Red Bridge Hydro (shortened to "Red Bridge") is a hydroelectric

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

located on the

Chicopee River The Chicopee River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Connecticut River in the Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts, known for fast-moving wat ...

in the towns of Wilbraham,

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which ...

, Palmer, and Belchertown,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It was constructed in 1901 and is currently owned by Central Rivers Power LLC and operated by

Ware River Power Inc. Ware may refer to: People * Ware (surname) * William of Ware (), English Franciscan theologian Places Canada *Fort Ware, British Columbia United Kingdom *Ware, Devon *Ware, Hertfordshire *Ware, Kent United States * Ware, Elmore County, Ala ...

Dam, Powerhouse, Canal and Headgate

Dam

At the north end of the dam, is a 165 foot-long earth

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railway ...

with a concrete core. The middle section contains a 300 foot-long overflow

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure t ...

. The southern end is also a 362 foot-long earthen embankment with a concrete core. The highest point of the dam is approximately 51 feet tall and creates a bypass reach of almost half of a mile (2,160 feet).

Power Canal and Headgate

The

canal headgate Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow und ...

is a wooden building with a

granite block Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

foundation. It houses 10 intake gates. The intake gates allow water from the

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

to flow into the

power canal A Power canal refers to a canal used for hydraulic power generation, rather than for transport of watercraft. The power canal was a major factor in the Industrial revolution in New England in the 19th century. Most early power canals were mill ...

. These gates are manually operated and have dimensions of 5.5 feet tall and 8.5 feet wide. The

is 340 feet long by 73 feet wide and 13 feet deep. It extends from the headgate to the intake structure (contains trashrack and

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. ...

). The walls are made of cut

Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

. Looking down from the headgate, to the right of the intake structure, is the ice sluice (a small dam on the side of the canal for ice to fall off of) which is made from stone blocks). The sluice crosses under Red Bridge Rd and back into the

Powerhouse

The powerhouse is a brick building with a stone foundation. It has the turbine wells to run 4 units ( generators/

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...

). In the northern end of the building are units No. 1 and No. 2. They were horizontal water wheels with 40 cycle generators. They were retired in 1938 and were removed sometime after. Between 2009 and 2019, the penstocks for the units were removed. In the southern end of the building are units No. 3 and No.4, which are still operating. There are 4 discharge bays, one for each unit. Two still discharge water from the operating units into thel, which runs 735 feet back to the Chicopee River.

Chicopee River Reservoir

The Chicopee River Reservoir (Red Bridge Pool) is a 180

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

impoundment (

), formed by the Red Bridge Dam. It is neighbored by a 106 acre impoundment, located north of the main impoundment, which is fed by the Broad Brook. The main impoundment is fed by the

and has a boat ramp (Red Bridge Boat Ramp). The boat ramp sits on the south side of the headgate.

References

1901 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Hampden County, Massachusetts Energy infrastructure completed in 1901 Hydroelectric power plants in Massachusetts {{Hydroelectric-power-plant-stub