Powerhouse and Wind Mills

Today Bruce and I took a beautiful drive about 20 miles north to lovely Altona. We were looking to find an old powerhouse that just got a bunch of money from the wind energy company nearby. There had been a picture in the paper and Bruce said that although he knew exactly the dam, which was going to be removed, he couldn't place or picture the powerhouse. So we went to look for/at it. It turns out to be the building below and the dam in front of it is the one that Bruce knew--a few years ago he grabbed hold of a piece of rebar sticking out from it and with a light pull he pulled out a big chunk from the (off-stage left) pillar that's pretty much like the one that says "Built 1923." So both he and I don't share some locals' concern about removing the dam. I think it's ugly and Bruce says it's useless as a dam, too.



So I took a few pictures. The one above is the only one I could get from that side; the others were all from the back and I've put just one here.



I think that refurbed it could be gorgeous. I would put a theatre in it. But what do I know.

The marching pillars in the shot below are what carried the "penstock," which is apparently the name of the big pipe that carries water from a river to the turbines of a powerhouse. The pipe is about 5 feet in diameter (at least the one behind our house that goes to "our" powerhouse is). This particular old powerhouse was built by a local entrepreneur, William Miner, and that makes it special to folks around here.



So what about the wind mills from my title? That powerhouse is not too far from one of the wind farms in the area. The last time we were up in this neck of the woods there was no evidence of wind turbines, now there are a bunch of them and here is a shot of me (in red sweatshirt)sort of near one. You really can't see me--click on the picture to enlarge it and look for a red blob--but if you can you might get some sense of how bloody big these windmills are!



Here's my best photo of the day. I really like the sculptural aspects of the turbines; I've said before that I think they're beautiful. The ones near us were revolving very slowly and silently (they're not online yet)and the sun was in the perfect spot. Put your sunglasses on.