The Victorville Switching Station, northeast of Los Angeles, near the desert community of Victorville, was built as a principal switch and circuit breaker along the Boulder Dam transmission line, built by the DWP in the 1930s, and the primary source of electricity for the city for a few decades. The isolated desert station was manned by DWP personnel who lived in a housing compound next door, until it became remotely operated by telephone signals traveling along the wires in the mid 1990s. The lines carry current at 287,500 volts on one and a half-inch thick conductive wires. The wires span 266 miles, from the southern Nevada dam site, to Receiving Station B, in south central Los Angeles. Victorville still serves its original function, though the station has been enlarged.