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Published June 24, 2011, 12:00 AM

PHOTO GALLERY: Inside the Power Plant


Bob Schwalen, Brian Hatch and Bruce Lloyd are three River Falls Power Plant employees soon to be jobless after the plant shut downs for good. Also affected by the closing are Ken Dopkins and Mark Freeborn. For Hatch, 53, this is the second job closing he’s faced. He worked at Kolpak Refrigeration in River Falls until that plant closed in 2005. Schwalen, 57, the city’s former fire chief, loves working on and fixing the power plant’s complicated array of machinery. He said it’s a thing of beauty to hear the big engines weighing tens of thousands of pounds churning loudly at 400 rpm “while operating just perfectly.” Each employee said it’ll be hard to walk away because the plant is a place they value for its long local history and because they take immense pride in maintaining the building and its equipment.


Phil Pfuehler photos

  • Bob Schwalen, Brian Hatch and Bruce Lloyd are three River Falls Power Plant employees soon to be jobless after the plant shut downs for good. Also affected by the closing are Ken Dopkins and Mark Freeborn. For Hatch, 53, this is the second job closing he’s faced. He worked at Kolpak Refrigeration in River Falls until that plant closed in 2005. Schwalen, 57, the city’s former fire chief, loves working on and fixing the power plant’s complicated array of machinery. He said it’s a thing of beauty to hear the big engines weighing tens of thousands of pounds churning loudly at 400 rpm “while operating just perfectly.” Each employee said it’ll be hard to walk away because the plant is a place they value for its long local history and because they take immense pride in maintaining the building and its equipment.<br /><br /><br />Phil Pfuehler photos<br />
  • This is the power plant’s employee ledger book. It shows most of the employees, including the current ones, who’ve worked on the job since 1900. Many worked for a long time, which is why the list of names shown isn’t very long.
  • Ken Dopkins, 63, oversees the operating room of the power plant. He has access to computer monitors that measure power usage at the city’s three substations and its various transformers. Dopkins has been on the job for 29 years. With his age and the buyout offer he’ll be able to retire and move to his lakeside summer home. His last day is Friday, June24.
  • History is visible while touring the power plant. A wall-mounted cabinet displays old tools of the trade. Above it are two water pressure gauges used when a city well operated under the power plant.
  • The power plant’s capstone is still visible showing the date it was built -- 1900. The room where it’s located was excavated many later years as the plant expanded. Power Plant operator Bruce Lloyd said fellow employee realize they are “part of the 111-year history of this plant. Everybody has done something to contribute a bit to that piece of history,” he said. Even with a severance package, Lloyd, a former helicopter mechanic, is too young to retire. He said he and the other coworkers joke about how they may “end up someday as greeters at Wal-Mart.”