Mr. Scales and Mr. Allan Palmer continued to operate the generator and saw mill for three years after which Mr. Palmer resigned to form his own successful construction business. Mr. John Heffell of Travellers Rest was hired to replace Mr. Palmer. He also proved to be a competent and experienced man.

Rebuilding and enlarging the Dam

By 1929 much was going on at the site. With the assistance of Mr. Robert Walker, a general contractor from Summerside, the dam underwent another major renovation.

The dam was ingeniously rebuilt with a concrete footing embedded in bedrock all along the middle and the full length of the dam and spillway. Then a solid wall of hemlock, eighteen feet long, thirteen inches high and one inch thick was constructed on the footing. At the middle of the dam, a concrete culvert was constructed and a gate valve installed. This tube and gate valve were designed to control, or run off excessive pond water, and thus maintain a constant pond level during heavy spring run off. The old wooden spillway was replaced by one of reinforced concrete. A new concrete flume and a two-in—one water wheel tank were also constructed. This was then completely covered with rock and earth to its present height, an increase of approximately six feet over the old dam. As it stands today, the top of the fill is about three feet above the wall. It should be noted that earth moving machinery was not available in the early days, and that all of this work was done with one horse dump carts, picks and shovels.

The two wooden cylinder tanks containing the turbines were dismantled to make room for the new all- concrete two wheel tank. The original Canadian 42” turbine, with a fifteen foot head geared for 100 to 200 horsepower, was retained to furnish motive power for the original Westinghouse 150 KVA generator. This is presently in the power house in excellent condition. Mr. Scales then purchased and installed a second 150 KVA, 2300 volt Swedish generator with a twin wheel turbine design. The turbines at 338 revolutions per minute, generated 96 horsepower. The tail race of both waterwheels were located below the turbines. This plant became the largest hydro electric plant and the third largest power plant on P.E.I., the Charlottetown plant being thermal and Summerside being diesel.

Mr. Scales did not devote all his time to the dam and powerhouse. There was considerable demand elsewhere for electric power which required new transmission lines.

In 1929 Earl Arsenault was consulted this time by Mr. Scales to construct a line from Kinkora to Middleton. Scales also purchased the Kinkora Electric Co. Ltd. The old line to Kinkora from the plant was then re-built. The old transmission line from the plant to Kensington was rebuilt from a single phase line of three wire to a three—phase, four wire system. Finally a single phase line was extended to Margate. New lines were also constructed via the Drummond Road to Bedeque, as were extensions from the Kensington line to Lower Freetown, Clermont, Wilmot and Kelvin. The Village of Freetown had incorporated its own line and was connected previously by Mr. Monaghan. However the name Freetown covers a large area, and it is surmised that Mr. Scales had to construct new lines to cover most of this area. This was a huge under- taking for such a small company.

Soon the power load began to grow endlessly. It was evident that something had to be done to increase the generating output. Every avenue was explored as the existing water flow could not possibly handle another generator and still maintain sufficient continuous flow. Mr. Scales was considering the possibility of building another dam and power house down stream but a careful survey and evaluation of the cost proved this infeasible. There was also consideration of expanding the much larger Summerside Power Station and starting rural electrification lines with some passing over the Scales lines at Kelvin. Soon after the end ofthe second World War, it was learned that a large LeRoy gasoline generator unit was in Halifax destined for overseas. Mr. Scales had two engineers inspect it, and when their report was favorable, Mr. Scales purchased it for peak loads. However, it turned out to be unreliable and required considerable maintenance to keep it in operating condition. A new building was constructed to house this machine but was made large enough to accommodate a second machine should it be required. In 1948, a new Caterpillar Diesel Generator unit of 1,00 kilowatts at 2400 volts was purchased and installed in the new building with the LeRoy unit. The Caterpillar performed excellent service and was a major factor in meeting the increasing demand for another Six years.

Around 1950 Henry Scales began to manage the plant while his father’s attention was demanded at his fertilizer plant in Charlottetown. Austin and Henry reached an agreement in 1954 with the Summerside Power Station to purchase required power by interconnecting their transmission line with the Summerside line at a point about one mile west of Kensington. Over the years, several men worked as caretakers of the hydro plant. A house was provided at the site and those who were married moved their families into this house. These men included Percy Paynter, Stuart Drummond, and Wendell Taylor. In 1963, the Scales Hydro

69