Physical Features

500,000 horsepower. For some 20 years no action was taken because of
lack of suitable markets for such large amounts of electrical power. After
World War II, the Aluminum Company of Canada was in search of a
suitable location for the erection of a new production plant requiring large
amounts of power, and the British Columbia government interested this
Company in the possibilities of the province. Many sites were investigated
both in British Columbia and elsewhere before the decision was reached to
locate the plant at Kitimat and the powerhouse at Kemano. The project
finally agreed upon had all the requirements necessary; sufficient power at
low cost, a harbour suitable the year round, and space for smelter and
townsite. The project was expanded from that originally envisaged by the
Water Rights Branch of British Columbia to embrace the whole chain of
lakes in the system, thus giving a potential of 1,695,000 horsepower when
fully developed.

Preliminary surveys were conducted by the Aluminum Company from
1948-50, and actual construction commenced in the spring of 1951. A dam,
known as the Kenney Dam, 325 feet high and 1,500 feet long was built
just above the canyon of the Nechako River. It was completed in the
autumn of 1952, and the basin began filling in November of that year.
The dam was named after the Honourable E. T. Kenney, Minister of Lands
and Forests in the British Columbia government during the period of construc-
tion, who was largely responsible for interesting the Aluminum Company in
the possibilities of the project site. The dam contains the waters of Eutsuk,
Whitesail, Tahtsa, Troitsa and Ootsa Lakes which lie inside the area, and
Tetachuck, Natalkuz, Intata, Euchu and Chelaslie Lakes east of the area, to
a working level of 2,800 feet elevation. The artificial lake formed by the
dam on the Nechako River is calculated to cover an area of 335 square miles
and be 135 feet higher than the old level of Ootsa Lake. When required
the waters of Nanika and Kidprice Lakes may be made to flow into the storage
basin by placing a dam at the outlet of Kidprice Lake and cutting a tunnel
from Nanika Lake to Tahtsa Lake.

A tunnel 25 feet in diameter and about 10 miles in length was driven
through the mountains between the head of the Tahtsa Lake and Kemano
River (see Frontispiece). Through this tunnel the waters of the artificial
lake now flow westward towards Kemano River. The course of the tunnel
runs roughly along the north side of Horetzky Creek. Some delay in the
driving of the tunnel, particularly in the eastern end, was caused by
unexpected broken ground conditions, resulting in the necessity of supporting
a much larger proportion of the tunnel than was first estimated.

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