Loup Power Canal and Powerhouse

The Columbus Powerhouse is one of the largest hydroelectric plants in Nebraska. It was funded in 1933 with a $7.3 million loan and grant from the New Deal Public Works Administration. The powerhouse’s intake structure drops water more than one hundred feet through three penstocks to turn three turbines and connected generators. This form of electricity not only provided jobs for people during the Depression but it provided low-cost reliable electricity to fuel the industrial growth of Columbus and the surrounding area.