Lajoie Dam

Lajoie Dam
Lajoie Dam
	Lajoie Dam Location within British Columbia
Country	Canada
Location	Near Gold Bridge, BC
Coordinates	50°50′06″N 122°51′32″W / 50.835°N 122.859°W
Purpose	Hydroelectricity, Storage
Status	Active
Opening date	1948 (raised 1955)
Owner	BC Hydro
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Earth-fill
Impounds	Bridge River
Height (foundation)	87 m
Reservoir
Creates	Downton Lake
Total capacity	700,000,000 m³
Lajoie Powerhouse
Installed capacity	22 MW
Annual generation	170 GWh

Lajoie Dam is the uppermost of the storage dams of BC Hydro's Bridge River Power Project, which is located in the southwestern Interior of British Columbia. It is located just west of the small semi-ghost town of Gold Bridge. An earthfill structure, it is 87 m (287 ft) and impounds c. 570,000 acre-feet (700,000,000 m³) of water in Downton 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 by Terzaghi Dam, the largest of the Bridge River Power Project's structures.

Downton Reservoir is named for Geoffrey M. 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