Pinawa Dam Provincial Park, Provincial park with hydroelectric ruins in Lac du Bonnet, Canada.
Pinawa Dam Provincial Park is a 193 hectare park along the Pinawa Channel featuring the remains of Manitoba's first year-round hydroelectric station. The site preserves natural rock outcrops and structures from the era of power generation.
The hydroelectric station was built in 1906 to supply electricity to Winnipeg but closed in 1951 when power generation shifted to the Seven Sisters station. This closure marked the end of an important chapter in the province's early electrification.
The park takes its name from the Pinawa Channel, the waterway the dam was built across. The nearby settlement of Pinawa was abandoned after the station closed in 1951 and all its buildings were later demolished, though traces of the former townsite can still be found in the area.
The park lies on Provincial Road 520, about 5 km north of Pinawa and 95 km northeast of Winnipeg. Water flows through the ruined dam, creating rapids and waterfalls, so footing near the channel is uneven. The site is a Class V protected area, and the ruins of the former dam are the main feature to walk to.
The park protects the ruins of Manitoba's first hydroelectric station, built in 1906 on the Pinawa Channel, which was dug out and widened to increase the flow. After the station closed in 1951, the Canadian Armed Forces used parts of the dam for demolition practice with explosives in the late 1950s; much of the structure survived.
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