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Island Falls is a
hydroelectric power station Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also mo ...
operated by
SaskPower Saskatchewan Power Corporation, trade name, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the Saskatchewan#Government and politics, provincial government, it serves more than 550,000 cu ...
, a
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
crown corporation. It is located on the Churchill River, about northwest of
Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located withi ...
,
Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
, Canada. Island Falls was the first hydroelectric power plant in Saskatchewan. It was built between 1928 and 1930 by the Churchill River Power Company, a subsidiary of
Hudbay Hudbay Minerals Inc. is a Canadian mining company that produces copper, gold, silver, zinc, and molybdenum. In 2024, the company produced 137,943 tonnes of copper, 332,240 ounces of gold, 3,983,851 ounces of silver, 33,339 tonnes of zinc, and 1,32 ...
, to provide electricity for the Hudbay mining operations at
Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located withi ...
and Cold Lake, Manitoba. The
drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
above the power site covers much of northwest Saskatchewan, about . The drainage basin contains several large lakes providing natural reservoirs, the main one being
Reindeer Lake Reindeer Lake is a large lake in Western Canada located on the border between north-eastern Saskatchewan and north-western Manitoba, with the majority in Saskatchewan. The name of the lake appears to be a translation of the Algonquian name. ...
at . As part of the consolidation of generation sources in the province,
SaskPower Saskatchewan Power Corporation, trade name, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the Saskatchewan#Government and politics, provincial government, it serves more than 550,000 cu ...
purchased the plant from HBM&S in 1981, which continued to operate it for several years. Since 1985 the plant is entirely owned and operated by SaskPower.


Construction

The construction of the power plant was difficult, as transportation routes did not exist north of the rail-head in
Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located withi ...
. In summer, of road were built between a series of six lakes, and scows installed on those lakes. Heavy hauling had to take place during a two-month period in late winter when the lake ice was thick enough. Construction material was carried a distance of by trains of up to six sleighs hauled by .
Linn tractor The Linn tractor is a heavy duty civilian half-track or crawler tractor invented by Holman Harry Linn (born Holman Harry Flannery). Approximately 2,500 units were built in Morris (town), New York, Morris, New York, USA from 1916 to 1952. Develo ...
s. The average load was about 77 tons per train, while the total freight carried over two winters was 35,000 tons. At that time, it was considered to be the most ambitious winter hauling enterprise ever undertaken in Canada. Power for construction was supplied by two small turbines at a temporary hydro-electric plant and dam at Spruce Falls on Swan River, about down river (east), where
Chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
and Kipahigan Lakes drain into the Sisipuk Lake of the Churchill River. The dam, now referred to as the Chicken Lake Dam, is owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. The Island Falls power dam spanned the main river channel at Big Eddy Falls, where there was a drop of . In addition, a number of earthen dams were built along the margin of the head pond (fore bay) to prevent overflow. About south, a concrete spillway dam known as "A-dam" was built across a low area on dry land later to be flooded. The fore bay was filled during July 1930, completely submerging the three low falls from which Island Falls gets its name. In August 1930, A-dam was opened and the massive flood of escaping water flushed out a second channel, thus creating an island. The stretch of river affected by the Island Falls development extends from Big Eddy Falls, where the power plant is located, to Mussena Rapids, a distance of approximately .


The power plant

Initially, the power plant held the two . units brought up from Spruce Falls, and three large
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...
units each rated at . under a head at 163.6 rpm. These vertical generators put out 6,600 volts, which was stepped up to 110,000 volts for transmission over of line to Flin Flon and the branch line to the Sherritt-Gordon Mine at Cold Lake. The first transmission of electricity to Flin Flon took place in June 1930. In following years, additional . units were added: Unit 4 in 1936, Unit 5 in 1938, Unit 6 in 1947, and Unit 7 in 1959. The total output of the power plant is now well over . SaskPower continues to modernize and maintain the plant, with re-runnering and upgrade of controls for units 4, 5 and 6 under way as of 2012. The utility currently projects that Island Falls generating units will continue in operation into their 9th decade before retirement.retrieved 2012 Jan 10
SaskPower, ''Powering a sustainable energy future'', April 2011 page 5


The settlement of Island Falls

From 1929 to 1967, Island Falls was also the name of the small, remote settlement of about two hundred people located on the island near the power plant. Called "The Camp" by its residents, it was home to the families of operators, electricians, machinists, administrators, labourers, and men of many other skills employed by the Churchill River Power Company. The original buildings dating from 1929 were made from locally sawn spruce and pine trees. They were distinctively clad with vertical, bark-covered slabs on the walls, roofed with black tarpaper, insulated with sawdust, fully plumbed, and electrically heated. During the 1940s, the old dwellings were replaced by second-generation houses. These fully modern houses, including utilities, were provided free to employees. Winters being long and cold, the community had facilities necessary for self-sufficiency, including a two-room school, gymnasium, cinema, curling rink, and hockey arena. A "Community Club" was generously supported by the company, so residents were regularly treated to movies and social gatherings. Special days such as
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
and
Dominion Day Dominion Day was a day commemorating the granting of certain countries Dominion status — that is, "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or externa ...
were important celebrations. Summers days were warm and long. Most people spent considerable time out-of-doors and made good use of the community boathouse. Many families had summer cottages along the river, some of which are still in use.


Transportation

Provisions such as canned and frozen foods were available at a company
commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...
, while fresh food was flown in by airplane. The Community had always been serviced by air, but 'freeze-up' of the river in the fall and 'break-up' of the ice in spring prevented aircraft from landing for weeks at a time. Surface transportation was essential, therefore the original route from the construction period was maintained. This route consisted of a series of lakes on which canoes and larger boats were moored. On the portages between the lakes, old vehicles were stationed. Passengers and freight could move to or from Flin Flon in about a day. The "lakes and portages" route continued to be used regularly into the 1950s. Linn tractor trains continued to be used for transporting heavy supplies in winter over the frozen lakes, but in the 1940s much faster Bombardier snowmobiles began to carry mail and passengers. By the 1950s, many families had purchased older-style automobiles and were able to travel independently to Flin Flon for visiting, shopping and recreation. In 1967, a permanent road to Flin Flon via Pelican Narrows and the Hanson Lake Road was completed. Ironically, the community of Island Falls closed down that year.


The closing of the settlement

By 1967, when technology permitted the power plant to be run by remote control, HBM&S management decided it was no longer feasible to support the settlement near the power plant. As a result of
automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
, CRP Co. employees and their families were moved to jobs in Flin Flon or into retirement. Thereafter, plant operators drove to Island Falls to work their shifts and were accommodated in a staff house. The company houses and other buildings such as the community hall remained vacant until the power plant was taken over by SaskPower in 1981. By 1988, all the buildings had been removed or demolished. Except for the two-storey commissary, which now serves as a staff house, all that remains of the settlement of Island Falls are the sidewalks leading to the places where houses once stood.


See also

*
List of generating stations in Saskatchewan This is a list of power stations in Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2024, the total installed capacity of generation was 5,355 MW with 39% from natural gas, 24% from coal, 21% from hydro, 11% from wind, and 5% from other sources such as solar and was ...
*
List of dams and reservoirs in Canada A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...


Notes

# In August 1958, the island on which the settlement stood was renamed Davis Island in honour of Rees W. Davis, an American engineer from
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
who was superintendent of the Churchill River Power Company from startup until his retirement that year. # To a considerable extent, the power plant facilities were, and continue to be, serviced by
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
workers from the nearby village of Sandy Bay. Most of the plant operators are now from Sandy Bay as well.


References

*Marshall, M.H., ''Power Development at Island Falls, Churchill River'', a paper presented at the
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
Branch of The Engineering Institute of Canada, January 29, 1931. *Davis, R.W. and Huffaker, M.F., ''Island Falls Power Development on the Churchill River'', a paper presented at the annual general meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
, MB, March, 1935. *Olson, Harry, "The Story of Island Falls", ''Northern Lights Magazine'', September 1955, published quarterly by
Hudbay Hudbay Minerals Inc. is a Canadian mining company that produces copper, gold, silver, zinc, and molybdenum. In 2024, the company produced 137,943 tonnes of copper, 332,240 ounces of gold, 3,983,851 ounces of silver, 33,339 tonnes of zinc, and 1,32 ...


External links


Island Falls, Saskatchewan: 1929 - 1967SaskPower: Island Falls Hydro StationSaskatchewan ghost towns
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Saskatchewan Ghost towns in Saskatchewan Hydroelectric power stations in Saskatchewan