PORT ANGELES — Volunteers and staff with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe Wednesday were sifting through the remains of the longhouse in Lincoln Park for salvageable wood after demolishing the dilapidated structure.
The work has been bittersweet for many of the tribal members involved since the longhouse was built some 40 years ago, largely through tribal volunteer labor, said Frances Charles, tribal chairwoman.
“We have a few individuals that helped build it up there helping with the deconstruction,” Charles said Wednesday.
“It’s sad to see it being taken down.”
Charles said demolition work began Monday.
By Wednesday morning, the timbers that once formed the bones of the longhouse had been separated into various piles while staff and volunteers decided what pieces could be salvaged.
Charles said she originally hoped the longhouse could be simply dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere on tribal land, though further scrutiny into the condition of the wooden beams showed this would not be possible.
“It’s been up since the early ’70s, and a lot of it was really weathered,” Charles said.
The totem poles that surrounded the structure will be stored on the tribe’s Tse-whit-zen site on Marine Drive west of downtown for the time being.
Some wood was simply too rotten and degraded to ever be used again, Charles said, though staff and volunteers recovered a number of cedar planks that likely will be carved into paddles and other items as part of the tribe’s cultural education programs.
“We’re salvaging what we can for cultural classes,” Charles said.
Earlier this year, City Council members approved an agreement with the tribe for taking down the longhouse, which was condemned in 2011 because of deteriorating pillars, beams and a rotting roof.
“[There are] a lot of mixed emotions and opinions on the [demolition] process,” Charles said.
“We understand the safety factors, too.”
The longhouse once played key roles in city and tribal events, housing educational programs, traditional meals and high school graduation, but had not been rented out since 2006.
It was used for storage for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department until it was condemned.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
