Such a canal would have meant a large investment, not only for land and construction, but also, possibly, for damages to estates bordering on the river, if all of its water was diverted. Instead of such a canal, an electric generating station was located close to the new dam with a capacity of 6,400 horse-power, and this power is transmitted to motors in the mills at Ludlow.
Even where the power is to be utilized at some point distant from each of several waterfalls, it may be convenient to combine the power of all at one of them before transmitting it to the place of use. This is actually done in the case of two electric stations located respectively at Indian Orchard and Birchem Bend on the Chicopee River, whose energy is delivered to the sub-station of the electrical supply system in Springfield, Mass. At the Indian Orchard station the head of water is 36 feet, and at Birchem Bend it is 14 feet, while the two stations are about 2 miles apart. A canal of this length might have been built to give a head of 50 feet at the site of the Birchem Bend dam, but instead of this an electric station was located near each fall, and a transmission line was built between the two stations. Each generating station was also connected with the sub-station in Springfield by an independent line, and power is now transmitted from one generating plant to the other, as desired, and the power of both may go to the sub-station over either line. In the Indian Orchard station the dynamo capacity is about 2,000 kilowatts, and at Birchem Bend it is 800 kilowatts.
Another case showing the union of two water-powers by electrical transmission, where the construction of an expensive canal was avoided, is that of the electrical supply system of Hartford, Conn. This system draws a large part of its energy from two electric plants on the Farmington River, at points that are about 3 miles apart in the towns of Windsor and East Granby, respectively. At one of these plants the head of water is 32 feet, and at the other it is 23 feet, so that head of 55 feet might have been obtained by building a canal 3 miles long. Each of these stations is located near its dam, and the generator capacity at one station is 1,200 and at the other 1,500 kilowatts. Transmission lines deliver power from both of these plants to the same sub-station in Hartford.