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

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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

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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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THE REDWOOD 29 power of over ten per cent, and we may safely assume that the factors which forced the industry ahead thus far will remain unchanged. Our generating plants at present have a peak load capacity of 1,223,000 horsepower with ;i very small margin in excess of the maximum load. By 1925, in spite of Hie addition of 452,000 horsepower as planned, the resources of the state will be 175,000 horsepower short of requirements. This means that, if the power com- panies are to meet future demands as great in proportion as those of the past, new plants must be financed and constructed in excess of the present schedule. The conclusion therefore follows that California can utilize all the power flint can be developed. The mo c t conservative and reliable estimates of water power which can be economically developed in the state average about 6,000,- 000 horsepower, and according to the present rate of increase in demand this power will be absorbed in 1941. Already men of foresight are considering the great Colorado and Columbia Rivers as sources of supply for the future. The problem is to develop an adequate amount of power to provide for the full realization of California ' s possibilities. Great national resources lay open to development, and more and more the resourcefulness of the human mind will be called upon to perform marvelous feats of engineering and finance. If the fruits of these new undertakings are in any measure compara- ble with the efforts and accomplishments of the past, we may be assured that the future of California is to be one of continued prosperity. Violets and Stars By Tullio Argenti, ' 23. Violets are the humble thoughts That spring from the soul of earth Even stars are the thoughts of God, High heaven their place of birth.