 |
| Graphic of Hydro 1, south of Spearfish Park |
Paul Higbee shared the history of the "Two Spearfish
Canyon Hydro Plants" to 125 people at the April 5, 2016 program for the
Spearfish Area Historical Society.
 |
| Paul Higbee speaking on "Two Spearfish Canyon Hydro Plants" |
 |
| Hydro 1 in Spearfish |
The first hydro-electric plant from Spearfish Canyon was started up 104
years ago on April 12, 1912. Homestake
Mining Company designed and built the water flow and hydro plant using its own
capital without borrowing funds. The new
lower cost electrical power was to replace coal-fired steam power. The plan was to divert water from Spearfish
Creek in the canyon and send it directly to a new power plant in
Spearfish. Key people on the project
were Thomas Greer and engineer, Capt. Richard Blackstone. A dam was built at the diversion site at
Maurice. Eight tunnels were drilled 5
miles through the Spearfish Canyon rock. The
tunnel(s), at 6 ½' wide x 5' high with an arched ceiling, were coated with
cement to become the conduit for the water diversion. The tunnels narrowed towards the Spearfish
end to increase water pressure as it came into Hydro Plant 1, located south of
Spearfish Park. From the dam at Maurice
to the sand-pipes, the water drops 800 feet. Drilling turned out to be easier than expected
as the Spearfish Canyon rock was softer than the rock near Homestake's
operations near Lead. That advantage was
countered by nature when a 1909 flood took out the railroad line in the canyon.
 |
| One of the two generators inside Hydro 1 in Spearfish |
Hydro Plant 1 with two generators started up smoothly in
1912 but, by 1913, Homestead needed more power and another generator, so they
designed a second plant directly in Spearfish Canyon (this is the dam and power
plant that can be seen next to the highway about 6 miles
up the canyon). Man-made pipe
conduit was installed through and along the canyon walls and Hydro Plant 2 was
started up in 1918. That start up caused
Spearfish Falls, just below Latchstring Inn, to go dry.
Both Hydro Plants operated through the 1934 year of dust
storms. In 1947, a Spearfish Canyon
landslide damaged the conduit and Hydro Plant 2 was shut down. The Hydro Plant 2 property was sold to SD
Game, Fish and Parks. In 2004,
Homestake sold Hydro Plant 1 to the City of Spearfish. The plant is still running and the power is
sold to BH Energy. Homestake re-channeled
the water to Spearfish Falls in 1990.
