California Historical Landmark No. 514

USA / California / San Antonio Heights /
 historical marker, interesting place, historic landmark
Located up Mt. Baldy Road, this stone plinth with Bronze marker plaque commemorates the first hydro-electric plant in California, (falsely credited to George Westinghouse, who literally stole the applicable patents from Nikola Tesla).

The actual site of the Power Plant was below the flat which holds the marker;

There is a second, smaller plinth on this same flat, with its plaque missing, likely due to vandalism.
This second marker was reportedly in honor of an old and forgotten Chaffey College Experimental project called "Springhill Forest"...

Inscription: The first hydroelectric installation in California for long-distance transmission of alternating current at high voltage was built in 1892 on San Antonio Creek below this spot by the San Antonio Light and Power Company organized by Dr. Cyrus Grandison Baldwin, President of Pomona College. The first high-voltage transformers built by George Westinghouse for this installation provided for transmission of 10,000 volts from this plant to Pomona.

Erected 1955 by California State Park Commission and The Historic Society of Pomona Valley. (Marker Number 514.)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   34°12'42"N   117°40'33"W

Comments

  • (corrected location)
  • Was Tesla here in Mt. Baldy when the 1st hydro electric generator in Californi was built? After all he had just finished Niagara Falls when he lit up the Pomona colleges.
  • not certain; would be interesting to find out
  • Telsa worked for Westinghouse. I presume he was still employed by him at this time, which is why Westinghouse ended up with the patent instead of Tesla. Anyone with info on that?
This article was last modified 10 years ago