University of Santa Clara - Redwood Yearbook (Santa Clara, CA)

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THE REDWOOD 27 has prompted the development of our water resources from the beginning. This accounts for the rapid advancement of the west and has given us clean, healthy, and prosperous cities with abundant power conveyed from the dist- ant mountains over great steel transmission lines. Truly California is a land of clear skies and beautiful sunsets, and where can one turn to the Golden West at dusk and not see the outline of one or more tower lines of energy crossing the dimly lighted horizon? The gold rush in the early fifties brought to California men who built wonderful dams in the high Sierras, and constructed marvelous ditches and flumes in the inaccessible cliffs to bring water down to the foothills for wash- ing out the precious metal from the earth. These men, without knowing it, laid the foundations of water power development, for without their primitive efforts it is improbable that we would have attained the advancement of to- day. As the mining enterprise developed, water was applied to crude wheels to provide power for working and crushing the ore. A most interesting his- tory is connected with the early development of the water wheel for power. A miner named Pelton, having a wheel of this type from which he obtained energy by causing a jet of water to strike against wooden buckets on the cir- cumference of a wheel, left, it is said, to administer punishment to a cow which had vexed him by her bellowing. On returning he found that the wheel had slipped to one side, so that the jet now struck the inside edge of the bucket instead of the center, and the wheel was running much faster and giving more power than before. This demonstrated the principle which led to the development of the Pelton water wheel, practically doubling the power that could be obtained from the water. The industrial growth of our cities gave a great demand for power, and the steam generating companies, seeking to meet this demand, turned to water power development, constructing new plants and purchasing those already in operation. This entry of the consolidated companies into the hydroelectric field established confidence, contributed strong organizations of personnel to guide and direct through centralized management, and established a perma- nency that made possible the rapid rise of the electrical industry. As addi- tional water power was made available the steam plants were closed down, except in times of large demand, and are now being used for stand by service, with the possibility, in time, of their being eliminated from the power systems entirely. The outgrowth of the power systems, clearly shown by the overloading necessary to supply centers of large demand, has led to the undertaking of projects of such magnitude as to be classified as superpower developments. Years of study, research, and investigation resulted in a solution of the prob- lem of connecting places of large demand with constant sources of large power by high voltage transmission. The year 1921 was notable as marking the first extensive construction work on these new projects such as the Pit River, the Feather River, and the Big Creek developmnts. Of these the Pit River pro- ject is the outstanding feature, due to its magnitude and long distance trans- mission of energy at 220,000 volts, while the Big Creek development is dis-

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26 THE REDWOOD Hydro-Electric Development in California By Robert E. Grady, B. S. in E. E. ' 23. HEN we analyze the great development of natural resources that is the basis of present prosperity and the promise of the future Cali- fornia, the factors that contribute to this worthy accomplishment stand out more clearly. California was favored by the Creator with natural advantages which lead us logically to conclude that our Golden State was de- signed to be something out of the ordinary. The mountain ranges to the east with their snow-capped peaks, deep canyons, and rushing torrents, affording an inexhaustible supply of water power; broad, fertile interior valleys with large rivers fed from the melting snows ; and extended seacoast with splendid harbors as an outlet to commerce and an incentive to industry : all form a nat- ural basis for advanced civilization. Our present excellent development is the product of the combined efforts of many men. Pioneers of initiative and courage, having a clear vision of the future, set in motion forces which have built from humble beginnings the great systems of to-day. As a result the history of the hydroelectric industry in California might well be called the history of the industry itself. In California our power does not consist of great waterfalls like Niagara, but is produced from rushing streams in deep mountain gorges. A stream is diverted from its course and conveyed by canal and tunnel to some point where a drop of from several hundred to possibly three or four thousand feet is obtained to the power house below. The water falling from this height through large steel pipes applies its accumulated energy to the waterwheel driving the generator, is released, and may be used several times in a similar manner during its course through the mountains. In the northern part of the state the peculiar geological formation known as the Modoc Lava Beds, which is in reality a great underground reservoir, gives rise to a number of spring fed streams of which the principal ones are the Pit River and its trib- utaries, supplying the Sacramento River to the west, and the Feather River which flows to the south and later also enters the Sacramento. Streams of this type require no large storage reservoirs with costly dams, and the dis- charge is not affected by heavy floods, giving most favorable conditions for the development of a constant supply of power. In the south where the run- off from extensive watersheds is the principal source of supply, reservoirs and dams are required for conservation, but the additional cost is lowered by tho use of water for irrigation after the development of power. The lack of coal that at first appeared to doom California ' s advancement proved ultimately to be the greatest good fortune that our state could have had. In the east an abundant supply of coal developed an extensive system of costly steam plants, and now, in view of a coal shortage and the greater economy of water power, they are facing a serious problem in the transition from steam to hydraulic power that the west has happily avoided. Necessity

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28 THE REDWOOD tinctive as the first system actually to operate at this record voltage. The Feather River development also is distinctly a high voltage enterprise, slightly preceding the other two in time, and transmitting power at 165,000 volts, a record for the time of its installation. Permanency and dependability are the principal characteristics of these new systems. Five chief materials of construction, steel, concrete, copper, aluminum, and porcelain, are blended into mighty unison comparable with no other product of the mind and hand of man. Steel is used for the construction of transmission towers one hundred feet in height, weighing up to six tons, of strength sufficient to support heavy spans of the power cables across deep can- yons, wide rivers, and over high mountains for hundreds of miles. Frames and trusses supporting the switches and other equipment are of steel ; likewise the reinforcements which strengthen the concrete in the power houses. Great pen- stocks which convey the water down the mountain side to the power wheels, and the turbines, generators, transformers, weighing up to seventy-five tons, switches, headgates, valves, and other equipment, are built of steel. Concrete, placed around steel frames, produces power house buildings that defy wear and disintegration, provides solid bases for the heavy machinery and trans- mission towers, lines the tunnels and canals carrying water to the power houses, and builds dams necessary for conserving and diverting the water. Copper produces the great coils of the electrical machines, generators and transformers, the electrical circuits through control apparatus and switching equipment in the power houses, an extensive network of high power transmis- sion lines, distribution and service equipment that conqjrises an electrical system. Aluminum gives cables for the high power lines through the moun- tain districts where heavy loads of snow and ice in winter require lightness and strength in construction of the long transmission spans. Porcelain, in the form of insulators suspended from the arms of the towers, supports the lines and prevents leakage and losses of electricity to the ground. Large bushings leading in and out of switches and transformers also serve to prevent these losses. The production of new and larger equipment has kept pace with the demand of the industry in every respect, and an industry based on develop- ment of this type is its own guarantee of a continuous healthy growth and prosperity. That the development of power is the basic industry of California is clearly shown by its relation to the other industries. The home of the Califor- nian is truly an electrical home, and it is here that electricity through its many applications has contributed in the greatest degree to the happiness and comforts of man. Agriculture has been greatly extended due to the use of power on the farm, for over a third of the lands of California are irrigated with water pumped by electricity. Industrial plants such as factories, can- neries, refrigerating plants, lumber mills and logging camps, and the mining, petroleum, and chemical industries, rely upon electricity for power. Trans- portation and communication likewise utilize electricity, and the electrifica- tion of all the principal railways is only a matter of time. For the past ten years there has been an annual increase in the use of