Yet now the plant's existence is drawing to a close.

Rocky Mountain Power said preliminary work began this week on the $3.8 million project that eventually will involve removing the plant from the river by tearing down the 4-foot-high, 30-foot-wide concrete dam and hauling away its hydro-turbine generator for recycling.

"This plant served us well over the years," Rocky Mountain Power spokesman Dave Eskelsen said. "Given its small size, though, it just reached the point where it no longer was economical for us to continue to operate it."

Rocky Mountain Power and its predecessor companies have since 1913 owned the hydroelectric facility capable of producing enough energy to run the appliances in about 750 homes.

The project operated as a "run-of-the-river" facility. A diversion pipeline collected water about two miles upstream from the generator. The pipeline gently sloped downward along the north wall of the canyon. Just above the dam, the water was allowed to plummet into the plant to generate electricity.

Marcy DeMillion, natural resource staff officer for the Uinta National Forest's Pleasant Grove ranger district, said it will be exciting to see the stream restored to a more natural, free-flowing condition.

She noted that in tandem with the removal of the main plant structures, five power poles will be removed from a nearby wilderness area down to State Highway 92, which runs through the canyon.

The highway is the access road to Timpanogos Cave National Monument and the Alpine Scenic Loop. The plant sits within the boundaries of the Uinta National Forest and the national monument.

The power company noted that from early September through December, periodic traffic delays will be necessary to accommodate the work. Some delays could be up to four hours long and are expected to affect both the American Fork and Sundance entrance points to the Alpine Loop.

The site's original stone powerhouse will remain, with its title transferred to the U.S. Forest Service, according to Eskelsen.

The above-ground portions of the steel water line that fed the plant will be dismantled and removed by helicopter.

An official for Utah Trout Unlimited said the decommissioning of the power station will go a long way toward helping the organization accomplish its goal of restoring native cutthroat trout to the river. "By restoring the flow, it will help the whole river system," said Paul Dremann, Utah Trout Unlimited's vice president of conservation.

"Rocky Mountain Power was real good to work with on this project."