229 



coal, less hiimaii labor, aud a rlcniuT (luari'.v. As a luetliod of conserving 

 power it caiiiiot be called successful, althctiiiih the failure in one case luaj 

 be laid to the fact that the clianneling machines used with compressed air 

 are of the old steam types witli tlic air Imse iuti-uilnccd into thcii' l)oilers. 

 thus keeping the faults of the steam channeler ami adding to them the 

 line losses of compressed air. This method would be lar more economical 

 with modern compressed air chambers. 



Second, a central plant for each district might be ctuistructed with an 

 idea of handling the coal mor*; easily and having an adequate water supply. 

 These plants could be located so that the cost of distribution of the power 

 by electricity would I)e a small item, as tlie districts are reasonalily com- 

 pact and easily reached. 



Third, we might consider water power with electrical distribution to 

 the plants. In fact, such a plant is already in existence at Williams, but 

 on account of the micertainty of their water .supply the plant is equipped 

 with a steam auxiliary. Tlieir proximity to the quarries and mills of I^aw- 

 rence County makes it probable that most of their power will be sold 

 there, as the heavier line losses in distributing to this district would tend 

 to center their inter.:>sts in the southern part of the stone belt. Other 

 projects have been suggested, but the extremel.v high first cost of the 

 construction of a water-power plant makes it ratlier a (piestion of the 

 future than of the present powei' problem. 



Lastly, and iH'obabl:^' the most economical solution of the problem is 

 the construction of a large central plant in the coal fields with high tension 

 transmission of the power to the quarry districts and the use of electrical 

 machineiy throughout the plants. This plant could be equipi)ed with 

 modern automatically stt^ked boilers with superheaters and condensing 

 engmes; or the plant could be equipped with gas producers and gas 

 engines. An interesting calculation on the subject can be made by taking 

 a single district and showing the possibilities for that district if the oper- 

 ators could unite to solve their power problem. 



I have taken District No. 1 and attempted to calculate the cost of 

 such plants from the data available, but, in general, calculations of this 

 kind are only approximately true, as the price of materials is constantly 

 changing and the tendency of contractors is to hide the true costs by 

 unbalanced bidding. This makes it difficult to estimate prices. 



The following figures are reasonably correct for a 1,000 H. P. plant: 



