Does Anybody Know The Story On The Tunnel???

[Henry]

Does anybody know or remember reading about the tunnel, now blocked off at Fairfax Falls.  Margaret (Thomas) Minor called me this morning and told me she had seen the photo I had in the Fairfax News and thought she remembered as a kid that her father, Roger Thomas, who worked at the power plant, had mentioned that there was an original power plant and then a second one.  She thought the tunnel had something to do with it, but said it was many years ago, but as a kid that was her impression.  I would be interested in hearing or being directed to any articles on the Tunnel at Fairfax Falls.  I know that perhaps some of our older youngsters may have entered that tunnel before it was blocked off.

It appears to be below where the old time manufacturing mills used to be and I guess I had the impression that maybe it was the outlet for water power used in those mills in the old days before they were dismantled and sold for the power plant to be built.

While talking with Margaret, she told me a story about her dad, Roger, who told her that he had a full head of hair when he started working for the power company, but later became bald.  He always blamed his baldness on the power plant and his working there.

As a side note here, I had a full head of hair back in 1957 when I started working for IBM - Those of you that know me would probably attest to the fact that something made me go bald.  My dad was bald at the age of 27 he told me.  He blamed it on always wearing a hat.

Anyhow, off the subject a bit, but if anyone runs across any articles or knows the story on the tunnel at the falls, would enjoy hearing about it.

[Kathleen]

Reading this started getting me curious as well and got to work goggling Tunnel at Fairfax Falls Vermont and actually got a hit in the Encyclopedia Britanica: 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/609297/tunnel/72463/Underground-excavations-and-structures

Fairfax Falls and someplace in Seattle were the first hydroplants built underground back in 1904!  How's that for some history?!

[Henry]

Thanks for the link Kathy - Didn't realize we had a bit of original history with the power plant.  I do have about 150 photos of the building of the power plant, but don't see any photos of the tunnel.  It is on the opposite side of the falls from where the power plant is:

http://www.vtgrandpa.com/photos/slideshow.php?set_albumName=meigs_falls

[Henry]

The photo below is of a Mike McNall Postcard and it says 1905 on the bottom, but I don't see the power plant on the right:

[MikeF9]

I just checked the Fairfax History Book. The current plant, the one that Henry has the above mentioned slideshow of, was built 1916-1918 and began operation in 1918.

[Henry]

So Margaret Minor was right, the above shows the original plant built in 1905 as it says on the post card, right Mike??

[Henry]

I stand corrected and have been spreading some erroneous rumors that I will have to correct in next month's Fairfax News:

The photo above is indeed of the First Generating Station at the Falls and here is the story in our own Fairfax History Book:

Electricity in Fairfax
The electrification of Fairfax had its beginning when the St. Albans Electric Light and Power Company operated a steam generator in St. Albans, which was sold in 1903 to the Vermont Power and Manufacturing Company.

In 1904 this same Vermont Power and Manufacturing Company built a hydro-electric station at Fairfax Falls on the Lamoille River. The falls, also known as the Great Falls, drops 88 feet in a very short distance, making it an excellent natural source of power.

The first power station was carved out of a ledge at the site of the present dam. Prior to this time, a woolen mill had existed on the site. A substation at the site stepped up the voltage to 16,500 volts, with a transmission line carrying the power to St. Albans over bare wires. This first plan operated until the 1927 flood.

On January 25, 1916 the Vermont Power and Manufacturing Company sold out to the Public Electric Light Co. (PELCO). During 1916-1918 PELCO constructed the present plant at the Falls, which began operating about 1918.

Evidently, PELCO had a contract to supply Burlington with electricity from their generator for one cent per kilowatt hour. Eventually, a second generator was built at the Falls.  When hydrogeneration was low, PELCO had to supply Burlington at the contract price while buying higher priced electricity from Green Mountain Power. This arrangement lasted until 1953. Also in that year, PELCO sold to Central Vermont Public Service Corporation, under whose ownership it remains.

Some of the first citizens to receive electricity after 1904 were on the line to St. Albans. Howard Leach told of his father's farm on Rt. 104 (now the Bouthillette farm) being electrified with outside wiring. It was not long before most of the houses in the village along the line were wired also.

An account in the St. Albans Messenger, dated February 16, 1904, read "Dam Completed at the Falls and Crusher Moved to Georgia for Shipment."

Until 1960 two men had to be stationed at the plant around the clock to make sure everything was operating satisfactorily. The plant was automated after that date.

A grid system connects Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, etc., which buys and sells power automatically when the need arises. An automatic alarm system alerts the station in Milton if any of the systems at the Falls plant malfunction. From there men are sent to repair the trouble.

While the Village homes and farms along the line to St. Albans were enjoying electric power the rural areas were still in the oil lamp and lantern stage. It wasn't until 1942 or thereabouts after The Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc. was formed in 1938 that rural farms and homes could enjoy this luxury. According to Walter Cook (executive manager of the Cooperation) the first transformer was between Fairfax and St. Albans (Route 104). "Today there's nobody we know of who wants electricity who doesn't have it," he says.

[Suzy]

I remember before the tunnel was blocked off, and it was too creepy to go in. Water was dripping through the roof of the tunnel.  Scary!  Love the old postcard!

[trussell]

When was the tunnel blocked off? I've only been in town 11 years, but it seems when I ventured down there maybe 8 years ago, the tunnel was still mostly open.

I may be mistaken though, as I have been once before.

-Trevor