The Powerstation

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The informationon this side is mainly based on articles in the newspaper Gaula the 19/2-2003, of Åsmund Snøfugl.

 In 1912 Arnt E. Gylland and Mikkel Larssen Krogstad did build a powerstation by the creek Gylla in Horg. The powerstation was running up to 1966 and supplyed at the most the Gylland-area and the Krogstad-farms and down to Hovin with electric power. Some of the machinery still stands by the creek and reminds of a past time. Arnt and Mikkel did take use of the electrictristy early.

 But the power of the waterfall in Gylla was used long before the powerstation came. Both sawmills and mills had used the the power from Gylla and also within the spinningwheel-production. One of the mills did lie on the north side of the creek, accectly where Grandalsbekken goes into Gylla.

 When the powerstation was buildt, the sawmill was moved closer to the main road. Now it wasnt necessary to have the mill by the creek, when the energy could be brought with cabels to the sawingplace. The sawmill was buildt where Inga Wollan to day lives. The land there is later called Sagtomta.

Arnt E. Gylland(1859-1951) was farmer at the old Gylland/farm, which today is run by his grandchild Olav Gylland. Mikkel L. Krogstad(1837-1917) farmed at Innistu Krogstad, on the other side of Gaula. He was Arnt's father in law. Both farms had a lot of timber, at Gylland they had a sawmill, and in Innistu they had planes for timberwork. It was mainly the sawmill that made the powerstation possible. But the wish for electric light on the farms pushed it into reality too.

 In 1911 came an engineer to look at the possibilyties for a electric powerstation in Gylla. He came to a conclusion about the amount of power and price. The price was calculated to 22550 kroner by engineer-firm Siemens Schuckert in Trondheim. At that time it was a big amount of money. But Arnt and Mikkel was determined to start, and the year after the powerstation was buildt. The machinery, waterpipes, cement and other equipment for the  construction came by the railroad. Lead was used to make the waterpipes tight. With horses and wagons it was transported to Gyllgrenda.

 From the main road down in the valley and up to Grandalslykkja, where the powerstation first was build, it was a couple of kilometers steep road, In addition to horses they had to use tackles and ropes to bring up the most heavy equipment.

 It was earlier build a wooden-dam at the Gylland-lake(Gyllvatnet), but now the dam was built bigger and made of stones and concrete, and a smaller dam to lead the water into the pipes was built south of Milthaugen. In the 1920s the powerstation was moved further down the creek, just above the Gylland-farm, so the water-fall could be used better.

 When the "lead-dam" at Milthaugen was buildt, the sand was brought from Nordbakkan(Gyllbakkan), about 2-300 meters down. The sand was carried in bags up to the dam. The dam was built with two heavy concrete walls, filled with stones between them, and with a concrete top. A similar dam was built at Gyllvatnet instead of the old wooden dam. Posts for the electric cabels were taken from the forrest close to Råsjøen. Slim tall pine well suitable as posts.

 It was built powerlines from Gylland, over Gaula to Innistu Krogstad. They who wanted the power, had the responsbility for building the line to Krogstad. One line was built all the way to Hovinåsen. Fredrik Hovin at Åsen was the subscriber furthest to north. Powerlines was also built to Kåsan, Aunet, Grandalslykkja, Gyllbakkan and Gylløkkja.

 It was a great moment when the powerstation was sat into production and the 40Kw dynamo started to convert the water-power into light and electricity to the farms. This was a revolution that brought the  Gylland- and Krogstad-farms many steps forward. The powerstation at Gylla probably was one of the first in the area which is today Melhus kommune. A lot of households had in the end electricity from the powerstation at Gylla.

 In the 1930s Horg rural-district got it's own powerstation and subscribers around and north of the railwaystation was connected to it.

 Olav Gylland can remember subscribers payed kr.100,-  pr. year for the electricity. The price sounds very nice for those who just have received their power-bill.

 It was direct-current(DC) which was produced at the Gylla Powerstation. When the homes got more electric equipment , the need for electric power did grow. But DC-power had it's limitations. It would be better with 220V alternating-current(AC). It was ok with heathing, light and even TV. But it was problem with a lot of other equipment. Olav say that in their home they had a radio with a manuell current-stabilizing device. They also had a lot of lightballs to turn on and off when the volt went up and downYes, it was a lot to take care of on the power-station. In springtime, about 3 weeks before the work on the fields started, the  sawingmill went on full speed. Than it was little power for the rest on the net. Increasing use of power for private use, and less power-production because of old equipment, made it difficult to make enough power to all the farms. In bad weather it happened they had to disconnect the power-line to the Krogstad-farms. Unexspected problems occured also. Eel and fish sometime came in the water-pipes, and  did gave the power-station limited watersupply for the turbine. During the frost in 1947 the water-pipe was dammaged and needed repare. The powerstation needed now a lot of care and work, and someone always had to be home at the farm(Gylland) who would keep an eye on the powerstation. To invest in new and better equipment would cost a lot. When Mikkel Gylland wanted to stop the production, the whole Gylland-area came together and worked for free to give the powerstation and the dams the needed maintenance. At that time it was 11 places on the net. Bad weather and a flooded river did tear down the powerlines over the Gaula River, and the powerstation did now only give power to the Gylland-area.

 Calculationes of the cost of modernizing the powerstation was done. But it did cost too much. The need for daily maintenance made it impossible to continue the production of electric power.

 In 1966 the powerstation was shut down.

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This page was last updated: 11 juni 2003                      Copyright www.kaasan.org