Poplar River Power Plant
In the fall of 1974 the Saskatchewan Government announced the construction of the Poplar River Power Project. As a result, construction of the Morrison Dam got underway in 1975 and was completed in 1977. The reservoir and the dam were named by SPC to honor two pioneers of the area. Robert Morrison's buildings were located in the grove of trees to the northeast of the dam. George Cookson farmed along the south bank of the Poplar River which is now under water.
Late in 1975 and early 1976 work began on construction of the power house. The Poplar River Power Station features a 122 meter high smoke stack which can be seen for many miles around Coronach. The building, which is 75 meters in height and covers 6,750 square meters, houses the two 300,000 kw. turbines as well as the offices and maintenance areas. The first turbine was officially commissioned on June 20, 1981.
In April of 1977 construction was commenced on the erection of a 2570 Bucyrus Erie Dragline. It was completed in August of 1978 and took it's first bite on September 6, 1978. The dragline removes the over burden from the coal which is then loaded onto huge coal haulers (trucks) by an electric shovel. The coal has a preliminary crushing and then is loaded into rail cars to be hauled to the plant where, after further crushing, it is burned as a fine powder at the rate of approximately 285 tonnes per hour.
With a construction force of over 500 men and a permanent work force of something like 250 jobs the project has certainly affected the lives of people living in the area. Many local young peopl have been able to find employment and many new personnel have moved into the area to live. In future years there will be many, many people who remember Coronach as their first home.
An important feature of the plant is the electrostatic precipitator costing $6 million which will reduce the amount of flyash entering the air by 99.6%. Each of the units will consume about 2 million tons of lignite coal per year.