PORT ANGELES — Locals and visitors alike took the steep stairs down the side of the Elwha Dam to explore the wheeling and control rooms that operate the two dams on the Elwha River.
The tours ended Sunday, and they were one of the last chances the public will have to explore the inner workings of the dams.
Removal of the 108-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam will begin next summer — leading park officials to dub this season the “Last Dam Summer.”
Sunday’s tours were part of Heritage Weekend, the annual celebration of Port Angeles’ rough-and-tumble past.
They explored the history and impact of the dams as well as their future demolition.
Taking small groups of about a half dozen at a time, Olympic National Park Ranger Denison Rauw talked about the construction and current state of the dams, and Dick Bauman, resource specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation, gave tours of the rooms that hold the turbines, which generate some 20 megawatts of electricity.
“People always worry that we need the energy [at the dam], but the amount that these produce isn’t that much,” Bauman said.
“Take the 20 megawatts we produce here compared to the Columbia River — which produces thousands of gigawatts.”
A ‘pre-OHSA’ project
Bauman watched guests carefully as they navigated steep stairs and moving machinery — not to mention exposed high-voltage wires.
“These were built in what we should say pre-OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] times,” he said.
The dams were completed in 1911, but a break in the Elwha Dam caused some reconstruction.
They reopened and began producing energy full time in 1913, said Rauw.
“What happened was they built the dam on the river bed gravel instead of on the bedrock,” she said.
“They never did go back down to the bedrock, but they stuffed the crack with anything they could find — logs, brush and then concrete.”
The dams have held for nearly 100 years now, she said.
However, seismologists predicted that a magnitude 6.8 earthquake would fell the Glines Canyon Dam and a 9.0 earthquake would take down the Elwha Dam, she said.
“So beyond the restoration and any other issues, they do pose a safety hazard in the case of a significant seismic event,” she said.
Grateful for the chance
Gileen Daley of Port Angeles brought her grandson, Russell Ryckman, of California to visit the dams while he was in town.
“I’m so glad we got up early — it is impressive that we get to see this before they are gone,” she said.
The federal government took over ownership of the Elwha Dam, Lake Aldwell and the upstream Glines Canyon Dam 10 years ago from Daishowa America, which then owned the paper mill at Ediz Hook.
Daishowa was acquired by Nippon Paper of Japan in 2001. Nippon Paper Industries USA now operates the mill.
The federal acquisition was in preparation for removing the two dams on the Elwha River.
Bauman said no museum has yet claimed all of the inner workings of the control room and dams.
“I know the Bureau of Reclamation has its eye on them,” he said.
Rauw said the dams would be simultaneously removed, with the reservoirs slowly drained as the first step.
A contractor is expected to be named next month.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
