14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



DEVELOP CANADA'S 



WATER POWER. 



The Montreal Power Company, in addition 

 to being a pioneer in respect of a portion of 

 its undertaking, occupies a distinctive posi- 

 tion in many ways. Its water power works 

 for the generation of electricity at Chambly, 

 on the Richelieu river, eighteen miles from 

 Montreal, were the first of the kind in Can- 

 ada, and about contemporaneous with similar 

 original undertakings in California and Color- 

 ado of the United States, for the long distance 

 transmission of electricity. 



Perhaps it was fitting that the historical 

 Richelieu, with its intimate relationship to the 

 development of Lower Canada and of New 

 York state, should have enjoyed this distinc- 

 tion. 



An absolutely unique feature of the com- 

 pany's operating lies in the fact that already 

 three great water powers, many miles apart, 

 have been harnessed and joined together, and 

 are supplying electric energy to a common 

 distributing station, and within a few months 

 a fourth power will have begun to contribute 

 its quota of electricity to this combination. In 

 this way Montreal has become the largest dis- 

 tributing center of transmitted electric power 

 in the world. 



It was not all plain sailing with the initia- 

 tion of this great water power works, and 

 many will recall the serious problems sur- 

 mounted one by one, and especially those that 

 arose out of the severity of the Canadian win- 

 ters, which at one time actually threatened the 

 success of these water powers. However, in 

 due course this problem, as well as that of 

 long distance transmis-sion with a minimum of 

 loss, has been successfully solved. 



From Chambly there is now being transmit- 

 ted to Montreal 20,000 horse power, the full 

 limit of capacity of the water power. Unfor- 

 tunately, the early history of this work in- 

 cludes the usual proportion of mistakes, and 

 as a result, on November 30, 1902, a large por- 

 tion of the dam was carried away, and this 

 entailed the rebuilding or reinforcing of al- 

 most the entire work. The stockholders of 

 the company at that time will not, even now, 

 have forgotten the seriousness of this event. 



An additional dam, three miles up the river 

 at St. Therese, originally intended for the pro- 

 duction of additional horse power, was after- 

 wards with profit turned into a storage reser- 

 voir for the regulation of the volume of water 

 over the main dam, and thereby the company 

 is able to increase, the pressure during the rush 

 hours of the. day. 



Situated on the north shore of the St. Law- 

 rence, seven miles away are the Lachine Hy- 

 draulic Works, in full view of the world- 

 famed rapids of that name, an immense super- 

 ficial area of the calmest waters is artificially 

 cut off from the swift-flowing, turbulent river. 

 Here is generated 9,000 horse power at pres- 

 ent, with a possible increase to 12,000, but no 

 further extension is possible from the fact that 

 the working head, or elevation, is but seven- 

 teen feet as against thirty-one feet at Cham- 

 bly. 



Eighty-five miles distant from Montreal, on 

 the St. Maurice river, the Shawinigan Water 

 and Power Company has utilized the splendid 

 fal's of that name, having a head of 140 feet 

 ar>d a possible capacity of 101). 000 horse power, 

 and it is r.ovv supplying 12,000 horse power to 

 the Montreal company under a 25-year con- 

 tract with right of renewal. The physical ad- 

 vantages in connection with the situation of 

 these falls constitute it one of the most valu- 

 able powers in Canada. 



At Soulanges Canal, thirty miles from Mon- 

 treal, a new water power, with a head of 31 

 feet. i> IHIIIH rapidly converted into a fourth 

 plant for the transmission of another 10,000 

 horse power to the Montreal corporation and 

 before the end of the year this additional elec- 

 tric current will be tributary to the city of 



Montreal and will go far to relieve the present 

 serious shortage of power. 



At several sub-stations the company has 

 auxiliary steam plants, with a total capacity of 

 about 11,000 horse power, ready for action in 

 the event of any serious accident to the water 

 power plants. Furthermore, in connection 

 with the waters of the St. Lawrence and the 

 Ottawa river, the Montreal Power Company is 

 said to have control, directly or indirectly, of 

 at least another dozen potential water powers. 

 If it does not care to utilize these, at least oth- 

 ers are prevented from doing so and entering 

 into serious competition. 



BIG DEAL CLOSED QUICKLY. 



A. N. Spratt, an old time lumberman of 

 Alpena. writes to the Alpena Echo from Mon- 

 tana, where he is now located, a story of the 

 deal whereby the Minor Lumber Company 

 was organized in the early eighties. He says: 



It was late in November, 1881, I had sold 

 the most of my timber lands and lumbering 

 outfit, such as horses, etc., with the intention 

 of going to Ontario temporarily for the pur- 

 pose of dealing in Canadian pine limits. I 

 had sold John S. Minor a pair of driving 

 horses and had called at his office for a last 

 chat, and incidentally, a check for $425. Mr. 

 Minor, in an exceedingly friendly and cordial 

 manner, took it upon himself to tell me how 

 much he regretted to have me leave Alpena. 

 and went on to say how generally satisfac- 

 tory our dealings had been and wound up by 

 advising me not to go. 



I replied that I had sold most of my timber 

 and rigs, and inquired what I should do if I 

 remained in Alpena. 



Those who knew Mr. Minor well, can im- 

 agine just how he looked as he raised, his 

 eyes to mine and said, "Buy me put." 



"Very well," I .replied, "what will you take 

 for your entire Alpena interests, and how 

 much money down!" 



He hesitated but a moment and replied 

 $200,030, $25,000 in cash." 



Nothing more was said then, and not to 

 exceed a half a minute had been consumed in 

 our talk. The next time I met him I banter- 

 ingly broached the subject, and remained per- 

 haps 90 seconds in his company, resulting in 

 a 50 minute option at his former figures, 

 which 1 accepted inside of half the time. 



Although the trade was not concluded that 

 day, or strictly along those lines, the fact re- 

 mains that scarcely half of five minutes had 

 been consumed in my negotiations with Mr. 

 Minor before I had accepted his offer, just as 

 he had made it. Neither had I considered 

 the matter except during that last half hour. 



The price remained at $200.000 with $50,000 

 in cash, instead of $25,000. 1 made the pur- 

 chase for purely speculative purposes, and it 

 was entirely an afterthought that the organiza- 

 tion of the Minor Lumber Company was con- 

 sidered and consummated. 



Mr. Minor's three small words, "Buy me 

 out," had been responsible for the change in 

 at least four men's lives, for the Minor Lum- 

 ber Company came into existence in conse- 

 quence of them. 



It was an entire change for Mr. Minor, who 

 quit lumbering for ever. John Nicholson, Tom 

 C. Lester, 1 and the writer assumed the man- 

 agement of the lumber interests, and, together 

 with Geo. L. Maltz, banker, they owned the 

 stock and composed the directorate of the 

 company. 



MODERN BRIDGE BUILDING. 



The bridge that is eventually to link Ravens- 

 wi>od, L. I., with Fifty-ninth street. New York, is 

 fairly well along and it will be in commission by 

 the middle of next year, if strikes do not delay it. 

 The tip of the completed section projects more 

 than 500 feet over the east branch of the Fast 

 river, while tin- progress from Blackwcll's Island 

 toward New York proper lias been a little more 

 than 250 feet. The Long Island and Manhattan 

 shores arc :i.7:;5 feet apart at this point. 



Thirteen hundred and eighty feet of the bridge 



is done so far as the mere trusses are concerned, 

 and of the 50,000 tons of steel that will be re- 

 quired, more than 20.000 have already been used. 

 The gap once bridged, there will still remain the 

 long, sloping approaches and the laying of tracks 

 and roadways. The contract for the Manhattan 

 approach is not let yet. 



The idea of a Blackwell's Island bridge was 

 hatched a long time ago. A company was char- 

 tered to put it through as far back as 1807. The 

 Long Island end was to hit the earth two miles 

 inland, and there was to be a branch to Brooklyn. 

 In Manhattan two approaches were projected, one 

 starting at the Grand Central station, the other 

 further north. Prof. W. T. Trowbridge is on rec- 

 ord as having suggested the cantilever scheme in 

 1870. 



Ground was broken in 1S03. Plans missed fire, 

 though, until January 27, 1901, when a contract 

 for piers for the bridge was let. Steel workers 

 were on the job by November 20, 1903. 



Almost at the take-off strikes began and kept 

 things at a standstill between January 1 and the 

 middle of May last year. The union lost and the 

 bridge is now "open shop." Six hundred men are 

 at work, not counting the great force employed in 

 getting out the steel in the shops of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Steel Company. 



Counting approaches, the Blackwell's Island 

 bridge is going to be the fourth longest bridge in 

 the world. Its 8,230 feet will be beaten by the Tay 

 bridge which holds the record of 10,780 feet 

 and the Forth bridge, both in Scotland, and by 

 he bridge which spans the Ohio river at Cairo, 

 111. 



The gauzy affair at Poughkecpsie, always play- 

 id as a headlincr among cantilevers, can boast of 

 no more than 6,767 feet. For purposes of com- 

 parison let it be noted that the entire length of the 

 Brooklyn bridge suspension, from Park Row to 

 Sands street, is 5,989 feet. 



Save for the bridges at Poughkecpsie and Niag- 

 ara, this will be the only cantilever bridge of con- 

 sequence in that part of the country. It will be 

 much wider that the Poughkeepsie bridge, with 

 room for a fifty- four foot roadway and four trol- 

 ley ear tracks on the lower floor and four elevated 

 tracks and two \\ l / 2 foot sidewalks above. The 

 roadways are to be paved with wood blocks, like 

 those of the Williamsburg bridge. Pedestrians 

 will walk on cement. 



The cantilever idea is pretty well understood, 

 although it has been of practical use only since 

 the middle '80s. Starting from two shore piers, 

 the builders anchor their first trusses to the shore 

 in the manner of a springboard and begin work- 

 ing out over the water from both sides until the 

 ends meet. 



The old way, exemplified at Poughkecpsie and 

 elsewhere, was to effect a junction by inserting a 

 sort of little suspension bridge hinged to the par- 

 ent structures. Camel-back, the style has been 

 dubbed. 



For aesthetic reasons Bridge Commissioner 

 Lindenlhal and Consulting Architect Henry 

 Hornhostle cut out this feature in planning the 

 Black well's Island bridge. A hinged rocker has 

 been found to answer the same purpose, which 

 was to provide room for natural contraction and 

 expansion. During a year there is a variation of 

 an inch in every hundred feet of bridge steel. 



A pla/a approach to the Manhattan end is to be 

 secured by widening Second avenue on the west- 

 erly side and raxing the whole block bounded by 

 Second and Third avenues and Fifty-ninth and 

 Sixtieth streets. 



In money it is expected that the Blackwell's 

 Island bridge will. cost $15,000,000. 



It is reported that Wolf Bros, of Grand Rapids, 

 who own in the neighborhood of 25,000 acres of 

 timber land in Ontonagon and Houghton coun- 

 ties, are contemplating the erection of a large 

 sawmill and other manufacturing plants at Pori, 

 a small station at the St. Paul just on the edge 

 of lloughton county. Negotiations for the loca- 

 tion of these industries at some favorable point 

 in the vicinity of the timber land owned by these 

 men have been under way for so-ne little time, 

 but no definite announcement has yet been made. 



