Henry Huntington, buisness mogul and railroad magnate, is responsible in many ways for the early electrification of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. His trolley system was crucial for the development of the area. However, these projects would not have been possible without his early investment into hydroelectric power plants that provided the power he would need to run his trains.
The power was often supplied by the Southern California Edison Company, with which Caltech was closely involved with in the 1920's with the joint venture of the High Voltage Research Laboratory. Both these later projects in the 1920's and 30's, as well as Huntington's business success, could not have happened without Huntington's early investment into smaller power plants like the Borel Hydro Plant in the 1900's and the Big Creek plant in the 1910's. This exhibition explores how those early plants led to the grand electrification of Southern California.