Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 48 The world's first hydroelectric power station

  August 1877

   Two ocean-going freighters from the United States are parked on the dock, loaded with the last batch of machinery and equipment ordered, and workers are unloading in full swing.

  Two railroad tracks are laid on the wharf, which extends to the factory area more than ten kilometers away. The heavy machinery and equipment unloaded from the ocean freighter are installed here with flat trolleys and hauled by Jianma to the factory area for installation and commissioning.

  The factory area located in the valley is now full of green trees. The gray-black wide cinder road has been paved to the entrance of the factory. Brand-new and spacious factory buildings are lined up on both sides of the main road.

  The upper hand is the food industry factory area, which includes canning factories, flour factories, meat food factories, milk powder factories and sugar factories, etc. There are hundreds of people in large factories and dozens of people in small factories.

  Next is the woolen mill with the most workers. It occupies a large area on the opposite side of the food factory. Most of the native white women transported from Cuba for thousands of miles are placed in the woolen mill.

  The native whites who speak Spanish have the same appearance as whites, but they mostly have black eyes and black hair. There are also some blonde and blue-eyed women, just a small part.

  It can be seen that the stubborn and conservative Spaniards do not regard these native whites of Central America as their own kind, which is somewhat reasonable.

Don’t mention the Spaniards. They have been selling slaves since the time of the great voyage. Whether they are white slaves or black slaves, whether they are Arabs or Slavs, they are goods in the eyes of the Spanish. Since the native white women from Central America are in the red The river valley pasture is one acre of land, so everyone is a family that loves each other.

  There is no discrimination, no oppression, no mutilation, only full of enthusiasm...

Every day, there are large groups of men at the door of the wool spinning factory who are unable to patrol. There are hundreds of thousands of them. They are senior gold prospectors with green eyes. They have come to Australia for three years or two years, even 7 years and 8 years. Forgotten what does this rare creature like a woman look like?

  Now a large group of native white women are coming. They are so excited that they can’t express their excitement. They walk as erratic as stepping on a cloud.

  The big leader said;

  Be gentle and caring towards women, and don’t oppose the marriage and marriage of happy men and women, and have children, but the labor contract must be abided by. The cost of these native white women from thousands of miles in Central America...can’t be less.

  The Chinese workers were crazy after hearing this, and they selectively ignored the next half sentence.

  One time

  The number of gold prospectors in the Palmer River Basin has been greatly reduced, and Chinese laborers have poured into the Red River Valley Ranch, hoping to find a stable job here, even if the income is a little less.

  Many people can’t find a job for the time being, and they set up camp next to the factory area. Every morning they ran to the door of the wool spinning factory to see the women. They opened their mouths and laughed like idiots, and couldn’t drive them away.

  There are more monks and less porridge, the first is the strongest.

  After passing this village, no one knows where the next store is, and no one dares to gamble.

  The Spanish class held by Red River Valley Ranch was overcrowded. Everyone was enthusiastic about learning Spanish. Many people have been able to use simple Spanish to strike up a conversation. They have won the favor of women and received enthusiastic responses.

  This, in turn, stimulated more men, carrying Spanish words assiduously, walking on the road, returning to the dormitory, and even at work, still chanting words in their mouths, taking out their notebooks from time to time to take a look.

  甭Whatever loves you say about love, it's all a sin created by male hormones.

  As for the Chinese literacy class held by the Red River Valley Ranch, the English intensive class is in the cold, and now everyone is learning Spanish in a swarm. How can there be leisure time to learn this?

  More than 10 kilometers away, is the heavy industry factory area.

  The iron and steel plant is built directly next to the coke plant. It is a coal mine more than ten kilometers away from the coke plant. There are rail connections between them. The transportation is driven by animal power to run on the rails to form a complete production system.

  Next to the steel plant is the iron mine. High-grade iron ore is obtained through open-pit mining, which is continuously transported to the steel plant and wharf through the mine truck.

  Part is used for production, and part is used for export overseas, the destination is the Port of Oakland on the west coast of the United States.

  Part of the big deal between Red River Valley and Fischer Import and Export Company of the United States was to barter with high-grade and high-quality iron ore, which was returned by ocean-going freighters with transportation equipment.

  Importing machinery and equipment from Central America and North America, native whites and cane sugar, bring deep-processed agricultural and sideline products, high-quality iron ore and coking coal on the return journey, forming a complete circulation system, and greatly enhancing the profitability of ocean freighters.

  Nowadays, the food processing plant area is ready for production after being trained by American experts. The native white woman who speaks Spanish has been trained in the operation of wool spinning mill equipment and is now ready for formal employment.

  Everything is ready, just waiting for the power to be delivered, the food factory equipment and the spinning machine of the wool spinning mill will be fully activated and enter the trial production stage.

  Nowadays, steel plants and coking coal plants are under construction. Nearly 2,000 workers are building factories, leveling roads, installing and debugging equipment, and erecting power transmission lines. The construction progress is rapidly advancing.

  The arrival of a large number of machinery and equipment, the arrival of a large number of native white women, the popularity of the Red River Valley Ranch bursts instantly, and Chinese laborers come here every day to find job opportunities.

  There are even a few Chinese from Canberra and Melbourne who came all the way after hearing the news.

   just for this enthusiasm, and will never leave when he comes.

  Red River Valley Reservoir Construction Site

  All the infrastructure construction has been completed here. The earth-rock dam-type reservoir with a height of more than 100 meters is majestic and magnificent against the backdrop of the auburn rocks. The gate has already started to store water.

  The torrential rains in the Red River area in summer continue to form ferocious mountain torrents that rush into the reservoir area, and then become gentle and quiet. The water level can be clearly observed, and the water potential rises visible to the naked eye every day.

  The mountain torrents accumulated in summer and reached an elevation of 50 meters after more than 20 days, and the basic conditions for power generation are initially available.

According to the plan;

  The reservoir will store water in two stages. In the first stage, the water will be stored to an elevation of 65 meters, and the world’s first trial operation of hydropower generation, power transmission trial operation of the power grid, trial operation of electrical equipment, and trial operation of electrical equipment will be carried out.

  Once it succeeds, it means that the world’s hydroelectric power generation facilities will officially take the stage, which is of great significance.

  In the second stage, the water will be stored to an elevation of 97 meters, 13 meters from the top of the dam, and the reservoir area is more than 100 kilometers away, forming a typical canyon-type reservoir area.

  The Red River Reservoir is built at the end of the Brisbane River that flows from the mountains. After the reservoir is drained, the torrent winds along the mountain river course for several kilometers and then flows into the Brisbane River, without affecting the navigation of the Brisbane River.

  The blue waves are rippling, the water is clear and the fish are happy.

The Red River Valley Ranch has three major water systems passing through, namely the Brisbane River, the Red River and the White Creek. Among them, the Brisbane River, which can meet the shipping needs of tens of thousands of tons of ships, has the largest water volume. After about 300 kilometers, the waterway becomes shallower. , Can only pass ships under 2000 tons.

  After going back about 180 kilometers, the water depth of the river has dropped to less than 2.5 meters, and there are many rocky reef beaches, which no longer have the navigable capacity of ships.

  The Red River and White Creek merge into the Brisbane River in the jurisdiction of the Red River Valley Ranch. The flash floods that have spread over the years have formed an alluvial plain with rich water and grass. The cattle and sheep are like weaving and the land is fertile. It is an excellent place for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry.

  Honghe Reservoir Power Plant

  Nuoda’s power plant is divided into left and right banks, with 4 generator sets on the left bank and 5 generator sets on the right bank. These generator sets are mature equipment of thermal power plants. The only difference is the driving method.

  The thermal power plant uses coal-burning large-scale industrial boilers, which generate a large amount of steam to drive the operation of the steam turbine and drive the generator set to connect to the grid for power generation.

  Hydropower generation is much simpler. The water flows through the culvert to push the impeller, and the power is transmitted in through a special steel shaft for ships, which directly drives the generator set to generate electricity.

   "Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one, turn on the gate to generate electricity."

   give an order

The bullwhip raised and shook it loudly. The four sturdy bulls turned around the huge winch. The fist-thick steel cable on the winch shrank with the rotation, and there was still a thick layer of butter smeared on it. The muffled sound of "quack, quack".

  The huge gate of the culvert was slowly lifted up, and a white water dragon spewed out, crossing a distance of several 10 meters in the air and falling into the river in front, making a huge "rumbling" sound.

  The winch structure is a bit like a European castle. The only difference is that the Red River Valley Reservoir has 9 power generation culverts, and each culvert corresponds to a generator set.

  In this era

  There is no applicable large-scale winch, and the start-up of a hydroelectric power station has to rely on more than a dozen bulls, which directly makes people speechless.

  The gushing torrent pushes the impeller, and then drives the generator set to rotate rapidly. The electric lights in the power plant are instantly lit, and the electric engineers present can't help but cheer in unison.

  There are Chinese, British, Germans, Americans and French people. All of them have worked together to forge the birth of the world's first hydroelectric power station and witness this historical moment together.

  (Which sprayer dares to spray there are no Chinese at this time, please stop reading this book, even if I thank you very much.)

   Countless white pigeons were released over the Red River Valley Reservoir. With the deafening sound of salutes resounding through the valley, one power generation culvert was put into operation, sending powerful electricity to the factory area through the transmission grid.

   Standing on the top of a high mountain, you can see that large areas of the factory area are lit by lights, and the roar of the machine is faintly heard.

  The gongs and drums are noisy, and the firecrackers blast.

   More than a dozen food factories and woolen mills are all put into trial production today, and the valley is filled with fiery emotions. From the joy of people's faces, it can be seen that the vigorous vitality displayed here.

  After a year of struggle, I finally bear fruit today.

  History will remember this moment

   August 8, 1877

  The world's first hydroelectric power station was officially put into operation, sounding the clarion call for the Red River Valley to enter the industry in an all-round way. With the blessing of abundant power resources, this rich pasture has developed into a thriving industrial town.

  And Li Fushou, who personally painted this blueprint, was filled with a sense of accomplishment. He stood at the top of the reservoir and looked at the rippling blue water, and roared up to the sky; "Ooo...I'm here..."

  The lingering sound is endless, echoing in the valley.

  I'm coming...I'm coming...I'm coming...

  (End of this chapter)