The Seattle Star Newspaper, July 17, 1920, Page 10

A. W. LEONARD, President Puget Sound Light & Power ‘ompany. ; There are a thousand ways or methods of applying electricity to human endeavor so as to reduce labor and increase production and profit. Few persons realize the extent to which the world is indebted today, in its myriad activities, to electricity and electrical appliances. A part of the development of the past twenty years in this region is the construction of hydro-electric plants on a very large scale, with the result that there is available here an adequate supply of electric power for transportation, for industry and for every one of the thousand domestic, farm and shop and office uses to which electricity is applied today. Twenty years ago electricity was used almost wholly for lighting and street transportation purposes. The elec- tric railway and the electric lighting plant were the two forms in which this now almost universal servant was best known. And twenty years ago all electric energy used for these or any other purpose was generated in wasteful and inefficient steam plants. Sensing the folly of this waste, Snoqualmie Falls was developed and hydro-electric power was produced; a per- petual source of energy was harnessed, and for the first time in this region, electric current was produced and applied to industry without burning up, consuming and forever destroying, coal which had to be dug from the ground. An idle river running idly to the sea was harnessed, its tremendous energy was utilized and the equiv- alent of that energy in tons of coal was saved for all time to future generations. We have heard a great deal about the Con- servation of Natural Resources. THIS WAS PRACTICAL CON- SERVATION! THE SEATTLE STAR ELECTRICITY BECOMING THE | UNIVERSAL SERVANT! Factory and Home—The Shop and.the Office—The Farm and the | Store—Transportation, Industry and Domestic Activities Reconstructed Since Electricity Began to Enter Into Everyday Affairs Following the development of Snoqualmie Falls came the development of the Puyallup River at Electron and of the great White River or Lake Tapps plant between Seattle and Tacoma. The municipal plant at Cedar River brought the total hydro-electric development of the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett terri- tory up to 125,000 horsepower, exclusive of the power plant a ated by the city of Tacoma. . Electrification of the Milwaukee railroad in- ter-connected the Snoqualmie, White River and Electron hydro- electric generating stations with those of Eastern and Southeast- ern Washington so that they may all draw on each other in case of emergency, or when supplying power to a consumer like this great transcontinental railroad. : Electricity operates the coast division of a railroad system; it operates lines of electric interurban railways, the street cars of our Cities, the lighting of homes, stores and streets, the telephone systems, our factories, shops, office, domes- tic and farm appliances. It does all this economically, cleanly and efficiently. It does this without the waste of fuels by taking up and utilizing the energy of the streams running from mountain to sea, day in and day out, and forever. Human intelligence, individual initiative, and the thrifty habits of industrious people made this possible. Inven- tion worked out the harnessing of this energy; initiative applied the invention to the idle resource, and the combined capital of the industrious thousands furnished the money to work out the devel- opment needed which is making electricity the universal servant of mankind. NORTHWEST EDUCATIONAL BUREAU SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1990. — - SP ec ‘gspne 2¢ o ghee zeeeeees ome Mee) age ie ee ooNe acted FY rt i me c—) Cae