Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A two-minute read · 1875–2023
Ouray, Colorado, took shape on ground that was San Juan County before Ouray County existed, from 1875 to 1877. On 6th Avenue, a power company incorporated in 1885 built a plant on the Uncompahgre River that, through near-closure, a $10 rescue and a torn pipe, still generates electricity today.
The short answer
The Ouray Hydroelectric Power Plant on 6th Avenue in Ouray, Colorado, has generated electricity on and off since the Ouray Electric Light and Power Company was incorporated on December 6, 1885, making it one of the oldest operating power stations in the world, still running on water from a 1902 dam.
Ouray, CO, USA Historic Court House from 1888 at the South East corner of 4th Street and 6th Avenue, as seen from the 4th Street — 2006 · Andreas F. Borchert · CC BY-SA 4.0
1885 to 1902
A sandy river source gave way to a lasting dam
You're standing at the Ouray Hydroelectric Power Plant, one of the oldest working power stations in the world. It has run here, on and off, since the 1880s.
The company behind it was incorporated on December 6, 1885. Its first building stood at the south end of Oak Street. In 1890, the owners moved and enlarged the plant near where you stand now, drawing water from the Uncompahgre River. When the river ran low or froze, a steam engine kept the lights on. At first, water came through a tunnel from Canyon Creek, but it carried too much sand and wore out the machinery. In 1901, the company announced a new dam south of town. Built the next year, that dam still feeds the plant today, and also supplies the Ouray Ice Park downstream.
1913 to 1991
Eight power companies merged, then the plant fell idle
By 1914, the Western Colorado Power Company had absorbed the Ouray Power and Light Company along with seven other regional outfits. Networking all those small, isolated plants together was a new idea nobody had tried on this scale before. Somewhere in those decades, engineers converted the plant from direct current to alternating current, using rotors borrowed from the old Ames equipment under the direction of L. L. Nunn, a pioneer of long-distance power transmission in the region.
The plant kept running through much of the twentieth century, but by the 1980s it had passed to the Colorado-Ute Electric Association, a utility that went bankrupt and could not pay for repairs. The machinery sat neglected. Meanwhile, water leaking from its pipes in the gorge below had frozen into long columns of ice, and climbers started showing up to scale them.
1992 to 1994
A ten-dollar bid brought the turbines back to life
In April 1992, the plant went up for bankruptcy auction. Eric Jacobson was the only bidder who had pre-qualified, and he bought the whole operation for ten dollars. He spent more than a million dollars restoring the dam, replacing pipe, and rebuilding the powerhouse from the ground up. In the spring of 1994, the turbines turned again and the plant made electricity for the first time in years. Public Service Company of Colorado agreed to buy the power and send it north to Denver.
1994 to now
A boulder strike could not keep the plant down
Richard Ezra Fowler ran the plant and lived on site from 1992 until his death in 2008, when Chris Dobbins took over daily operations. The ice below the plant kept drawing climbers, and in 1994 the Ouray Ice Park got its first official ice farmer, turning the leaking pipes into a managed climbing venue. Jacobson leased roughly 60 acres of the gorge to the city for a dollar a year, and in 2023 he donated 7.5 acres outright to keep public access permanent.
In 2021, a falling boulder tore out 80 feet of the plant's water pipe and shut the station down. It came back online, still running three historic Pelton wheels and producing enough power each year for about 40 homes. The plant stands on the National Register of Historic Places.
The same water still turns the same old wheels, a few feet from where you're standing.
Read the ground you are standing on
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Deep time
Under the streets here lie Devonian-age limestones and dolomites over 350 million years old, buried beneath later Cretaceous sediments and the volcanic rock that built the surrounding San Juan Mountains.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Macrostrat
Modern
before 1901
Water first ran into the plant through a tunnel in Box Canyon fed by Canyon Creek, but it carried so much sand and grit that engineers had to switch to the Uncompahgre River instead.
The Ouray Electric Light and Power Company was incorporated on December 6, 1885, and its plant on the Uncompahgre River is now reckoned one of the four oldest operating power stations in the world.
The hydroelectric plant was first built in conjunction with the Beaumont Hotel as a direct current facility before growing into the town's main power source.
St. Joseph's Miners' Hospital opened on August 27, 1887, run by the Sisters of Mercy to treat injured miners, and stayed open until 1964; the building is now the Ouray County Historical Museum.
A new dam planned in 1901 and finished the next year, described at the time as creating a mile-long mountain lake, still supplies the plant and the Ouray Ice Park's climbing walls today.
The Western Colorado Power Company, organized March 12, 1913, absorbed the Ouray Power and Light Company and seven other regional utilities within a year, linking isolated mountain power plants for the first time.
Eric Jacobson bought the derelict power plant for $10 in April 1992 after Colorado-Ute Electric Association went bankrupt and couldn't fund repairs, then spent over a million dollars restoring it.
A falling rock destroyed 80 feet of the penstock pipe feeding the plant inside the Ouray Ice Park, shutting the power station down until it was repaired.
Eric Jacobson donated 7.5 acres to the City of Ouray in 2023, permanently preserving public access to the Uncompahgre River Gorge he had leased out for a dollar a year since 1992.
What was here before the current power plant building?
The company's first building stood at the south end of Oak Street before the owners moved and enlarged the plant near its present site in 1890, drawing water from the Uncompahgre River.
How old is the Ouray Hydroelectric Power Plant?
The Ouray Electric Light and Power Company was incorporated on December 6, 1885, and the plant that grew from it is reckoned one of the oldest operating power stations in the world.
What happened at the plant in 1992?
The plant went up for bankruptcy auction after owner Colorado-Ute Electric Association went bankrupt, and Eric Jacobson, the only pre-qualified bidder, bought the whole operation for ten dollars, later spending over a million dollars restoring it.
Why did the plant stop using Canyon Creek water?
Water reaching the plant through a tunnel from Canyon Creek carried too much sand, which wore out the machinery, so the company switched to drawing water from the Uncompahgre River instead.
Does the Ouray plant still generate power today?
Yes, it runs three historic Pelton wheels and produces enough electricity each year for about 40 homes, having come back online after a 2021 boulder strike destroyed 80 feet of its water pipe.
What is the connection between the power plant and the Ouray Ice Park?
Water leaking from the plant's pipes in the gorge froze into climbable ice columns, drawing climbers, and the 1902 dam that feeds the plant also supplies the Ouray Ice Park's climbing walls.
