ROCKWOOD – Tacoma Generating Station normally sits empty – a far cry from its early days, when 18 to 20 workers and their families lived in a small community near the station.
Today, the historic hydropower plant continues to operate, but with little direct human supervision. Most days, no employees are required on site, said plant operator Jon Ickes.
Still, remnants of the once-thriving company settlement remain. Old nails and dilapidated wood are reminders of the six homes that once stood near the bridge on the opposite side of the river, where plant workers and their families lived.
On Tuesday afternoon, the area was once again bustling with human activity as a group of about 40 people disembarked the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad car No. 319 at Rockwood Station.
They were there for a fundraising event benefiting the Animas Museum and Southwest Colorado Humanities. The group rode in a privately donated train car, courtesy of railroad owner Al Harper, while local historian Charles DiFerdinando donated his time and deep knowledge of the region’s past.
During the ride, DiFerdinando – dressed in a two-piece summer suit with a pocket watch tucked into his breast pocket – transported passengers back to the early 1900s, when Western industry was booming and people from across the country came to try their luck in the mines.
The power plant’s origins are closely tied to that mining boom in Silverton and the San Juan Mountains. As mines expanded, so did the need for electricity, DiFerdinando said. Engineer H.T. Henderson developed the idea of using water and the region’s steep natural gradients to generate power at a plant 32 miles north of Durango.
Water was diverted from Cascade Creek using flumes and reservoirs, dropping nearly 1,000 feet before being discharged into the Animas River.
Construction on the flume – the first phase of the project – began in 1903 under difficult conditions. That year was one of the wettest summers on record. Persistent rain created such poor working conditions that workers frequently quit, a contractor went on strike and an air of violence infected the workers, DiFerdinando said.
Hydropower generation finally began in 1906. The first customer was the infamous Gold King Consolidated Mine – whose legacy has stretched decades, and whose spill into the Animas River brought serious attention to the dangers of living with abandoned mines in the backyard.
Life at Tacoma came with risks. The site was accessible only by foot or by small rail-mounted vehicles traveling along the tracks.
In 1935, a worker named LeRoy Haley was driving a rail-mounted “pop car” back to the station when it derailed after a porcupine crossed the tracks, DiFerdinando said. Haley’s wife and another passenger were thrown against a rock wall, but Haley and the car plunged off the opposite side into the river below. His body was found months later along the banks of the Animas.
While the homes of the original company employees are no longer, the newer employee housing on the opposite bank still stands largely intact.
Several of the homes remain standing, still holding traces of the past. Through the windows, dart boards and old magazines are visible.
The last resident, Bill Billings, left around 2005, Ickes said. Billings had requested to live on site despite the isolation. The only access was by foot or by coordinating with the train’s push car schedule.
“Coming home at 10 p.m. on the weekend was not an option,” Ickes said.
The actual power station – constructed of red brick and concrete – sits just above the river.
Inside, a cavernous, single-story room stretches up to the roofline. The floor is dominated by three generating units, two of which remain operational. The third has been out of commission since a blowout in 2005.
At full capacity, each unit can produce about 2,000 kilowatts, or 2 megawatts, of electricity – enough to power roughly 2,000 homes, Ickes said. Combined, the plant can generate electricity for about 4,000 homes.
“So it’s a small plant, but that’s significant around here,” said Jonny Wade, another Xcel staff member present for the tour.
The system relies on moving water. A flume carries water from Cascade Creek into Electra Lake, which feeds the plant. When the flume is functioning, the creek continuously replenishes the lake, allowing the facility to generate power around the clock.
But the flume is 120 years old and has started to deteriorate. Leaks have developed along multiple sections, and a major blowout last year destroyed part of the structure and damaged the surrounding hillside.
Xcel Energy installed a section of pipe to stabilize the system and was able to send water into Electra Lake over the winter. Still, persistent leaks forced operators to shut the flume down again about a month ago.
They will not restart it until repairs are completed, Wade said.
In the coming weeks, Xcel plans to conduct a flow study with engineers and federal officials to determine how much capacity the aging flume can safely handle and where repairs are most urgent. Operators hope it will be back online by mid-August.
In the meantime, the plant is relying on stored water in Electra Lake. It effectively serves as a battery that allows for limited generation, but operators must be cautious, especially in a low runoff year.
“We consciously did not generate very much over the winter so we could save as much water as possible,” Wade said.
As a result, current output is only a fraction of the plant’s capacity, he said. It is generating enough electricity to power 100 to 1,000 homes, depending on conditions.
Beyond the flume, the plant building itself is showing its age.
Tacoma requires ongoing maintenance, but preserving a designated historic structure comes with added challenges. Repairs must meet strict standards, and even basic materials can be difficult to source.
Plans are in place this summer to repair sections of the exterior brick and replace aging window panes. But matching the original materials means sourcing specific brick from out-of-state, a costly and time-consuming process.
“Historical societies are good because they keep things the way they were, but they’re cost-prohibitive in the end,” Wade said. “It’s not like you can just go to the hardware store.”
Since Tacoma is a designated historic structure, repairs must meet strict standards. Even replacing bricks requires sourcing specific materials from out-of-state.
“It’s not like you can just go to the hardware store,” he said.
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