[2] The need to power a stamp mill to process ore at the Gold King Mine up in the mountains near Ophir, Colorado drove major stock holder Lucien L. Nunn to seek a less expensive alternative to the wood powered steam mill at the site.

A 220 volt direct current electric system was found to be too expensive due to the size of the copper conductors needed to transmit such a low voltage the distances they were contemplating.

Converse, Lewis B. Stillwell, Charles F. Scott, and Ralph D. Mershon with the assistance of engineering students they recruited from Cornell University.

[5] The electricity was transmitted 2.6 miles (4.2 km) up the mountain to the mine via two bare copper wires mounted on poles using Western Union cross-arms with insulators.

At the mine the second 100-hp Westinghouse alternator was installed in the role of a synchronous AC motor to drive the stamping mill.

The instruments and controls were rudimentary, solenoid type gravity balance Voltmeters and ammeters mounted on lacquered wooden boards.

Power was connected by closing simple knife switches and the system was shut down (the electrical circuit "opened") by a worker grabbing a connecting line at the power pole and pulling it out of the arc-light style plug mounted on the pole (a sometime dangerous maneuver that produced 6 to 8 foot (1.83-m to 2.44-m) long high voltage arcs).

The alternators were set on paraffin-soaked oak platforms to add insulation and Westinghouse engineers tried various types of lightning arresters.

In 1896 the Ames plant was rebuilt with a new two-phase system with new generators and induction motors along with step-up transformers to boost the power to 10,000 volts for longer distance transmission.

[10] It predated by one month the Lauffen Dam to Frankfurt power-transmission system at International Electrotechnical Exhibition that powered lights and some electric motors.