Spruce Falls was the local name for a small waterfall where the Swan River empties into Duck Lake in northeastern Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

, near the Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 boundary. It is located at 55°37′ N and 102°7′ W.

The Swan River, about four miles (6 km) in length, is the outlet channel from Birch Lake into Sisipuk (Duck) Lake. The water eventually flows into the Churchill River

Churchill River (Hudson Bay)

The Churchill River is a major river in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. From the head of the Churchill Lake it is 1,609 km long. It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1685 to 1691...

. It has a drainage area of 700 mi2 consisting of a number of lakes, chief among which are Mari Lake, 19 mi2, Barrier Lake

Barrier Lake

Barrier Lake is a man made reservoir at the north end of Kananaskis Country in Alberta, Canada.Highway 40 runs between the lake and Mount Baldy, on the eastern shore...

, 55 mi2, and Birch Burntwood Lake, 16 mi2.

In 1928, Spruce Falls became the site of a temporary power plant supplying the Island Falls, Saskatchewan

Island Falls, Saskatchewan

Island Falls is a hydroelectric power station operated by SaskPower, a Saskatchewan crown corporation. It is located on the Churchill River at 55.5° N, 102.4° W, about sixty miles northwest of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada....

 hydroelectric power development on the Churchill River

Churchill River (Hudson Bay)

The Churchill River is a major river in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. From the head of the Churchill Lake it is 1,609 km long. It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1685 to 1691...

.

Spruce Falls and the Island Falls Power Development

A large amount of power is required for construction purposes on a job the size of the Island Falls development. As steam and gasoline units could be used only to a minor extent, owing to the high cost of transporting fuel, the only alternative was to find a site where hydroelectric energy could be generated. Engineers for the Churchill River Power Company determined that Spruce Falls, about 13+1/2 mi northeast of Island Falls, was suitable.

By utilizing the natural fall of 25 feet (7.6 m) at Spruce Falls in addition to a 15 feet (4.6 m) timber dam which impounded a small forebay, a head of 40 feet (12.2 m) was developed. Water from the head pond was conveyed to generator turbines by two wood stave pipes 7 feet (2.1 m) wide and 90 feet (27.4 m) long.

The powerhouse

The Spruce Falls temporary powerhouse was a frame building on the shore of Sisipuk Lake. It contained two small generating units and complementary equipment. These two 1,250 hp vertical-type turbines, with propeller-type runners, were directly connected to 1,000 kVa generators delivering power at 600 volts, 3 phase, 60 cycles to a bank of transformers.

The transformer bank was placed apart from the power-house and protected by a lightning arrester

Lightning arrester

A lightning arrester is a device used on electrical power systems to protect the insulation on the system from the damaging effect of lightning. Metal oxide varistors have been used for power system protection since the mid 1970s. The typical lightning arrester also known as surge arrester has...

and fuses. Rated at 2,000 kVa, these transformers stepped the voltage up to 26,400 volts for transmission to Island Falls. There, a sub-station stepped the current down to 600 volts for two motor-generator sets which supplied current for the electric locomotives used in hauling earth, concrete and other construction materials.

Completion of the project

Work on the temporary power plant was started on October 4, 1928. Its operation began on March 20, 1929, and continued without interruption until No. 1 Unit at Island Falls took up the load on June 5, 1930. Subsequently, the Spruce Falls plant was dismantled, and, under very difficult freighting conditions due to snow and weak ice, the two small generating units were brought to Island Falls, where they were permanently installed in 1933.

During the period of operation this plant supplied 4,698,000 kWh of electrical energy for construction purposes, at an average cost of 4.35 cents per kWh.