Electric power comes to BV

Jul 19, 2023

The Buena Vista Power & Light Company, which had been formed in 1888, built a dam on the Arkansas River. This dam was a wood crib dam and had washed out two or three times. Part of the fill on the dam was slag from the smelter at the end of Main Street.

The Buena Vista Power & Light Company, which had been formed in 1888, built a dam on the Arkansas River. This dam was a wood crib dam and had washed out two or three times. Part of the fill on the dam was slag from the smelter at the end of Main Street.

The first hydroelectric turbine drove a General Electric 50 KVA generator. Then in 1938 another 75 KVA was added. This power was all direct current. A diesel power station was built in 1928 beside it to supplement the power. The reservoir behind the dam was 300-acre feet. A wooden flume carried the water to the generator.

In 1908, the Buena Vista Smelting and Refining Company was granted the franchise to furnish power for Buena Vista, the Colorado State Reformatory, Chalk Creek and Cottonwood Creek for 20 years. This new company was headed by a man from Colorado Springs, Charles Shyrock, who bought the power plant in 1927.

Mr. Shyrock changed the system to alternating current and put up 19 new ornamental street lights on Main Street. There were also six suspension streetlights and one red one to notify police or fire department. None of the homemakers electric appliances like irons, waffle irons, toasters etc. worked on the new AC current, so Mr. Shyrock offered new ones for a small fee.

In 1928, the spring runoff washed the center of the dam out and the town only had lights at night and on Mondays so the women could do the laundry. The dam was repaired by the fall.

In 1935, another company purchased the power plant and called it the Mountain Utilities Corporation of Denver. They added a used turbine to the system, and ran a line to the Ice Lakes west of town.

Sangre de Cristo was formed in 1940 and purchased the power plant and system. The dam was in poor shape and leaking badly. In the winter, ice formed on the reservoir. The dam even froze one bad winter. In the heavy spring runoff of 1948, the dam broke beyond repair and the hydro plant was gone. The diesel generator was used until Sangre signed a contact with Colorado Ute to provide power. Ute had to build transmission lines across the mountains from the Western Slope to this area. At this time, the town of Buena Vista, Chaffee, Southern Lake, Fremont and Custer counties depended on Sangre for their power. This was probably about 2,000 consumers. The towns of Salida, Westcliff and Leadville did not buy power from Sangre.

The first office for Sangre was in Salida but moved to Buena Vista shortly after that. The BV office was where the marijuana dispensary is now located on Main Street.

In 1990, Colorado Ute declared bankruptcy and was acquired by Tri-Sate Generating Company. By 1990, there were approximately 6,000 consumers on the system. Today there are over 12,000 meters.

The Sangre de Cristo board formed with directors from Custer, Fremont, Chaffee and Lake counties and the town of Buena Vista. The original board was 10 members – two from each location.

After reduction of the board to seven members, the make-up is one each from Custer and Fremont counties and two from Chaffee and Lake counties and one from the town of Buena Vista. The other two members are at large and come from anywhere in the service territory.

For more information on the heritage behind the history of Buena Vista, visit facebook.com/bvheritage.heritage

Log In

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming anotherperson will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyoneor anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ismthat is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link oneach comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitnessaccounts, the history behind an article.

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.