Ames power plant, San Miguel County, Colorado [016]: Old plant, interior view

Request Archival File or Update Item Information
Title Ames power plant, San Miguel County, Colorado [016]: Old plant, interior view
Photo Number P0206add2n01_09_005
Description Scan of a photo of Ames plant interior. "Interior of the Western Colorado Power Company's Old Ames plant' scene in 1891 of what is believed to be the first transmission in the world of alternatibe current electricity at high voltage for commercian purposes."
Date 1891; 1892; 1893; 1894; 1895; 1896; 1897; 1898; 1899; 1900; 1901; 1902; 1903; 1904; 1905
Textual Date circa 1900
Keywords Rocky Mountain Power; Ames; Colorado; First transmission; Alternating Current; Western Colorado Power Company
Subject Hydroelectric power plants--Colorado--Ames--Photographs; Ames (Colo.)--Photographs
Spatial Coverage Ames (Colo.); San Miguel County (Colo.)
Latitude 37.864583
Longitude -107.881692
Additional Information The Ames hydroelectric generating plant had its beginnings when L.L. Nunn installed a Westinghouse electric generator and motor in the winter of 1890-91 on the South Fork of the San Miguel River to provide electricity to the Gold King Mine stamp mill, located 2.6 miles away. This was the first commercial power system to use alternating current. A powerhouse was built in 1895 by Nunn's Telluride Power Company, to be replaced by a new plant in 1905-06. Flumes, and later penstocks (steel pipes), brought water from Trout Lake and Lake Hope, located to the south up Lake Fork. Howards Fork, to the east, supplied additional water. Telluride Power later became part of Western Colorado Power Company, a subsidiary of Utah Power & Light (predecessor of Rocky Mountain Power). The hydroelectric plant, still in operation today, has been owned by Public Service Company, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, since 1992.
Collection Number and Name P0206 Rocky Mountain Power Company Photograph Collection
Collection Name Rocky Mountain Power Company
Rights
Type Image
Finding Aid https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv479461
Digitization Specifications Digital image produced on Epson Expression 10000 XL scanner, RGB, at 400 dpi. Archival file is uncompressed TIFF.
ARK ark:/87278/s62j73k5
Setname uum_map
ID 985526
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s62j73k5
Back to Search Results