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Ingram, Orrin Henry, 1830-1918 / Autobiography, Orrin Henry Ingram : May, 1830--December, 1912
(1912)
Chippewa Valley Railway, Light and Power Company, pp. 76-79
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Other interests, pp. 79-81
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Page 79
ORRIN HENRY INGRAM7 we had the right of flowage for a dam at Cedar Falls, where we had a sixteen-foot dam which was not being used for power, and we decided, after consulting some of the best engineers in the country, that it would be wise for us to put in a fifty-foot dam at that place, which would enable us to develop 10,000 or 12,000 horse-power, besides what we already had at Menomonie. That meant the expenditure of a large amount of money in ad- dition to what we had already invested and the issuanee of a large amount of bonds on the property, or raise the money in some other way. After buying the Menomonie property it seemed advisable for the Chippewa Valley Railway, Light & Power Company to own the lighting plant at Menomonie, which was getting power from the company. It also seemed desirable that we should have the electric light, water-works and gas plants at Chippewa Falls. Those purchases required a consid- erable amount of money, and made it necessary to issue more bonds. Together with the improvements we found it necessary to make in Eau Claire, we have now a large bonded indebted- ness. Notwithstanding the bonded indebtedness we find the property is earning nearly three times the amount of the in- terest and expense we have incurred. Bonding companies generally feel that a plant that is earning twice the amount of the interest on the bonded indebtedness is doing a good busi- ness, and our bonds are worth considerably more than par. OTHER INTERESTS Notwithstanding this history of my doings and of some of the propositions in which I have been interested, and connect- ed with, whch would seem to 'be enough for one man, I have had a good many other busness interests that have taken much of my time and thought. One investment, made some years ago, in trying to help a son of my old partner, Mr. Kennedy was in a mining property in Arizona, which has required a good deal of thought and attention, and is still on my hands, with no immediate prospect of disposing of it, but I have hoped that I 79
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