One of Colorado's most photographed buildings generated electricity for nearby mines. This steep-gabled log structure perched on a rock outcropping in the Crystal River consists of a round-log compressor house attached to a single-story board-and-batten gear house. A penstock of rough-milled 6-inch-square cross braces on 12-by-12-inch vertical beams descends directly to the river from below the gear house. The operation closed in 1917, and the mechanical equipment, water wheel, and dam are gone, but the stabilized powerhouse remains.