It was opened in 1919 on the Lama Riv­er in the vil­lage of Yaropo­lets. The struc­ture was cre­at­ed by per­son­al order of Vladimir Lenin. The hydro­elec­tric sta­tion gen­er­at­ed elec­tric­i­ty until 1941, when the Ger­mans blew it up. In 1959, the sta­tion was revived, but only as a mon­u­ment. There is a spill­way with a high bridge where you can stand and look at the seething streams.