Generating, transmitting and distributing electricity involve a large and ever-growing number of trades and occupations. To preserve that know-how, Hydro-Québec gathers personal stories from its employees and documents practices and expertise that seem destined to disappear. The company also collects objects used frequently in the course of their work.

Cable workers (transmission and distribution)

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  • Cable worker’s seat, used for maintaining underground distribution lines.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2009.0186

  • Right up to the 1970s, cable workers poured lead joints on site to connect electrical cables.

  • A cable worker solders the conductors of two cables together using molten tin and sleeves made of tinned copper.

  • A Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie cable worker works on circuit 1242 of the underground line running between Atwater and Hadley substations.

  • Installation of a 66,000-volt underground cable along Benoît Street, between Dorchester Boulevard (now René-Lévesque) and the now-disappeared Vallée Street in Montréal, 1955. To avoid a profusion of poles and wires, underground lines are the solution of choice for areas that are densely populated or near substations.

    Source: Hydro-Québec archives

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Line workers (transmission and distribution)

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  • Coverall for line workers./p>

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2005.0332

  • Safety belt worn by line worker Jacques Poissant from 1963 to 1969. This type of belt is made up of a leather body pad supporting the back and a riveted strap fitted with eye hooks or loops for carrying tools. The belt could also be worn as part of more complex apparel, such as a safety harness.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2007.0034

  • Line workers attach climbing irons to their boots to climb wooden posts. Jacques Dion, a line worker in Saint-Bruno, used this type of “climber” over his whole career, from 1977 to 2009.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2009.0048

  • Insulating gloves worn by line workers to protect themselves from electrical hazards.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2005.0331

  • Electrical conductors spliced together, a technique that involves wrapping the individual wires around one another.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2005.0231

  • In 1951, Shawinigan Engineering line workers replace conductors installed in 1926 on the Isle-Maligne–Québec line. Their goal: to increase capacity and reduce line losses.

    Source: Hydro-Québec archives

  • The first transmission line workers had a hard job to do in dangerous conditions. Shawinigan Water and Power lineman Maurice Brodeur works on the Trois-Rivières crossing, nearly 122 metres above the Saint-Lawrent. Around 1940.

    Source: Hydro-Québec archives

  • Once the route is selected, the materials are brought in and the H-frames are set up, it’s time to pull the transmission lines—a feat accomplished with a pulley system in 1958.

    Source: Hydro-Québec archives

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Meter readers (distribution)

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  • The regulation uniform worn by Hydro-Québec meter readers as they did their rounds between 1968 and 1980.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2009.0220

  • To prevent the electricity theft, meter readers used this crimping tool to affix a lead security seal to meters. The reader’s identification number was imprinted onto the lead seal using the punch.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2004.0013

  • Meter readers used a metal wire, a lead seal and a punch bearing their identification number to prevent anyone from turning back the meter.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2004.0013

  • Meter security seal. Anyone who wanted to access the meter dials and change the settings was forced to break the seal first. The seal bears the identification number of the meter reader who installed it.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    1998.0068

  • Plastic seal.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2007.0018

  • The first handheld computer used by Hydro-Québec’s meter readers to collect and transmit meter readings.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2007.0015

  • This meter’s components were designed and manufactured by Ferranti Ltd., a British company, and then shipped to Canada where they were assembled by a subsidiary. Since this 1937 model was ill suited to our harsh climate, Ferranti Canada wanted to design its own meters. Its parent company finally agreed to the proposal during World War II, when it found itself unable to supply parts to Canada.

    Édouard Thibault Collection
    2008.0025

  • Manufactured in 1928, this residential meter calculated consumption in watthours.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    1997.0093

  • Meter readers did whatever was necessary to get the job done—even traveling by horse-drawn sleigh. Robert Tessier of Shawinigan Water and Power Company gets ready to do his rounds in Saint-Tite, 1947.

    Source: Hydro-Québec archives

  • The “Bite Terminator” dog barrier protects meter readers from dog attacks when entering a customer’s property.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2012.0074

  • A meter reader uses a handheld computer to record a customer’s power consumption.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    1996.0235

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Divers (generation)

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  • Intercom used to communicate with divers.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2012.0235

  • In the first half of the 20th century, divers equipped with diving suits like this one inspected and maintained Hydro-Québec’s underwater facilities and equipment. The helmet alone weighed over 35 kilograms. The working conditions were very challenging, especially when working in icy water.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    1996.0234

  • These weighted shoes each weigh more than 9 kilograms (about 20 pounds). The lead soles helped divers descend to the bottom of the lake or river and keep their balance under water.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2005.0414

  • On a cold winter morning in 1951, a diver begins his descent into the Fleuve Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence River) during Phase II of the construction of Beauharnois generating station.

    Source: Hydro-Québec archives

  • Maski underwater robot.

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Generating station operators (generation)

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  • Annunciator used at Paugan generating station from 1920 to 1929. Operators used this device to provide a visual indication of the generating units’ operational status. All they had to do was light up the appropriate turbine numbers to indicate which turbines were running.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    2005.0410

  • Installed in 1911 and declared obsolete in 2000, these control panels have been kept in place at Shawinigan-2 generating station. They were used to monitor equipment and adjust the pace of power generation. Instead of a control panel, power plant operators now keep their eyes on computer monitors to ensure equipment is working properly, detect any anomalies and make the necessary corrections.

    Hydro-Québec historical collection
    1996.2046

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