Stave Falls Dam and Powerhouse

This weekend's excursion was about an hour east of the city, to Stave Falls Dam.  

 

To continue the theme of using a red car for excursions, we took a Fiat 500 convertible.

Along the way, we stopped at Haney Farmer's Market for some snacks, and to see the zucchini races that they had advertised.  It was a little less official and organized than we had pictured!

 The dam and hydro generating station were built in 1911, and was in operation until 1995, when the powerhouse was replaced by a more modern and efficient plant next to it.

 The generator hall is huge and impressive, with beautiful detailing (which we're pretty sure the new modern plant does not have!).

 The big crane which was used for maintenance is still used when they need to change lightbulbs in the middle of the hall!

 

 One of the generators had holes cut into it, so we could see the inner workings of it.

 The pipes that bring the water into the generators were over 6' in diameter - that's a lot of water.

 It was neat to see all the old machinery and equipment that was used - these copper bars and switch-gear to carry the electrical current looked pretty interesting!

 Lots of switches and gauges were needed to run the systems!

 This was a wooden pipe, wrapped in wire, which was used in a previous hydro generating station.

In the educational section of the visitors centre, they had a bunch of displays that explain what electricity is, how it's generated, and the necessary warnings of how to avoid electrocution.

 One of the more fascinating displays was this Tesla Coil in a glass ball.  The wisp of light responds to touch, so you can put your fingers on the ball, and stream of static electricity will connect to each finger.  Very beautiful!

This more awesome version of the Tesla coil shot bolts of 'lightning' a couple of feet long, with a LOT of crackling and popping!

 And, no visit would be complete without a visit to the washroom!  These beautiful urinals (how often does that description fit?!?) are no long in use, sadly, but they were part of the original workers' facilities.

 It was a fascinating visit, and so great to see the historic equipment.

On the way home, we made a stop at Country Fest in Pitt Meadows.

 The garden tractor races were much more impressive than the zucchini races!!

It was a good day, and a good change of scenery from the city!