Pelton Wheel - Bonners Ferry, ID
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 48° 41.879 W 116° 18.743
11U E 550597 N 5394110
The City of Bonners Ferry had sufficient foresight to salvage the pelton wheel that once provided electricity to what then was just a small but quickly growing boomtown.
Waymark Code: WMM1NB
Location: Idaho, United States
Date Posted: 07/03/2014
Views: 6
This pelton wheel provided Bonners Ferry with electricity from 1906 to 1921, deriving power from Myrtle Creek 6 miles north of town. They've salvaged the entire pelton wheel and associated plumbing, less the generator and other electrical accessories. With a lot of help from the local Lions Club, it has been put on display by the river at the corner of Main & Riverside Streets.
Unlike the turbines of today, peltons were designed to work with a high pressure, low volume water supply. To accomplish this, users would try to find a steep river or stream and pipe water down to the wheel from as far up the stream as was practical, thereby creating a lot of pressure at the end of the pipe. From there, a high pressure stream of water was directed at the buckets of the wheel, providing quite a bit of useful power.
