delivered to-day, and now work is being
pushed day and night to double the pres-
ent capacity, while the company still holds
undeveloped rights for many thousands of
hor?e power.
With these rapid strides has come a
complete change in the industrial condi-
lions of the city and surrounding country.
The company's policy has been to con-
stantly diminish power costs, with the re-
sult that to-day power is delivered for
thirty per cent of what it cost a few years
ago, and delivered with a regularity of
service only possible through operation
on a huge scale.
The plan of the N"ecaxa development in-
volved primarily the generation of elec-
tricity through the use of water power at
the point where the stream takes two tum-
bles of a total of 1400 feet in its rush to
the sea. This meant driving tunnels
through a mountain to carry the pipes to
the turbines. The great question, how-
ever, for the future was one of insuring
a steady flow, which could be secured only
by the creation of huge reservoirs to store
flood waters and use them through the
dry season.
To-day there exists in the system five
storage basins covering thousands of acres
in area, and having a total storage capac-
ity of 46,500,000,000 gallons of water.
Then, with an ever-increasincr demand for
power, tunneling through half a dozen
ranges of hills was begun to bring other
streams into the system, diverting them
from their natural flow, and storing them
in these huge reservoirs for use during the
dry season, or using them from day to day
for ordinary operation.
Necaxa lies about 100 miles northeast
of Mexico, at the lower end of a railroad
20 miles long, built by the company for
handling machinery and supplies. At the
upper end of the railroad there is a branch
line ten miles long, which reaches the two
upper level reservoirs, Laguna and Los
Ee} f es. The Laguna reservoir was created
by the construction of an earth dam
sixty-five feet high and 2214 feet long.
It has a capacity of 11,600,000 gallons of
water, which is spilled into the Necaxa
Valley when required. The Los Reyes
reservoir, with seven billion gallons " of
capacity, was created by an earth and rock
dam with a concrete core, the dam being
95 feet high by 526 feet long. The Los
Reyes reservoir would naturally empty
into another watershed, but has been
224:
OVERLAND MONTHLY.
diverted by two short canals and a tunnel
1,000 feet long to flow into the Necaxa
basin.
At Necaxa itself the main reservoir,
with lli/o billion gallons of storage capac-
ity, was created by constructing a dam
across the huge gorge. The dam is 1,300
feet long, 194 feet high and over 1024
feet in width at the base the highest and
one of the largest hydraulic fill dams in
the world. The construction of the dam
involved the building of a canal eleven
miles long to secure head for pressure to
operate the giant monitors with which the
rock and earth were driven from the hill-
sides down sluice-ways to go into the dam
construction. The monitors and sluice-
ways enabled the engineers to place in
position as high as 8,000 cubic yards of
material in a day an immense amount,
but small when considered but a fraction
of 1,900,000 cubic yards of material which
have gone into the dam since the work
began.
To the right of the main reservoir is the
Tenango reservoir with equally large stor-
age capacity, contained by an immense
earth dam nearly two miles long, the dam
centering in the bed of the Tenango Elver.
The 'central portion of the Tenango dam
is constructed on the same general scheme
as the Necaxa dam, and in fact, on the
same general plan adopted for all the
dams. This plan consists of two "toes"
of rock, with a filling, between the "toes"
of clay. A concrete core prevents any
.chances of undermining or leaking, while
the clay sluiced in by water fills up all of
the crevices in the rock "toes." The rock
"toes" have the immense weight necessary
to resist the pressure, the core wall and
clay filling make it absolutely water-tight,
and the dam becomes as solid as the
hills themselves. Some conception may
be gained of the work involved by the fact
that five million cubic yards of rock and
earth have been used in the construction
of the company's dams a bulk equal to
that of two hundred average ten-story
modern office buildings. The ten largest
buildings in the average large American
city could be placed, tower and all, in the
Necaxa dam, and room left to spare.
Beyond the Tenango reservoir lies the
ISTexapa basin, the waters of which are
held by another high dam. These basins
were formerly valleys through which
flowed rivers., all now made to flow out of
their natural channels. Into the Necaxa
basin now flows the water of the Xalte-
puxtla river, taken out of its course and
sent through a rock tunnel capable of
carrying fifteen thousand gallons of water
per second. The Xaltepuxtla diversion is
the first of a series of a dozen streams
which will all shortly be brought into the
system. The country, commencing at
Nexapa basin, is very mountainous, and
to reach the streams beyond it is necessary
to drive tunnels through mountain after
mountain. The first tunnel beyond the
Xaltepuxtla is a little over two miles
long. This is followed by six other tun-
nels of varying length, the last one ex-
tending into the Zempoala Valley to catch
the waters of that stream and its tribu-
taries. The scheme of diversion tunnels
and reservoirs is, briefly, to go through
the mountains and pick up each system of
streams in succession, bringing them all
through this common system of tunnels
and utilizing the valley land en route for
storage reservoirs. All this work will be
completed by September, 1911. From the
Tenango reservoir there is a tunnel 4,320
feet long, carrying a steel pipe nine feet in
diameter, encased in concrete. This tun-
nel leads into the Necaxa Reservoir. A
<C Y" branch from this tunnel, however,
makes it possible to feed the power house
direct from the Tenango, or through the
Necaxa, as may be desired.
The generators, huge units, each cap-
able of developing 8,500 horse-power, are
six in number. Great as is the capacity
of each of these, changes are being made
in the turbines, so that each unit will de-
velop over 10,500 horse-power, or a total
of 63,000 horse-power in the existing
plant. The company, to take care of a
rapidly growing business, is installing the
new "units," each of which will develop,
when run to its fullest capacity, 15,000
kilowatts, or 20,000 horse-power, making
a total generating capacity of 103,000
horse-power within the present year. Fig-
ures expressed in technical terms of
horse-power or kilowatts convey but a
small idea of the facts. Perhaps it would
be better to say that either of these two
new huge electric machines, driven by a
simple, but tremendous, pressure of water,
will be able to generate enough power to
operate all of the tramways, light all of the
streets, and do all of the house lighting
in a city of half a million people. It
sounds immense and simple until one
considers that years of work were neces-
sary to bring the waters to a point where
a steady year around flow could be assured
to run the turbines.
The two new units, with the existing
plant, will, within the year, produce over
100,000 horse-power, another simple but
huge figure which, when analyzed, means
that two thousand industrial concerns in
and near the City of Mexico, from mines
operating on a scale never dreamed of be-
fore, down to little shirt factories operat-
ing half a dozen sewing machines all are
running on the "white coal" of the Ne-
caxa Valley, and the score of rivers which
THE BIGGEST FACTOK IN DEVELOPING MEXICO
237
have been brought into it.
Even as the original scheme was car-
ried out, methodically, so has everything
been arranged in the power house, and, in
fact, throughout the entire installation.
The mechanical and electrical apparatus,
the pipe lines which feed the plant, and
even to a large extent the diversions of
streams, are so laid out as to always pro-
vide a reserve of immense transformers,
and the rows of automatic switches are
not only arranged for all emergency con-
ditions, but are so controlled at the main
switchboard that practically instantaneous
transfers can be made to reserve appara-
tus.
From the in-take just above the dam
two penstocks six feet in diameter are
carried under a hill around the end of
the dam, and thence on concrete piers and
through two short tunnels, a total distance
of 2160 feet, to a receiver, or junction
tank. In addition, the seven foot feeder
coming from Tenango runs parallel to the
others, and is connected to the same re-
ceiver. From this point relief pipes ex-
tend up the hill, while the main pressure
pipes are carried down through the hill
to the power house, 2420 feet away and
1250 feet below. The gorge, with its two
magnificent falls, circles the hill, while
the pipe lines are carried down direct in
three concrete lined tunnels, the largest
of which, 15 :5xl9 feet, has just been
completed. For the existing power units
there are six 30-inch pipes, nearly an inch
in thickness, at the bottom. For the new
units there are two 42-inch pipes, now
being installed in the new tunnel. The
water in the pipes is controlled by means
of valves in the power house, and also by
valves at the top of the tunnel. Auto-
matic relief valves are provided at the
turbines. The whole plan of hydraulic
work, from the first diversion of water
through to the turbines, is laid out with
reference to absolute safety, and the tre-
mendous pressure of the water is handled
and controlled in the simplest manner pos-
sible.
In the tunnels there is room for three
more 42-inch pipes, which would supply
water for sixty thousand horse-power more
making the present development 163,-
000 horse-power in one power-house.
For the future, the company has plans
for extensions on an even greater scale
should the business require it. The pres-
ent plant can be enlarged by the addition
of more units, and if desired a second in-
stallation can be put in some four miles
below the present plant. The latter pro-
ject is relatively simple from the fact
that the same water would be used after
it leaves the present power-house, for the
river takes another tumble of over a thou-
sand feet, and another 100,000 horse-
power could be developed at this point.
The flow being regulated by the consump-
tion of the upper house, there would be
little hydraulic work to do with the ex-
ception of installing the pressure pipe
lines to the lower power-house. The com-
pany has the water rights to the Laxaxal-
pan, Amaloyan and San Pedro rivers, be-
yond the Zempoala, and these can be
brought into the general scheme when de-
sired. The company has concession rights
for the creation of an immense reservoir,
with storage capacity for nearly thirty
billions of gallons of water, to store the
flood waters of these rivers.
The plan for these diversions includes
over ten miles of tunnels a huge item,
to be sure, but relatively not as great as
the storage and diversion work already
completed. The Necaxa plant is so located
that its future capacity is a matter of de-
mand for power. With, the backbone of
the system completed, extensions can be
made from year to year to keep up with
the demand.
The picturesque and sensational fea-
tures of the whole system have to be seen
to be appreciated. Miles of diversion
canals, ten miles of tunnels completed or
under construction, fifty miles of sinu-
ous railroad winding around hills or drop-
ping off the face of mountains, huge
freight cages swinging over the edge of
cliffs four times as high as those of Niag-
ara, cable trams piercing mountains at an
angle of 45 degrees all these, combined
with the most magnificent of mountain
scenery, make a visit to the plant a truly
sensational event.
The power is transmitted to Mexico on
a double line of steel towers, each set of
towers carrying two circuits of three cop-
per cables. The current, which is gener-
ated at 4,000 volts, is transmitted over
these circuits to Mexico at 60,000 volts.
THE MEX, L. & P C? LT&.
NEC AX A, ..
N?98. FEB. EC t9K>.
The terminal at the capital is at the No-
noalco Station, where a complete switch-
ing and transforming station enables the
transformation of higher potential being
used for delivery of current to important
sub-stations, while the lower voltage goes
direct to consumers or to smaller sub-sta-
tions. The intricate system of distribu-
tion furnishes current for the tramways,
for all public and private lighting, for
city water pumping, for pumps for the
XA, PENSTOCKS-TWO 6 fT.
ONE 7 FT. PIPE
sewage system, and for power for all pur*
poses throughout the city.
From Nonoalco, another tower line, car-
rying two 60,000 volt circuits, goes west-
erly across the mountains to the important
mining district of El Oro, eighty miles
from Mexico City. At this point, four
great mines and half a dozen smaller ones
are supplied with power generated at Ne-
caxa, one hundred and eighty miles away.
The grinding and pounding of the big
MOONLIGHT.
229
mine stamps, the hum of motors, the
clanging of underground electric trams,
all attest the economic revolution wit-
nessed in Mexican mining.
The company is now building a branch
from its main transmission line to Pa-
chuca, one of the oldest mining camps in
Mexico. In this district mines which,
under former methods, were not worth
working, are being re-opened and oper-
ated on a large scale. A unique fact which
illustrates the change which electric power
and modern methods have made may be
seen in the history of the Seal del Monte
Mining Company of Pachuca. That com-
pany has operated continuously for two
hundred years, and to-day, with two cen-
turies of work to its credit, is preparing
to double its production! The electric
light has supplanted the miner's lamp, the
motor driven stamp mill and tube mill
have succeeded the old patio process, and
the electric tram the wicker basket. Ten
thousand horse-power of motors will in
the next ten years be the means of pro-
ducing as much wealth, luxuries and com-
forts of life as two centuries of slow and
tedious hand labor.
MOONLIGHT
BY C. ASHTON SMITH
Ambitious of their solitary reign,
Whose many-pointed brilliance fills the sky,
The silver moon doth rise in majesty,
And with her splendor shares the stars' domain.
Now as she takes her lucent course on high,
Her light doth shroud all things in mystery
And subtle glamour. As of realms unknown
It seems a radiance from worlds that lie
Beyond our ken, and glimpsed in dreams alone.
And in those rays is tender witchery,
Which softly doth erase the scars of day,
And with a pallid beauty touches all.
The Moon's light is a painter's brush, and she
An artist skilled who doth the world array,
In silence, with a white, enchanted pall.
OEDIPUS TYRANNUS AT THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
BY ARTHUR INKEB8L.EY
THOUGH a graduate in law of
the University of California, I
had never felt any particular in-
terest in the "doings" of the
students about Commencement Day. But
the performance of Sophocles' immortal
drama, "Oedipus the King," on May 14th,
as a part of the celebration of the Golden
Jubilee of the University, drew me to the
Greek Theatre early on a brilliant morn-
ing such as might have greeted an Athe-
nian citizen in the fifth century before
Christ, Indeed, the sun shone rather bra-
zenly upon us as we sat waiting for the
performance to begin, and amused our-
selves as best we might by observing what
was before and around us. Between the
stage and the auditorium is a level circu-
lar space, whereon it is probable that the
action of the play took place in the early
days of Greek drama; but which, on this
occasion, was reserved for the orchestra.
Inevitably some anachronisms creep into
any reproduction of antiquity. For ex-
ample, the seats to be occupied by the
musicians are of bent wood of a most mod-
ern type; and certain requisites of their
craft are kept in two great metal-studded,
slat-strengthened trunks of the kind that
are meant to circumvent, if haply they may
do so, the studied brutality of the baggage
smasher: on the extreme left of the spec-
tators two men are getting ready their
moving picture machines, without which
no really great event, such as a prize-
fight (or is it a boxing contest?) in which
white meets black, or the return of an ex-
President from a big-game shooting tour
in Darkest Africa, is complete. But the
most serious (and the only offensive) ana-
chronism is the insertion in the center of
the great back wall of the stage of a stone
tablet informing us in large capital Eng-
lish letters that the Greek Theatre is the
gift of a certain proprietor (I am not
about to present him with a free advertise-
ment by naming him) of newspapers that
have done more to corrupt the taste, viti-
ate the morals and debase the sense of
proportion of the inhabitants of the United
States than any other agency. But, of
course, this crafty person cares no more
for Greek Theatres than he does for
Truth, and merely uses this one as a per-
petual "ad," paid for once, but running
for all time, or at least so long as the
University of California shall have its
material habitation in this spot. At the
very least, the inscription should be in
Greek characters, and should follow the
form current in ancient Greece at the time
when the Greek drama was at the height
of its glory.
Before proceeding to a consideration of
"Oedipus the King," let us look briefly
into the origin of the Greek drama. In
spring-time, when the forces of nature dis-
play renewed energy, the ancient Greeks
were accustomed to sing hymns and dance
at festivals held in honor of Dionysus
(Bacchus, the wine-god), the scene being
a threshing-floor in a hollow of the hills,
on the slopes of which the spectators sat.
The hymns were chanted by a chorus with
appropriate gestures. The drama dawned
when an actor was introduced to converse
with the chorus, a play in those early days
consisting of choral odes, narratives ad-
dressed to the chorus, and the dialogue be-
tween the actor and the chorus. From
these simple beginnings arose the Greek
tragic and comic dramas, which were
played in the open air, the spectators oc-
cupying seats of marble.
The reproduction of the master-pieces
of the ancient Greek dramatists at the
University of California had similarly
modest beginnings. Since 1894 it had
been the custom of the students to perform
their annual extravaganza on a rough
OEDIPUS TYRANNUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
231
stage erected in a natural hollow to the
west of the hill which forms the central
point of M. Benard's great plan for the
buildings of the University, the spectators
sitting on the straw-strewn slopes in the
shade of cypresses and eucalypti. Dr.
Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President of the
University, perceived the value of the site,
and what is now known as the Greek Thea-
tre was begun in the spring of 1903 under
the directions of John Galen Howard, the
supervising architect of the University of
California, the theatre at Epidaurus serv-
ing as the chief model, though ideas from
the theatres of Corinth and other cities
were incorporated. There are two series
of semi -circular tiers of seats, the first
tral doorway and two smaller entrances,
with a portal in each of the return walls.
The material is concrete, the stage wall
being of Portland cement ; but it is hoped
ultimately to case the entire structure in
marble. Then will occur the golden op-
portunity to conceal from tired eyes that
stone inscription; and, if the donor insists
on exacting his pound of advertising, let
it be done in Greek characters on a tablet
of brass. The Greek Theatre is highly in-
teresting as being the first built in any
modern country, and as affording oppor-
tunities for most realistic reproductions
of the works of the ancient Greek drama-
tists.
Though the structure was by no means
Tiresias denounces Oedipus.
rising at a gentle slope ; then comes a broad
aisle and a low wall, above which the sec-
ond series rises at a steeper angle. From
the highest row of seats one can step upon
the hillside. The upper tiers are nineteen
in number, and are both steps and seats.
The arc of the outer semi-circle is 250 feet ;
the stage is the chord, being 150 feet long,
28 feet deep, and having at its back a
massive wall 42 feet in height. The stage
rise? 5y 2 feet above the open circular space
already mentioned. Its wall is adorned
with sixteen columns and an entablature
in the simple Doric style, representing the
front of a temple. In it are a great cen-
Photo Giessner-Morse Co., Berkeley.
complete in May, 1903, it was advanced
enough to be used for the Commencement
Address of Colonel (then President)
Roosevelt. About the end of September
it was dedicated by a performance of the
"Birds of Aristophanes" in the original
Greek, by students of the University un-
der the direction of Ben Greet. Other not-
able performances have been 1 Racine's
"Phedre" in French, "Twelfth Night,"
by Ben Greet's players, and "Oedipus the
King" on May 14th of the present year.
It has been said that the Greek drama
began when an actor was introduced to
talk with the chorus. Aeschylus, the fam-
232
OVEBLAND MONTHLY.
ous tragic writer and actor, made a great
improvement when he brought in a second
actor, thus rendering it possible to bring
antagonists face to face, and giving an
energy and vigor to the drama that it had
lacked. In order to lend dignity to the
actors, Aeschylus added to their bulk and
stature by padding and thick-soled shoes;
he also clothed them in flowing garments
of various colors and rich ornamentation.
Sophocles, the second of the great trio of"
Greek tragedians (Euripides being the
third), increased the number of the chorus
from twelve to fifteen, but greatly dimin-
ished its importance as an element in the
action of the drama by adding a third ac-
tor, thus reducing the chorus to the role
respect for established authority. Its
great desire is to make things smooth, to
heal hatreds and effect reconciliations.
Sophocles brought tragedy down from the
Olympian heights on which Aeschylus
kept it, more nearly to the level of man, re-
placing the almost terrible grandeur of
the older tragedies by grace and beauty.
In the tragedies of Sophocles, the great
problems of religion and morals do not
wholly overshadow the human interest of
the story. The characters are still of
heroic mould, but they display more of
the emotions and weaknesses of men and
women than do the characters of Aeschy-
lus. Man's nature, his passions and strug-
gles, become the main object of attention
Jocasta endeavors to reassure Oedipus. Photo Glessner-Morse Co., Berkeley.
of a sympathetic and kindly onlooker,
who offers advice and consolation to the
principal characters and fills up the pauses
in the action with wise reflections and
comments on what has happened up to that
point. The keynote of these comments is
the justice of the gods, the inevitable
power of Fate and the disastrous conse-
quences of crime and opposition to the
will of Providence. The chorus shows no
special penetration or insight. Though
sometimes it participates in fraud and
deception, on the whole it is pious and
ready to sympathize with what is good and
noble. It is cautious, timid, and has great
in the drama. Sophocles has a deep in-
sight into the recesses of the human heart
and can hardly be equaled in keen analysis
of motive. He depicts the sufferings of
mankind, but draws special attention to
their relation to the eternal laws of Jus-
tice and the principles of divine Govern-
ment. The dramatist's tone is rather that
of a man who has outgrown the simple
beliefs of his fellow-countrymen, but still
regards them with respect and speaks of
them reverently. He is convinced that
the world is governed by Divine laws,
which are immutable. A Supreme and
Eternal Being, abiding in heaven, pre-
OEDIPUS TYEAETNUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
sides- over the universe, guiding all
things. Sophocles, however, does not en-
tertain optimistic views of man's fate; he
cannot shut his eyes to the fact that, while
crime brings its own punishment, inno-
cence often suffers, too. The poet ad-