Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2008.13.1Description
B & W digital scan of Pelton Wheel, LADWP's Cottonwood Power Plant, Owens Valley.
"Although it wasn’t the first City power plant, it’s the oldest in operation and began service even before transmission lines crossed mountains and desert to deliver its power to Los Angeles.
Located south of Olancha and north of Haiwee Reservoir, the power plant was designed by DWP power pioneer Carl A. Heinze to tap the energy of rushing Cottonwood Creek which is diverted to a flume four miles up Cottonwood Canyon in the Sierras. From the flume, water is carried to a forebay behind the plant and then sent through penstocks to the turbines under a 1,200-foot head. Only a few yards from the plant’s tailrace, the water flows directly into the Aqueduct.
Power from Cottonwood’s first generator and a second 900-kilowatt unit placed into service October 13, 1909, first traveled over temporary transmission lines to power the Aqueduct dredging operations and later to power equipment at the Monolith cement plant near Mojave which produced millions of tons of cement for miles of the Aqueduct’s concrete-lined conduit and canal sections." --from Electricity on the Aqueduct, www.waterandpower.org
This photo was either taken by or from the collection of Edward Francis Leahey.Collection
Edward Francis Leahey Collection