WSP10089 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

n 1776 after 1930. By 1940 its population had risen to 1,504.277, and the estimated population in 1945 was 1,7-50,000 persons. Ir.dications are that by 1950 Los Angeles will be the third largest city in America. KaT, is this trend confined to the city of Los Angeles. The entire Pacific eoa~t shows the same general conditions of population increase. In fact only the Pacific coast, together with the States of Arizona and Nevada, has shown population increases during the years 1940-45. In all other major sections of the country populations have declined. This rapid progress can occur only so long as water and power to sustain expansion can be secured. The intensive agricultural development in southern California was depend- ent entirely on irrigation, and the rapid population increases also required water in tremendous quantity. The region's underground reserve was there. fore endangered. Power was needed also, and the assuranGe of an adequate supply of this precious commodity was an absolute essential to continuing progress. Dur- ing the decade and a half preceding the passage of the Boulder Canyon Project Act, use of electric energy in southern California increased three times as rapidly as in the rest of the United States. Water, which also meant power, was within reach and obtainable, but was being wasted in the annual floods of the Colorado River. Instead of dealing destruction, these floods could be transformed into an inexhaustible source of convenience for mankind. The disastrous consequences of neglecting to conserve our great natural resources such as the Colorado River, had been recognized for a quarter of a century. But the question was: Ho\v could this' conservation be achieved? It would cost a hundred million dollars or more. Who was to make the initial investment? When plans for Hoover Dam .were considered, the volume of energy it could produce, and the revenue it could return to the Treasury, were adjudged large enough to make the construction pay for itself. Power, then, made possible the construction of Hoover Dam. The Hoover power plant can be depended on to generate between 5,000,000,000 and 6,000,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electric energy each year. Since 1940 the plant has produced more than half of the energy consumed in southern California, Arizona, and Nevada within transmission distance. During the operating year 1943-44, under the stress of wartime emergency, the Hoover power plant produced 6,2.50,000,000 kilowatt-hours of electric en~rgy . lnerf'aNing PtHrer Generation The Endless r'f,ne of (1ntold lVealth Commercial power generation in the Hoover power plant was hegun October 22, 1936, when the first of four generating units, then in process of installation. was placed in operation to serve the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Since that time, installation of additional generating units has gone forward steadily, and the significance of the Hoover power plant has become increasingly important. By the end of 1936, three units had been installed, and a fourth unit was plnced in operation early in 1937. These units served, not only the city of Los Angeles, but the neighboring cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena. Las Vegas and Boulder City, both in Nevada, also obtained energy from these units. In August of 1937, a generator went into operation for the California Electric Power Co., a private utility supplying customers in southernmost California. Installation of two more generators was completed in 1938. These were destined for use by the Metropolitan Water District of southern California. The primary use of energy from these two generators is for pumping .water into the district's Colorado River Aqueduct at Parker Dam. Energy, over and above the amounts required for pumping purposes, is sold to municipalities and utilities. The Southern California Edison Co., which serves consumers in seven counties of southern California, out.side of the city of Los Angeles, had a contract with the Government to take power beginning June 1, 1940. A power shortage, however, in the area served by this company speeded in- stallation schedules, and by the end of 1939 two generators .were in operation supplying energy for the Edison Co. Thus, the rate of installation had been so rapid, that at the beginning of 1940 the Hoover power plant was the largest of its kind in the world. Its installed capacity totaled 704,300 kilowatts. With the outbreak of World War II, Am~rica's industrial might was expanded rapidly, for it became apparent, as in World .War I, America would again resume its position as the arsenal for those nations who were desperately striving to stand firm against the aggressor. This impetus, added to the normally rapid expansion of the Southwest, accelerated installation of additional generators in the Hoover power plant. By October Today Hoover Dam's power plant is capable of supplying whole CItIes with I1ght and power. High tension transmis5ion lines radiate from Hoover Dam carrying electric energy for homes and farms, stores and factories, pumping plants, and mines, and smelters. Thirteen giant generators hum an endless tune of untold wealth-the creative wealth of hydroelectric power. Four more generators can be installed at some future time. Hoover's installed capacity in March 1948 was the largest in the world. It totaled 1,034,800 kilowatts. However, this capacity will be surpassed by the Grand Coulee Dam power plant upon completion of installation of the generators scheduled for 1949. 48 49