The Geysers
| The Geysers | |
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The Sonoma Calpine 3 power plant is one of 22 power plants at The Geysers
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 Location of The Geysers in California
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| Country | United States |
| Location | California |
| Coordinates | 38°47′26″N 122°45′21″W / 38.79056°N 122.75583°WCoordinates: 38°47′26″N 122°45′21″W / 38.79056°N 122.75583°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | 1921 |
| Operator(s) | Calpine Corporation, Northern California Power Agency, Silicon Valley Power |
| Power generation | |
| Nameplate capacity | 1517 MW |
| Capacity factor | 63% |
The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field, containing a complex of 22 geothermal power plants, drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains approximately 72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California.
For about 12,000 years, Native American tribes built steambaths at the Geysers and used the steam and hot water for healing purposes and cooking. When Euro/Americans first entered the area, six Indian tribes inhabited the area around the Geysers, three bands of Pomo people, two bands of Wappo people, and the Lake Miwok people. The Wappo also collected sulfur which they called te'ke and a Wappo village, named tekena'ntsonoma (teke sulphur + nan well containing water + tso ground + no'ma village) was located about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Cloverdale and on the present-day Sulphur Creek.
The Geysers were first seen by Euro/Americans and named in 1847 during John Fremont's survey of the Sierra Mountains and the Great Basin by William Bell Elliot who called the area "The Geysers," although the geothermal features he discovered were not technically geysers, but fumaroles. Between 1848 and 1854,
Archibald C. Godwin developed The Geysers into a spa named The Geysers Resort Hotel, which attracted tourists including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. The resort declined in popularity in the mid 1880s, and rebranded itself to appeal to lower-income people. In 1938, the main building was destroyed in a landslide although the bar/restaurant, small cabins and the swimming pool stayed open, despite another fire in March 1957, until about 1979.Unocal Corporation dismantled the remains of the resort in 1980.
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