Unlike the Grand, the Muskegon is not navigable, so dams would not cause difficulty with river traffic. Fargo advised the Foote brothers about possible hydropower locations on the Muskegon River, which has the second largest outflow of an inland (non Great Lakes connecting) river of Michigan after the Grand River (which has a larger basin and the largest outflow of Michigan's inland rivers). Grand Rapids was a large power market to which the Footes next turned their attention. Vintage postcard of Croton Dam powerhouse (prior to the second 2 generating units added in 1915) The Little Muskegon comes in from the east, while the Muskegon flows generally north to south. Damming the Muskegon Location of Croton Dam (red dot). Initially beset by power loss during transmission and other problems, the Trowbridge dam successfully provided power to a larger area than previous dams, after the Foote brothers advanced the state of the art in insulators and electric transmission equipment. The dam was located near Allegan, about 25 miles (40 km) away from the city, an unheard of distance at the time, and was the first major hydroelectric project in Western Michigan. In 1898 the Foote brothers, working with engineering partner Fargo, constructed the Trowbridge Dam across the Kalamazoo River in order to supply the city of Kalamazoo. But the demand for power was growing, driven by among other things, the advent of the streetcar and increased industrial use of electricity, outstripping the capacity of smaller rivers and existing dams. Since transmission of electricity over long distances was not well understood, they were situated near the cities they served. The Foote brothers' first projects in Jackson, Battle Creek and Adrian, like most pre-1900 electric power projects, were created for street lighting, with some limited residential and business lighting. As the familiarity with the technology, and the technology itself, improved, the scope of projects became more ambitious. In many cases dams already built for grist mills, sawmills and the like were refit for electric generators, but in some cases, new dams were constructed. The Foote brothers set up similar city specific companies in Battle Creek and Adrian within a few years. Fascinated by the potential, within a year he enlisted his then 17-year-old brother James and moved to Jackson, Michigan, and in 1886 they jointly founded Jackson Electric Light Works (a predecessor company to Consumers Energy), which began by lighting downtown Jackson electrically. Foote was a 30-year-old grist mill operator in Adrian, Michigan, in 1884 when, in what was then a common occurrence, he provided space and shaft power from his mill wheel to Thomson - Houston, a local electric utility startup, to light 12 streetlights. Fargo, a Jackson-based civil engineer who designed similar hydroelectric plants throughout the Midwest. Foote (1867–1924), brothersįrom Adrian, Michigan, with a burgeoning electric power empire, along with William G. The history of the Croton dam is intertwined with the history of William A. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The 40-foot-high (12 m) dam impounds 7.2 billion U.S. gallons (6 billion imp. gal/27 billion L) of water in its 1,209-acre (489 ha) reservoir and is capable of producing 8,850 kilowatts at peak outflow. Fargo by the Grand Rapids - Muskegon Power Company, a predecessor of Consumers Energy. It was built in 1907 under the direction of William D. Croton Dam (Michigan) (the United States) Show map of the United StatesĬroton Dam (or Croton Hydroelectric Plant) is an earth-filled embankment dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan.
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