Pelton wheel
Christopher McWay homesteaded the canyon named after him in the late 1870s. In 1924, Lathrop and Hélène Hooper Brown purchased the Saddle Rock Ranch totalling 1,600 acres from McWay, and Julia Pfieffer Burns, another Big Sur pioneer, leased land for cattle operations. Hélène became a good friend of Julia until Julia died in 1928. The Browns had a Pelton wheel installed in McWay Creek to generate electricity for the ranch.