Imperial Power

In the frigid Labrador wilderness, the Churchill River plunges over a cliff higher by 79 feet than Niagara Falls, rushes down a series of lesser cataracts on its 200-mile course to the Atlantic Ocean. Last week, after 14 years of maneuvering, two provinces of Canada agreed to harness that mighty resource with the largest hydroelectric project ever built in North America.

Thanks to fortunate topography, the river will be diverted through a series of small lakes and dikes to a point 22 miles downstream, then dumped 1,040 ft. into a power station buried in solid rock. Above it will rise a new lake one-third the size of Lake Ontario.

The $1 billion development will yield 4,500,000 kw. of power--more than is generated on the Niagara River and three times that of Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. It will flow 700 miles, over the free world's highest voltage (735,000 volts) transmission line, across continental Newfoundland to Quebec's provincially owned utility, Hydro Quebec. Churchill power will not only double the provincial electric output but also perhaps enable the utility company to export a surplus as far south as New York City.

Conceived in 1952 by Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood, the Churchill Falls project is named for the late Sir Winston, who quickly gave it his blessing as a "great imperial concept." Smallwood also sold Britain's N. M. Roth schild & Sons on heading a consortium, British Newfoundland Corp., Ltd., to develop it. For the five-year construction job, Brinco expects to hire 5,000 men, fly in 600 million lbs. of equipment and supplies. For a starter, it has already bridged the river above the falls, and built an access road to a townsite and an airfield 10 miles away.

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