A Day in the Life of a Big Creek Intern

Palm Desert, California. 8 a.m.On a residential street between a single-story home and an apartment complex, “road closed” signs are in place. In the distance, a 90-ton crane traverses the street, coming to a stop between the two buildings. Out steps...

At 3 a.m., a fire erupts. Smoke billows out of a house surrounded by dense forest. Flames rage into the night sky. Cal Yarborough, former chief of the Big Creek Volunteer Fire Department, runs down the road, finds a hose and starts spraying a...

Workers install the final segment of the penstock that delivers water from Huntington Lake reservoir to Big Creek Powerhouse No. 1. When the powerhouse came online in October 1913, the penstock from the reservoir to the waterwheel was the longest and...