MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – We are lucky enough to live in, and amongst, many diverse communities here in Lake County.
We boast beautiful agricultural lands. We are surrounded by cattle grazing lands, and their requisite cowboys.
There are several Indian rancherias and casinos, including Middletown's Twin Pine Casino and Hotel, Upper Lake's Running Creek Casino, Lakeport's Konocti Vista Casino-Resort and Marina, and Nice's Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino.
We are host to communities of artists, and also a world famous geothermal region called The Geysers.
The Geysers, situated in the Mayacamas Mountains, is the largest geothermal electrical operation in the world.
The geothermal fields that comprise The Geysers originates due to an intense heat deep below the earth's surface.
Layers of rock heat up which are situated above the molten rock. The magma is thought to be located about 4 miles beneath the earth at The Geysers.
Since the rock is layered with fractures, water is heated there naturally, creating hot springs and fumaroles across the land.
There are 327 steam wells at The Geysers, and 56 injection wells. The wells at The Geysers average a depth of 8,500 feet, with the deepest well being 12,900 feet in depth.
The unique technology utilized at The Geysers starts in earth's core, and uses the extreme heat found in earth which is pressurized and flows from the steam wells to the power plants via insulated steel pipelines.
As steam rushes into the mighty turbines it expands and drives generators to create electricity for over 725,000 residences.
The geothermal fields at The Geysers were born about a million years ago when molten magma and steam eruptions occurred.
Now, flash-forward to around 12,000 years ago when Indians took advantage of the unique lands of this region's hot springs and fumaroles, then leap forward once again to the 1840s when The Geysers was known as a tourist attraction and destination.
Our county boasted many other hot springs resorts, and became world famous during the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Mineral hot springs such as Hoberg's, Anderson Springs, Howard Hot Springs, Bartlett Springs, Harbin Springs Health and Pleasure Resort built in 1870, and many more were visited for health and recreational purposes.
In the mid 1800s a hotel was constructed at the area now known as The Geysers, drawing many tourists. Soon the hotel began using the steam for electricity.
The first exploratory well was drilled there in 1920, with the first modern well being drilled in 1955. In 1960 the first commercial geothermal electricity production began.
Since the first production well, there have been 400 geothermal wells drilled and 28 power plants in use. The height of The Geysers geothermal production was in 1987.
After the big boom of 1987, production at The Geysers dwindled for several reasons. One reason was that more hydro-power plants evolved at about that time, utilizing power from rivers.
Another reason steam production for electricity declined at The Geysers then was that the geothermal field's steam dropped off significantly.
Coinciding with the decline of the naturally-occurring underground steam, an idea was hatched which solved a couple of problems. This was the wastewater injection project, or effluent project.
The way it works is that wastewater is taken from both Lake and Sonoma counties and injected into the wells to revive steam production of the geothermal wells, and “kills two birds with one stone.”
Throughout The Geysers’ long history, many power plants have consolidated, and now Calpine has 13 power plants which provide 350 jobs.
The Geysers produces 21 percent of California's renewable energy, and about 60 percent of the electricity needed from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge all the way to Oregon.
Visit the Calpine Geothermal Visitors Center, located in south Middletown to see their unique, interactive exhibits and learn more about our county's unique landscape.
For more information visit the Calpine Visitor Center Web site at http://www.geysers.com/default.aspx .
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.