Lochaber

:For the medieval weapon, see Lochaber Axe

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Lochaber District 1975-96

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Lochaber (Scottish Gaelic, Loch Abar) refers to a large area of the central and western Scottish Highlands.

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From 1975 the name Lochaber applied to a local government district within

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the Highland Region, which also included the islands of Rum, Eigg, Muck and Canna.

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In 1996 administrative functions were taken over the Highland unitary council.

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(See: Subdivisions of Scotland)

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The Lochaber hydroelectric scheme was a power generation project constructed in the western Scottish Highlands after the First World War. Like its predecessor at Kinlochleven, it was intended to provide electricity for aluminium production, this time at Fort William, a little further north. The scheme was initially designed by engineer Charles Meik but after his death in 1923, the scheme?s realisation was left to William Halcrow, by then a partner in the firm originally founded by Meik?s father Thomas Meik.

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The project was finally sanctioned by Parliament in 1921, but construction did not start until 1924; the aluminium smelter was established in 1929 and took about 95% of the 82,000kW of power generated.

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The scheme harnessed the headwaters of the Rivers Treig and Spean and the floodwaters of the River Spey (plus a further eleven streams along the way). The Laggan Dam (213m long and 55m high) contained the flow of the Spean in a reservoir (Loch Laggan). A 4km tunnel then linked this body of water with another reservoir (Loch Treig) contained by the Treig dam. From here, the main tunnel, until 1970 the longest water-carrying tunnel in the world, an enormous 24km (15 miles) long and 5m in diameter, was driven through the Ben Nevis massif. From the western mountainside, down five massive steel pipes, the water rushed towards the turbines in the power house at the smelting plant.

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Scottish Highlands: :This article pertains to the geographic region of the Scottish Highlands. See Highlander for alternate meanings...

Highland: Highland or Highlands may refer to:...

Rum: Rum is a distilled beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses and sugarcane juice by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak and other casks. While there are rum producers in places such as Australia, India, Reunion Islan...