BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//UCLA Department of History - ECPv6.15.17.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:UCLA Department of History
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://history.ucla.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for UCLA Department of History
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20250309T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20251102T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20260308T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20261101T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20270314T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20271107T090000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260413T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260413T173000
DTSTAMP:20260430T195923
CREATED:20260409T180337Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T180337Z
UID:18404-1776096000-1776101400@history.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Mountains of Capital: Private Power Production in the Sierra Nevada
DESCRIPTION:Everyone is welcome to the next installment of the History of Science\, Medicine\, and Technology Colloquium Series. \nMoorpark College Professor\, Joshua McGuffie\, will be presenting “Mountains of Capital: Private Power Production in the Sierra Nevada.” \n  \nOver the course of 1905\, the Nevada Power\, Mining and Milling Company \nconstructed a hydroelectric power system on Bishop Creek in the Sierra Nevada. \nTransmission lines crossed Owens Valley\, traversed the White Mountains\, and then \nmeandered eastwards to the silver fields around Tonopah\, Nevada. By 1920\, the \nCompany’s hydroelectric power flowed southward to the burgeoning cities of San \nBernadino\, Riverside\, and Redlands. \n  \nThis talk analyzes the role of private power production in the environmental and \nscientific histories of the Sierra Nevada. The Company\, in its many iterations\, built \ninfrastructure to transform flowing Sierra creeks into profit. Flowing water became \nkilowatt hours. Trees became power poles. Glacial till and granodiorite boulders became \nfill for dams. As the company transformed the mountains to produce power\, its leaders \nand workers developed the notion that they\, as private\, corporate actors\, served as the \nrange’s natural caretakers. The Company fought the Los Angeles Bureau of Water and \nPower and its Los Angeles Aqueduct. The Company worked to produce a privately- \nowned paradise for employees who vacationed at creek side cabins. In company hands\, \nthe Sierra acted as a bulwark against creeping socialism. Accounting for private power \nproduction in the eastern Sierra enriches regional histories that traditionally emphasize \nstate actors and public lands. \n  \nSee you in the History of Science Room or via Zoom\nhttps://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/vLI7S0I3TsioQQj7GYDNZQ.
URL:https://history.ucla.edu/event/mountains-of-capital-private-power-production-in-the-sierra-nevada/
LOCATION:Bunche 5288 & Zoom
CATEGORIES:Events,History of Science Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://history.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Flyer_Joshua-McGuffie_w-Abstract-1-scaled.png
ORGANIZER;CN="History of Science%2C Medicine%2C and Technology Colloquium Series":MAILTO:jkaptanian@ucla.edu
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR