The Nome Nugget

Engineer Outlines
Plans For
B. C. Development

SEATTLE, (P) - The Canadian plan for a huge power development would not interfere with any highway or railroad project in the Rocky Mountain trench, a British engineer said Saturday.

Ralph L. Chantrill, London engineer employed as a consultant on the proposed Peace River power project, was here for discussions of power needs of the Northwest.

Use of the trench as a route for a highway and perhaps a railroad to Alaska has been advocated for years.

"There will be plenty of room left for that," Chantrill commented.

In the proposed British Columbia project, a key dam on the Peace River would dwarf Washington's Grand Coulee Dam.

Chantrill said it would provide at least four million horsepower (three million kilowatts) "and all of it will be firm power." Grand Coulee is rated at 1,944,000 kilowatts, but a substantial power is secondary power, available about half the year.

The British engineer said the Peace River Dam would impound water forming a lake 250 miles long, so huge it would store surplus water for use in low-water years.

The Peace River power plan is part of a gigantic regional development proposed by Canadian and European interests. Alex Wenner-Gren, Swedish capitalist, organized a company and arranged a survey.

The agreement with the province of British Columbia calls for a final engineering report by the end of this year, to be followed by railway and other development starting in 1960.