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Jordon River Diversion Dam

Started by Mike K. , Apr 05 2010 07:54 PM

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31 replies to this topic

#1 Mike K.

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 07:54 PM

Few locals realize that much of Victoria's power is generated by the Jordon River Diversion Dam on (you guessed it) Jordon River.

Standing 126 feet from its base to the top (that's equal to a 13-storey condo), it was the largest dam in Canada when completed in 1911 (also serving as the sole power source for Victoria), and currently generates some 30% of Vancouver Island's electricity.

This link has a lot of information on the dam and explores the history of Jordon River, which, according to the article, was at one point quite a bustling town complete with an orchestra!

About two months ago I was at a bonfire about a kilometer off HWY 14 not too far from Jordon River. Near our bonfire location a structure that we assumed to be a substation loomed below us (we could even hear a slight hum emanating from it). Nobody at the bonfire knew what the building was used for and it was too muddy (not to mention too dark) to trudge through the forest to get to it, but having read the above-linked article on the dam I figure that the two could be related.

From the BC Archives

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#2 Sparky

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 08:03 PM

The next time I travel to the River Jordan, I will drag my butt off the beach and go find that power plant.

I do know some guys that commuted from Victoria (home for the weekend) to work there.

Great heritage.... I am going to go look for machinery artifacts.

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#3 Mike K.

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 08:18 PM

I camped near the location of that building (described in my post above) about five or six years ago. When we recently trekked up to that area for the bonfire we couldn't locate the exact location of that previous camping spot, but we found a suitable location that happened to be within sight of that building.

Anyways, on the previous camping trip my friend and I trekked down from the camping spot to what we assumed was Jordon River. We found quite a lot of old rusted steel rails that revealed a railway had operated in the vicinity (the thought of that blew us away, actually). And if my memory serves correct, there were rusted remnants of machinery laying about, too.

If you want to head up to the general vicinity of the bonfire drive towards Jordon River and take a right on a gravel road that comes up just a stones throw before one or two unmarked structures standing off the side of the road before descending into JR.

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#4 Mike K.

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 08:26 PM

Well, here's the dam. That's quite am ambitious hike! Eyeballing the distance along the river, I'd say it's about 11km from the mouth of Jordan River.

I would have never thought that Google would have a marker at the dam's location.

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#5 Sparky

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 08:37 PM

^ Thanks Mike

I love rust. I have been collecting lately (ok for a number of years) for my new "garagemahal" Old oil tins, car stuff, and the like. It's an illness.

Useless pieces of stuff that I am teaching my kids not to throw in the garbage can when the "jammer" gets me.

I already have the green light from the "better half" for an early Sunday start.

I always like to stop at the 17 mile house or the Sooke River Hotel for a refreshment on the way back. I have been stopping at these joints since I was a boy.

I will bring you back a nice rusty "piece" for your entry hall from the power plant.

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#6 Mike K.

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 08:45 PM

Nice, so you're actually going up there?

It would be great if you could take some photos

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#7 Sparky

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Posted 05 April 2010 - 08:54 PM

^ Camera and "backroad logging routes" books are loaded in the Jimmy as I type. OK we have 3 logging road books/maps.

I guess the Polaroid Swinger is going to be an issue though.

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#8 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 06 April 2010 - 05:01 AM

Many years ago we hiked up in around there and found the old decommissioned elevated water-carrying wooded trough that brought the water down from the dam to the powerhouse. It was open on the top, so more like a water-slide design than a pipe. You could walk through it with care, but is was in very poor shape and falling apart. Must have been about 12 feet wide, 12 feet deep. It was repaced my a tunnel in some year, but not town down until some time after we walked in it.

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#9 Mike K.

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Posted 06 April 2010 - 09:45 AM

Right, that sluice. So you're saying it's no longer there?

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#10 Sparky

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 08:01 PM

Well we made it back alive today. There is more to see in this area than we had time for so Mrs Sparky and I focused on the Dam. The powerhouse(s) will have to wait for another day.

The hills above Jordan River still have snow on them.

The Dam is more beautiful than I imagined.

As luck would have it there was a hole in the chain link fence that allowed us to get onto the top walkway.

Imagine my pounding heart as we found a stairway that took us inside and down a dark walkway.

We discovered some wooden seismic restraints. Yikes.

So the day turned out to be one of our better explorations. The only thing rusty up there was me. I will leave you with a picture of the Diversion Reservoir.

Stay tuned for further adventures.

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#11 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 08:07 PM

Right, that sluice. So you're saying it's no longer there?

An old girlfriend of mine father who was a BC Hyrdo manager was mad when we told him we walked it, he said it was supposed to be gone soon, and that was in the 90's.

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#12 North Shore

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 09:00 PM

Well, here's the dam. That's quite am ambitious hike! Eyeballing the distance along the river, I'd say it's about 11km from the mouth of Jordan River.

I would have never thought that Google would have a marker at the dam's location.

So where's the powerhouse now? I looked on the aerial photo and don't see it near the dam..?

D'oh! Found it, downstream a ways..

Say, what's that mountain goat doing up here in the mist?

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#13 D.L.

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 09:18 PM

great pics sparky!

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#14 Sparky

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 09:51 PM

Thanks Dylan

Here is one more that does not relate to anything but the countryside. Gosh, this type of terrain excites me.

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#15 Lover Fighter

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Posted 13 April 2010 - 09:16 AM

Wow Sparky, I don't know if I'd have the guts to climb right inside the dam if I was there. Good for you!

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#16 Mike K.

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Posted 13 April 2010 - 09:18 AM

Sparky, right on. I don't know how I missed these photos before today but thanks so much for posting them!

Did you hike in from Jordan River or is there a logging road that takes you near the dam?

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#17 Sparky

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Posted 13 April 2010 - 10:20 AM

Sparky, right on. I don't know how I missed these photos before today but thanks so much for posting them!

Did you hike in from Jordan River or is there a logging road that takes you near the dam?

The "East Main" logging road will take you right to the Dam. 15 K takes 1 hour (that shows you how rough the road is) There is another dam further up made out of rock and gravel. We went there too.

The Jimmy has a little more "west coast pinstriping" on it now, but what the hell, that's why we bought it.

That was fun, especially getting inside the dam. Thanks for the inspiration.

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#18 Mike K.

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Posted 13 April 2010 - 10:22 AM

That is so cool. I can't wait for the opportunity to check the place out.

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#19 Sparky

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Posted 13 April 2010 - 10:25 AM

Wow Sparky, I don't know if I'd have the guts to climb right inside the dam if I was there. Good for you!

It was my wife's idea when she found the stairway. If I didn't follow her she would have called me a wuss. It was way too nifty once inside.

Imagine all that concrete and men and materials getting up there a century or so ago.

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#20 carrie

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Posted 13 May 2010 - 03:38 PM

We discovered the Dam today. As we stepped down to go inside an alarm went off ( like an air raid siren). We thought that maybe we had triggered it by being somewhere off limits. It continued to go off and nobody came to scare us off, so we went inside. FUN STUFF!!! While we were inside we thought we could hear water rushing, so we ran back up to see the large outlet pipe at the bottom of the dam was letting water out. It was shooting water at least 100', VERY cool! In a few minutes the almost dry river bed was roaring. So I expect the alarm was to warn anybody downstream to watch out. Very cool adventure.