Water Power T Falls was built in 1910. Electric power—generated by falling water—illuminated homes and ran all kinds of newly invented appliances. Electricity lit city streets, powered public transportation, and replaced steam as the driving force for industrial engines. In southern Idaho, electric companies competed for residential customers, and to supply power to mines, mills, and irrigation projects. on t g n aho d I ashi W Washington Oregon y 73-186-0 t y 74-157-5a t cie o cie S o S al c i al r c i o r st o i t s H i H aho d aho I d y I s y te s r te u r o u C o C Electric streetcars, including one Boise & Interurban car, at the A Boise billboard advertising the newest in electric toasters. corner of 8th Street and Bannock in Boise, ca 1915. Montana Wyoming Lower Salmon Falls Dam Power Wars in 1910 by the Great Shoshone and Twin Falls Power James S. Kuhn, were entrepreneurs from of the Kuhns’ ambitious Twin Falls North Side and resulting rate wars depressed prices and kept them from earning enough income to of thousands of acres on the Snake River Plain, using electric pumps to bring the water up from the W backing—the Electric Bond and Share Company—stepped in and bought up the failing I y d omin aho planned to also build towns and homes, light and Power Company. Idaho Power opened its doors for business on August 1, 1916, with heat them with electricity, and link them together 17,786 customers. with electric railways. g thousands of farmers on the Snake River Plain, but in Lower Salmon Falls Dam, eventually became part of Idaho Power Company. Swan Falls Power Plant 1901 American Falls Power Plant 1902 Lower Salmon Falls y 73-51-9mm Power Plant 1910 t Minidoka cie o Power Plant 1909 S A New Dam al c i r o t s i H Shoshone Falls At the end of World War II, the need for irrigation and residential aho d I Power Plant 1907 y power was as strong as ever, and southern Idaho’s developing s e t r u phosphate industry added even more demand. A new Lower Salmon o C Falls Dam was constructed in 1949, just downstream from the original Constructing the line of concrete piers forming the core of the away from the work site. Building a Dam in 1910 generators that can produce up to 70,000 kilowatts of power. At the time of its construction, the new Lower Salmon Falls Dam was Idaho Power Company’s largest producer of electricity. and power plants. At Lower Salmon Falls, a low head dam was built to divert water from just above the falls to the kilowatts of power. A third generator was added in 1919. y 73-51-9ii t cie o S al c i r o t y t s i H cie o S es v al daho c I i r y chi s r o st te i r g A u H n i o r C e e daho I gin y n s E te y r n u a o p C m o C er w o P Note the presence of the old powerhouse on the left, whcih had adho I y s not yet been demolished. te r u o C.