12G RURAL MICHIGAN 



Of the various hydro-electric power companies op- 

 erating in Michigan, the Escanaba Traction Com- 

 pany, which has a series of stations on the Escanaba 

 Eiver in the Upper Peninsula, is credited by the 

 Michigan Public Utilities Commission with the great- 

 est kilowatt capacity (Dec. 31, 1918), namely, 100,- 

 800 ; while the Consumers Power Company's twenty- 

 one stations on the ]\Ianistee, Muskegon, Grand, 

 Lookingglass, Shiawassee, Au Sable, and Kalamazoo 

 rivers, with 75,900 kilowatt capacity, was the largest 

 actual producer of current in 1918, the output ap- 

 proximating 228,000,000 kilowatt hours.^ Other 

 large producers of power are the Cleveland Clilfs 

 Iron Company (26,000,000 K. W. H.) operating 

 on the iron range near Marquette; the Indiana and 

 Michigan Electric Company (54,000,000 K. W. H.) 

 on the St. Joseph River; and the Detroit Edison 

 Company managing five plants on the Huron River. 

 A considerable number of concerns are operating 

 single stations of a few hundred kilowatts potential 

 capacity, and still other plants municipally owned 

 and operated, like those at Marquette and Escanaba. 

 The agricultural significance of this electric power 

 development is chiefly in connection with the inter- 

 urban railroad, which has become a highly prized 

 service in many parts of the State. 



^Statement of the Michigan Public Utilities Commia- 

 sion, 1920. 



