Miami, Florida, 1955

the ultra-modern resort hotel symbol of florida's most rapidly expanding industry the tourist trade each year more new lavish structures go up to accommodate the constantly rising tide of visitors a tide that doesn't seem to ebb much even in the summertime mushrooming even more rapidly than the hotels are the motels which boast such facilities as swimming pools air conditioning television sets and an ocean view but many of the visitors who come here to look and play soon decide to build and stay one thing shared by motels and hotels tourists and permanent residents alike is the need for plenty of electricity and that is supplied in part by a power plant as well designed as the finest beachfront hostelry the cutler plant a florida power and light company was laid out just south of miami according to the highest possible standards not only in terms of efficient operation but in terms of aesthetics as well the fuel used in generating electricity is oil which is brought in by barge and pumped into large tanks for storage until needed the striking thing about this generating station is that it has no walls or roof it's a power plant built out in the open air and what gives it its beauty primarily are the stark simple completely utilitarian lines of the equipment itself all painted a gleaming silver there can't be many population centers in the world whose climate would permit the operation out of doors of boilers generators and other power plant equipment behind the generator there in the foreground is one of the few enclosed areas in the plant it's one of the control rooms from which all the plants functions largely automatic are watched over by a handful of operators the two men with blueprints are plant superintendent edward perch and company president and general manager robert fight who discuss plans for centering even greater control of operations at the fingertips of the operators already air flow oil flow temperatures pressures and a hundred other factors are constantly visible constantly subject to correction even the appearance of fires in the boilers raging fires of 2500 degrees fahrenheit can be observed in air-conditioned comfort by means of television as miami and the other population centers of florida continue to boom in population industry and commerce they're fortunate to have an adequate supply of that indispensable growth element electricity provided by a privately owned utility which foresaw the big future in store for the state and prepared for it in plenty of time