History Of Electric Power In Manitoba

While there were several earlier instances of electricity generation in Manitoba, the first hydro-electric dam in the form we now know was on the Little Saskatchewan river, now called the Minnedosa River. Beginning operation in 1900, It served the City of Brandon ( Sorry Winnipeg, the Wheat city gets the honours here ) with 600 kilowatts of power via a 14 kilometre transmission line. The dam was made of wood filled with rocks and seems to have only operated in the summer months. Two units of 300 kilowatts each provided the current which was stepped up to 11kV for transmission along wooden poles to Brandon. There it was brought in to the existing steam generating facility to augment generation in summer. The Little Saskatchewan plant was the brainchild of three men who formed Brandon Electric Light Company Ltd. to provide steam generated power to Brandon around 1889. To increase capacity in summer and keep the costs down, they built the hydro-electric station. The site was decommissioned in 1924 and was probably damaged by the failure of an upstream dam in Minnedosa on 4 May 1948.