Spragge, Ontario

2,303 miles

May 12 - Across the road from my stopping point today I “see” on Google Street View an industrial building behind a gate.  I’m amused to see rusty railroad tracks curving out of this compound toward the highway, and then not crossing it but simply fading away underneath. 

I turn toward the other side of the road, and see the tracks fading away in the other direction.  On Earth View, I can see that it connects to the main railroad tracks.  Apparently, this business used to ship something by rail, but no longer does.

Looking again at the front of the compound for clues to its business, I can see huge metal towers, and surmise that it is an electric power transfer station.  

Curious about where this power is coming from, I look at Google Earth View to follow the shorn landscape under the towers. 

The line comes all the way from the Montreal Falls power station on the Montreal River!  This is nowhere near the well-known city of Montréal on the island of Montréal in Quebec.  Nor is it the Montreal River on the U.P. that flows into Lake Superior at the Wisconsin-Michigan border.  This is another Montreal River, Lake, and Falls that flow into Lake Superior north of Sault St. Marie. 

Why is electric power being sent all that way when the local Mississagi River contains several dams & hydroelectric power stations?  What about the Aubrey Falls Generating Station, about halfway between Spragge & the lake Superior Montreal Falls?  What about the George W Rayner Generating Station at Tunnel Lake?  What about the Wells Generating Station above Iron Bridge?  Well, OK, there is also a connection to the station at Tunnel Lake.  And a line going eastward that I have not investigated.  Hmm.  This is looking less like one-way lines of power from source to users, and more like the “power grid” that I've been hearing about but hadn’t understood before. 

There’s something new to ponder every day.