Australian and one Belgiian Congo plant are nov shipping uranium to the U. S. one-tim- e URANIUM pit law. But uranium seekers are not discouraged because of the pit law. If they find a uranium deposit, they are most willing to dig a hole in order to extract it from Mother EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT Hill-Burto- n d GEOLOGICAL CONSULTANT SERVICE Gordon K. Zareski MOAB, UTAH old-tim- e ALCO URANIUM CORP. COURTESY REALTY, INC. URANIUM CLAIMS prospecting AND MINES 125 NORTH MAIN PH. 2471 Business Opportunities UTAH 125 North Main Phone 2471 Moab after work and on weekends. The bug bit him and he started devoting full time to Everything in Real Estate MOAB, then. It was while in the state and county positions that he started Utah prospecting and producing after 13 years in the county building. His county job, though, worked out as a buffer when in 1918 the bottom fell out of the radium market when pitchblende was found in South Africa. It was then that Balsley became interested in vanadium. Then, in 1923, a mountain of it was found in Peru. He was out again. Vitro Chemical Co., of Pittsburgh started buying uranium in 1934 for use in ceramic colors. Balsley was in again. Later the Army and finally the Atomic Energy Commission moved in and painting pottery with uranium (it is a pretty yellow) became a thing of the past. Balsley is still in, and he believes private industry will soon be putting atomic energy to work in many fields. So, he figures, hell stay in. George R. Grandbouche MOAB WESTERN SERVICE STATION Tires, New and Used O Batteries o All Types of Accessories o Complete Lurication ALL POPULAR BRANDS OF OIL Car Washing Pickup & Polishing & Delivery H. M. Felts, Lessee Phone 2347 Moab Utah |
