“The stream being so small, the most rigid economy of water had to be observed, so I installed a nine-inch upright turbine in an upright wooden case, building the case myself, where it would get the most benefit of the fifteen-foot head. This turbine, furnishing about five horsepower, I belted to a three-kilowatt, or four-horsepower, one hundred and twenty-five volt direct current generator, which would easily take care of seventy-five metal filament incandescent lamps. I next installed a waterwheel governor to insure a steady flow of electricity. It took about seventy-four hundred feet of weatherproof copper wire, strung on wooden poles, which were cut on the farm, to carry the electricity to my home and the farm buildings and to the house of a neighbor. As it is more than half a mile from the house to the plant it is out of the question to go there every night and morning to stop and start the machinery. Of course it is possible to let this plant run night and day during the wet season, but in dry times it is best to save the water when the power is not needed. A neighbor living about seven hundred feet from the power station kindly starts and stops the machinery with a wire stationed at his bedroom window. This wire controls a valve and counterweight. At five o’clock in the morning he pulls the wire and the lights come on and at a certain hour of the night he releases the wire and they go out. In payment for this service I light his house and barns free of charge. “Our maintenance charges are very small; almost negligible. I think our waterwheel behaves better every year. Carbon brushes for the generator last a long while and oil is a very small item. Each year I am improving the plant, and very soon I expect to install a motor-driven washing machine and wringer to prepare the clothes for the electric iron and to put a vacuum cleaning outfit in the house. “Although I consider the cost of our plant about $500, it was installed under the most rigid economy in every respect and mainly by my own hands. The dam was already built and needed only some trifling repairs. The gate control is my own get-up, and, while the cost is trifling, it took considerable study to get it to work right. I did most of the house wiring, using concealed knob and tube for the living rooms of the house; moulding and open wiring for the other rooms and for the barns. This material cost me about $40. Of course, I do not in any instance figure in my own labor, as the work was all done at odd times.” This small power development, using the dam already built, cost Mr. Van Wagenen about $500 as follows: