The Borel Hydro Plant - 1904

This photograph depicts the Borel Hydro Plant, which began construction in 1894 and was completed in 1904 by the Kern River Light and Power Company, a subsidiary of Henry Huntington's business empire (Borel Hydroelectric Project). Named after Huntington's business partner and financier Antoine Borel, the plant was designed to produce over 10 megawatts by diverting water from the Kern River located in the Sequoia National Forest down 12 miles to the turbines (Directors, Hydro Review).

This energy would be used to power Huntington's growing trolley and streetcar business. Getting the power to Los Angeles from the mountainous terrain where the Borel plant was located was a challenge. Although Isabella lake, where the Borel plant is located, is only 100 miles from central Los Angeles as the crow flies, the poles took a 125-mile path through the mountains to reach their destination (Directors, Hydro Review). The company also had difficulty assuring the right-of-way for the long cable, as private landowners realized they could hike up land prices before the company could purchase the necessary rights (LA Times 12).

Huntington was not heavily financially involved in the construction, diverting most of his funds throughout this time towards real estate in Southern California for his emerging Streetcar business. The limited budget led to many faults in the design, which resulted in major reliability issues. In 1912, only 8 years after the plant was constructed, all 5 of the turbines were fully reconstructed (Directors, Hydro Review). The inaccessible nature of the plant rendered these repair efforts difficult and expensive.