Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains. The first gold mining claim was made in the mountains above Telluride in 1875, and early settlement of what is now Telluride followed. The town was founded in 1878 as "Columbia", but due to confusion with a California town of the same name, was renamed Telluride in 1887 for the gold telluride minerals found in other parts of Colorado. These telluride minerals were never found near Telluride, but the area's mines for some years provided zinc, lead, copper, silver, and other gold ores.
George Westinghouse Jr. was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of 19. Westinghouse saw the potential of using alternating current for electric power distribution in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it. This put Westinghouse's business in direct competition with Thomas Edison, who marketed direct current for electric power distribution. In 1911 Westinghouse received the American Institute of Electrical Engineers's (AIEE) Edison Medal "For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system."
The war of the currents was a series of events surrounding the introduction of competing electric power transmission systems in the late 1880s and early 1890s. It grew out of two lighting systems developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s; arc lamp street lighting running on high-voltage alternating current (AC), and large-scale low-voltage direct current (DC) indoor incandescent lighting being marketed by Thomas Edison's company. In 1886, the Edison system was faced with new competition: an alternating current system developed by George Westinghouse's company that used transformers to step down from a high voltage so AC could be used for indoor lighting. Using high voltage allowed an AC system to transmit power over longer distances from more efficient large central generating stations. As the use of AC spread rapidly, the Edison Electric Light Company claimed in early 1888 that high voltages used in an alternating current system were hazardous, and that the design was inferior to, and infringed on the patents behind, their direct current system.
Power engineering, also called power systems engineering, is a subfield of electrical engineering that deals with the generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of electric power, and the electrical apparatus connected to such systems. Although much of the field is concerned with the problems of three-phase AC power – the standard for large-scale power transmission and distribution across the modern world – a significant fraction of the field is concerned with the conversion between AC and DC power and the development of specialized power systems such as those used in aircraft or for electric railway networks. Power engineering draws the majority of its theoretical base from electrical engineering.
Lucien Lucius Nunn was an American entrepreneur and educator who founded Telluride House, Telluride Association and Deep Springs College. He received his higher education at Oberlin College and studied law at Harvard Law School.
Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park is a historical site preserving an 1895 alternating current (AC) hydroelectric power station—one of the first in the United States.
The Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant, constructed in 1890 near Ophir, Colorado, was one of the first commercial system to produce and transmit alternating current (AC) electricity for industrial use and one of the first AC hydro-electric plants ever constructed. It became operational in 1891 and was built by Westinghouse Electric around two of their large alternators. One was set up in the valley as a generator and driven by water. It was connected by a 2.6-mile (4.2 km) transmission line to the second alternator used as a motor up at the Gold King Mine to drive the mining operation. The facility has been changed and upgraded over the years but is still in operation. It is now on the List of IEEE Milestones.
Croton Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan. It was built in 1907 under the direction of William D. Fargo by the Grand Rapids - Muskegon Power Company, a predecessor of Consumers Energy. The 40-foot-high (12 m) dam impounds 7.2 billion U.S. gallons (6 billion imp. gal/27 billion L) of water in its 1,209-acre (489 ha) reservoir and is capable of producing 8,850 kilowatts at peak outflow. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Adams Power Plant Transformer House in Niagara Falls, New York is a National Historic Landmarked building constructed in 1895. It is the only remaining structure that was part of the historic Edward Dean Adams Power Plant, the first large-scale, alternating current electric generating plant in the world, built in 1895. The building's eponym was Edward Dean Adams, a businessman and entrepreneur in the electrical field.
Provo Canyon is located in unincorporated Utah County and Wasatch County, Utah. Provo Canyon runs between Mount Timpanogos on the north and Mount Cascade on the south. The canyon extends from Orem on the west end to Heber City on the east. Provo Canyon is situated to the east of Utah Valley and grants access to the valleys and Uinta Basin regions that lie beyond the Wasatch front.
Bridal Veil Falls is a 365-foot waterfall at the end of the box canyon overlooking Telluride, Colorado. Hiking and off-road trails pass by the falls and it has a hydroelectric power plant at its top. In winter the frozen shape of the falls forms an imposing challenge to intrepid ice climbers.
The Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Powerplant, also known as the Bridal Veil Powerhouse, is an electric power generation plant and residence located next to Bridal Veil Falls on a 400-foot (120 m) cliff overlooking Telluride, Colorado. The structure is 2+1⁄2 stories on a poured concrete foundation with a wood frame superstructure. It consists of a main power plant building, a 1+1⁄2-story residence and a 1-story cookhouse. The power plant foundation is distinctive, with semicircular windows. A semicircular bay with arched windows projects out on a rock spur.
The Devil's Gate-Weber Hydroelectric Power Plant was built in 1909–1910 on the Weber River in northeastern Utah, United States, about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Ogden. It was built by the Utah Light and Railway Company under the direction of E.H. Harriman, a director of the Union Pacific Railroad. It was one of the first powerplants in Utah designed to feed an electrical grid rather than as a source of power of a single locality.
The Frequency Changing Station in East Central, Spokane, Washington is a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built by the Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad in 1908 to house electrical equipment used by the electric railway. Power was generated at the Nine Mile Falls dam and transmitted to the Frequency Changing Station. The station provided direct current to the streetcar network within the city of Spokane. To provide power to the rail network outside Spokane, the station converted a portion of the power to alternating current and fed it to a series of electrical substations spaced about 15 miles (24 km) on the operating line. The substations then converted power back to direct current for the streetcars, but also sold power at 110 volts AC to the communities.
The Russell City Energy Center (RCEC) is a 619-megawatt natural gas-fired power station, which began operating in August 2013. It is operated by Calpine, and is located in Hayward, California. It is named for Russell City and is built on that community's former landfill site.
The Timpanogos Cooperative Marketing Association Building, also known as Snow Station and as Orem Railroad Depot and Packing Sheds, is located at 380 S. Orem Blvd. in Orem, Utah. It was built in 1926 and includes Prairie School architecture.
The Stairs Station Hydroelectric Power Plant was built in 1894-1895 in Big Cottonwood Canyon, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah. The plant comprises the powerhouse, switchyard, penstocks, and a pipeline. A dam next to the site is associated with the Granite Power Plant farther downstream, and is part of neither historic district. The powerhouse is the only remaining building associated with the plant. It is an example of an intact high-head generating plant from the late 19th century.
The Granite Hydroelectric Power Station was built in 1896–1897 at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States(in what is now eastern Cottonwood Heights. The plant comprises the powerhouse, transformer house, a wooden conduit, penstocks, and a small dam. Like the Stairs Station upstream, it represents an intact high-head generating plant from the late 19th century.
The Ontario Power Company Generating Station is a former generating station located along the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, just below the Horseshoe Falls.
The Pomona Water Power Plant, built in 1892, was the first AC power plant in California. It fed electricity to the Pomona Valley, and was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.514) on November 25, 1953.
