Mietzke's Holden Adventure

Our power comes from copper creek, not railroad creek. There is a diversion dam on copper creek up above the mine that sends creek water down a pipe to the power plant. I'm not positive but the number that comes to mind is 450 vertical feet of elevation drop between the dam and the plant. The water pressure created by the column of water in the pipe, is what turns a water wheel which in turn spins the generator in the power plant. So it's not a traditional water-wheel like you think of spinning in the creek along side of the mill. It's more like pointing a fire hose at a smaller wheel with buckets or cups on it. At times however the diversion dam does get clogged, mostly in the fall, with leaves and other debris. As the winter progresses the flow in the creek gets lower and lower which means less pressure on the water wheel and a drop in available electricity. Right now we are down to about 64 kilowatts (about the same as 50 hair blow-dryers), in the summer we have the ability to generate more electricity up to 300 KW. As an aside our drinking water comes from the same source and is taken off just before the power plant and sent to our purification facility. There is an article on the power control and usage at Holden Village here: Ask Dr. SciTech: Winter 2007