Volume 023-1 - January 1969 (4 pages)

(Compiled by Pat Jones from a Story of the Nevada Power Plant written in 1909 by Archie Rice and material provided by the Pacific Gas and Electric CO, A small powerhouse that once clung to the side of the gorge just above the high water mark of the South Yuba River is important in the history of Nevada County for two reasons, It made possible the electrical development of many rich mines in the area. It was the nucleus of the Nevada County Power Company, one of the many ancestors of the modern Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Officially the plant was named the Nevada Power Plant but it was more commonly known as the ‘‘Rome’’ Power Plant. It was so nicknamed for Romulus R. Colgate, grandson of the founder of the Colgate Soap and Perfume Company. He acquired mining properties in Grass Valley and Nevada City and became a strong backer of hydroelectric power. The idea for the creation of the Nevada Power Plant has been credited to Eugene J. de Sabla Jr., another man closely associated with the development of hydroelectric enterprises and A. A. Tregidgo. Both owned mining interests locally and were anxious to get electric power for more economical operation of the mines. Land and water rights to take water by ditch from the South Yuba were acquired. Plans included the selection of a site for a dam and about three miles further downstream a spot was earmarked for a powerhouse. In 1891 a dam of logs was built across the South Yuba and preparations were made for a ditch and flume system. However, in the spring of 1892 this dam was swept away by high water. With de Sabla Jr. as manager of the Nevada County Electric Company and Alfred Tregidgo as its superintendent another dam was started August 1, 1895 and it was completed November 20. This dam was of logs piled cribfashion and it was bolted firmly to bedrock in the river. It was 28 feet high and measured 107 feet across, (In later years it was fortified with a granite face.) Alfonso A. Tregidgo, mining expert (left), and Eugene J: de Sabla, Jr. in 1895. while constructing a Hume for the Nevada plant of the Nevada County Power Company. But before the cribs could be filled with rock and gravel balast, the dam appeared to be doomed. The rapid rise in the river forced workmen to abandon the project. This time the luck was better. Slickens washing down the turbulent stream from hydraulic mines did the job for them. Every chink and cranny was packed solid. Work on the flume started in July of 1895 and was completed November 28th. The flume was six feet wide and 4 1/2 feet deep. Its constructian took a force of 110 men and used1,250,000 feet of lumber. This was the full supply of water to the power house for the first two years of its operation. All the machinery to be used for the Nevada Power Plant had te go by rail to Colfax and then to Nevada City by the Nevada County Narrow Guage. From Nevada City it had to be transported over old wagon roads. In the early mining days the roads were built on the principle of ‘‘get there quick’’. Before the equipment could be hauled to the powerhouse sits, three miles of road had to be widened in places and improved, Big teams, many of them consisting of 12 horses, were used to haul the heavy pieces of macninery up to the edge of the slide above the powerhouse. Each generator weighted 11,200 pounds, Men with stout cables and heavy hawsers carefully lowered the valuable machinery down hill on slides mounted on log rollers. Large tree stumps were used as capstans, So little room was provided by the edge that had been scopped off for the plant that the boarding house had to be placed on the opposite side of the stream. A suspension bridge connected the two buildings across the river. Water pipes were laid and anchored to the slide above the powerhouse to carry flume water down to operate the equipment. For the original installation there were two 300 kilowatt, 133 cycle twophase Stanley, inductor type generators. They made 400 revolutions a minute and generated at 5,500 volts. Each was directly connected to three foot Pelton impulse wheels, Three of these Pelton Wheels were used in one generator and four on the other. Each of the seven wheels had two nozzles and the two generators together developed approximately 800 horsepower, Hauling transformers and other electrical machinery to the Power House from Nevada City.

(Compiled by Pat Jones from a Story of the Nevada Power Plant written in 1909 by Archie Rice and material provided by the Pacific Gas and Electric CO, A small powerhouse that once clung to the side of the gorge just above the high water mark of the South Yuba River is important in the history of Nevada County for two reasons, It made possible the electrical development of many rich mines in the area. It was the nucleus of the Nevada County Power Company, one of the many ancestors of the modern Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Officially the plant was named the Nevada Power Plant but it was more commonly known as the ‘‘Rome’’ Power Plant. It was so nicknamed for Romulus R. Colgate, grandson of the founder of the Colgate Soap and Perfume Company. He acquired mining properties in Grass Valley and Nevada City and became a strong backer of hydroelectric power. The idea for the creation of the Nevada Power Plant has been credited to Eugene J. de Sabla Jr., another man closely associated with the development of hydroelectric enterprises and A. A. Tregidgo. Both owned mining interests locally and were anxious to get electric power for more economical operation of the mines. Land and water rights to take water by ditch from the South Yuba were acquired. Plans included the selection of a site for a dam and about three miles further downstream a spot was earmarked for a powerhouse. In 1891 a dam of logs was built across the South Yuba and preparations were made for a ditch and flume system. However, in the spring of 1892 this dam was swept away by high water. With de Sabla Jr. as manager of the Nevada County Electric Company and Alfred Tregidgo as its superintendent another dam was started August 1, 1895 and it was completed November 20. This dam was of logs piled cribfashion and it was bolted firmly to bedrock in the river. It was 28 feet high and measured 107 feet across, (In later years it was fortified with a granite face.) Alfonso A. Tregidgo, mining expert (left), and Eugene J: de Sabla, Jr. in 1895. while constructing a Hume for the Nevada plant of the Nevada County Power Company. But before the cribs could be filled with rock and gravel balast, the dam appeared to be doomed. The rapid rise in the river forced workmen to abandon the project. This time the luck was better. Slickens washing down the turbulent stream

from hydraulic mines did the job for them. Every chink and cranny was packed solid. Work on the flume started in July of 1895 and was completed November 28th. The flume was six feet wide and 4 1/2 feet deep. Its constructian took a force of 110 men and used1,250,000 feet of lumber. This was the full supply of water to the power house for the first two years of its operation. All the machinery to be used for the Nevada Power Plant had te go by rail to Colfax and then to Nevada City by the Nevada County Narrow Guage. From Nevada City it had to be transported over old wagon roads. In the early mining days the roads were built on the principle of ‘‘get there quick’’. Before the equipment could be hauled to the powerhouse sits, three miles of road had to be widened in places and improved, Big teams, many of them consisting of 12 horses, were used to haul the heavy pieces of macninery up to the edge of the slide above the powerhouse. Each generator weighted 11,200 pounds, Men with stout cables and heavy hawsers carefully lowered the valuable machinery down hill on slides mounted on log rollers. Large tree stumps were used as capstans, So little room was provided by the edge that had been scopped off for the plant that the boarding house had to be placed on the opposite side of the stream. A suspension bridge connected the two buildings across the river. Water pipes were laid and anchored to the slide above the powerhouse to carry flume water down to operate the equipment. For the original installation there were two 300 kilowatt, 133 cycle twophase Stanley, inductor type generators. They made 400 revolutions a minute and generated at 5,500 volts. Each was directly connected to three foot Pelton impulse wheels, Three of these Pelton Wheels were used in one generator and four on the other. Each of the seven wheels had two nozzles and the two generators together developed approximately 800 horsepower, Hauling transformers and other electrical machinery to the Power House from Nevada City.