Powerplants were installed at the dam sites to carry on construction camp activities.
Hydropower was put to work lifting, moving and processing materials to build the dams and dig
canals. Powerplants ran sawmills, concrete plants, cableways, giant shovels, and draglines.
Night operations were possible because of the lights fed by hydroelectric power. When
construction was complete, hydropower drove pumps that provided drainage or conveyed water
to lands at higher elevations than could be served by gravity-flow canals.