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Electricity produced here in the
spring of 1891 was transmitted 2.6
miles over rugged and at times
inaccessible terrain to provide
power for operating the motor-driven
mill at the Gold King Mine. This
pioneering demonstration of the
practical value of transmitting
electrical power was a significant
precedent in the United States for
much larger plants at Niagara Falls
(in 1895) and elsewhere. Electricity
at Ames was generated at 3000 volts,
133 Hertz, single-phase AC, by a
100-hp Westinghouse alternator.
The gold mining industry at
Telluride, Colorado was to be shut down
due to the depletion of cheap steam
power. All timber in the area had been
cut for fuel and mining timbers. DC
electric power and other forms of power
transmission had proven to be ineffective
for the 2.6 mile distance of
transmission. AC power was judged to be
the only workable solution to the
economic problems of the mining industry.
The Ames Hydroelectric Plant
was being built during the fight
between Westinghouse and Edison as
to the use of AC or DC electric
power. In the Summer of 1890 a
generator and a motor were received
from the Westinghouse Company and
installed that Winter. The
generator, for the power plant, and
the motor for the mill, were
identical single-phase alternators
of 100 horsepower operated at 3,000
volts, 133 cycles per second - the
largest manufactured at the time.
The separately-excited generator was
housed in a rough cabin near where
Ames Station now stands and was
belt-connected to a six-foot Pelton
water wheel under a 320-foot head.
The switchboard was made of a
shellacked pine sheathing.
Voltmeters and ammeters of both the
solenoid and gravity balance types
were used and were mounted in black
walnut cases with window-glass fronts.
The transmission line was three
miles long from the valley floor to
the mine above the timberline. It
was constructed of Western Union
cross-arms with insulators carrying
two no. 3 bare copper wires. The
cost of the wire was about US$700,
being only 1% of the cost estimated
for a direct-current line.
The plant, in operation
continuously, required fifteen to
twenty attendants. The Ames
installation was the first to
generate alternating current
electric power for industrial
application. The entire output of
the plant was used for mining.
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