- Lajoie Dam
Lajoie Dam is the uppermost of the storage dams of the
Bridge River Power Project , which is located in the southwestern Interior ofBritish Columbia . It is located just west of the small semi-ghost town of Gold Bridge. An earthfill structure, it is 87 m (287 ft) impounds c. 570,000 acre feet (703,000,000 m³) of water inDownton Lake Reservoir . The Lajoie Powerhouse generates 22 MW with an average generating capacity of 170 GWh/year. A few miles downstream is Carpenter Lake, which is formed byTerzaghi Dam , the largest of theBridge River Power Project 's structures.Downton Reservoir is named for Geoffrey Downton, a pioneer surveyor who was the first to recognize the hydroelectric potential in the drop in elevation between the Bridge and Seton river systems. Lajoie Dam and Powerhouse are atop the site of
Lajoie Falls , which was named after Lazack Lajoie, a local "mountain man" and entrepreneur-huckster who promoted a townsite and mining complex around Gun Lake which never came to fruition.References
* "Water Powers, British Columbia", BC Dept of Lands and Forests Water Rights Branch, Victoria 1954
External links
* [http://www.bchydro.com/recreation/southern/southern1201.html BC Hydro Bridge River Development Rec Site]
* [http://www.cayoosh.net/lajoie.html Bridge River-Lillooet Archive Lajoie Dam page]
* [http://www.telemark.net/%7Erandallg/photos/20020609_lillooet/images/175.jpgAerial view of Downton Lake, looking west]
* [http://www.telemark.net/%7Erandallg/photos/20061010_Chilko_Lake/images/RIMG0182.jpgAerial view of Lajoie Dam from overhead] from [http://www.telemark.net/%7Erandallg/photos/20061010_Chilko_Lake/ Randall & Kat's Flying Photos]
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