TRIPCLIP AUDIO FILE - DECEW FALLS GENERATING STATION NO.1

 Click to play or download DeCew Falls Generating Station TripClip (mp3 format)

DeCew Falls Generating Station at the base of the Niagara Escarpment. Note iron penstocks descending from the top of the escarpment, which carry water from the Lake Moodie and Lake Gibson reservoirs above. The base flow of 12 Mile Creek (left of photo) is increased by as much as 95% by the addition of water from the penstocks. The water is drawn from Lake Erie via the Welland Canal and transported along the hydro canal system from Allanburg to the edge of the escarpment. Photo courtesy Ontario Power Generation.

General Information

Built in 1898, DeCew Falls 1 is the oldest continually running hydroelectric power generating station in Canada. This plant uses the geographical features of the Niagara Escarpment to produce electricity.

In 1896, five Hamilton entrepreneurs, all named John (Dickenson, Gibson, Moodie, Patterson, and Sutherland) formed the Cataract Power Company of Hamilton Ltd., with a plan to generate and transmit electricity 56 km to the city of Hamilton. It was an audacious move at that time, since long distance transmission of electricity was still in its infancy.  Originally intended for DeCew Falls itself, the project was instead located to the hamlet of Reynoldsville, later called Power Glen, to take advantage of the greater head of water at that point in the escarpment, and to use Twelve Mile Creek as a tailrace.

Construction on the station began in April 1897, and the first electricity was generated in August 1898. This makes it the oldest continually running hydroelectric power station in Canada.

The water for the station was drawn from the Third Welland Canal via a feeder canal originating at Allanburg, and was originally stored in three small reservoirs called Lakes Gibson, Moodie, and Patterson, located where Lake Moodie is now. The water flowed down the escarpment in a single penstock, and was discharged through two turbines into Twelve Mile Creek.  Expansion work began very soon. New penstocks were built, the power house was extended, and in 1904 two huge new reservoirs, Lakes Moodie and Gibson, were created. Since Lake Gibson lay astride the water supply to the St. Catharines Waterworks, the aqueduct was abandoned and a weir at Allanburg split the feeder canal in two, one branch leading to Lake Gibson and the other to the waterworks.

Photo Gallery