Large
Power
Plant
Пике
Power Company is
spending SI 5.000.000 «in
its new power station
which is being located on
the Dan River.
By BILL EAST
AN engineering masterpiece is
taking place on the Dan River
, four miles from Leaksville.
The project is the $15.000,000
Dan River power station of the
Duke Power Company. It is an
integral part of the firm’s postwar
expansion program to keep up with
continuing demands on its power
facilities.
It will be one of the finest power
stations in the Southeast, and is
expected to draw a multitude of
envious engineer visitors when it
is completed in 1950.
The first power unit of 70,000
kilowatts is expected to be ready
for operation next October 1. The
other unit is slated for operation
about March 1. 1950, and will bring
the station to its full power of
140,000 kilowatts.
The growth of the power project
has been like something ripped out
of a "believe it or not” book. Last
December, the site of the station
was only a wooded hillside on the
Dan River.
The engineers taking the core
drillings, picked their way over the
hillside through the trees to the
little two-by-four shack where the
equipment was stored.
Л
muddy,
rutty road led to the area. There
was no railroad.
That was a year ago. The project
got started in December. 1947. In
May, it gained momentum and
really moved into high gear. Today,
well a visitor to the wooded hillside
of a year ago just would not know
the place.
The rutty road has become a
smooth, paved highway. A railroad
spur has been built to the site
and a complete railroad yard has
been constructed on the hillside,
which has been cut olf flat.
A complete village has sprung
Here's the framework of the station, as it is being erected on the Dan
River not far from Leaksville, N. C.
up. including a laboratory, carpen¬
ter and mechanical shops, oflices.
mess halls and dozens of homes for
families and men working on the
big project. Millions of dollars
worth of equipment has been
shipped to the dam.
The supply yards look like a
wartime overseas supply base as
the huge derricks unload all types
of materials from railroad flatcars.
Some of the flatcars are unloaded
directly onto the spot where the
power station is being constructed.
The Duke Power Company is
doing the job itself, using the bene¬
fit of its long experience in the
operation and construction of
power stations. As of the middle
of December, the dam project had
some 270 men on the payroll.
The project will be comprised of
only two permanent structures, the
tremendous power station and a
dam, which has not been started
yet. Engineers said the dam. which
will raise the stream level only
approximately 10 feet, will not be
difficult to construct.
The power station itself is a
tremendous structure sitting 35
feet below ground level on a bed of
solid rock. It will generate elec¬
trical power by using some 25 to 30
carloads of pulverized coal daily.
The dam will be constructed
only to assure the station an ade-
uate supply of water. Intake and
iseharge tunnels are being includ¬
ed in the structural plans.
A three-story cement mixer is
turning out the thousands of tons
of the material which must go into
the sturdy base and walls of the
building. A derrick puts the rocks
and sand atop the structure.
The cement is added on the top
floor. Water is added and the
material is mixed and remixed on
the two bottom floors. It is pumped
out to the spot where it is needed
on the power station site through
a jointed steel pipeline.
One of the principal pieces of
machinery which will be shipped
to the dam the latter part of the
summer will weigh 1771-2 tons. It
will be transported on a special
railroad car by one-way tracks
only, because of its width.
When it arrives at the station,
the piece of machinery will be
lifted from the car by a tremendous
traveling crane, yet to be con¬
structed, and placed in its perma¬
nent position. The rear of the
power station on the third floor
ground level will have the rail spur
entrance.
Duke Power engineers are view¬
ing their progress thus far with a
great deal of pride, but there's still
a long way to go.
The only tin mine in operation
in the United States is located two
miles south of Lincolnton. N. C.
The first book compiled by a na¬
tive North Carolinian. Clement
Mall’s Collection of Christian Ex¬
periences. was published by
North Carolina's first printer,
James Davis, at New Bern, in 1753.
THE STATE. January 1. 1949
9
