Substations in Early California Electric History Exhibit Items
Royal Sorenson was an electrical engineering professor at Caltech from 1910-1952, making educational and industrial advances to the use of electricity through his work. He served as a consultant for the Southern California Edison (SCE) and other power companies. Caltech’s High Volts Lab, which Sorenson designed and experimented in, was created as a partnership between academia and industry. It fostered advances in the field of high voltage transmission such as the vacuum switch, which allows for monitoring of high voltage circuits (“Royal Sorenson”).
Eagle Rock substation is currently a SCE-owned facility turned into a film site, but it was once a transporter of energy from Big Creek Dam, a major hydroelectric power achievement devised by John Eastwood but funded and completed by Henry Huntington’s Pacific Light & Power Company (“Southern California”). The SCE company assumed ownership when it purchased PL&P (Jackson).
According to this print document from the Royal Sorenson Papers of Caltech’s Archives, Sorenson’s involvement in Eagle Rock substation included experimenting with water jets as a resistor to stop arcing (dangerous high power levels). This document speaks to the continual growth and development of electrical advancement, especially originating from California’s need to transport power.
Jackson, Donald. Jackson, John Eastman, Henry Huntington, and Big Creek. University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.
“Royal Sorensen.” ETHW, 5 Mar. 2025, https://ethw.org/Royal_Sorensen.
“Southern California Edison Company Substations, Monumental Type.” National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, 2024. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca4200/ca4201/data/ca4201data.pdf.
The depicted blueprint (1936) is from the California Institute of Technology Archives’s Von Kármán Papers. As the first director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Von Kármán is well-known for his contributions to the field of aeronautics. Von Kármán is responsible for many mathematical advances in rocketry, fluid mechanics, and aircraft design (Malina).
This document, however, refers to his involvement in the Smith-Putnam wind turbine project (Keene et al.). The project, which was launched in the late 1930s and ended in the early 1940s, made substantial contributions to future renewable energy technology. The goal of the project was to investigate the commercial feasibility of wind power. The idea was necessitated by the saturation of hydroelectric power sources (Smith). Von Kármán contributed to the project with his expertise in fluid dynamics and aeronautics.
Although the project came to an end due to lack of resources during the war effort, it demonstrated the commercial potential that wind power had (Smith). One major factor of wind power’s commercial feasibility involved its transformation and transport, performed by the substation illustrated in this blueprint.
Keene, Annamarie, et al. “Collection: Theodore von Kármán Papers | Caltech Archives.” Caltech Archives & Special Collections, https://collections.archives.caltech.edu/repositories/2/resources/80. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.
Malina, Frank. “Theodore von Kármán.” Lynn Booth & Kent Kresa Department of Aerospace, http://aerospace.caltech.edu/about/legends-of-galcit/theodore-von-kármán. Accessed 17 Mar. 2026.
Smith, Beauchamp. Wind Energy Conversion Systems Workshop Proceedings. Nasa-Lewis Research Center, June 11-13, 1973. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19740008644/downloads/19740008644.pdf.
This 1931 print photo, “Hoover Dam Substation” from the Huntington Archives, depicts a substation that facilitated the transport of power from the Hoover Dam across Black Canyon to across Nevada, California, and Arizona (“Circuits 1-15”).
Fully finished in 1937, the Hoover Dam was the result of the Colorado River Compact, which President Herbert Hoover signed into law, allowing for the Dam’s construction. The project was federally funded and later completely paid for through electricity resale. It fully paid for itself in 1987 (The Hoover Dam). The Southern California Edison (SCE) Company made a contract in 1940 to purchase electricity from the Hoover Dam and redistribute it to Southern California (“Our History”). After the construction of more substations that received and redistributed electricity, the Hoover Dam became an integral part of the California power grid (“Circuits 1-15”).
The SCE Company was (and is) the dominant power company in Southern California. It solidified its power by buying out other companies, including Henry Huntington’s own Pacific Light and Power (PL&P) Company in 1917 (“Our History”). Many of the power companies of the time provided electricity to California through hydroelectric projects, including Big Creek Dam, which SCE took over after their purchase of PL&P (“Jackson”).
“Hoover Dam, Circuits 1-15.” National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, 1997. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/nv/nv0300/nv0336/data/nv0336data.pdf.
Hoover Dam from above Showing Completed Dam with Automobiles Parked on Road Crossing Dam. Southern California Edison Photographs and Negatives, Huntington Digital Library. 1931, Boulder City, Nevada. https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll2/id/4299/rec/2.
Jackson, Donald. Jackson, John Eastman, Henry Huntington, and Big Creek. University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.
“Our History.” Edison International, https://www.edison.com/about-us/our-history. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
The Hoover Dam | The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. https://hoover.archives.gov/hoovers/hoover-dam. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.