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Historic place

Homestake Hydroelectric Plant No. 1

S Canyon St (mouth of Spearfish Canyon), Spearfish, SD

To avoid buying coal, the Homestake Gold Mine paid for a 5-mile, 8-tunnel water diversion through solid canyon rock — engineered so precisely that crews boring from opposite ends met with no measurable error — and the plant it powered still generates electricity over a century later.

📅 1912–present🏛️ Power PlantStill hereBuilt 1912
Open on the mapSlide back to 1912

The story

Seeking to replace expensive coal-fired steam power at its Lead mine, Homestake self-funded Hydro Plant No. 1 around 1910 with its own capital. A diversion dam up-canyon at Maurice sent water roughly 5 miles through eight tunnels cut through solid rock, dropping about 800 feet to the plant's turbines. It started up April 12, 1912, transmitting power to Lead in an early example of long-distance AC transmission. The City of Spearfish bought the system in 2004 to protect streamflow, and it still generates power today.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

Homestake paid for the whole project with its own capital — no bank financing.
Tunnel crews boring 5 miles from both ends met with no significant misalignment.
It has generated power continuously since 1912, and the city now offers public tours.

Connected places

Nemo (Homestake timber camp)

Nemo, SD
Homestake Gold Mine

Explore the full web of connections on the map.

Nearby history

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Old CB&Q grade, Spearfish Canyon · 292 m away
For 40 years a Burlington branch line hauled lumber, farmers, and $2.50 excursion tourists through Spearfish Canyon — un

Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

US Highway 14A (Spearfish Canyon) · 581 m away
A 19-mile limestone gorge cut by spring-fed Spearfish Creek, exposing three rock formations and 300 million years of Bla

D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery

423 Hatchery Circle · 604 m away
Congress funded this fish-culture station in 1896 to stock trout across the West — and for a decade it ran a satellite o

Black Hills Passion Play

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For 69 seasons, a German family who traced their Passion Play tradition to a 1242 monastery performed it nightly on what

The Thoen Stone

Thoen Stone Dr (Lookout Mountain) · 1.1 km away
A small sandstone slab found near Spearfish in 1887 claims to be a dying prospector's 1834 confession — and if genuine,

Spearfish Historic Commercial District

600 block N Main St · 1.2 km away
Founded in 1876 as "Queen City" by prospector-brothers Alfred and William Gay, Spearfish grew into the gold rush's bread

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Sourceshttps://www.spearfishhistory.org/2016/04/the-two-spearfish-canyon-hydro-plants_18.html