ELECTRICITY AND WATER POWER. 



ELECTRICITY AND WESTERN DEVELOP- 

 MENT. 



BY AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER. 

 From the Northwest Magazine. 



THE knowledge has not reached the American 

 people that there is a section of country in the 

 United States destined in the near future to become 

 the theatre of an industrial revolution greater than 

 any precedent in the world's history. The cause is 

 the creation of electric light, heat and power by the 

 utilization of falling water. The section to which al- 

 lusion is made consists of the States of Washington, 

 Oregon, Montana, Idaho, California, Wyoming, Ne- 

 vada, Colorado, Utah and the Territories of Arizona 

 and New Mexico, with an area aggregating 1,175,490 

 square miles, which will be designated here as the 

 Western section, in distinction to the geographical 

 divisions comprising the States and Territories on the 

 east of it, and extending to the Atlantic Ocean, con- 

 taining altogether 1,794,510 square miles, to be known 

 as the Eastern section. It will be noticed that, con- 

 trary to popular impression, the Western section 

 nearly approaches in size its Eastern neighbor, and, 

 as investigation will show, possesses a capacity for 

 useful production far beyond that of any correspond- 

 ing portion of the earth's surface. 



Except in favored localities in the East, the West- 

 ern section holds a monopoly in its unlimited water 

 power. When thus produced electricity can be util- 

 ized to turn night into day. It will banish at once gas 

 works, cooking stoves, heating furnaces, chimneys 

 and smoke. It will abolish boilers, engines, coal and 

 ashes. It means an uncontaminated atmosphere and 

 freedom from damage to goods and fabrics. How- 

 ever great and far-reaching may be the industrial 

 changes likely to ensue as the result of relatively free 

 light, heat and power, they are small in importance 

 compared to the wealth of natural resources in the 

 West which such changes will introduce to the activi- 

 ties and ambitions of the world's inhabitants. 



Dividing the elevated mountain ranges are basins 

 varying in size which for centuries have been the re- 

 ceptacles of the wash of the mountains, the soil thus 

 made being really a combination of chemicals best 

 suited for plant growth, which in the upheaval of the 

 surface was lifted from the bowels of the earth and 

 through ages of exposure to the air and elements 

 made ready for the intended purpose. Every valley 

 has abundant water supply in streams which head 

 among the mountains and are fed by the congealed 

 accumulations of the previous winter, slowly melting 



as the sun gains strength and the supply naturally 

 and automatically regulated, so that the same heat 

 that in the valleys demands moisture for the crops 

 unloosens it on the mountain sides to meet such re- 

 quirement. Some of this water, after absorbing am- 

 monia and other valuable qualities from the atmos- 

 phere, runs on the surface in rivulets and streams 

 directly to replenish the fields below, while much of 

 it sinks into the earth to gain by percolation soluble 

 richness from the volcanic matter and decomposed 

 limestone of which the mountains are composed, only 

 to reappear in springs at lower levels to join the com- 

 mon stream. With rare exceptions the lands of the 

 valleys have exactly the requisite degree of slope to 

 insure an even flow of water over the surface, and the 

 streams run at such a grade that canals for irrigation 

 can be economically constructed to carry supplies 

 out to contiguous cultivated fields. 



It will thus be seen that the operations of the agri- 

 culturist are carried on with the certainty of maxi- 

 mum results. He has all the forces of nature under 

 absolute control, and can in the beginning of a sea- 

 son, with the knowledge of the character of his soil 

 and his facilities for water supply, calculate with a 

 certainty precisely what the yield will be at the ter- 

 mination. Starting with a soil as rich as nature can 

 make it, with seasons arranged as if for his special 

 use, with rain quietly stored in neighboring mountain 

 heights to come at his bidding, instead of precipi- 

 tating itself, frequently with dangerous violence, at 

 unwelcome seasons, with reservoirs of liquid manure 

 needing only to be tapped, with a climate constantly 

 inviting out-door labor, and with no uncomfortable 

 heat or cold to encounter what conditions supposed 

 to have existed in the Garden of Eden are lacking in 

 this? But the list of attractions of the mountain 

 States is not yet complete. There being no moisture 

 permanently in the ground there are no long waits in 

 the spring for the melting of the frost before the 

 labor of plowing and seeding can commence, and for 

 the same reason all traveled roads are as perfect as 

 any combination of material can make them. 



In contemplation of the possibilities of such a 

 country who can predict its future, when with wise 

 laws capital can be provided for the stimulation of its 

 resources? What a magnificent field for the settle- 

 ment of the idle millions of the over-crowded East 

 if knowledge of the inducements for emigration can 

 be conveyed ! Electricity will here find its home and 

 its benefits be so diffused that the modest farm-house 

 as well as the city mansion may enjoy the blessings 

 of unlimited light, heat and power. 



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