Jordan Hydroelectric Generating Plant - Wetumpka, AL
Posted by: 
xptwo
N 32° 37.136 W 086° 15.263
16S E 569951 N 3609288
The Alabama Power Company began work on Jordan Dam in 1926. It began service on December 31, 1928, providing hydroelectric power to the state of Alabama as part of a series of stations built in the early part of the 20th Century.
Waymark Code: WMFMRV
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 11/04/2012
Views: 3
The area on the Coosa River where Jordan Dam was built was called the Devil's Staircase due to the rapids. The dam was the fourth dam built by the Alabama Power Company. The following passage about the naming of the dam comes from "Putting "Loafing Streams" To Work: The Building of Lay, Mitchell, Martin, and Jordan Dams, 1910-1929" by Harvey H. Jackson III (Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1997), p. 158.
"The new dam was to be longer than Martin and not quite as high. A run-of-the-river facility like those upstream, it was to be generating some 144,000 horsepower by the first of 1929, which would make it the largest facility of its kind in the South. The company's board of directors wanted to name the dam and lake after Alabama natives Reuben A. Mitchell, an officer in the firm, and his brother Sidney Z. Mitchell, an electrical industry pioneer who had helped Alabama Power in its early years. But there was already a Mitchell Lake and Dam, so the brothers suggested that it be named in honor of their mother, the former Elmira Sophia Jordan. When the directors agreed, it became Jordan Dam and Lake Jordan."
According to the book's appendix (page 202), the powerhouse has 4 Francis hydraulic turbines made by S.M. Smith, and 4 alternating current generators made by Westinghouse, with a rating of 25,000 kilowatts each.
The coordinates were taken on the east side of the dam, but the photos are from both sides.
Operational: yes
Type of power station: Conventional (dams)
Type of turbine: Francis
Operator: Alabama Power Company
Visitor center: no
Date built: 12/31/1928
Generation capacity: 100,000 kW
|
Visit Instructions:
For posting a log to an existing waymark, you will need to post a unique picture of the power station. If is not open to the public, please do not enter private property. A picture from the distance is sufficent. If it's possible to enter the machine hall, a picture of it would be nice. Please add some additional informations if possible.
Recent Visits/Logs:
| There are no logs for this waymark yet. |
|
|
|