for guests who traveled from the nearby Ingleside Inn — the valley's first resort. The resort was built by Murphy, the canal's contractor, who thought the falls would draw other Midwesterners to the area. In July 1911, heavy rains caused the canal bank just above the falls to fail. The rushing water encircled the falls and broke into the canal just below the falls. This was one of several canals damaged in the storm. In 1914–1915, a collective non-profit power cooperative was organized to buy power from the Arizona Falls plant for its members, farmers in the northeastern Valley, under the name "Falls Power & Electric Co." In 1918, the Scottsdale Light and Power Co. was formed to purchase power from the falls and distribute it to Scottsdale, about east. The company, led by E.O. Brown and Charles Miller, ran a 24 kv line from the falls to Scottsdale to serve its initial 150 customers. This company would later merge into the modern APS in 1940. The plant was taken out of service Oct 2, 1950 as it had become too expensive to maintain and needed costly repairs. After the plant was shut, the canal still flowed through the structure and remained concealed from public view; the site was not returned to a more natural state. Redevelopment About 25 years later, SRP considered a new small hydro plant at the falls. It went ahead in 1978 with a new plant on the South Consolidated Canal in Mesa but rejected a new plant at Arizona Falls. In 1980, due to even higher crude oil prices, it was determined that a 850 kW plant was economically justified. Interest in the falls was furthered in the early 1990s when an effort began to utilize the Valley canal system for recreation and community benefit, rather than just as utilitarian infrastructure. Transformation of the site into a park was first proposed by the Phoenix Arts Commission in January 1998. SRP decided to rebuilt the power station in conjunction with the park project. The rebuild of the power station by SRP was budgeted at $4 million and was the largest SRP renewable energy plant in the Valley at the time. Depending on waterflow, the falls can generate up to 750 kilowatts of electricity, supplemented by solar panels on the roof of the plant and adjacent park structures, which is fed into the SRP electric grid. The