What will happen to the fixtures and equipment from the 97-year-old Elwha Dam powerhouse once it is demolished — including the control panel, ancient dials and giant tools?
Some people are already salivating in the wings.
So far, the Clallam County Historical Society, city of Port Angeles, Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles and Olympic National Park have requested various parts of the power plant, park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said.
Park staff will review the requests and decide the parts’ fate, she added.
Workers will start dismantling the Elwha Dam, which is five miles from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in September.
The 83-year-old Glines Canyon Dam demolition, eight miles farther upriver, will begin before the lower dam is completely down.
The Glines Canyon dam also has a powerhouse, which is less extensive than the lower dam, but artifacts will be salvaged from both.
As federal property, the equipment can be loaned long term but can’t be given away or sold, Maynes said.
“A lot of equipment in there is very large, and finding a place for it is not as quick and easy as you might think,” she said.
What is apparent is that artifacts from the demolition of the 108-foot-tall Elwha Dam won’t all be exhibited in one place. Instead displays will be spread all over Port Angeles.
Maynes said that the park is likely to exhibit some pieces at the visitor center at 3002 Mount Angeles Road, and others at ranger stations.
“We’re not planning a new museum,” Maynes said.
Artifacts would be on display in existing space. Exactly where is unknown now.
“There is no plan at this point,” Maynes said.
“The discussions are still pretty wide open.”
The Feiro center at 315 N. Lincoln St. on City Pier has requested a large, red butterfly-valve control, which is the main shutoff valve for the dam, said Deborah Moriarty, administrative and education coordinator.
The large wheel — which is about waist-high on a person — would be the centerpiece of an outdoor exhibit, probably on City Pier, she said.
The exhibit — a joint project with the city of Port Angeles — would “tell the story of how the Elwha dams built the city,” Moriarty said.
Port Angeles entrepreneur Thomas Aldwell built the Elwha Dam in 1913 to supply hydroelectric power to Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Poulsbo and the Navy shipyard in Bermerton.
Demand led to the construction of the Glines Canyon Dam by Northwest Power & Light Co. in 1927.
The outdoor exhibit would be funded by a National Park Service Challenge Cost Share Grant awarded by Olympic National Park, Moriarty said.
Half of that grant already has paid for an indoor exhibit at the Feiro center, a hands-on model of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam, the upper dam which is 13 miles upriver from the mouth, and Lake Mills.
Interpretative panels and artwork will complete that indoor exhibit this spring, Moriarty said.
Planning for the outdoor exhibit also is expected to begin this spring.
“We don’t even know when or if we will get the piece of equipment,” Moriarty said, adding that it was the only piece from the Elwha dam’s powerhouse that the center requested.
“We had to choose something that was durable and be outside and that people wouldn’t bang into and hurt themselves,” she said.
The Clallam County Historical Society has asked for a few more pieces, but with an eye to size.
“We don’t have the capacity to take these really huge items,” said Kathy Monds, historical society executive director.
The historical society has requested a piece of the powerhouse panel, the old telephone booth at the Elwha Dam, various dials and gauges and some of the tools, such as “incredibly huge wrenches,” Monds said.
“We’ve requested a set of those.”
By March, Monds expects to have one display case in the Museum at the Carnegie devoted to the dam construction.
That may be expanded later with the items the group has requested.
The expanded exhibit Monds has in mind would be a representative sample of the artifacts from the dam, illustrated with old photographs.
At first, artifacts would be stored at the Lincoln Center, the historical society’s office in the former Lincoln Elementary School at 933 W. Ninth St. in Port Angeles, until they are organized into an exhibit for the Carnegie at 207 S. Lincoln St.
A big issue is how to get large pieces down to town — “how we would come in and haul the stuff out,” Monds said.
“To me, it’s incredible how they got it in,” she said.
“I don’t how they did it.”
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
