Tesla's Colorado Springs Experimental Wireless Station Lab

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html

Tesla's History In Colorado Springs, Colorado 1899-1900



This publicity photo taken at
Colorado Springs was a double exposure. Tesla posed with his
"magnifying transmitter" capable of producing millions of volts of
electricity. The discharge shown is twenty-two feet in length.





Nikola Tesla arrived in Colorado Springs on May 17, 1899.




He was met at the train by patent lawyer Leonard Curtis, and was taken
by horse and carriage to the Alta Vista Hotel, where he would reside
while in Colorado. Tesla was greeted at the hotel by a group of
reporters, one of whom asked him why he chose Colorado for his
operation. Tesla replied, "I
might as well tell you the truth, I have come here to carry on a series
of exhaustive experiments in regard to wireless telegraphy…I come here
for work." The reporter asked if he was going to "flash (his) message from Pike's Peak to Long's Peak or another mountain of Colorado?" The question appeared to irritate Tesla who tersely replied, "No, I am here to work. It is not pleasure. I am very busy and life is short and there is a great deal to be done."


Tesla ended the interview and retired to his room, #207. It was
extremely important to Tesla that the room number be divisible by 3, a
long running superstition. He also liked the fact that the room was
only up one story and riding the elevator would be unnecessary.
Although the hotel had excellent maid service, Tesla requested extra
linens and 18 clean towels a day, saying he liked to do his own
dusting. This germ phobia, which began in his youth, would grow more
and more demanding as the years passed by.


Journalists reported that Tesla seemed to be distracted by
more important thoughts than answers to their questions. Perhaps he was
anxious for his assistant and equipment to arrive in Colorado Springs
so he could begin his work. Because Tesla arrived a few days ahead of
his assistant Lowenstein, there was time for important people of the
local society to entertain Tesla at places such as The El Paso Club, an
all men's club downtown. For a creative exploration into the mind of
Tesla while he awaited Lowenstein's arrival.


By 1899, Tesla's ideas and experiments were far too large for
his New York laboratory. Many of his general plans had already been
pirated and he could not risk any more losses due to spy activity. He
longed for open space and privacy. After secretly searching the country
for the best location for his new lab, Tesla decided on Colorado
Springs. This decision was based on many factors, the foremost being
free land and electricity from the Colorado Springs Electric Company.
Tesla also discovered that the area was ideal for conducting electrical
experiments as well as observing the immense electrical storms of the
region.


Tesla later wrote,
The conditions in the pure air of the Colorado
Mountains proved extremely favorable for my experiments, and the
results were most gratifying to me. I found that I could not only
accomplish more work, physically and mentally, than I could in New
York, but that electrical effects and changes were more readily and
distinctly perceived.


Tesla and his assistants started construction of the new lab shortly
after arriving in Colorado Springs. Aided by local contractor Joseph
Dozier, they broke ground in the prairie land approximately one mile
east of downtown, on Knob Hill. The land was located near the Colorado
School for the Deaf and the Blind, which still operates to this day.
Tesla's plan was to build a large barn like building, 50ft by 60ft with
18ft ceilings. From the center of the roof would protrude a 200ft pole
fashioned with a 30" wooden ball covered in copper foil. It was within
these walls that Tesla would attempt to accomplish three goals:


1 - To develop a transmitter of great power.

2 - To perfect a means for individualizing and isolating the energy transmitted.

3 - To ascertain the laws of propagation of currents through the earth's atmosphere.

Simply put,
Tesla was attempting to provide free energy to all of Earth's people,
without the use of wires!

July 3, 1899 brought much excitement to the region. Planned
Independence Day festivities included a gigantic display of
pyrotechnics on the Summit of Pike's Peak. Town officials had brought
35,000 pounds of powder flares to the summit in hopes that the red
white and blue flames would be visible as far away as Cheyenne,
Wyoming. Unfortunately for the townspeople, but not for Tesla, Mother
Nature had different plans. An immense storm of thunder and lightning
struck the region, disappointing the crowds waiting for festivities.
Tesla, on the other hand, was absolutely mesmerized. He made one of his
most important discoveries, the existence of stationary waves within
the earth, during the massive storm. As the storm began to form, Tesla
quickly prepared his instruments. He observed the storm's formation and
later wrote:

"… A violent storm broke loose
after spending much of its fury in the mountains. It was driven away
with great velocity over the plains. Heavy and long persisting arcs
formed almost in regular time intervals. My observations were now
greatly facilitated and rendered more accurate by the experiences
already gained. I was able to handle my instruments quickly and I was
prepared. The recording apparatus being properly adjusted, its
indications became fainter and fainter with the increasing distance of
the storm until they ceased altogether. I was watching in eager
expectation. Surely enough the indications began again, grew stronger
and stronger, and, after passing through a maximum gradually decreased
and ceased once more. Many times, in regularly recurring intervals, the
same actions were repeated until the storm which, as evident in simple
computations, was moving with nearly constant speed, had retreated to a
distance of about 300 kilometers. Nor did these strange actions stop
then, but continued to manifest themselves with undiminished force.
Subsequently, similar observations were made by my assistant, Mr. Fritz
Lowenstein, and shortly afterward several admirable opportunities
presented themselves which brought out still more forcibly and
unmistakably, the true nature of the wonderful phenomenon. No doubt
whatever remained; I was observing stationary waves."


This discovery convinced Tesla not only that wireless transmission of
telegraphic messages was possible. Tesla also realized that he could
transmit unlimited amounts of power to the entire globe, without the
need for wires! Years later Tesla elaborated in a famous article in
Century Magazine.

"Stationary waves in the earth mean
something more than mere telegraphy without wires to any distance. They
will enable us to attain many important specific results impossible
otherwise. For instance, by their use we may produce at will, from a
sending-station, an electrical effect in any particular region of the
globe; we may determine the relative position or course of a moving
object such as a vessel at sea, the distance traversed by the same, or
its speed; or we may send over the earth a wave of electricity
traveling at any rate we desire, from the pace of a turtle up to
lightning speed."


Tesla spent the next few months deeply submerged in his
experimentation. Robert Underwood Johnson, a close friend of Tesla's,
once wrote about the great inventor, "Common
people must have rest like machinery but the great old Nick - the Busy
One- see him go 150 hours without food or drink. Why he can invent with
his hands tied behind his back!" The inventor would conduct many
of his experiments at night, filling the dry mountain air with an eerie
electric charge. In one particular experiment, Tesla successfully
powered two hundred 50-watt lamps with electricity thrust through the
ground. He accomplished this feat without the use of any wire
connections, a full 26 miles from his laboratory! He also made the
claim that this was possible at any distance, anywhere on the globe. On
more than one occasion Tesla's experiments would start small fires in
his lab. Once, he was even trapped in a barrage of electric streamers,
forcing him to crawl on his belly to safety. Amazingly, these were far
from his most dramatic or dangerous experiments.

It was mid autumn when Tesla sent for another assistant, Kolman Czito.
Tesla's head assistant, Fritz Lowenstein, was away in Germany on family
matters and Tesla needed help with what was to become his most
magnificent experiment ever: the creation of lightning!

Sporting cotton balls in their ears and rubber soled shoes on their
feet; Tesla and Czito would produce the largest display of man-made
lightning to this day. After setting up cold lamps all over the area
Tesla signaled Czito to close the switch until told to open it. The
earth shook with the intensity of the mighty apparatus. Horses,
regularly calm, reared up onto hind legs and ran frantically in all
directions. According to Hunt and Draper, one pair of Tesla
biographers,

"The crackling and snap repeated
and then came a tremendous upsurge of sound as the power built up.
There was a crescendo of vicious snaps above. The noises became
machine-gun staccato, then roared to artillery intensity. Ghostly
sparks danced a macabre routine all over the laboratory. There was a
smell of sulfur that might be coming from hell itself. A weird blue
light spread all over the room. Flames began to jump from the ball at
the top of the mast- first a few feet long- then longer and brighter-
thicker, bluer. More emanations until they reached rod like proportions
thick as an arm and with a length of over 130 feet. The heavens
reverberated with a terrific thunder that could be heard 15 miles over
the ridge to Cripple Creek."


Then, without warning, the terrific force suddenly fell silent. The
power was gone. Frantically, Tesla called the Colorado Springs Electric
Company, demanding they restore his power and not interrupt his
experiments, only to find he had destroyed their generator, causing it
to erupt in flames. Once home to the largest generator this side of the
Mississippi, Colorado Springs was now engulfed in darkness. Fortunately
for the town they had a backup generator, but company officials denied
Tesla access. He could receive electricity again, if and only if, he
repaired the original generator at his own expense. The generator was
working again in only a few short days.

Tesla left Colorado Springs on January the 7th, 1900, never to return.
His laboratory was later dismantled and its contents sold to pay
outstanding debts. Although Tesla only spent 8 months in Colorado, it
was in this crisp mountain town where he would make his most important
discoveries.

Tesla continued to invent for many years after leaving Colorado. He
passed away on January 7, 1943 at the age of eighty-six. Despite
Tesla's life of accomplishment and over seven hundred patents, his
final days were spent living in near poverty at a second rate hotel.
Upon hearing of the great inventors death, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, "The
President and I are deeply sorry to hear of the death of Mr. Nikola
Tesla. We are grateful for his contribution to science and industry and
to this country." Over 2,000 people attended the great inventor's funeral.

Tesla's ashen remains have been stored in a splendid golden sphere
at the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade since 1957.

Nice post java... I never really knew so much of what he did while in CO.
I had heard rumours of explosions and fires during his experiments near Manitou Springs,
and I see they may be just that..coz I don't think Manitou was really here at those dates ...?

I may see what else I can find ...maybe there are cool associated places to see... it may make a fun little daytrip

So that's why my cell phone works so well.

c/thru wrote:

Nice post java... I never really knew so much of what he did while in CO.
I had heard rumours of explosions and fires during his experiments near Manitou Springs,
and I see they may be just that..coz I don't think Manitou was really here at those dates ...?

I may see what else I can find ...maybe there are cool associated places to see... it may make a fun little daytrip

I popped up a bunch of search results using the search string:

tesla laboratory colorado springs

The article above was near the top of the search results. After leaving Colorado he built a new lab in New York. I just found a picture of it on this page along with a bunch of other retouched color photos.

http://www.magnetricity.com/Tesla/Tesla.php#Gallery



Wardenclyffe Laboratory - in its prime
Designed by Stanford White, the 200 acre site is today located on Route 25A
between Rocky Point and Wading River, and is leased from Plantacres, Inc. to
Peerless Photo Products, Inc who still have facilities on a portion of the grounds.

And some more pics of the Colorado Springs lab under construction...



Tesla's Colorado Springs Experimental Station - early view
"Experimental Station built to order by Joseph Dozier for World System Project"
The barn-style building stood 50 x 60 feet with 18 foot ceiling
From the center of the roof was a 200 foot pole fashioned
with a 30" wooden ball covered in copper foil on top.



This front view of the station features the Union Printers Home in the background - 1899
a building which still stands in Colorado Springs long after the station has gone.
A special coil wound for investigation of the influence of elevation upon the
capacity of an elevated conductor is visible in front of the laboratory.

Special thanks to Gary Peterson for his expertise and assistance with detail in this image
Gary can be contacted at ... www.teslascience.org or www.tfcbooks.com