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Northern Pod Run to the<br />
Stave Lake Power House<br />
Sunday, April 28<br />
By Chris Allen & Pam Mahony<br />
There was some distance to travel to the meeting place so some<br />
people needed their stop at Tim Horton's or McDonalds. However,<br />
we all arrived on time at the Mission Pub & Restaurant.<br />
Everyone went for the Sunday Brunch Buffet, most likely due to<br />
the fact that the food was ready to eat with no waiting to order.<br />
Unless, of course, you went for the special custom made omelets.<br />
If we had collected the quarters for the Al Allinson Last Dinner<br />
Award (to reward the last person served), June would have won<br />
thanks to her omelet! The staff and Morganeers surprised Bob<br />
McDiarmid with the Happy Birthday song.<br />
Colin Gurnsey was the leader for the "run" to the Power House.<br />
Up and down hill and dale along with some hairpin curves. After<br />
arriving at the parking lot photos were taken by Win, followed by<br />
Colin who took us on a brilliant guided tour of the Power House.<br />
Colin knows his subject matter: every nuance, every penny of<br />
the five million dollars spent on creating the exhibit. He knows<br />
where B.C. Hydro money went. And when that money was gone,<br />
he scrounged, borrowed and traded to get the effect he was after.<br />
Well done, Colin! The Power House is interesting, educational<br />
and a pleasure for all ages. Thanks, Colin, for a most enjoyable<br />
day.<br />
PARTICIPANTS<br />
Chris Allen & Pam Mahony<br />
Les & June Burkholder<br />
Colin & Laurel Gurnsey<br />
Bob & Judy McDiarmid<br />
Ken Miles<br />
Win Muehling<br />
Rosemarie Powley<br />
Ron & Yvonne Theroux<br />
Colin explains the details<br />
Laurel and Pam check out the colsole<br />
1912 Detroit Electric<br />
AN AMBITIOUS VISION<br />
The late 19th century was the golden age of electricity in North<br />
America. Electric streetlights, streetcars and lighting in homes were<br />
gaining popularity. In Vancouver, industries were desperate for<br />
more power. The small, local steam plants could not keep up with<br />
demand.<br />
When the Stave Falls project was first envisioned in 1895, it was<br />
very ambitious. Hydroelectric technology was still new. Niagara<br />
Falls, the first large-scale hydroelectric plant in North America, had<br />
been built six years previously - but was still struggling to work out<br />
how to transmit the electricity to “distant” Buffalo, 20 miles away.<br />
Yet Stave Falls was to supply power to Vancouver 30 miles away! It<br />
took years of hard work before the vision was finally realized in<br />
1911.<br />
Before Stave Falls was completed, the newly-formed B. C. Electric<br />
Railway Co. built a hydroelectric plant in 1898 on the Coldstream<br />
River, close to Victoria. Early in the next century they developed the<br />
Buntzen Lake system near Vancouver, producing 64,000 horsepower.<br />
But it was still not enough electricity for power-hungry industrial<br />
customers.<br />
By 1926, Stave Falls was the largest source of power in the B.C.<br />
Electric system. It generated 87,500 horse-power. In 1927, Alouette<br />
Lake was diverted to Stave Lake by tunnel and the first automated<br />
generating station in the Commonwealth was built on Stave Lake,<br />
adding another 13,400 horse-power.<br />
Note: we don’t measure electricity in horse-power any more. 1 electrical<br />
horse-power = 746 watts, or 0.746 kilowatts.<br />
NW-Mogazine Volume 33, Number 3 <strong>May</strong> & June 2013<br />
6<br />
BC Hydro display
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