Volume 8, Number 1 - Fall 1982
Riverdale Power Plant Dedication
by Fred Hartman
On Sunday afternoon, October 17, my wife and I attended the dedication of the Riverdale Power Plant.
This dedication marked another important step in the on-going life of this project. At our meeting December 13, 1981, the Program Chairman, Paul Johns, presented a very interesting slide show depicting the story of Riverdale, the town and the water-powered mill.
The first recorded milling operation at Riverdale was in 1843. After several owners, a fire and devastating flood, the mill was out of service. In 1977 the property was purchased by the Turner family to be operated as a farm with the dam on the Finley River to provide water for irrigation. In 1981, Dr. Glenn Turner of Springfield, Missouri conceived the idea of a hydroelectric plant. He pursued that dream to reality. With the start of the plant on Monday, October 18, output is anticipated to be 500,000 to 800,000 kilowatt hours annually, "power to be purchased by the White River Valley Electric Co-op." A very important step has been taken to provide energy and still preserve our ecology.
We feel it was a special privilege to be there and see another chapter started in the history of our beloved hills.
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