PORT ANGELES — A cloud of century-old concrete dust hovered over the Elwha Dam on Monday as crews began in earnest to tear it down.
An excavator equipped with a hydraulic hammer pounded vertical notches into the southeast — or right — spillway of the broad dam on Day 1 of its physical removal, only two days after a host of dignitaries sat nearby to celebrate its demise.
“It is a milestone for the project, the start of this three-year removal process,” Olympic National Park spokesman Dave Reynolds said on a tour of the site Monday afternoon.
The cadence of a supersized jackhammer was audible from the hills above the doomed edifice west of Port Angeles.
The 108-foot dam was built five miles from the Strait of Juan de Fuca in 1913 without fish ladders, which choked off a once robust salmon run. Its removal is part of a broader $325 million effort to restore the Elwha River.
Eight miles upstream, crews continued to hammer away at the 84-year-old Glines Canyon Dam.
Demolition began Thursday on the 210-foot monolith in what will become the single tallest dam removal in the nation’s history.
Montana-based Barnard Construction Co. has a $27 million contract with the National Park Service to remove both dams within three years.
“Barnard Construction is kind of excited to get the process started,” Reynolds said.
Don Laford, the project’s construction manager for the construction management company URS, said the dismantling of the Elwha Dam began Monday at 7 a.m.
“They’re removing the gates, the spillway gates, on the right hand side,” Laford said.
“They’ll continue to remove those gates and demolish the concrete down to the bedrock.”
The forebay, located just upriver from the right spillway as you look downstream, is now a construction site. A cofferdam has diverted the river to the left spillway.
Staton, a demolition subcontractor, used the forebay to pulverize portions of the dam. Tons of concrete scoured from vertical notches were loaded into dump trucks for transport to a county gravel pit.
Meanwhile, another excavator ripped out chunks of the wooden bridge that used to span the top of the dam.
Laford said it will take about 1½ weeks to remove the right spillway.
“When that’s completed, they’ll open up the cofferdam,” he explained.
“They’ll shift the river to this right hand side.
“They’ll start working on the left hand side of the dam, removing the same gates that are all on the left hand side and start deepening the channel on that side so the water will flow right down.
“They’re going to blast through that.”
Eight to 10 blasts will carve out a diversion channel into the bedrock.
Holes for the first blast will be dug Oct. 3 or Oct. 4, project manager Brian Krohmer of Barnard Construction Co. has said. Detonation of the first blast will happen two to four days after the holes are dug.
Dam demolition will cease on Nov. 1 for a two-month fish “window.”
Crews will use the period to take out parts of the powerhouse in the middle of the site.
Laford said crews are working 10-hour days, five days a week.
The diversion channel will be filled in after the rest of the dam is gone, and the Elwha River will be diverted to its original channel.
Although the Elwha Dam is closed to the public, Clallam County and Olympic National Park have opened a trail to an overlook with partial views of the dam.
A trail extension to another overlook with views of the heart of the dam will be open by the end of this week, Reynolds said.
The public trail can be accessed from Lower Dam Road off state Highway 112. Turn left at the gate on Lower Dam Road.
The National Park Service has installed six webcams to monitor sediment movement along the Elwha River, one of which shows the Elwha Dam.
Click on www.tinyurl.com/damwebcams to view the webcams.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb contributed to this report.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
