The need to power a stamp mill to process ore at the Gold King Mine up in the mountains near Ophir, Colorado drove major stock holder Lucien L. Nunn to seek a less expensive alternative to the wood powered steam mill at the site. Timber fuel was in scarce supply at the mines 12,000 foot height and coal could not be used because there was no railroad leading to the mine. The San Miguel River 3000 feet down the slope 3 miles from the mine looked to be a good power source but some of the methods of transmitting the power including water powered compressed air and belt drives did not seem feasible. Lucien's brother Paul, an electrical engineer, began looking into using electric motors to drive the plant. A 220 volt direct current electric system was found to be too expensive due to the size of the copper conductors needed to transmit such a low voltage the distances they were contemplating. A high voltage alternating current system looked more promising so they contacted Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based Westinghouse Electric in 1890 and convinced them to supply an electricity driven system based on alternating current technology.