AMES
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AMES |
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| NAME: Ames COUNTY: San Miguel ROADS: 2WD GRID: 2 CLIMATE: Cold winter with snow, cool summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer |
COMMENTS:
Just below the Gold King Mine. REMAINS: The first AC power plant in the world and many summer cabins. |
| Ames claim to fame was its location just below the rich Gold King mine. Although it was a small camp, it was the first to employ the world’s first commercial transmissions of high-pressure electricity in the operation of a mine. It was the brain-child of an L.L. Nunn, a lawyer and not an engineer, who saw the advantage of building an electrical power plant using the San Miguel River that flowed below the mine as a means of reducing the high cost of fuel. The Gold King mine was located at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The power plant was built, transmission lines installed to the mine and profits soared. Before long, the use of electricity in mining operations became widespread throughout the world. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth. |
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