page_title: Island Falls, Saskatchewan
section_title: The closing of the settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Island Falls, Saskatchewan / The closing of the settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Island Falls staffhouse showing cleared area that was once the camp site. Taken .
context_page_description: Island Falls is a hydroelectric power station operated by SaskPower, a Saskatchewan crown corporation. It is located on the Churchill River, about sixty miles northwest of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada.
  Island Falls was the first hydroelectric power plant in Saskatchewan. It was built between 1928 and 1930 by the Churchill River Power Company, a subsidiary of Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, to provide electricity for the HBM&S mining operations at Flin Flon and Cold Lake, Manitoba.
  The drainage basin above the power site covers much of northwest Saskatchewan, about 80,000 square miles. The drainage basin contains several large lakes providing natural reservoirs, the main one being Reindeer Lake.
  As part of the consolidation of generation sources in the province, SaskPower purchased the plant from HBM&S in 1981, which continued to operate it for several years. Since 1985 the plant is entirely owned and operated by SaskPower.
context_section_description: By 1967, when technology permitted the power plant to be run by remote control, HBM&S management decided it was no longer feasible to support the settlement near the power plant. As a result of automation, CRP Co. employees and their families were moved to jobs in Flin Flon or into retirement. Thereafter, plant operators drove to Island Falls to work their shifts and were accommodated in a staff house.
  The company houses and other buildings such as the community hall remained vacant until the power plant was taken over by SaskPower in 1981. By 1988, all the buildings had been removed or demolished. Except for the two-storey commissary, which now serves as a staff house, all that remains of the settlement of Island Falls are the sidewalks leading to the places where houses once stood.
caption: Former site of the Island Falls company houses
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