38 



GENERAL INTRODUCTION 



Railroad Electrification. Hydro-electric power will undoubt- 

 edly play an important part in connection with future railroad 

 electrifications, especially in the western mountainous States. 

 440 miles of the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 

 Paul Railroad have now been equipped for operation by elec- 

 tricity, power being supplied' by nearby hydro-electric develop- 

 ments, Fig. 10. In view of the economical success of this elec- 



FIG. 10. Electric Trains at the Entrance to Silver Bow Canyon on the 

 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific 

 Railways. 



trification, it is almost certain that within the next ten years a 

 majority of the railroads operating through the mountainous 

 country of the Far West, where hydro-electric power can be 

 developed cheaply, will adopt electricity as a motive power. It 

 is estimated that five million horse-power would be required to 

 electrify the 50,000 miles of railroad in the western States, or 

 one-ninth of the total hydro-electric power possible to develop in 

 the territory traversed by these railroads. 



