542 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



the water, just as it does in the St. John and similar rivers. Never- 

 theless, Avhile the building of the dam was in progress the question 

 of large masses of ice moving with the current should be given every 

 attention, and quite likely some special method of cushioning the 

 blows from ice might have to be devised. 



POWER DISTRIBUTION 



We will now turn to a consideration of the method of distributing 

 the power available at Hopewell, and I will ask you to examine the 

 next figure (No. 8) and note how centrally Hopewell is placed with 

 reference to the centers of population of both New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia. 



The method of transmission carries with it no special problems, 

 as we would undoubtedly use step-up transformers at the power 

 house, transmit at about 66,000 volts with three-phase current, and 

 use step-down transformers at the delivery points. All this system 

 has been so thoroughly thrashed out, and is in daily use all over 

 Canada and under Canadian winter conditions, that it has become 

 practically " standard " and needs no special consideration here, 

 The principal feature that should be considered in laying out the 

 transmission lines would be one of expediency and proper return on 

 the capital outlaj^ of transmission lines and line losses. Undoubt- 

 edly a main line should go west to St. John, with power for all inter- 

 vening towns and villages of any size, and undoubtedly a main line 

 should go east and south to Halifax with power for Sackville, 

 Springhill, Amherst, Truro, etc.; and also undoubtedly branch lines 

 should go to Moncton, New Glasgow, and Stellarton, as the present 

 population would warrant this. The extension of branch lines to 

 St. Stephen, Fredericton, Newcastle, and Chatham is somewhat 

 doubtful at present, but there are railways that well might be eco- 

 nomically electrified toward all these points, and I have therefore 

 included them in the preliminary estimate. I have prepared a table 

 of the population that would be served by these lines, and the total 

 works out at 250,000 inhabitants. With this as a basis, we should 

 now estimate the probable per capita use and thus obtain an estimate 

 of the proper size of plant for the initial development at Hopewell. 



THE MARKET 



When I prepared my first report on this subject it was submitted 

 to the well-known firm of Sanderson & Porter, of New York — a firm 

 who specializes in the control and management of some 60 hydro- 

 electric developments — and their condensed criticism was as follows : 



We think your proposal from an engineering standpoint is sound and it is 

 the only scheme for utilizing tidal power that seems practical, but we are rather 



