1Q WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 22. 1362 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDrORD. OREGON
Bonneville Power Administration Observes 25th Anniversary This Week
By ANN H. PEARSON
Portland -(UPD- A quarter of
a century ago this week Pres
ident Franklin D. Roosevelt
scratched his name across a
controversial act creating the
Bonneville Power Administra
tion. Today, giant white slabs ol
concrete harness the Colum
bia river and her tributaries at
15 poinU. Five more dams are
under construction.
Humming lines, enough to
ring the nation, will carry 31
billion kilowatt-hours of pow
er this year to wholesale
agencies in the Northwest
power pool that feeds Oregon
Washington, Northern Idaho
and Western Montana. BPA
supplies 60 per cent of all
power for the area.
Since 1937, BPA has gener
ated enough power to keep
Seattle aglow and her Indus
tries rolling for 95 years.
The going has not always
been smooth. Since 1958, Bon
neville has operated in the
red. The agency has been em
broiled in the running public
private power controversy.
But it is looking ahead-
to tripling its generating ca
pacities in the next quarter
century, to extending its
transmission grid south and
perhaps east for sale of sur
plus power, to a power treaty
with Canada, and to lines that
can wheel in power from
massive dam planned for
Alaska's Rampart Canyon,
Nation's Laigoit
Since its creation, Bonne
ville has become the nation's
largest hydroelectric utility
operation. It serves 220,000
square miles and five million
persons
From 1940 to 1960, popula
tion in the Northwest grew 55
per cent; power, public and
private, nearly 800 per cent.
The per capita use of power
jumped from 1,600 kilowatts
a year to 9,000 - more than
double the national average.
The power is comparatively
cheap. The agency's rate of
$17.50 a kilowatt-year has re
mained unchanged since 1938.
The average family pays a ,
monthly bill of less than $10.
Bonneville wholesales its
power to public and private
agencies, who in turn distrib
ute electricity to the consum
er. BPA also sells directly to
19 large industries.
About half of the power
sold by the power administra
tion, either directly or
through distributors, ends up
in industrial use. The quarter
century has seen a spurt of
Industrial activity In the
Northwest. Industrial power
consumption, from BPA ana
other sources, is about 25 bil
lion kilowatt hours a year,
eight times what it was in
1937.
Among industries served by
the project are plants that put
out about one-third of the na
tion's aluminum ingot produc
tion. Bonneville and private
power maintain an uneasy al
liance. Some 40 per cent of
BPA's power goes to private
firms for distribution.
Protoitt Hoard
The protests from the pri
vate companies become aud
ible when BPA urges use of
the Hanford, Wash., atomic
works to generate power, or
aeek to run lis transmission
grid into California for sale
of surplus power.
The first project was the
Bonneville dam. From Brad
ford Island, about 30 miles up
the Columbia from Portland,
it flings stone arms across
two channels, each about one
fifth of a mile long. One Is
the spillway dam to regulate
flow. The other is the power
dam, where ten turbines turn
generators to make more
than three billion kilowatt
hours of electricity a year.
In addition to neat, white
administrative and guest
buildings, rolling green lawns
and bright flower beds, Brad
ford Island is laced with fish
ladders.
The passage of salmon fend
other seagoing fish upstream
to their spawning grounds
has been a major problem
created by the big dams. The
ladders, in effect a series of
small waterfalls, up which
the fish travel naturally, arc
one answer.
Another, across the channel
on the mainland where homes
and offices for the Bonneville
staff also are located, is the
fish hatchery. Here fish eggs
are hatched artificially and
fry raised in thousands
until they can be released to
swim to sea and mature be
fore returning.
Bonneville also has a lock.
Shipping passing through in
the past decade average one
and one-half million tons a
year.
Grand Coulee dam, BPA's
second project, remains the
largest in the system - nearly
four times the capacity of
Bonneville.
In the Red
The power complex and its
related irrigation and recrea
tion facilities, already repre
sent a $3.8 billion Invest
ment. Most of it is being re
paid from power revenues.
BPA is $20 million ahead of
schedule in making repayments.
The agency, however, has
operated at a deficit for the
past five years, and was in
the red $18 million this year.
It blames an uneven construc
tion pattern, making new con
tracts unsure; on growing
project costs; on recent lum
ber and industrial cutbacks;
and on a lack of markets for
secondary power, the kind
that is only available part-
time. .
BPA says SI million a day
in construction will be need
ed in the next quarter cen
tury to meet power demands.
The agency also currently is
pressing for a coordinated
power development with Brit
ish Columbia, generators at
Hanford, and long-distance,
high voltage lines to sell sec
ondary power could be used
instead of fuel - generated
power.
A pioneer in new power
techniques, BPA also fore
sees the day when it could
transmit cheap power gener
ated by Northwest rivers to
much of the nation. "Differ
ences in time zones, stream
flows, reservoir seasons and
peak loads," BPA says,
"would make it theoretically
possible for an idling gener
ator in Alaska to be sped up
to meet a peak load in St.
Louis, Mo."
Trailways Seeks
To Quit Routes
Salem - WTO - Public Ulill-1
ty Commissioner Jonnl C.
Hill said Tuesday Pacific
Trailways, Bend, wants to
abandon several segments of
its regular route on or adja
cent to U. S. 97 in central
and southern Oregon.
The firm cited lark of
need for service, and a
streamlining of operations as
reasons for the request.
Because of the large ex
panse of territory Involved,
ilill said two hearings will be
held.
The first hearing is set for
10 a.m. Sept. 11 at Madras,
on abandonment of service
along U. S. 97 from Madras
through Melollus and Culver
to the Junction of both old
and new U. S. 97 south of
Culver.
The second hearing will be
at 9:30 a m. Sept. 13 in Med
ford. It involves abandon
ment of service along Slate
Highway 62 between Crater
Lake and the junction of 62
with U. S. 97; a section be
tween Crater Lake and the
Junction of State Highway
230 and U. S. 97 via lliuh
ways 209 and 230; and a seg
ment between the junction of
Highways 62 and 230 and
the Junction of Highways
209 and 230 via 230
Soft Drinks In Cans
Gaining Popularity
New York -HTf'-Sales of soft
drinks in rans have rhmhrd
172 per cent since l!i:fi. ac
cording to Steehvays. official
publication of the American
Iron and Steel institute.
If the can makers realize
their 1962 sales goals, they
will have five per cent of
the carbonated beverage mar
ket, which sells about 35 5
billion units annually, the
publication said. 1
n;,r ,.,..1 dc MtN WFnNFSnAY. THURSDAY & FRIDAY I
uic vpjiii rf rvPFN WEDNESDAY. THURSDAY &
from 4 PM ti" MIDNIGHT fo this eventlj
A Factory Approved promotion that promises to be one of
Medford's bigqest appliance sales of the year! Only a few specials are
listed . . . SHOP IN THE COOL, COOL OF THE EVENING AND
REALLY SAVE!
ftetrioint
2 Cycle, All Fabric Operation
All Porcelain Inside & Out
Big 10 Lb. Capacity
Incredible Low Pricel
Moonlight
Price
(with trad)
Hf4rrtpirijiir
2-Door Deluxe
REFRIGERATOR
Compact . . . rolls out for cleaning
No Frost refrigerator Zero-zone Freezer
Super Storage door Shelves
Two glide-out shelves
Full Width Porcelain Crisner
Magna-Seal Door Gaskets
Moonlight
Price
(with trade)
1 ioLpxrixdr
2 Temperature automatic, normal or low
Up to 90 minute settings
High air-flow for faster drying
Porcelain protected drum
Long life heating units
Moonlight
Price
CURRENT MODELS
iLLlgj
Automatic
Clock & Timer
Removable
Oven Door
Calrod Heating
Elements
Choice of .
Colors
RJ36
e- "TtiBLr; -fed' a J.1
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RU15
Calrod Units
All Porcelain
RR35
Easy to Use
Pushbuttons
Easily Cleaned
Moonlight
Price
$!0
Jl a iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil 'lr.
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Refrigerator
Comport, only 211" wido
Doop door snolvos hold
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Moono-Sool door gntkott
Full widtti 54 lb. (iMi.r
Pwl Sot dnftofin
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(with trod)
!48
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Dishwasher
Hild Ml family'! dinnor
wort, pott ond porn,
vtmils ond lilvtrwoft
Ro)U to tfo toMo for wiy
londing
Vinyl cmhionod toch
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Itutpcjijifc
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124
m 1
13
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t Holds full ISO ltd. ol
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Foit FtMH shofvts
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Auto. tomp. control
New, offwl hinoos
Moonlight Pric
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Hotpoint
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3T
.. c...:- ;.: Used W
What V if Refrigerators h f
ml wesc m - m
Builders &
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for low, low
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PRICES
GOOD ONIY
DURING
MOONLIGHT
Sale Aug.
22 thru
24
-fysv. 1
Wo Cash?
Come in
Anyway!
nr. NORMAL
rHbS INSTAUATICN
Iran SSRViCE
WE
SERVICE
WHAT
WE
SELL
5
'""' '""''" i mi.ii.,..! Hi , i.i iiniitiiiniiii.ni.iiinniiiir.ini n
HUiftY!
132 South Central
Pheno 772-4131 or 772-6268
THESE PRICES GOOD ONLY
DURING MOONLIGHT SALE
WED., THURS. & FRI.
August 22nd Ihru August 24th