Inquiring minds want to know what the sign next to the giant round doo-dad in Wilbur Square is (okay…it’s me).
It’s a Hoover Dam Turbine Runner and here is what is written on the plaque that is affixed to the fence:
“This cast steel turbine runner (water wheel), which is 14.2 feet in diameter and weighs over 34 tons, powered the N-7 generator at Hoover Dam Power Plant from 1944 to 1982.
The function of a turbine runner is to convert the force of falling water, delivered through the penstock pipes, to rotating energy which is then utilized by the generator in producing hydroeletric energy.
This turbine runner was presented to the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association on April 30, 1983, by the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of the Interior.”
