Colorado Springs

In May 1899 Tesla and several assistants began constructing the Tesla Experimental Station in Colorado Springs to research wireless telegraphy using high-voltage and high-frequency electricity. During his experiments, Tesla created artificial lightning that generated reports of electrified butterflies, thunder that could be heard 15 miles away, and sparks that appeared on horse hooves and water pipes. He built the largest Tesla coil in history at Colorado Springs, almost 50 feet in diameter, a preliminary model of the magnifying transmitter he would build at Wardenclyffe just a few year later. Tesla left Colorado Springs in January 1900 and shortly thereafter received patents for a “system of transmitting electrical energy” and “an electrical transmitter.”