Pedley Powerhouse

The Pedley Powerhouse AKA the Riverside Powerhouse was completed in November , 1903 to create hydroelectric power to the city of Pedley and other parts of Riverside County. Substations and labor housing were also built for this project as well as intake gates under a train bridge now known as the Union Pacific Bridge. The intake gates sent water down a 6-mile cement lined channel to an 86-foot drop into the generators at the Powerhouse.

A sight now known to most as a paint balling or graffiti ground, the Powerhouse is still a beauty and well worth the hike to it. The building still stands with the roof intact, but riddled with holes. Just south of the building lays the area where water was diverted, held and sent down to the Powerhouse to create hydroelectric power via turbines.  

William E. Pedley founded Riverside Power Company which built and owned the Powerhouse plant until bankruptcy after the power contract was voided by the county, due to faulty systems. Pacific Light and Power took ownership from 1906 until it's abandonment in 1914 due to flood waters damaging the headworks.

Below are pictures I have taken and below those are historical pictures I have been able to locate. Hope you enjoy!

If you would like to visit the Powerhouse, you can visit the Hidden Valley Nature Center and ask how to get there.

Or, if you want to take a nice long walk, you can park at the meeting point of Tyler St. and Jurupa Ave. Take Tyler St. north from the 91 freeway to where it turns into Jurupa Ave. Park there and take the trail west. Pass the Nature Center and go right at the second fork in the trail. Follow that west and go between both sides of a nursery. Keep going west and you should run take a rocky dirt road straight to the Powerhouse.

If you would prefer not walking as much, Google where Arlington Ave meets Pedley Substation Rd. Take Pedley Substation Rd and when it forks, go left to continue on Substation Rd and the Powerhouse will be right around a bend.