The Bear Swamp Pumped Storage Project is one of three pumped storage hydro projects in New England. Construction started in 1968, and was completed in 1974. An upper storage reservoir was built on Rowe Mountain, several hundred feet above the Deerfield River, which serves as the lower reservoir. The powerhouse, known as the Jack Cockwell Station, contains two reversible turbine/pumps that lift water out of the river to the upper reservoir, and generate up to 600 megawatts of electricity when it flows back down, usually during the day, when electricity is more in demand. Though the facilities are off limits, and hard to see, there is a visitor center located across the river from the powerhouse. This too though is hard to see, as it is also underground, and often closed.
