544 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



Dam cost in cyclopean concrete — Continued 

 Eastern dam: 



2,800 lineal feet, at equivalent height of 65 feet and $480 per 



lineal foot $1, 345, 000 



2,000 lineal feet, at equivalent height of 35 feet and $180 per 



lineal foot 360, 000 



Wing dam: 



900 lineal feet, at equivalent height of 30 feet and $141 per 



lineal foot 127, 000 



Total cost (10,530 lineal feet) 3,950,000 



Since we will remain uncertain about the dam cost until borings 

 are made, it will be best to allow $4,000,000 in our preliminary esti- 

 mates. 5 



The other items of cost can be more accurately estimated from the 

 known cost of equipment in existing hydroelectric developments, and 

 we have the following table of total estimated cost : 



Dams, as per preceding estimate $4,000,000 



Lock, in western dam 440,000 



Sluices, gates, etc 450,000 



Power house of steel and concrete 950, 000 



Turbines, generators, etc., at $50 per gross horsepower 4,500,000 



Transmission lines, etc 1,400,000 



Preliminary dredging, dam, trench, etc 150,000 



Promotion, engineering fees, etc 750,000 



Auxiliary plant to supply head deficiency at subnormal neap tides, say 1, 300 r 000 



Total cost of initial development to produce 90,000 gross 

 horsepower 13. 940, 000 



Cost per horsepower developed 155 



The cost for subsequent development is much less, relatively, for in 

 the initial development full allowance has had to be made for the 

 final development in all items except turbines, generators, and trans- 

 mission lines and the cost of a full development of 200,000 gross 

 horsepower would work out at about $20,000,000, or $100 per gross 

 horsepower. In this estimate for final development the cost of shov- 

 eling and dredging the Memramcook farming lands — which would be 

 necessary as previously shown — is not figured, for it would be un- 

 doubtedly good policy to start this work as soon as the power house 

 was in operation and take the necessary cost out of the annual income. 



To ascertain whether a hydro proposal is " commercial," it is 

 necessary, for any given locality, to compare the cost of developed 

 horsepower with the cost of steam coal in the locality considered, 

 and this relation for the Maritime Provinces is shown in Figure 9. 

 In January, 1914, the wholesale price of steam coal was $4.50 per 

 long ton (at St. John, New Brunswick), and at that time and rate per 

 ton for coal it was a paying proposition to develop a water power 



8 Another method of obtaining approximate cost for clams was figured as follows: 

 Approximate volume of all dams=465,000 cubic yards, less allowance for gates=70,000 

 cubic yards ; net for dams=39-5,000 cubic yards. With concrete at $10.50 per cubic 

 yard, total cost of dams=$4, 150.000. 



