The Little Falls Hydroelectric Station has produced clean, renewable electricity for more than a century—since the 1890's, in fact. These facilities are an important component of Minnesota Power’s hydro system in northern and central Minnesota, which consists of 11 hydroelectric stations and 16 reservoirs that collectively produce 115 megawatts. Our reservoir areas encompass several thousand acres of land and water along major river networks, including the Mississippi, St. Louis, Whiteface, Cloquet, Kawishiwi, Crow Wing and Gull rivers.

Dam construction in 1887

Our modern-day Little Falls facilities have a history extending back more than a century. Less than a year after construction began on the dam and canal, the Little Falls Water Power Co. formally dedicated the dam in 1888. “Little Falls has the best water power in the northwest,” wrote the Little Falls Weekly Transcript newspaper in covering the dedication. The hydro facilities first served industrial customers such as paper and wood products companies, flour mills and an iron works facility. Residential customer metering began in 1907. Minnesota Power & Light—as Minnesota Power was formerly known—acquired Little Falls Water Power Co. in 1923.

MP’s Little Falls facilities incorporate two powerhouses containing six units. The oldest powerhouse contains Units 5 and 6, and a second powerhouse placed in service in 1924 houses Units 1, 2 and 3. Unit 4 was added to the second powerhouse in 1979. The turbines are turned by the force of water pushing against the turbine blades. The turbines’ rotation then spins electromagnets that generate electrical current in the stationary coils of wire within the generator. The entire facility is capable of generating up to 4.7 megawatts of electricity. Little Falls Hydro is a “run-of-river” facility, which means that all of the water flowing down the river must be used to produce electricity, or be released over the dam immediately.

Little Falls Hydro today

Units 5 and 6 were placed in operation in 1906 and were designed to produce 400 kilowatts each. MP is presently working on a project to refurbish these units, which are our oldest operating units, to make them our “newest” units. Refurbishment plans include a total rebuilding of the turbines, including the blades and shafts. The project will be completed with assistance from Xcel Energy’s Renewable Development Fund. Xcel established the fund, with approval from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), to advance electric utilities’ development of renewable energy projects. In return, Xcel has been granted an extension by the MPUC for storing spent rods from its Prairie Island and Monticello nuclear power plants in Minnesota.

MP’s application was selected for a grant from the second round of the Renewable Development Fund, and we’re working with Xcel to finalize the project contracts. If all goes as planned, refurbishment work would begin in the winter of 2007. MP is also proceeding with plans to preserve the Little Falls Hydro office building—the oldest building within the entire Minnesota Power system. Work was done in the winter of 2005 to preserve and upgrade this historic building, and MP has consulted with the State Preservation Office to ensure our plans are in accordance with Preservation Office guidelines. The entire Little Falls Hydroelectric Station is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Little Falls Hydro Facts

• Gate House - Light & Water Plant - Flour Mill 1890

  The dam was built in 1888 and provided mechanical power via pulleys and shafts to flour mills, a lumber planing mill, and other customers.
   
• In the 1890’s, electrical power was being produced and sold. Residential customers were offered free wiring of their homes if they signed up for at least six lights.
   
• By 1911, 20 electric ranges were installed in the domestic science rooms of the Little Falls High School. In 1913, Clarice Lucas was hired to demonstrate electric household appliances to residential customers. The average rate at the time was 7 cents a kilowatt-hour. Today, it’s still about 7 cents for a typical residential customer.
   
• In 1912, Little Falls Water Co. made a proposal to the village of Pierz: that the company would sell power to Pierz if the village would pay $5,000 to construct a needed 12-mile transmission line. Pierz voters approved the measure and at the dedication ceremony, the Reverend Stiegler of Pierz declared, “every time the lights are turned on in Pierz, we can say ‘here are greetings from Little Falls’.”
   

• General view of dam from west side 1893

  Arguably Little Falls’ most famous son, Charles Augustus Lindbergh—“Lucky Lindy”—made history in 1927 by being the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop in a single-engine airplane. He decided against taking a parachute and radio in favor of more gasoline and made the flight in 33 & 1/2 hours. His father, Charles August Lindbergh, was a Little Falls lawyer who did work for the Little Falls Water Power Co. and was also Minnesota’s Sixth District Congressman from 1907-1917.
   
• The project has 22 feet of head, which is the difference in water elevations upstream and downstream of the dam.
   
• The station is rated at 4.7 megawatts—enough to run 3,067 hand-held 1,500-watt hair dryers, or 46,000 100-watt light bulbs.
   
• The station produces an average of approximately 26,300 megawatt hours annually, or 72 megawatt hours daily. This is the equivalent of burning fifty tons, or two semi-truck loads, of coal daily to produce electricity.
   
• The station’s average daily generation supplies enough electricity to power over 100 homes for one month, based on a monthly usage of 700 kilowatt-hours.
   
• At one time, approximately 30 employees were required to maintain and operate the Little Falls facility and three other local hydroelectric stations—the Pillager, Sylvan, and Blanchard stations. Now, the stations are operated remotely from the Thomson Hydroelectric Station, near Duluth, and are maintained by six maintenance workers.
   
• MP’s reservoir system constitutes a major recreation resource, which we encourage the public to use by maintaining picnic areas, fishing access points, boat launches, canoe portages, recreation trails and camping sites.
   
• Minnesota Power is celebrating its Centennial in 2006. Our company was born in 1906 through the acquisition of several hydroelectric companies.
   
• Today, Minnesota Power brings reliable energy to more than 137,000 residents and supplies wholesale electric service to 16 municipalities. We also provide energy to commercial businesses and serve some of the largest industrial customers in the U.S., including the Iron Range taconite industry and north-central Minnesota paper and wood products producers.
   
• Minnesota Power is a division of Duluth-based ALLETE. As well as its energy services, which include Superior Water, Light & Power in Wisconsin, ALLETE owns BNI Coal, a lignite coal mine in North Dakota, and has significant real estate holdings in Florida.
   
• Minnesota Power is a nationally recognized leader in environmental protection, with emissions well below permitted levels, a wide-ranging set of protection and remediation programs, and a policy of aggressively pursuing new and better ways to protect and preserve the natural beauty of this place in which we’ve chosen to live and raise our families.