Few streams in Arizona have a flow as large and steady as Fossil Creek's. Although remote, the stream was seen in the early 20th century as a good place to produce electricity for the copper mines of Jerome and the gold and silver mines of the Bradshaw Mountains. In 1908, construction began on a hydropower plant on the Verde River at Childs under the authority of the Arizona Power Company, later part of the Arizona Public Service Company (APS). The project included creating a diversion dam, high, across the creek. About of concrete flumes carried water from the dam to the Childs plant. An artificial reservoir, Stehr Lake, held enough water to keep the plant operating at normal capacity for up to 3.5 days when the flume system was closed for maintenance. In 1916, the company constructed a second plant, the Irving Power Plant, along Fossil Creek.