The Canadian Niagara Power Company, formed in 1892, has been generating electric power continuously since 1905. With turbines and generators that were once the largest in the world, the company's generating station upstream from Niagara Falls endures as a monument to the fact that natural beauty and industry can co-exist successfully.

Profusely illustrated with historical photographs and illustrations, this tells the story of the impact of electricity on a region and the lives of those who kept the lights on through two world wars, record-breaking storms, and a century of political and economic challenges.

This book is about the harnessing of epic natural power for small towns and small-town life. Chapters cover the many aspects of running not just a generating plant but a full-service electric utility. The company once had three dietitians on staff to provide advice on cooking with electricity for a healthy lifestyle. Linemen have evolved from pole-hopping daredevils to safety-conscious professionals. Above all, it deals honestly with the strains of a company struggling to find its way as its industry changed radically.

Norman R. Ball is Science and Engineering Archivist at the Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa. He holds the Ph.D. degree from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and technology at the University of Toronto. He is co-editor of Let Us Be Honest and Modest: Technology and Society in Canadian History.

Norman R. Ball's profile page

Wow! This is an amazing coffee-table-book chronicle of the 101-year-old Rankin Power Station... a splendid body of work.

Niagara Life Magazine

An accessible yet detailed chronicle of social and technological change during the tumultuous twentieth century... focuses on the unexpected impact of electricity and technological change on the region.

Niagara News