Hydropower through the Ages

Greeks used water wheels to grind grain. This was done with a large wooden wheel that had buckets or blades along the outside and as water fell over it, the wheel would turn, grinding the grain.
Today some water wheels are still used, but very few, and usually for looks instead of power.

Between ancient Greeks and 1886 not much happened but as hydropower advanced more people/countries used it until it became one of the main alternatives for gas and petrolium.

In 1886 put together America and Canada had 40-50 hydroelectric power plants. This was the main start of the "hydropopular" trend world wide.

By 1888 about 200 plants for hydro power were produced. and more are still being made today.

Federal Water Power Act states that special permission was needed for building a hydroelectric power plant on any stream big enough for boat traffic.

Boulder (later renamed Hoover) Dam began making up to 130,000 kw of electricity.

Grand Coulee the start of the nation's largest dam created and start hydroelectric production.

Almost 1/3 of America's electricity came from Hydro power.
I'm actually not sure how long it lasted, it could still be like that today.

Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC(!!!)) began regulating energy production and transmission.

Hydroelectric plant capacity tripled since 1940 in America