Time Capsule

To commemorate WAPA’s 25th anniversary, we collected artifacts to place in a time capsule. We placed a plate on the capsule instructing WAPA’s future employees to open it on our 50th anniversary.

Here are a few items that will emerge on Dec. 21, 2027:

When drafting was an art

Three manual drafting drawings of the Kendrick Project-Wyoming 345-kV transmission line received from the Bureau of Reclamation. The drawings date back to 1946.

Submitted by the Corporate Services Office

Science Bowl contestants and WAPA coordinators

The teams sponsored by WAPA competed in the 2002 National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C. The team from Boulder, Colo., sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Region, won second place in the national competition.

Submitted by employees from the Upper Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions

Preview of coming attractions?

A piece of composite conductor from a one-mile test stretch of power line near the Fargo, N.D., Substation. The line is new technology in 2002 and features more transmission capability for its size than the steel-reinforced material currently used. Accompanying the conductor is an article on the project from the Nov. 11, 2002, issue of Closed Circuit.

Submitted by the Fargo and Jamestown, N.D., line crews

Rates of progress

Printouts, floppy disk and CD-R represent the technical advances in the ways WAPA conducts rate studies.

Submitted by WAPA-wide Power Marketing staff

COTP conductor sample

A three-inch section of 500-kV conductor from the California-Oregon Transmission project.

Submitted by the Sierra Nevada Regional Office

Hoover Mead #1 gets fiber-optic first

This 22-inch fiber-optic cable is a sample of the first installed on WAPA lines at the Hoover Mead #1 230kV line in 1987.

Submitted by the Desert Southwest Regional Office

Spiral diverts birds from danger

Bird diverters are one example of WAPA’s commitment to the environment. This one was installed using a helicopter on the transmission line from O’Banion Substation to Sutter Power Plant. The long spiral wraps around the conductor, which goes through the center of the large coil. Diverters were installed every 30 feet to keep migratory waterfowl from hitting the line.

Submitted by Sierra Nevada Regional Office

Conductor section used in Shasta connection

Section of the original twisted I-beam copper conductor from 1948 used to connect Shasta Dam to the Shasta Switchyard.

Submitted by Sierra Nevada Regional Office

Twisted I-beam conductor a maintenance nightmare

Twelve-strand twisted I-beam conductor is used to carry electricity between Parker and Yuma, Ariz. The inner twisted I-beam challenges maintenance crews when repairs are necessary. Since there is no economical, nor time efficient procedure for repairing the inner I-beam itself, DSW Maintenance and Engineering created repair sleeves designed to splice this type of conductor.

Submitted by Desert Southwest Regional Office

Coasters and newsletters

Leather coasters from the September 1992 Kayenta Advanced Series Compensation station dedication and 1989-1990 safety award for Salt Lake City Area Office employees, along with samples of the regional employee newsletter, The Area View.

Submitted by CRSP Management Center

Aperture cards

Aperture cards are a permanent record of an engineering drawing. The cards are also a legal archive.

Submitted by the Corporate Services Office

Fort Peck Powerhouse

This is one of the powerplants that generates the electricity we sell.

Submitted by a WAPA retiree

Miles City thyristor

This is a General Electric 77mm air-cooled thyristor put online at the Miles City Converter Station in 1985. Two thyristors are mounted in parallel to make one level, with 24 levels making one valve.

Submitted by Miles City Converter Station employees