[Trade Journal]
Publication: The Journal of Electricity, Power and Gas
San Francisco, CA, United States
vol. 29, no. 11, p. 213-234, col. 1-2
PACIFIC POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY
BY ARTHUR H. HALLORAN.
ONE hundred years have witnessed many a change in that vast territory of "continuous woods where rolls the Oregon and hears no sound save its own dashings." Bryant's symbol of solitude in 1811 is now the home of half a million prosperous people. On the broad waters of the great Columbia is borne the commerce of the empire which fringes its banks, from its depths are drawn the salmon, tumbling from its heights it turns the wheels of industry, and now its very sub stance is being absorbed by thirsty lands to bring forth the fruits of the earth. At times of flood it has a greater flow than is attained by either the St Lawrence or the Mississippi; so great is its power that even the tides are overcome and its fresh waters extend ten miles out to sea.
Irrigation is the magic means whereby more changes have been wrought in this territory in the past decade than were accomplished in the preceding century and more since the Columbia was discovered in 1792 by Captain Robert Gray, the first man to carry the flag of the United States around the world. Waving grain fields, countless fruit trees and bustling towns now stand where once roamed the Indian ponies.
Electricity is the potent force by which even greater changes are yet to be made. Transmission line rights of way are being cleared in the pathless forests and across the rocky deserts. A network of seven hundred miles of high tension transmission lines has already been constructed by the Pacific Power & Light Company to carry the power of the water-fall to the farmer's aid in wresting the treasure which lies hidden at the roots of every sage-brush in the great Columbia plateau.
Reference to the map of the territory served by the Pacific Power & Light Company shows that it comprises an area of about twenty thousand square miles in southern Washington and northern Oregon drained by the Columbia River and its tributaries. Only a small part of this vast region has yet been put under cultivation and based on the development of similar lands elsewhere the next few years should see a tremendous demand for power for pumping water to its arid but fertile soil.
The total generating capacity is 17,000 kw., of which 12,450 kw. are hydroelectric and 4550 kw . steam reserve. The plants arc at Naches, North Yakima, Prosser, Kennewick, Marengo, Waitsburg, Walla Walla, Priest Rapids, White River, Husum, Goldendale and Astoria. Except for the last named all these plants will eventually feed into the transmission net work which already connects most of them. The main high tension transmission system is in the form of a ring of 350 miles of 66,000 volt lines which is fed by six generating plants. There are also 125 miles of 22,500 volt lines and 250 miles of 6600 volt lines, exclusive of city distributing systems.
The company also operates gas plants at Lewiston, Idaho, Walla Walla and North Yakima, Wash., Pendleton and Astoria, Oregon. It handles the street and interurban railways at Astoria and Walla Walla, and supplies water to North Yakima, Prosser, Kennewick and Pasco, Wash.
While much of engineering interest centers in the historic development of the several .component plants and the manner in which they have been welded into a great transmission system, an even greater human interest is interwoven with the beneficient utilization of electric power in the reclamation of this rich empire long regarded as a desert unblessed by God and undesired by man. This region, where none but the daring came and none but the strong survived, is now peopled by a sturdy race and supplying its full quota to the world's markets.
THE Yakima River flows in a southeasterly direction through central Washington from the Cascade Mountains to a junction with the Columbia River eight miles above Pasco and four miles above the mouth of the Snake River. Its fertile valley originally was the home of the Yakima Indians, whose language is perpetuated in the names of many of the towns and whose present reservation occupies its westerly portion.
Intensive agriculture y means of irrigation Has rendered necessary the development of electrical power, not only for pumping but also to supply the domestic and industrial needs of the people living on the 200,000 acres which are now under water from the governmental and private canals. New projects are also under way or prospective by which the United States Reclamation Service proposes to more than double the present irrigated area of the Yakima Valley.
Electric power is generated by the Pacific Power & Light Company by a combined water and steam power plant at Naches, two steam power plants at North Yakima, as well as steam plants at Prosser and Kennewick. These properties were purchased during 1910 and 1911 from various companies and interconnected by transmission lines.
The Naches power plant is a 5750 kw. combined hydroelectric and steam generating station on the Naches River 13 miles west of North Yakima. The building is a substantial rubble-faced sandstone structure with concrete floor, wooden roof trusses and corrugated iron gable roof. The turbine room is 49x96 ft. and the boiler room 46x68 ft., there also being a corrugated iron boiler house addition.
Water is diverted from the Naches River by means of a 150 ft. concrete wing dam to eight miles of open canal leading to a small forebay above the power house. The major portion of the canal is excavated in earth with 18 ft. bottom and 6 ft. depth, the 10 ft. banks sloping 1 to 1. This represents an excavation of 8 cu. yds. per lineal ft., gives a cross section of 216 sq. ft. and a capacity of 450 sec. ft. By decreasing the present grade of 2.6 ft. per mile and eliminating two falls in its course 69 ft. greater head can be gained. A lining of 2 in. plank was necessary for 6000 ft. of its length, an 8 in. cement core wall for 1760 ft. and a timber-lined tunnel for 140 ft.
The forebay is at an elevation of 150 ft. above the power house and consists of an enlargement of the last 300 ft. of the canal to a bottom width of 46 ft., the excavation being to bed-rock. At the lower end is a 12 in. cement wall through which two wood stave penstocks lead to the turbines. These penstocks are of 6 ft. and 4 ft. diameter respectively and each is 537 ft. long being supported on concrete piers with steel elbows at the crest of the hill.
The wheels operate tinder a head of 149 ft., one being a Pelton impulse wheel, the other a Pelton-Francis turbine. The former is direct connected through a clutch to a 750 kw., 2300 volt, 60 cycle, General Electric three-phase alternator which is also connected to an 800 h.p. McEwen engine. The latter drives a 3000 kw., 2300 volt General Electric generator furnishing three-phase current at 60 cycles. An innovation in this plant is the steam-jacketing of the impulse wheel nozzles to prevent freezing of the water. The steam reserves are necessary on account of the liability of the water freezing in the ditch during the winter.
A third 2000 kw. General Electric alternator is driven by a Curtis turbine equipped with a 24 in. rectangular jet Wheeler condenser complete with motor driven centrifugal pump and steam driven dry vacuum pump.
Excitation current is supplied by three 125 volt General Electric dynamos, respectively turbine driven, mounted on alternator shaft and belt driven from induction motor.
Steam is supplied at 160 lb. pressure by two 375 h.p. and one 504 h.p. Stirling boilers, one 400 h.p. Babcock & Wilcox, and one 400 h.p. Geary water tube boiler. The three former are equipped with Kelly shaking grates and forced draft apparatus.
The switchboard consists of three generator panels, a transformer panel, a feeder panel, three ex-citer panels, and station panels, all equipped with General Electric instruments, including a Tirrill regulator. All panels are of blue Vermont marble.
Voltage is raised from 2300 to 66,000 by three 1500 kw. single-phase General Electric transformers with one spare, and to 22,500 by three 400 kw. Allis-Chalmers transformers, all water-cooled. High tension switching is accomplished through automatic Form K-12 hand-operated oil switches and single-pole, single-throw disconnecting switches. The 66,000 volt lines are protected by aluminum cell electrolytic lightning arresters on a Y-connected ungrounded circuit and the 22,500 volt lines by General Electric multi-gap carbon arresters.
The 66,000 volt Naches-North Yakima transmission is a 15 mile pole line across a sandy and rocky country covered with sage brush. This line connects with the North Yakima-Black Rock 66,000 volt line through the substation at North Yakima and through disconnecting switches with the 66,000 volt line running from Kennewick through North Yakima. The insulators are pin-type and the conductor 66,370 c.m. aluminum.
The Naches-North Yakima 22,500 volt line feeds the Yakima Valley Transportation Company's substation near North Yakima. The conductor is 66,370 c.m. 7-strand aluminum cable.
The North Yakima station is a combined power plant, waterworks and substation. The two former are housed in an imposing building with brick masonry walls, concrete floor, wooden roof trusses and corrugated iron and tar and gravel roof. The generating and pumping room is 40x116 ft., the engine room 22 ft. square and the boiler room 27x42 ft. The substation is a brick annex at the north end of the plant.
This plant is equipped with a 350 kw., 2300 volt General Electric alternator direct connected by clutches to a 20 in. and 36x36 in. Allis vertical tandem compound condensing engine and to the water wheels, a 500 h.p. double 24 in. Stillwell Bierce horizontal turbine operating at 300 r. p. m. under 39 ft. head and a 250 h.p. single similar unit. Steam is supplied at 250 lb. pressure by two 125 h.p. Moran horizontal return tubular boilers, 72 in. diameter and 16 ft long. Steam is condensed by a 10 in. Baragwanath barometric jet condenser.
The waterworks pumping plant comprises two 10x12 in. belt driven duplex double-acting Holly pumps, two 8 in. belt driven rotary Rumsey pumps and one motor driven three-stage centrifugal pump.
In the substation is a 2000 kw. three-phase 66,000/2300 volt General Electric transformer water-cooled, two 70,000 volt K-10 oil switches, one 70,000 volt aluminum cell lightning arrester protecting the transmission line running through the Yakima Valley and one 100 kw. motor-operated 2200 volt I. R. T. feeder regulator controlling the lighting circuits of the city of North Yakima. There are also three tub-type transformers for city arc lighting. Power is distributed throughout North Yakima at 110 and 220 volts. The line construction is of the highest grade, being uniform throughout and put up under standard specifications. The alley construction is particularly pleasing in appearance, consisting of two poles, one set on each side of the alley, with two cross-arms connecting.
In addition to the power used for pumping the city's water supply, 15 h.p. supplied to the refrigerating plant of the Pacific Fruit & Produce Company, and that used for lighting, current is also supplied to the Yakima Valley Transportation Company, which operates about 20 miles of urban and interurban track, comprising 9 miles in North Yakima, 2-1/2 miles to Fruitvale and 10 miles to Ahtanum. About twelve miles more are under construction and the system will eventually comprise about a hundred miles of interurban railway.
North Yakima is the hub of five rich farming valleys, apples, hops and potatoes being the principal crops. Irrigation by electric pumping is yearly increasing in importance, it being estimated that 15 h.p is required for every 120 acres of land at an approximate lift of 150 ft. Illustrative of this are the two pumping plants of the Central Washington Investment & Power Company at Terrace Heights, two miles north of North Yakima. No. 2 plant has two 50 h.p. three-phase motors direct connected to 5 in. Worthington centrifugal pumps lifting 700 gallons per minute 150 ft. No. 1 Plant has two 40 h.p. motors driving centrifugal pumps. Power is sold on the basis of $5.45 per h.p. of maximum demand, the irrigated land being worth from $1000 to $3000 per acre. In the Yakima valley the Pacific Power & Light Company has an irrigating pumping load of nearly 5000 h.p., there being about 250 pumping installations. The charge ranges from $30 to $42 per horsepr.wer for the season.
From North Yakima there are two 66,000 volt transmission lines, one leading easterly through 26 miles of the Moxee Valley to Black Rock, whence connection is made with the line to the Priest Rapids power house, the other running southwesterly through the Yakima Valley 115 miles to Pasco by way of Wapoto, Toppenish, Zillah, Granger, Outlook, Sunnyside, Mabton, Grandview, Prosser, Benton City, Kiona, Richland and Kennewick. There is also a tie line from Richland to Hanford.
Black Rock 66,000 volt transmission line for the first 3-1/2 miles of its length is an adaptation of the old 6600 volt line to the Central Washington Irrigation Company's substation at Moxee, a wooden frame corrugated iron structure housing a 150 kw. transformer stepping from 66,000 down to 6600 volts for distribution of three-phase current throughout the adjacent territory. The reconstructed section of the line is of 211,950 c.m. stranded aluminum, the balance No. 00 7-strand copper; all power conductors being carried on No. 4000 Thomas porcelain insulators. A telephone circuit of No. 8 solid copper is carried on a short arm beneath the power circuit. The substations at Black Rock are similar to that at Moxee, containing a 200 kw., air-cooled transformer with single panel switchboard, disconnecting switches and choke coils. The tie pole line from Black Rock to the Priest Rapids 66,000 volt line is 211,950 c.m. aluminum carried on No. 1090 Thomas suspension insulators, with a tele-phone circuit of No. 8 copper-clad wire.
The North Yakima-Pasco 66,000 volt line extends through the great governmental and private irrigation projects in the Yakima Valley. It joins the Naches-North Yakima line through disconnecting switches at North Yakima and the Walla Walla-Pasco line through the synchronizing station at Kennewick. Each of the principal substations is the center of a rich agricultural development, an oasis of ever-increasing size.
The Toppenish substation is conveniently situated to supply consumers in the Wapato and part of the Sunnyside projects. The station is a new brick building 66x25 ft., which houses the offices and local manager's apartments as well as the transforming equipment, three type H, form R.P., 60 cycle General Electric 66,000-6600/2300 volt, three 50 kw. 6600-2300 volt and two 2 kw. 6600-110 volt transformers, together with four-panel switchboard, motor-operated regulator, disconnecting switches and lightning arresters. The substation is about 1800 ft. from the main high tension line, being connected by a 66,000 volt branch circuit.
The Wapato project takes its name from the Indian wapato, a tuberous plant growing in marshy places and used as food by the Indians. This unit is a gravity canal system constructed by the Indians with tribal funds under Federal supervision. It already irrigates about 15,000 acres in the Yakima reservation. and will finally care for 116,000 acres with a storage capacity of 200,000 acre-feet. Ultimately, of course, this reservation will be opened for settlement. The town of Wapato, ten miles from Toppenish, is served by a three phase 6600 volt feeder circuit carried on a secondary cross arm on the poles of the main 66,000 volt line.
From the Toppenish substation 15.73 miles of three phase 6600 volt circuit also runs to serve irrigation consumers near Zillah, which town is included in the Sunnyside project.
The Sunnyside substation supplies most of the towns in the great government Sunnyside project which irrigates about 100,000 acres by means of 62 miles of gravity canal which delivers about 1200 second feet. These towns include Sunnyside, Granger, Grandview, Mabton and Prosser, the shipping points for thousands of carloads of apples and other fruits, as well as the forage, hops and vegetables, for which this district is famous. The Sunnyside substation is a brick fireproof building 25 ft. square, equipped with a 500 kw., three phase, water-cooled 38,150-66,000/6600 volt General Electric transformer, 5 panel switchboard, regulator and aluminum cell lightning arresters; 10.2 miles of 6600 volt, 3 phase distributing line has been built from the substation at Sunnyside to the town of Granger, Wash. This circuit is carried on a secondary cross arm bolted to the poles of the 66,000 volt transmission line running up the Yakima Valley. There has also been constructed a 6600/110 volt distributing system in the town of Granger. A three phase feeder line has been run from the substation at Sunnyside to the town of Grandview, Wash. This circuit is carried on a cross arm placed beneath the present 66,000 volt transmission line running past Sunnyside and Grandview. The former 66,000 volt branch line to Mabton which was tapped off the high tension line near Grandview has been disconnected from the main high tension line, and now feeds Mabton at 6600 volts, having been tapped onto the 6600 volt circuit which feeds Grandview from Sunnyside. The construction of this branch line to Mabton remains unchanged. A 6600/110 volt distributing systems have been installed in the towns of Mabton and Grandview.
At Prosser is a combined water and steam auxiliary power plant, 73x54 ft., and transformer house 40x38 ft., formerly belonging to the Prosser Falls Land & Power Company. Water is diverted to a 12x12 ft. flume from the Yakima River above Prosser Falls by means of a 516 ft. concrete dam 6 ft. high which is also used as a footing on which is erected a 7 ft. flash-board used during the summer to create a reservoir 9 miles long, averaging 600 ft. wide, giving a storage capacity of about 3800 acre feet. There are two water wheel generating units, a 56 in. Samson turbine with Woodward governor operating through bevel gears a line shaft to which is belted a 400 kw. General Electric 2300 volt, 60 cycle, three phase generator, and 4 double 48 in. vertical Victor turbine bevel-beared to a line shaft which is belted to a 200 kw., 2300 volt, 60 cycle General Electric alternator with self-contained ex-citer. A 12 kw., 125 volt exciter is belt driven from the shaft of the 400 kw. generator. The auxiliary steam equipment includes a 90 h.p. Erie tubular boiler and Watertown engine together with feed water heater and barometric condenser.
The Prosser substation has three 200 kw. General Electric type H transformers, 66,000Y-2300/6600 volt ; with the usual lightning protection and switching equipment.
At Benton City a 150 kw. transformer equipment steps the power clown to 6600 volts for distribution to a number of irrigation and power consumers in the vicinity, there being about 2% miles of distributing line.
At Richland is a 200 kw. substation where the Hanford line is tied in with that of North Yakima. In the immediate vicinity about 14-1/2 miles of 6600 volt feeder circuits have been constructed to supply irrigation customers, the greater part of this distribution system being carried on a separate cross arm placed on the poles of the 66,000 volt line to Hanford.
The Northern Pacific Irrigation Company's substation consists of a substantial brick building 20x17 ft., with walls 25 ft. high from bottom of footings to top of parapet. The roof is a 4 in. reinforced concrete slab carried on steel beams and the floor is 6 in. concrete slot laid on the earth and reinforced with 3/8 in. round iron 12 in. centers laid both ways. The building is furnished with wooden frame doors and windows and with galvanized iron ventilators in roof.
This substation is near the company's pumping plant near Kennewick. The equipment includes one 1000 kw., 66,000/2300 volt, G. E.. 3 phase, water-cooled transformer, with disconnecting switches and 200 ampere double helix choke coils mounted on insulators.
The Kennewick power plant is situated near the business center of the town and occupies a well designed building with brick masonry walls, concrete floor, wood and steel roof trusses, and asbestos covered roofing. The prime mover is a vertical Curtis steam turbine driving a 500 kw., 2300 volt General Electric alternator at 1800 r.p.m. Exciting current is furnished by a 25 kw. Curtis turbo-generator and steam is supplied by three 150 h.p. Atlas horizontal return tubular boilers and one 150 h.p. Keeler water tube boiler. Roslyn coal is used as fuel.
Water for the jet condenser is pumped from a 30 ft. well on the premises and discharged to the river through 2300 ft. of 12 in. machine wound wood-stave pipe and 200 ft. of 14 in. wrought iron pipe. A 450 h.p. No. 2 Stickle open coil heater and purifier handles the boiler feed water.
A 13-panel switchboard with swinging synchronizer bracket stands on the generator floor in front of a 1000 kw., three phase, 38,150-66,000/2300 volt transformer. Two General Electric K-10 66,000 volt oil switches stand on a gallery above the transformer, the disconnecting switches and lightning arrester being mounted on the wall to the rear. The 1250 volt, 6.6 ampere arc lighting system is cared for by a 25-light constant current regulator installed in the station.
The Pacific Power & Light Company operates the pumping plant which supplies water to Kennewick. The pumping station is a wooden frame building 10x12 ft. housing a 7x8 in. class D Smith Vaile triplex pump belted to a 20 h.p., 3 phase, 220 volt Westinghouse CCL induction motor and a three-stage 4 in. Kingsford pump direct connected to a similar 40 h.p. motor.
The Kennewick station is near the center of the system and does most of the governing. Here is the load dispatcher's office and a 500 kw. turbine floating on the line ready at a moment's notice to pick up the load.
Kennewick is directly across the river from Pasco, these towns being the chief points of navigation on the upper Columbia River. The 66,000 volt transmission line is carried across the river here by means of three steel towers, one 146 ft. tower on either bank and one on an island. One span is 1191 ft., the other 1677 ft. The conductor is 250,000 c.m. stranded aluminum cable. The crossing is provided with a ground wire of 3/ in. steel cable strung across centers of towers, this cable being bridled at each end to two anchor cables which run back to the ground.
This line continues 46.1 miles to Walla Walla, serving as a tie between the Yakima Valley, the Upper Columbia and the Walla Walla systems. Power is transmitted in either direction, thus permitting full utilization of all power generated at either of the systems. The Snake River is crossed at Burbank by a 1652 ft. span carried by two 135 ft. steel main towers and two 35 ft. anchor towers. The conductor at the crossing is 1/2 in., 7-strand, copper-clad steel wire. More than 13,500 acres have been reclaimed at Burbank by gravity canal from the Snake River.
The Pasco Reclamation Company is the largest single consumer at Pasco. This company has about seventeen thousand acres of irrigable land surrounding the town of Pasco and occupying the gore formed by the junction of the Columbia and Snake rivers. The maximum lift for pumping is 125 ft. during the month when irrigation is necessary. About half this area is now under water pumped from the Snake River.
The pumping plant is a concrete structure on the north bank of the Snake River two miles above its confluence with the Columbia and directly under the tracks of the Portland, Seattle and Spokane Railway. Three 250 kw. transformers lower from 66,000 to 2200 volts, at which voltage two General Electric induction motors, one 30 h.p., the other 35 h.p., are direct connected to two single stage vertical Worthington pumps 40 ft. below.
A heavy timber submerged intake, 4x6 ft., extends from the stream channel to the control gates. Each pump has a 16 in. suction and 14 in. discharge. The main discharge is through 900 ft. of 36 in. wood-stave pipe to the main distributing gravity canal, the upper portion of which is concrete lined. Concrete bays with wooden gates control admission to the distributing lines.
The distributing lines are all wood-stave pipe, the 24 in. and larger being built of continuous staves and smaller of machine banded. As a rule the system follows the subdivisional lines and is interconnected as far as possible, frequent valves being provided for cut-out. Blow-offs are provided at all depressions and stand-pipes at all summits. The use of wood-stave pipe, instead of open canals, conserves the water reduces the cost of maintenance and gives a more permanent system.
Electric pumping here, as elsewhere, is fast displacing other forms on account of lower initial investment, maintenance, operation and depreciation. Each year sees fewer water wheels and gas engines and more electric motors.
The soil throughout the region is rich and deep the barren appearance of much of the county being due to the scanty rainfall, averaging 9 inches at North Yakima, 6 inches at Sunnyside and 3 inches at Kennewick. The mean average temperature is close to 50 degrees, without very great extremes. Hay, alfalfa. wheat, oats, potatoes, hops, fruits and vegetables of all kinds are raised in abundance. The months of continuous sunshine during the long summer months admit of almost tropical luxuriance of growth wherever the necessary amount of moisture is supplied. All these lands were parts of a great lake bottom made up of disintegrated basaltic blocks and volcanic dust, which accounts for their great fertility.
Upper Columbia Division.
Although the country north and east of the Yakima Valley has the same rich soil and favorable climate, its comparative inaccessibility has retarded its development. The Benton project of the Reclamation Service proposes at some day to supply water to the lands on the west bank of the Columbia from Kennewick to Priest Rapids, but of far greater immediate value is the extensive work of the Hanford Irrigation & Power Company, which has installed a large generating plant at Priest Rapids and transmits power to Hanford and Coyote Falls, where water is pumped to irrigate 16,000 acres. North of this development the Rose Land Company is also pumping by means of current transmitted from Priest Rapids to Beverly, where the new line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound railway crosses the Columbia. As this country is now rapidly developing it offers an excellent market for power.
The Priest Rapids development on the Columbia River east of Hanford was originally designed as a generating station from which power could be transmitted to various pumping plants along the Columbia and to the town of Hanford. With the affiliation of this company with the Pacific Power & Light Company this plant was tied in with the transmission lines of the latter.
An island separates the Columbia into two channels above Priest Rapids and made possible the construction of a wing dam across the south channel. This diverts a part of the water through an intake 140 ft. wide and 700 ft. long discharging into a natural lagoon which forms the first three-quarters of a mile of the conduit. At its lower end ten butterfly type gates control the water admission into 5000 ft. of canal which has been excavated to a bottom width of 67 ft., with sides sloping 1/2 to 1. The earth and gravel from the excavation was used as a protective embankment for the entire length of the conduit which parallels the river.
The power house stands as an integral part of the dam at the end of the canal, the water discharging directly into the river after passing through the wheels. The head-race wall extends 50 ft. on each side of the building, thus allowing for future longitudinal extensions to accommodate four more units. As shown in the cross-sectional view of the power house the building has three floors. The upper carries the two generators, the middle the thrust bearings and the lower the turbines, all this floor being below the high water level of the river and 58 ft. below the generator floor. This was necessary on account of the variation be tween low and flood water which causes a head varying from 18 to 27 ft.
Each of the 900 kw., 60 cycle, 3 phase, 2200 volt, revolving field, vertical shaft, Bullock generators is driven through vertical shafting by a 1000 h.p. vertical Allis-Chalmers turbine in open flume, one being a single, the other a triplex. The latter consists of a twin center discharge turbine mounted on the same shaft above a single lower discharge turbine. The concrete draft tubes lead the water from both discharges with uniformly decreasing velocity to the tailrace, the lower draft tube being 11 ft. below the low water mark of the river. Tailrace gates are provided for each of the turbines, so that it is possible to pump out the pits for inspection and repair by means of a motor-driven bilge pump.
The two exciters are 60 kw. compound wound machines, one being driven by a 100 h.p. single runner turbine, the other by an 85 h.p. 2300 volt motor. The use of this motor-generator set instead of a second turbine driven exciter saved considerable space.
The switchboard stands on the generator floor in front of and on a level with the transformers, which are housed in a bay to the rear. The board consists of seven 16x90 in. black enameled slate panels, including two generator, two exciter, one induction motor, one transformer and one outgoing line panel.
The transformers consist of three 1000 kw. water-cooled delta connected units which raise the potential from 2200 up to 66,000 volts for transmission to Hanford and two 250 kw. units supplying 6600 volt current to the Beverly line.
The Priest Rapids-Beverly 66,000 volt transmission line runs from the Priest Rapids generating station in a northerly direction across the Columbia River to Beverly, Wash. It is 14.6 miles long and traverses a sandy and rolling country covered by sage brush. This line was operated for some months feeding the 66,000 volt substation at Beverly to serve the Rose Land Company and other customers on the west side of the Columbia River. In April, 1912, the Beverly transformers were cut out and the line voltage lowered to 6600 volts, feeding the customers direct from the Priest Rapids station at that voltage. The power conductors are No. 0000 aluminum from the power house to the main tower on the south river bank; from this tower to the main tower on the opposite bank conductors are 9/32 in. Siemens & Martin steel cable; the remaining portion through to Beverly is No. 0 copper. The Beverly substation contains one 300 kw., three phase transformer.
The Priest Rapids-Hanford line is a reconstruction of the 23,000 volt line to the Coyote pumping plant, consisting of 40 ft. poles spaced 142-1/2 ft. apart. The pole framing of this line was altered to make it suitable for 66,000 volt operation. The old cross arms, insulators, pins and power conductors were removed and returned to the Kennewick storeroom, Three new aluminum power conductors were run with a loop into the Coyote pumping plant and on to Hanford. The old telephone wires were transferred from the old brackets to R. Thomas telephone insulators placed on 5 ft. cross arms. The line has a surveyed length of 28.46 miles.
The Richland-Hanford line is a 66,000 volt, three phase transmission on wooden poles connecting the substation at Hanford, Wash., with the Yakima Valley 66,000 volt transmission line near Richland, Wash. On the same pole line there is carried a telephone circuit. A telephone circuit has been run from the Kennewick substation on the poles of the old Yakima Valley 66,000 volt transmission line to connect with the above mentioned telephone circuit. This Richland-Hanford line is by survey 26.2 miles long and is over a country sandy, rocky and in many places rough, and is also covered with sage brush.
The Coyote Rapids pumping station stands on the banks of the Columbia 16 miles below the Priest Rapids power house and pumps water under a 36 ft. head from the river. The building is of concrete construction, 67x25 ft. The present installation consists of three pumping units, with provision for more. On the upper floor are the three main pump motors, switchboards and transformers, on the lower are the pumps.
Incoming power is received at 66,000 volts through a concrete line tower on the roof, stepped down to 2200 volts by three 600 kw. transformers, and used to operate the motors, two 450 h.p. induction units and one 675 h.p. unit. The former are direct connected to Allis-Chalmers centrifugal pumps with single stage vertical shaft and the latter to a centrifugal pump manufactured by I. P. Morris Co.
A wooden intake tunnel 8 ft. high extends 300 ft. out into the river to the intake crib below the river's lowest water level. Thirty inch sluice gates are placed at the suction inlet of each pump. A bilge pump like that at the power house is used to empty the intake well and prime the main pumps.
Current for the pumping plant is supplied from a nearby wood frame substation housing three 600 kw. A wooden intake tunnel 8 ft. high extends 300 ft. out into the river to the intake crib below the river's lowest water level. Thirty inch sluice gates are placed at the suction inlet of each pump. A bilge pump like that at the power house is used to empty the intake well and prime the main pumps.
Current for the pumping plant is supplied from a nearby wood frame substation housing three 600 kw. transformers Y connected on the 66,000 volt side and delta connected on the 2300 volt side. Three similar 333 kw. transformers feed a 15 mile wood pole line to White Bluffs, branch circuits supplying irrigation customers in the adjacent territory.
The Hanford substation and pumping plant, a building 30x23 ft., has been enlarged by the addition of a reinforced concrete structure 28x23 ft. which is used as a synchronizing station connecting the 66,000 volt lines from Priest Rapids to those from Richland. A 50 h.p. Allis-Chalmers, 2200 volt, three phase motor drives a Dean triplex pump having a capacity of 500 gallons per minute under 100 lb. pressure. Three 200 kw. transformers step down from 66,000 to 2200 volts. A synchronizing panel is included in the five panel switchboard.
Walla Walla Division.
Walla Walla, or "many waters," in the language of the Indians whom the adventurous settlers of 1818 found in this vicinity, has had a most interesting history in its evolution from a fur-trading headquarters to its present enviable position as the center of a rich agricultural valley whose five million acres are contained within the boundaries of the Columbia on the north, the Snake on the west and the Blue Mountains on the east and south. Of particular engineering historic interest is the fact that it was the site of the pioneer experiments with single phase transmission of hydroelectric power.
In 1892 the Walla Walla Gas & Electric Company harnessed the power of Mill Creek, five miles east of Walla Walla to operate a double-nozzle Pelton wheel driving a 100 kw., 133 cycle, single phase generator of the old composite wound Thomson-Houston "A 100" type. This generator delivered power at 2000 volts directly to a single circuit of No. 0 copper wire leading to the substation at Walla Walla. Here a similar generator was used as a synchronous motor to drive the line shafting to which were belted the several dynamos furnishing current for the arc and incandescent lighting of the town. This shafting was also driven by a 100 h.p. Ball tandem compound engine which had been installed in 1890. The incandescent lighting, load was mainly cared for by the transmission line, the steam plant being used as an auxiliary.
One of the most interesting features of this equipment was the method of starting. A 15 kw., 500 volt exciter for the generating unit at the hydroelectric plant was first thrown on the line and used to drive a 7-1/2 kw., direct current, hi-polar starting motor in the Walla Walla substation which brought the 2000 volt synchronous motor up to speed. When this was accomplished a 1-1/2 kw., 110 volt exciter was thrown on to the field of the synchronous motor, the 500 volt, d.c. generator cut off the transmission line and the 2000 volt generator thrown on. These various maneuvers were accomplished by means of double throw, double pole switches at either terminal operated by attendants in telephonic communication, there also being a pilot lamp to indicate the change from direct to alternating current on the line.
But this as well as the 300 kw. monocyclic system later installed by the General Electric Company is now a thing of the past, having been replaced by the standard three phase, 60 cycle equipment since the Pacific Power & Light Company took over this and neighboring properties in 1910.
The Walla Walla River plant is now the main generating plant for this division, being a 2000 kw. hydroelectric development on the south fork of the Walla Walla River, seven miles east of Milton, Ore., 'and about 50 miles south of Walla Walla, these towns being connected by an interurban electric road operated by the company. This spring-fed stream rises on the west slope of the Blue Mountains and runs west to the Columbia, with a minimum flow of 100 second feet at the point of diversion. Its upper drainage area is heavily forested, the lower half being devoted to the many agricultural products which the climate and soil make possible.
A plank-faced crib dam 6 ft. high and 40 in. thick diverts the water to 5.7 miles of conduit leading to the forebay. This conduit includes 17,000 ft. of 48 in. wood-stave pipe line, 70 ft. of 7x6 ft. tunnel, and 11,000 ft. of trestle averaging 18 ft. in height, as well as 2285 ft. of open flume averaging 25 sq. ft. cross section. The forebay is a vertical wooden penstock 8 ft. square and 25 ft. deep, delivering the water under a static head of 361 ft. through 756 ft. of 42 in. pipe, the first 340 ft. being wood-stave and the last 416 ft. riveted steel of from 1/4 to ½ The switchboard has eight panels of 32x90 in. blue Vermont marble, there being four generator panels, two exciter panels and two switching panels.
Power is stepped up from 2300 to 25,000 volts by means of nine 250 kw., oil insulated, water-cooled transformers, feeding the 18 mile lines to Walla Walla, the 10 mile line to Freewater and the 35 mile line to Pendleton. There are also three 25 kw. transformers stepping down to 110 volts for station use. The high tension switching apparatus consists of three 45,000 volt General Electric K-6 oil switches, two controlling the high tension circuits to Walla Walla and one the two lines to Freewater and Pendleton, Ore. Lightning protection is provided by 12 Westinghouse 25,000 volt low equivalent arresters and choke coils.
A double pole line carrying No. 6 copper wire on pin type insulators transmits current at 25,000 volts to the combined substation and generating plant at Walla Walla. This is a brick building with concrete floor, steel roof trusses and corrugated iron roof, the generating station being 55x105 ft. and the substation 52x41 ft.
The Walla Walla steam plant equipment consists of a 1000 kw. Bullock generator furnishing three phase current, 60 cycles, 2300 volts, and driven at 1800 r.p.m. by an Allis-Chalmers steam turbine. Steam is supplied at 160 lb. pressure by two 500 h.p. Babcock &in. thickness.
The power station is a wooden frame structure with cement plastered walls, concrete floor and wood trusses and roof. The main building is 96x31 ft., the switchboard and transformer room being 28x35 ft.
The generating equipment consists of three 800 h.p. Pelton Francis turbines and a 1000 h.p. Pelton impulse wheel, each of the former being direct connected to a 500 kw., 2300 volt Bullock generator and the latter to a 1250 k.v.a. machine. Two 24 in. Pelton impulse wheels drive the 45 kw. exciters. The governors are three Pelton type and one Lombard.
Wilcox water tube boilers. The condenser is of the Wheeler rectangular jet type with motor driven centrifugal circulating pump and Wheeler dry vacuum pump. The boiler feed water is heated in a 3x6 ft. vertical National heater and pumped by a 10 in. x 6 in. x 10 in. duplex piston Gardner pump. Exciting current is derived from a 22.5 kw. Bullock generator driven by an American Blower Company twin 6 in. x 6 in. vertical engine.
Direct current for the Walla Walla Valley Traction Company, which is controlled by the Pacific Power & Light Company, is taken from a 500 kw. motor-generator set, Y2300/600 volts. This company operates 15.25 miles of interurban railway between Walla Walla and Milton, 9.71 miles in Walla Walla, and 10 miles to Freewater. The rolling stock comprises ten motor passenger cars, two trailers, one express car and two flat cars. Hourly service is regularly maintained on the interurban and fifteen minute headway on the city lines.
Three 750 kw. transformers lower the incoming 25,000 volts to 2300 for local distribution. City arc lighting is cared for by two 7.5 ampere, 75 light, constant current transformers. Lightning protection is provided by eight 2300 volt, three phase, graded shunt, station type arresters.
The Walla Walla-Dayton 66,000 volt line runs 31.7 miles northeasterly from the Walla Walla substation to Dayton with a branch circuit to the Waits-burg power plant. The circuit is of No. 0 copper carried by suspension insulators and closely follows the Northern Pacific railroad tracks. The power is raised from 25,000 to 66,000 volts at the Walla Walla substation by three 1000 kw. transformers and lowered to 6600 volts at the Waitsburg substation by three 500 kw. transformers. That portion of the line between Waitsburg and Dayton is operated at 6600 volts, which will be raised to 66,000 volts when the load warrants it.
The Waitsburg power plant is situated on the Touchet River 11/2 miles east of the town. The equipment consists of a 150 kw., 60 cycle, three phase, 2300 volt generator belted to line shafting so that it can be driven either by water wheels or steam engine. The wheels comprise a 25 in. Victor and a 17 in. Samson-Leffell horizontal turbine. The engine is a 12 in. x 36 in. Lane & Bodley single cylinder engine.
At Dayton a 150 kw. monocyclic generator driven by a 23 in. and a 19 in. Samson-Leffell open flume type turbine is installed but not used except in case of failure of the transmission from Walla Walla.
At Pomeroy, northeast of Dayton near the Idaho line, the Pacific Power & Light Company has taken over the properties of the Tucannon Power Company, which are operated independently, though they will ultimately be tied in with the system. These include a 150 kw., 1100 volt Westinghouse generator driven by a McCormick water wheel near Marengo, power being transmitted to Pomeroy at 6600 volts, and a 100 kw. steam unit at Pomeroy.
Garfield County, of which Pomeroy is the county seat, has a population of about 5000. Wheat is the staple product, although alfalfa, fruits and garden truck are demanding much attention in the small valleys. Irrigation is confined almost exclusively to bench land along the Snake River, where water must be pumped. Some power is also necessary in conjunction with Pataha Creek pumping installations.
The 22,500 volt Walla Walla River-Pendleton transmission line consists of 35 miles of a double circuit of No. 6 copper wire carried on wooden poles. The line is tapped at Athena, where three 100 kw. transformers step down to 2300 volts.
The Pendleton substation is a brick building 44x45 ft., having three 250 kw. Bullock transformers, 23.500/ 2300 volts, air cooled, which with switchboard, lightning arresters and arc lighting equipment complete the installation. The last named includes a 34 kw. Kuhlman transformer raising to 3500, 4-000 or 4500 volts, a 7.5 ampere, 4300 volt Adams Bagnall constant current regulator and arc light panel.
The Freewater 22,500 volt transmission line from the Walla Walla River plant consists of 10 miles of double circuit of No. 6 copper. The Freewater substation is a brick building 30x45 ft. and steps down the voltage for local use, including a rotary converter for the electric railway from Walla Walla, and for the line to Vincent and surrounding territory at 6600 volts. In addition to three 45,000 volt disconnecting switches there are two 45,000 volt, K.-6 General Electric oil switches. One 100 kw., three phase, delta connected, self cooled transformer lowers the voltage to 2300 volts for local use, three 75 volt units supply 370 volts to a 200 kw. General Electric rotary converter housed in the substation and feeding direct current at 600 volts to the trolley line, and two 100 kw. transformers step down to 2200 volts for later transformation to 6600 volts through two 100 kw. units. Twenty-nine miles of 6600 volt, three phase feeder lines and eleven miles of secondary feeder lines serve irrigation needs and light and power consumers in adjacent territory.
The Attalia substation, at the townsite of Attalia where the Columbia River Canal Company irrigates 7000 acres by a gravity canal from the Walla Walla River, is fed by a tap from the Walla Walla-Pasco 66,000 volt line. Power at 6600 volts, three phase, is distributed from this substation to supply light in the town of Attalia and to serve motors in the substation of the Attalia Land Company.
The equipment consists of two 66,000/6600 volt General Electric transformers Y-connected on the high and delta-connected on the low, one with a capacity of 150 kw., the other 200 kw., with the usual switchboard, switching apparatus and lightning arresters.
Lower Columbia Division.
A hundred miles west of Walla Walla amid leaping waterfalls and towering cliffs the Columbia River has carved a mighty gorge through the basaltic barrier of the Cascade Mountains to give ocean outlet to the rushing waters from the east and desert inlet to the moisture laden winds from the west. Here where rail and water compete and sun and water meet are being grown some of the world's finest fruits.
Prosperous communities on either bank, The Dalles, Goldendale, Hood River and White Salmon, are the shipping centers and current consumers. The several power plants serving this territory have been acquired by the Pacific Power & Light Company. which has done much to improve the service. To the south also is a virgin empire into which the Hill and Harriman lines are being eagerly rushed up either side of the deep canyon which Deschutes River has hewn in the Columbia lavas. According to the investigations of the U. S. Geological Survey, "it has been estimated that Deschutes River, from Bend to the mouth, a distance of 140 miles, is capable of furnishing over a million horsepower." Most convenient of development and nearest to a market is its tributary, the White River, which discharges its milky flood into Deschutes about 30 miles south of its junction with the Columbia. THE White River development represents the industrial utilization of one (f the most beautiful waterfalls of the West, yet without appreciably marring its natural grandeur, as may be seen in the frontispiece. With gentle slope the river flows easterly over the Columbia plateau till, near its approach to precipitous Deschutes Canyon, it plunges nearly 200 ft. in less than two miles.
At the foot of the falls the Wasco Warehouse Milling Company installed a hydroelectric plant in 1901, transmitting the power at 20,000 volts to The Dalles. In 1910 the property was purchased by the Pacific Power & Light Company, who have since remodeled the plant, increased the head and raised the transmission voltage to 66,000, also constructing a new high tension line from The Dalles to Hood River.
A concrete dam 8 ft. high has been built across the river above the falls and diverts the water through manually operated headgates to a settling basin. From this basin a 48 in. wood-stave pipe delivers the water to a second settling basin and forebay constructed by placing a substantial concrete dam across a dry creek bed above the power house. These two settling basins are necessary on account of the large amount of sediment which the river carries from its glacial sources and which gives this stream its name. The second basin is constructed with a central division wall and gates which readily allow flushing out the accumulated silt. From the forebay a 60 in. woodstave pressure pipe 430 ft. long, with riveted steel branching terminal pipe gives 149 ft. head. Both sections of wood-stave pipe are protected from the intense rays of the sun by galvanized iron roofing.
The original building was a stone masonry structure 62x33 ft. with steel trussed corrugated iron roof. By removing the north end wall a concrete extension 25x38 ft. has been built to house the transformers and lightning arresters.
The prime movers at White River comprise three Pelton Francis turbines, two having been installed in 1911 to replace impulse wheels and one being a new unit put into service in 1912. The former are 1000 h.p. wheels with Pelton governors directly connected to 500 kw., 60 cycle, three phase General Electric generators. As these wheels had to be adapted from their normal speed of 514 r.p.m. to the 225 r.p.m. of the old generators, the specific speed characteristics were quite unfavorable. Notwithstanding this handicap these wheels developed an efficiency of 82 per cent under test. Exciting current for these two machines is furnished by a 40 kw., 125 volt General Electric exciter belted to the shaft of one of them and by a similar exciter driven at 605 r.p.m. by a Pelton wheel.
As the No. 3 unit exemplifies the latest ideas in the construction of the Pelton Francis turbine, a detailed description may be of interest. The wheel is of the single discharge, three bearing type, the shaft being extended to carry the rotor of a General Electric engine type generator. As this unit provides station regulation excess fly-wheel effect was incorporated in the rotor and in addition a 10,000 lb. cast steel flywheel 8 ft. in diameter has been provided. This is designed to withstand a run-away speed of about 800 r.p.m., the normal speed being 514 r.p.m.
Notwithstanding the provision of double settling basins considerable glacial silt is carried by the water, so that it was necessary to case-harden and shroud all parts exposed to wear. The effective head, including draft tube: is 137.5 ft. The turbine runner is of phosphor bronze, machined and hand finished to reduce hydraulic losses to a minimum. The thrust bearing is of the cantilever type, provided with separate oil pump for constant lubrication.
The wicket gate mechanism is actuated directly by the governor, being capable of adjustment from outside the water chambers. The links controlling the guide vanes are so designed as to have a predetermined breaking strength. Water hammer in the pressure line is prevented by means of a synchronously operated Pelton automatic relief valve actuated by the governor rock shaft. Water waste is lessened by the gradual closure of the valve after relief has been afforded, the rate of closure being adjustable.
The Pelton oil pressure governor, with which this as well as the other turbines are equipped, consists of essentially four parts,—the oil pumping system, the centrifugal mechanism, the valve mechanism and the power cylinder.
The oil pressure system is placed in the base of the device, which is also arranged as an oil reservoir and air tank so that a cushion of air is constantly on the oil. The air is pumped into this tank at the end of the stroke by which the oil is forced in.
The centrifugal mechanism is situated in an enclosed drum on the governor head. Its variation in speed, as communicated by belt from the turbine shaft, controls the action of the valve mechanism whereby the oil is admitted to the power cylinder, which in turn actuates the rock shaft through lever connection.
The governor is arranged with auxiliary hand control in addition to an independent hand control directly attached to the rock shaft and separate from the governor. An over speed limiting device is also provided, so should the governor belt break and the load simultaneously drop from the turbine a tripping device will actuate the valve controlling the oil supply so as to close the turbine gate. This action is accomplished through the agency of the air pressure on the oil, there being a sufficient volume of air to care for a series of strokes.
The generator is a 1250 kw., 60 cycle, three phase General Electric machine. Exciting current is furnished by a 60 kw. exciter on the main generator shaft.
The switchboard has nine panels, three each for generators and exciters, one for instruments, one for line and one for the regulator.
Power is stepped up from 2300 to 25,000 volts for transmission to Dufur and The Dalles by means of three 1000 kw., single phase General Electric transformers, one spare being installed. A set of 66,000 volt aluminum cell electrolytic arresters give protection against lightning.
The 66,000 volt transmission to The Dalles is 27 miles long, the circuit being No. 6 copper wire on Thomas insulators. At Dufur two 50 kw. transformers step the current down to 2300 volts for local distribution.
At The Dalles is a 500 kw. transformer substation connected by transmission line to the generating plants at White River and Hood River. The Dalles, literally "flag-stones," was the early center of missionary activities among the Columbia River Indians and was also the site of one of the first military posts established in the Northwest. At one time a United States mint was partly built here to coin the gold from the Idaho mines. The surrounding country is the source of thousands of carloads of fruit, hay, grain and cattle. In addition to domestic lighting and power, current is supplied to the mill of the Wasco Warehouse Milling Company, who built the White River plant, and to many small irrigating plants.
The substation is a substantial brick and stone building 37x77 ft. with wood trussed sheet iron roof. It houses three 500 kw., oil-cooled, 66,000/6600 volt, single phase General Electric transformers, with the usual regulating and switching equipment. There is also a 21 kw. arc transformer for the 6.6 ampere lamps which light the town.
The seven panel switchboard is equipped to handle 550 amperes fur commercial circuits, 300 amperes for the \Vasco mills and 150 amperes for the Diamond mills. With the standard General Electric meter equipment for the board is included an Erstline graphic recording wattmeter.
The Dalles-Hood River transmission line is 20.6 miles long. The three power conductors are No. 0, 7 strand copper, a telephone circuit of No. 8 copper clad wire being carried on a 5 ft. cross arm below the power circuit. Though built for 66,000 volts this line is temporarily operated at 22,500.
The Hood River substation and power plant is situated about a mile from the town, the plant being used as an auxiliary to the power transmitted from White River. Power is developed at two sites, the upper consisting of a 100 h.p. McCormick water wheel driving a 75 kw., 2300 volt, 60 cycle, three phase General Electric generator and the lower a 530 h.p., 18 in., twin McCormick turbine direct connected to a 250 kw. Bullock generator supplying three phase, 60 cycle current at 2300 volts.
At each station there are two 100 kw., single phase, delta connected, 2300/6600 volt Moloney transformers and at the upper station there are also three 100 kw., 23,000/2300 volt, single phase Bullock transformers.
Hood River Valley is essentially a fruit growing community, specializing on Newtown and Spitzenberg apples, for which it is world-famed. Irrigating ditches cover the entire valley, being necessary for the cultivation of strawberries and small fruits, the rainfall being 36 inches. The valley boasts a population of about 5000, more than half the people living in or close by the town.
The White Salmon River discharges its quota into the Columbia across the river from White River. Its valley with the towns of Underwood and White Salmon is also fast becoming an apple center now that transportation facilities are available in the North Bank railroad. Excellent strawberries are raised while waiting for the orchards to come into bearing.
Power is distributed at 6600 volts throughout this promising district from a hydroelectric plant at Husum on the White Salmon River. Two 280 h.p. Samson horizontal turbines drive through belting a 75 kw., three phase, 2300 volt General Electric generator and a 5 kw. exciter. By means of three pole-type transformers current is stepped up from 2300 to 6600 volts.
Goldendale and Centerville are north of The Dalles and west of White Salmon in the rich valley of the Klickitat. These towns and the surrounding country are supplied with power by the Pacific Power & Light Company from a hydroelectric plant on the Klickitat 10 miles west of Goldendale at Blockhouse, near the site of an old blockhouse fort, the refuge of the early settlers. The generator is a 150 kw., three phase. 60 cycle Stanley machine driven at 900 r.p.m. by an 18 in. Victor Girard turbine under 300 ft. head.
The load is mostly for domestic lighting, as little irrigation pumping is necessary in this district on account of the frequent rains. Nearly all the 2000 acres tinder irrigation are supplied by gravity, although several private pumping projects are being developed.
Astoria.
Astoria, the second city of Oregon in commercial importance and rating, was established as a fur-trading emporium in 1810 by John Jacob Astor. It occupies a most strategic position near the mouth of the Columbia River whose seven miles of width affords an excellent harbor. Most of the residence portion of the town is built on the steep hills constituting the river bank which slopes so abruptly to the water's edge as to necessitate the construction of over ten miles of planked streets built on piles in the business section, thus giving rise to its appellation of "the Venice of America." The principal industries are salmon fishing and lumbering. The former gives an annual output of about thirty million pounds, most of which is canned; the latter amounts to a yearly production of over two hundred and fifty million feet.
The refuse from one of these mills, that of the Hammond Lumber Company, is the fuel for twelve tubular boilers furnishing steam to the two 800 kw., horizontal Curtis turbo-generators which now furnish most of the electric current used at Astoria. The Pacific Power & Light Company finds it more economical to buy this power than to regularly operate the reserve steam plant which they bought from the Astoria Electric Company.
Power is transmitted at 22,500 volts from the mill at Tongue Point, four miles from Astoria, by means of a double line of 50 ft. and 75 ft. poles carrying No. 6 copper wire on pin insulators.
The substation is a substantial reinforced concrete building 21x31 ft. adjoining the power plant and housing four (one spare) 300 kw., delta connected, 22,500/2300 volt transformers. There are also three 50 light, constant current tub transformers with mercury arc rectifier sets for arc lighting. Aluminum cell lightning arresters are installed.
The power apparatus is housed in a brick and corrugated iron engine room 150x98 ft. and a boiler room 57x58 ft. The main generator is a 500 kw., three phase, 60 cycle, 2300 volt General Electric machine direct connected to a 1000 h. p., vertical cross-compound, non-condensing McIntosh & Seymour engine. Exciting current is obtained from an engine-driven 27 kw. exciter and steam is supplied by one 750 h.p. and two 200 h.p. Cahall, Aultman & Taylor water tube boilers equipped with wood-burning Dutch oven and fire bases respectively. Feed water is heated by a 7x3 ft. Goubert closed primary heater and pumped by a 7-1/2x4-1/2x6 in. duplex piston Blake pump. Another 300 kw., single phase generator and 550 h.p. engine is not in use. Direct current for the Astoria electric railway which this company also operates is furnished by a 225 kw., motor-generator set also arranged for belt drive from a 400 h.p. Watts-Campbell engine. The motor is a 350 h.p., 2300 volt, three phase General Electric induction machine, driving a 225 kw., 500 volt, direct current General Electric generator.
The switchboard has nine panels of blue Vermont marble equipped with General Electric instruments. These include one incoming line panel, an induction motor panel and two railway generator panels, two a.c. generator panels with exciter panel, a three phase feeder and three single phase feeder panels.
This was the first property in the Pacific Northwest to be acquired by the American Power and Light Company and differs from all others in that there is no possibility of developing a pumping load for irrigation, as the average annual rainfall is over 75 inches. The city is prosperous and progressive, rapidly adopting the many modern current consuming devices for the home which fill in the valleys of the load curve,
Gas Plants.
The Pacific Power & Light Company operates gas plants at North Yakima and Walla Walla, Wash., Lewiston, Idaho, Pendleton and Astoria, Oregon, gas being made from coal excepting at Astoria.
The North Yakima gas works is the newest, having been completed early in 1912. The apparatus is housed in a brick building 101x45 ft. with two wings. Especial attention was paid to ample window illumination. The capacity of the three benches now installed is 300,000 cu. ft. daily, provision having been made for another bench.
The retorts, or gas generators, are 18 in number, there being three benches of six each. The retorts are double ended, 26x15 in. inside and 11 ft. long, being of Laclede-Christy make. Coal is fired at one end from cars on an industrial railway and coke is pushed out at the other by a specially designed hand pusher. The hot coke falls into hopper pits, where it is water cooled and stored till withdrawn by the coke car. Most of it is burned for fuel under the retorts. Steam is supplied by a 75 h.p. Frost horizontal return tubular boiler.
A 6 in. cast iron stand pipe connects the mouth of each retort to the hydraulic main whence the gas is exhausted to the condensers and the liquor drawn into the tar well and purifier.
The tar well and purifier is 16x24 ft. inside cross-section and 10-1/2 ft. deep, having 12 in. concrete walls and reinforced concrete covering. It is divided into two sections, the ammonia well occupying one-third its length and the tar well two-thirds. The liquor is discharged through a 3 in. drip pipe into a chamber 4x3 ft. and 5 ft. deep. From this chamber a 3 in. pipe at the surface discharges into the ammonia well and a 6 in. pipe near the bottom leads to the tar well.
The gas passes from the hydraulic main through a 12 in. cast iron pipe leading to the primary condenser, a vertical steel shell 6 ft. in diameter and 20 ft. high equipped for air and water cooling. Thence the 12 in. pipe branches to two 10 in. sections, each leading to a No. 4 Roots exhauster, one driven by a Troy engine, the other by an electric motor. After leaving the exhausters a 12 in. gas main carries the gas to the final condenser. It then passes through a water spray and two scrubbers, which remove the ammonia, into the purifiers and finally to the meter, which is equipped with pressure valve.
The gas is stored in two steel holders, one a single lift of 43,000 cu. ft. capacity, the other a double lift of 151,000 cu. ft. capacity. The gas is drawn from the holders by two compressors, which discharge into two large storage tanks which feed the city mains. Most of the apparatus was installed by the Gas Machinery Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
The Walla Walla gas plant is being reconstructed. The building is of brick on concrete foundations with concrete floors and asbestos covered roof. There are two benches of retorts, one being a Doherty bench of sixes, the other a Mitchell regenerative bench of sixes. The primary condenser is 4 ft. in diameter and 19 ft. high, one of the secondaries has the same height and a diameter of 6 ft., the other is 31/2 ft. x 12 ft. A single Kerr-Murray exhauster with 10 in. connections is driven by a vertical steam engine. The two scrubbers have the same dimensions as the secondary condensers, the purifiers are 9 ft. x 11 ft. The meter is a 66 in. Maryland type equipped with Heinmon drums and having a 24 hour measuring capacity of 432,000 cu. ft. with 1 in. loss in pressure.
There are two steel holders, one two-lift with a capacity of 100,000 cu. ft. and one single-lift with a capacity of 40,000 cu. ft. These with a tar well extractor and 60 h.p. boiler complete the station equipment.
The Lewiston gas plant also serves the town of Clarkston, Wash., the gas main being extended across the river on the bridge connecting the two towns. Gas is generated by means of one bench of six Mitchell semi-regenerative retorts and two benches of five direct firing retorts. There is but one condenser, 6 ft. in diameter and 20 ft. high, containing 60 2 in. tubes. A No. 2 Roots exhauster is direct connected to a 3x5 in. vertical engine. The scrubber is 18 ft. high and 4 ft. 8 in. in diameter, the two purifier boxes are 10x 12x3 ft. and the boiler a 20 h.p. horizontal return tubular. A 6 in. American station meter measures the gas before it is stored in the 31,000 cu. ft., single-lift steel holder. An 8 in. x 10 in. x 6 in. Hall compressor forces the gas through the mains.
The Pendleton gas plant is the smallest of those operated by the company and adjoins the Pendleton electric substation. The equipment includes one bench of 3 semi-regenerative and one bench of 4 half-depth Mitchell semi-regenerative retorts. The condenser, scrubber and two purifiers are of Kerr-Murray make, the former having 6 in. connections. The exhauster is an engine-driven No. 2 Root blower. The tar well consists of two tanks 12 ft. deep, one being of concrete 10x10 ft., the other of 1/4 in. steel 3 ft. in diameter. The P. & A. tar extractor with 6 in. connectors is similar to those installed in the Walla Walla and Lewiston plants. The holder has a capacity of 20,000 cu. ft., single-lift cupped for double-lift.
The Astoria gas plant has a crude oil gas generator and superheater 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter and 20 ft. high. The condenser is of 2 ft. diameter and 12 ft. height; the three scrubbers, 20, 18 and 101/2 ft. high and 51/2, 5 and 3 ft. in diameter respectively, all being made by Dole & Co., who also constructed one of the purifiers which is 10 ft. in diameter and 6 ft. deep. Of the three other purifiers, one is of the enclosed type, 12 ft. in diameter and 6 ft. high and two are water sealed, 6 ft. boxes. The exhauster is a No. 2 Root rotary driven by a 5 h.p. vertical engine. The tar extractor is a 4 ft. box made by the Cleveland Gas Machine Company. Steam is furnished by a 50-75 h.p. marine type boiler and the gas is measured by a 42 in. McDonald station meter with 6 in. connections. The main holder is a brick and concrete tank 50 ft. across and 18 ft. high with a capacity of 35,000 cu. ft., there also being a 5000 cu. ft. single-lift steel relief tank.
Conclusion.
The foregoing survey of the Pacific Power & Light Company's properties show it to be one of the world's most extensive high-tension transmission systems caring for a load dependent upon irrigation. The company already has about 3500 h.p. of motor-driven pumps and is fast increasing this most desirable load. In addition the following towns are given the service shown in the tabulation:
The query that most naturally comes to the mind of the reader is whether the demand for power will keep pace with the growth of the country. Can electric pumping compete with the great gravity canals which Federal and private enterprise are building? To both of these questions the facts demonstrated by experience bear out a most emphatic affirmative answer.
The gravity ditch is a co-operator rather than a competitor of electricity, for it is the means of bringing a greater population to require the public utilities which this company provides. Furthermore, it frequently happens that a consumer uses power to pump water from the ditch to a higher level than the gravity canal reaches. There is also much land not reached by the gravity canals which can be irrigated by well pumping, certain sections having great areas of easily tapped ground waters.
The cost of electric pumping as compared with the charges of several of the irrigation companies is shown in the accompanying tables which have been adapted from those of H. S. Wells, contract agent for the Pacific Power and Light Company. The costs become prohibitive for orchards above 100 ft. lift, alfalfa and hay not allowing much above 30 ft. lift on account of their smaller return per acre.
The pumping installations average from 5 to 15 h.p., varying from 1 to 120 h.p. Contracts arc taken for a minimum of five years and are protected by a lien on the customers' property which will cover the amount of the bills during the terms of the contract. The company will make line extensions and install meters and transformers if the first year's gross earnings are at least 35 per cent the cost of the extension.
The thorough organization and the aggressive manner by which this company seeks new business is characteristic of each of the other departments. General offices are maintained at Portland and local offices at each of the important field points.
The Pacific Power and. Light Company was incorporated in 1910 as a subsidiary of the American Power and Light Company of New York City, one of the interests of the Electric Bond and Share Company.
