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0001 ) 'ggg :95 s A Weekly Newspaper Cyrculafiyfgiu thd District of West Vancouver-Ambleside, Hollyburyf, Wesron, DunriuyyJvc $ 1.00 per year. Cypress Park, Caulfeild, Whytecliff, Etc. Newsstands 6c per Copy 'ti ~0, st III 'eu sie sgeil te n~st ll be by Vol. V j THE LIONS'ATE BltlDGE A very pertinent letter suggesting that the Lions'ate bridge be started at once recently appeared in the Province newspaper. The point noted by the writer is the peculiar posi- tion of Vancouver's business centre, situated as it Is between Burrard Inlet snd False Creek. He stated as follows: "If this area is to remain the hub, each spoke or line of communication with the circumference, must be as direct as possible." "North Vancouver ferries, Second Narrows bridge, Geor- gia viaduct, Connaught and Granville Street bridges all help to complete the wheel. Two more are immediate necessities- Burrard and First Narrows. The former is, at last, only a matter of construction. The latter is badly needed." "A well Iigh~ beautiful span, higher and longer than the Quebec, or new Montreal bridge, would be a wonderful tourist attraction, a great help to navigation and a tremendous asset to the city." The root idea, of course, at the back of his argument, is that the business centre of Vancouver, instead of being ap- proximately in the centre of Greater Vancouver south of the Inlet, as it ought to be, is now on the rim of the wheel. Con- sequently, it cannot hope to remain the business centre unless it soon takes steps to make itself also the geographical centre. Broadway at present is the approximate geographical hub of Greater Vancouver, and it is there, under present conditions, that the main shopping centre will eventually be. We have heard even of a real estate deal taking place based on this assumption. But, if a bridge is built across the First Narrows. with the consequent development of the North Shore, the pres ent Vancouver business centre will become once more the geo- graphical centre of Greater Vancouver. In other words, Van- couver needs the I"irst Narrows Bridge just as much as does West Vancouver. That a beautiful span across the Lions'ate would be a great tourist attraction will be admitted by every fair-minded person, just as it quite evidently would be a great help to navigation. in foggy weather. So far as the financing of a I iona'Gath Bridge is c:onr cerned, no difficulty need be anticipated, because the receipts from tolls in the case of big bridges have always exceeded calculations, it appearing to be a fact that such bridges largely create their own traffic. It has been officially announced that the Powell River highway will be opened to the public in 1931, when eighty miles of sea coast will be opened up to the tourist and the home seeker. This by itself renders a Lions'ate bridge necessary, and guarantees at the same time ample traffic for such a bridge when constructed. A bridge across the First Narrows will take probably two or three years 'to build, and will employ an army of men. This after all is the strongest argument of all, for the burning question of today is the etfective solution of the wide- spread unemployment. That has simply got to be solved. And, when such an opportunity exists of helping Vancouver become bigger and greater and at the same time of relieving to a large extent the unemployment problem, we believe that it cannot be long before the project will be started. REMEMBER THE XMAS CHEER FUND d~~ DUNDARAVE LADIES'HOIR CONCERT B. C. Electric New Ruskin Dam The accompanying shows the new hydro-electric plant at Rus- kin, B. C., which was opened by Honorable Randolph Bruce, lieu- tenant-governor of British Col- umbia, on Tuesday, November 18. Built at the lower end of the Ruskin canyon, the new plant uses the fall of 130 feet which takes place in the water from the time it leaves the tail race of the Stave Falls plant three and a half miles upstream till it dis- gorges in to the tidal flats just below Ruskin. The power unit which has just been completed has s capacity of 47,000 horsepower, generating sufficient to fill the needs of s whole city about one quarter the size of Vancouver. This is but the first of four such generating units which will eventually be installed in the Ruskin plant, making the total capacity 188,- 000 horsepower. Ruskin, therefore, is the sec- ond largest power project so far designed in the province of Brit ish Columbia. First in line stands the great Bridge River develop- ment, now under way. which is also a project of the B. C. Elec- tric Railway Company and will have ym. i~+'npacity nf 600,000 horsepower. Several special features com- bine to make Ruskin outstand- ing among power plants on this continent. Apart from the archi- tectural beauty of the power house whose noble Gothic design blends so well with the rugged setting of the surroundings, there are certain new departures in the installation of equipment which make it notable. Great economy of structure was obtained by the designing engineers when they placed all the steel switching structure on the roof of the power house. In- side the generator room there is a complete absence of any com- plicated switchboard equipment, all control devices being located in a room at the rear wing, put- ting the entire station under the control of one man. The genera- tor itself is the largest in physic- al dimensions in Canada. Ruskin dam is already a land- mark of the surrounding coun- tryside, rising to s height of 195 feet above its foundations which go 60 feet below the river level. It is 420 feet wide and 134 feet thick at its base. On ita crest are the seven Taintor or regulat- ing gates which control the level of the flood water in the reser- voir behind the dam. They are lowered by mechanical hoists, and over all there is to be a roadway connectirig the Dewd- ney trunk road on the west aide of the river with the old Silver- dale road to Mission on the east bank. Power from Ruskin is directly received at the Burnaby substa- tion which was enlarged for thc purpose and is now becommg an important hub of distribution in the B. C. Electric Railway Com- pany's power system. A 60,000 volt transmission line links Rus- kin to the receiving station at Burnaby, 30 miles away, where the current is transformed to 34,600 volts for distribution in the high tension network radiat- ing from Burnsby. The line has five river crossings in its path, two at Ruskin over Crescent Is- land, and three from the south bank of the Fraser to New West- minster crossing Annacis and Lulu Isktuds. Ruskin will function powerful- ly with a dual purpose. It will be used as a 'peak load'lant bringing in its huge reserves at times when there is a maximum demand for electric power. In addition to this, Ruskin, with its closeness to Vancouver, can serve as a valuable standby in the B. C. Electric system, being able to take care of a heavy power load for s short time in the event of a transmission line from one of the other plants be- ing out of commission. Mrs. T. Korner of West Bay, gave a book tea last Monday in aid of.the West Van News Xmas Cheer Fund, at which she collect- ed $8.60. i WEST VAN "Y" No further meetings will be held in connection with the "Y" until January 6th. SIX PAGES HOLLYBURN P O. ~ WEST VANCOUVER B.C FRIDAY DEC. 12th, 1930 RELIEF WORKERq, ATTENTION.'x-Reeve Vinson, chairman of the West Vancouver Elks'mas Cheer committee, is convening s meeting next Wednesday, 17th mstant, at 8 p. m., of the repre- sentatives of sll churches and societies interested in relief and Christmas Cheer work. The meeting will take place at the municipal hall, snd Mr. Vinson's reason for calling it is to prevent sny duplication in extending re- lief. In order that this may be ac- complished, each representative ls requested to bring a list of those whom his organization pro- poses to help or knows to be in need of relief. ELECTION RU5IORS Little has been heard so far as to possible candiates in the forthcoming muaicipal elections next month. W. Dickinson has announced his candidature for the council, while T. E. W. Rus- sell will again run for Schooi Trustee, and G. W. H. Jackson, C.E., u ill also be a candidate. Colonel Savory is retiring from the police commission and In- spector Joy, late of the ILN.W. M.P., wiu offer himself for elec- tion to that commission. The above is the sum total of the dependable information. There are, of course, a number of vague rumors, but so far it would not be safe to give them any credence. WEST VAN ELKS'MAS CHEER FUND Only thirteen days to Christ- mas now. If you have any money to spare for those West Vancou- ver famiTies who are not so blessed with this world's goods, you cannot do better than give to the above fund. We wish to thank the foflow- ing, who have kindly donated as follows: V. V. Vinson ....... $ 5.00 Mrs. Korner ................. 8.50 St. Anthony's Altar Soc. 5.00 West Van. 51unicipality. 25.00 igirs. V. F. Johncox ....... 12.00 Reeve J. B. Leyland...... 5.00 Father Carey ............ 15.00 Ed Black ... . ......... .... 2.00 Stat and pupils Pauline Johnson School ....... 40.75 sir. and 51rs. A. Dicken- son ...................... 5.00 Attention is drawn to the fact that the proceeds of the concert held by the Dundarave Ladies'hoir, under the auspices of the W. A. of the United Church on December 16th, are to be given over wholly to welfare work in West Vancouver, and will be of an entirely undenominational- nature, A great many needy~ cases have already been brought to the attention of the committee in charge of this matter, and it is the earnest desire of the choir that by their best efl'orts a sub- stantial sum may be raised for this very commendable and urg- ent cause. It is anticipated that this concert under the capable direction of Mrs. F, X. Hodgson, will be of a high order, snd many delightful seasonal songs snd carols will be introduced. Mrs. J. E. Durbin will act as accomp- anist. Program in full may be found in another part of this paper. z n It/i',Kj $123.25 PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO GIVE XMAS CONCERT The West Vancouver Public Schools are givirg their annual Christmas concert next Thurs- day, 18th December, at 7:30 p.m. in the Inglewood School auditorium. These concerts have been well worth attending, the children taking part appearing to thoroughly enjoy themsehws in doing their best to make the various rumbers a success. With this spirit in evidence„and with the careful supervision and thor- ough instruction of the teachers West Vancouver residents have always looked forirard to the concerts with great pleasure and have attended in large numbers. The program appears in an- other part of this issue.