Hydroelectric and Kirk Power Plant Operation Records

The Homestake Mining Company began to provide electricity to various mine workings in 1888 using dynamos from the Edison United Manufacturing Company. By the late 1890s, most of Homestake's operations were utilizing electricity, but with dynamos being expensive, Homestake began to look into how to generate their electricity locally. In 1904 Homestake's first hydroelectric plant was constructed a mile from the mouth of the Spearfish Canyon. To procure water rights, Homestake agreed to supply power to the town of Spearfish and bought the Spearfish Electic Light and Power Company. The plant worked well, but it wasn't cost-effective to send power from the plant to Lead. The company decided to construct a larger plant closer to Lead using water from ditches the company already held rights for, near Englewood.

The Englewood Hydroelectric Plant was commissioned in 1906 and replaced steam power in the Monroe and Mineral Point Mills. The Englewood plant ran until 2001. In the summer of 1908, plans were made to construct a larger plant in lower Spearfish Canyon near the fish hatchery. This plant, Hydroelectric No. 1, began construction in 1909 and was completed in 1910. Workers utilized power from the 1904 hydroelectric plant to construct the pipelines and tunnels.

Work started on Hydroelectric No. 2 at Maurice in Spearfish Canyon in 1916 and was completed in 1918. After its completion, Homestake converted the Golden Gate and Old Brig hoists from steam power to electricity. Hydroelectric No. 2 operated from 1918 until it was decommissioned in October 2003. After 1918, with abundant hydroelectric power available, Homestake undertook new projects, including implementing an electric hoist for Ellison and air raises between levels. By 1925 Homestake was supplying all of its own electric needs.

In the 1930s, Homestake realized more power was needed to keep up with the increasing costs of gold mining and the Ross Shaft construction. With no more streams or rivers readily available, the company decided to build a coal-fired power plant in 1934. Costs for operating the Kirk Power Plant were kept low by Homestake obtaining the coal from its Wyodak operation in Gillette, Wyoming. The Kirk Power Plant's ownership and operation was transferred by Homestake to the Black Hills Power and Light Company in 1954. Two years later, Wyodak was sold to a subsidiary of Black Hills Power and Light. In the early 1990s, Black Hills Power and Light announced their intention to build a substation behind the Kirk Power Plant and closed the plant.