IRRIGATION AND HYDRO-ELECTRIC DEVELOPMENTS 

 pleted to a height of 225 feet and will remain 

 in use at this height until additional storage is 

 needed. (See PL XXV.) 



The importance of this installation will be ap- 

 preciated from the bare statement that the ultimate 

 generator capacity in these several stations will 

 aggregate about 1*16,000 kilowatt, or about 155,000 

 horse power. 



The Mount Whitney Power Company, California, 

 supplies most of its power to irrigation plants. 

 In the San Joaquin Valley, as elsewhere in the arid 

 West, the area that is irrigated with water pumped 

 from sub-surface sources is rapidly increasing. The 

 pumping by the use of steam or gasoline is in 

 many localities being superseded by the use of 

 electric power. The Mount Whitney Power Com- 

 pany develops power at three stations in the Sierra 

 Nevada on the headwaters of Kaweah River and 

 another on Tule River, and the power there gener- 

 ated is carried westerly into the valley for use. 

 The generator capacity on this hydro-electric 

 system aggregates about 11,000 horse power and 

 this will be doubled by contemplated additions. 



The San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation, 

 California, was the first to successfully transmit 

 power by electricity a distance of thirty-six miles. 

 The old plant of this corporation came into use 

 in 1896. The hydro-electric power output of this 

 plant is used from Bakersfield as far north as 

 Snelling. The power generating stations are on 

 the San Joaquin River and on the Kern River. The 

 Kern River power station is located at the point 

 where Kern River breaks from its granite gorge 

 out into the San Joaquin Valley. This station is 

 located about twelve miles easterly from Bakers- 

 field. 



The Great Western Power Company, California, 

 has found its source of power in Feather River. 

 This river in its descent from the higher mount- 

 ains, at one point of its course, makes a great 

 horseshoe bend. A dam at the upper end of the 

 horseshoe and a tunnel through the narrow neck 

 make a fall of about 430 feet available, which will 

 at some time be increased by a higher dam to 

 535 feet. This fall has been utilized. The diverting 

 and intake works and the power house are pointed 

 out to travelers on the Western Pacific. In the 

 power house there were originally installed four 

 10,000 kilowatt generators, to which further addi- 

 tions have recently been made. 



Feather River has a large low-water flow, some 

 800 cubic feet per second, but even this can be in- 



234 



