Eastern Capital Bets on Newport's Electric Future
Flynn Bros. plan a 600-horsepower plant four times the current size, promising day-and-night power and a magnet for manufacturers.
The Newport electric lighting plant, owned by Flynn Bros., of Newport, will be rebuilt and enlarged within the next three months. The owners have made arrangements with eastern parties who have recently visited Newport for all the backing necessary to increase the capacity of the plant.
The eastern people were greatly pleased with the appearance of the town and predicted a large growth for Newport within the next few years. They stated that they were ready to furnish all of the money necessary for the contemplated improvements, which are to be of sufficient magnitude to supply the wants of a city twice the present size of Newport.
The Flynns have made partial arrangements for the construction of an entirely new plant, and work will be started within the next month on the construction of new buildings, the exact location of which has not yet been decided upon.
The new plant will be equipped with engines capable of developing 600 horsepower, making the plant four times the present size. New electrical equipment of the most modern construction will be installed and the plant made one of the most modern in the section.
The plant will be operated continuously after June 1, and power and light service supplied both day and night. Arrangements have been made with several small manufacturing concerns now in operation, and two that are to be started during the coming summer, for power.
Within the next two years this plant will be used only as an auxiliary plant, as the Flynns have made arrangements with parties who are now developing water power plants north of Newport for power from these plants.
John G. Flynn, the manager of the local plant, will go to Spokane this week to arrange for the purchase of new machinery and to confer with the Northern Mercantile Company Ltd., parties who are furnishing the additional financial backing.
The increase in the capacity of the electric light plant is gratifying to residents of Newport, as it shows that outside parties of financial standing are not afraid of investing their money in Newport after they investigate the resources of the town. The fact that the owners of the electric plant have also been able to make arrangements with several small manufacturers for supplying power is also of importance, as it shows that manufacturing concerns are beginning to see the advantages of Newport as a shipping and manufacturing center.
While the Flynns will not divulge at the present time the names of the small manufacturers that they have been arranging with for power, it is learned that one of them is a party who will establish a shingle mill near the line of the Idaho & Washington Northern railroad.
“The eastern people were greatly pleased with the appearance of the town and predicted a large growth for Newport within the next few years.”
A century before today's debates over public power and utility rates, Newport's lights were in private hands—and outside investors were courted as proof the town had a future. The promise of day-and-night service and manufacturing power shows how infrastructure has long been sold as economic development.
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