Pelton Wheel - North Star Mine, Grass Valley, California

This is a 30' water-driven Pelton Wheel, the largest one ever built. It resides where it has always been in the power house of the mine. It was saved from destruction by local mining enthusiasts.

It was used to drive massive pumps that created compressed air which was piped several miles to the mine where the air drove all the equipment. Electricity was deemed unreliable. Steam boilers were out of the question as all the trees for twenty miles around had already been taken for fuel. (All the trees now up there, and it is a heavily forested area, are second growth.)

There is a smaller Pelton Wheel, 13 feet diameter, on site which produced an astounding 70,000 horse power. The local engineers thought a decimal point had been mis-placed. Surely 7,000 horsepower was a more realistic number. But, the original figure was right. One can only guess what the 30 footer produced.

The picture was a bit dark and boring despite the subject matter, so I opened up Mr. Photoshop and did a little brush stroking for texture.