February 20-26 is Heritage Week. This year’s theme:
“Energy in BC – a Powerful Past, a Sustainable Future”.
One of the earliest hydroelectric projects was located in the Fraser Valley. Drawing on the vast head of water in Stave Lake, the Western Canada Power Company built the Stave Falls Powerhouse and Dam between 1909 and 1911.
When a new powerhouse opened in 2000, there was the question of what to do with the historic facility next door. BC Hydro turned it into the Stave Falls Visitors Centre to showcase the history of electrical power generation in B.C. and provide a perspective on the future.
My nomination is the Buntzen Lake Power Station:
(Thanks, Pam, for pic.)
I appreciate its significance as the first source of hydroelectricity for Vancouver (to power the streetcars) when it opened in 1903. But most of all, I love its haunting presence in the rain forest on Indian Arm – a reminder of a time when even the most mundane of structures would be designed and built for the ages.
Here’s what it’s like inside. More on Heritage B.C., and Week, here.
That’s a great photo!
The link to Pam is broken… does she have more like this one?