Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/81

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

(he counties o( Luxernc, Columbia and Mon­ tour brought under the requirements of the statutes of the State relative to the supply o f light, heat and power within the territory of the franchise and to persons and companies in the territory contiguous thereto. in undertaking the work of the operation of the various subsidiary companies, the neces­ sity o f a change in the power for operation w as early felt. Each of the res]>cctive operated companies w as producing its own motive power, with a multiplicity o f engines, gen­ erators and machinery, and each with its force of employees. Indeed it w*as one of the pri­ m ary conceptions in the economic operation of these companies to secure cither a common center o f power within the territory, or a power from a distance outside of the terri­ tory from which all the subsidiary* companies might l>e operated from a common source or by the manipulation of a single unit. In con­ summation o f this design the company, through the Nescopeck Light, Heat and Po'ver Com­ pany, on the 5th day o f June. 1909, caused the execution of a contract for the supply of power w'ith the Harwood Electric Company, by which the latter named company agreed to furnish by the ist o f Jan u ary, 19 10. suffi­ cient common power to operate the transporta­ tion companies and all of the light, heat and power companies, to the maximum amount o f live thousand kilowatts. The plant of the Harwood Ktcctric Company is locatcil at Harwood Mines, in Luzerne coun­ ty, Pa., distant some si^steen miles southeast o f Berwick. T he stcampowcr for the genera­ tion o f electricity is produced by the consump­ tion of the refuse of the mining operations of the Pardee Kstate extending over a period of some forty years, which, having been produced in mining operations when only the choicest coal was sent into commerce, contains vast de­ posits o f w'ashabic and commercial coal as used in modern economics, amounting to mil­ lions o f tons, which under the present rate of consumption will not be consumed in h alf a century. In addition to this, vast de]K>sits o f virgin coal ownc<l by the estate may be con­ sidered supplementary or additional to the capacity o f this vast concern. The plant proper constitutes one of the finest, if not the finest, plants for the produc­ tion o f electricity known to modem engineer­ ing. It has been recently constructed, with the most approved and latest appliances, at an expenditure o f several millions o f dollars, and has a jiresent contemplated maximum capacity o f some twcntv-five thousand kilowatts, now

operating 9,000 kilowatts and supplying an e x ­ tensive territory in the immediate location o f cnc plant, bcsiues the power lum isncd to* our local companies. The current is transmuted by a douuie line of triple w ires or cables, con­ stituting two units ot transmission, so tJiat an accident to one line may be overcome by the use o f its altenutc. Under the contract, the ])owcr is delivered at a point in Nescopeck tow*nship, Luzerne county, on the south l^ n k of the Susquehanna river and is carried thence over the river by cables suspended upon steel abuimctus or towers, clearing the entire water space by one span, the length o f which is 2,300 feet. 1 hence it is carried to Berwick, where it is measured by a system o f meters and reduced and divided to the uses of the respective operated com­ panies. T his is accomplished by a line o f cables extending from Berwick to Danville^ erected proportionately by each of the respec­ tive power companies (he territory o f which is invaded by the line, each company using such part of the current as its necessities may re­ quire. T he tran5|x>rtation companies use the current after a transmutation from alternat­ ing current to direct current, by efikient gen­ erators employed by these companies. A s an au xiliary and additional power, the plant of the Irondale Light, Heat and Pow er Company has been equipped to develop its watcr|>owcr to a potentiality o f eight hundred horsepower, with an equal altcm atc or au xil­ iary stea in power, which under the Harwood contract may be used singly or doubly, at the pleasure of that company. The |H)werhouse at Irondale has consequently been remodeled and new and effective machinery installed fo r this general purpose. The prim ary purpose of the irondale equipment is to act as a governor and reduce the peak of the load, and in opera­ tion not only docs this, but reduces the general consumption of the Harwood current. T h is effects the most approved engineering scheme for the reduction of the cost of power under the contract with the Harwood Klectric Com]>any and in effect produces in the operation o f both plants a constant, unfluctuating and effi­ cient current, which is surpassed at no plant in the United States. A ll of the various subsidiary companies were operated by the Columbia Power, Light and Railw ays Company as a holding company un­ til M ay 26, 1 9 1 1, when the gentlemen inter­ ested in the company, believing that its securi­ ties would find a more ready market if each company were operated direct, rather than through the meilium o f a holding company.