Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Visual Materials
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Visual Materials
Fast flowing streams falling down steep mountain sides first attracted John Eastwood to the hydroelectric potential of the High Sierras. Years before anyone else, Eastwood worked to develop this energy source for the benefit of California communities.
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Visual Materials
The prominent granite dome that towers over the site of Big Creek #1 Hydro Plant was named by John Eastwood for William G. Kerckhoff, and early investor in Eastwood's power projects. Kerckhoff became the President of the San Joaquin Light and Power Comany, which grew out of Eastwood's original San Joaquin Electric Company.
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Visual Materials
Several of John Eastwood's original drawings for his proposed Big Creek plants still survive in Edison Company files. This drawing was prepared to show the relative strengths of, and quantities of materials required for, traditional gravity arch and rock filled dams, as compared with Eastwood's own innovative multiple arch dam design.
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Visual Materials
The large volume of water carried by this rushing Sierra torrent even in the late summer months persuaded John Eastwood to name it "Big Creek."
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Visual Materials
The winter snows of the Sierras were the entire reason for the Big Creek Project. As the heavy snowpack melted, the runoff water was stored in reservoirs, then used to generate electricity before going down to irrigate crops in the San Joaquin Valley below. Unfortunately, the heavy snowfalls at higher altitudes made construction of portions of the project very difficult, shortening the working season and making transportation difficult.
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