OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — The Elwha River Valley echoed with the abrasive sound of machinery Thursday as an excavator chipped away at the top of Glines Canyon Dam.
Clouds of dust rose from the 210-foot structure constructed in 1927 as the excavator equipped with a 5-inch-diameter hammer punched its way into the large mass of concrete from a barge.
The demolition work marked the much-anticipated start of a three-year process to remove the river’s two dams and free about 70 miles of pristine habitat for migrating salmon.
The Glines Canyon Dam — sister to the downstream Elwha Dam, which also will be removed — will be the tallest dam dismantled in the nation’s history.
“It’s another new beginning for the river,” said Olympic National Park spokesman Dave Reynolds.
Yet because of concerns over safety, this pivotal moment inside the park was not a large part of the fanfare for this week’s dam removal celebrations.
Witnessing the start of dam demolition were eight reporters, photographers and filmmakers who joined Reynolds on the shore of Lake Mills to document the start of the 84-year-old dam’s demise.
From a distance of about 250 yards, large chunks of concrete could be seen splashing into the lake, where they will remain until the reservoir is drained.
Thirty feet of the dam, which is 13 miles upstream from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is expected to be removed by November.
Around that point, 7.5-foot-tall notches will be made in the dam to allow more water to be drained before demolition continues.
Although the river is not yet free, the effects of dam removal could still be seen on the lake’s shore Thursday.
The reservoir has been drained to the dam’s spillways, exposing a swath of cracked and dry former lake bed along its edges.
There, a few flowers and other small plants have taken hold.
“I think that’s a positive sign,” Reynolds said.
The same can be seen at Lake Aldwell, the reservoir of the smaller but older Elwha Dam.
Demolition of the 108-foot Elwha Dam, which will host the main celebratory event Saturday, will begin Monday.
That dam, located outside the park five miles from the river’s mouth, was built in 1913, forever changing the stream and decimating the six salmon runs the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe relied on.
“We learned to have a lot of patience,” said tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles.
“We’re really, really overwhelmed with joy.”
The tribe spearheaded the push to remove the dams, approved by Congress in 1992.
American Rivers, one of the environmental organizations that helped the tribe lobby for the river’s restoration, is also celebrating the start of dam removal.
“It’s really an exciting time,” said Amy Kober, American Rivers spokeswoman.
“It’s an exciting time for anybody who cares about rivers.”
Kober said the Glines Canyon Dam may be the largest ever removed in the world.
“We have not found a bigger dam that has come down,” she said.
At the Elwha Dam, a cofferdam has been put in place to allow crews to remove sediment and the dam’s right spillway gates and piers.
Barnard Construction, the Montana-based company tearing down the dams, has said the Elwha Dam’s right spillway gates and piers will be the first removed.
By November, the left spillway gates, piers and penstock intake structures, powerhouse and penstocks will be removed.
Crews will not be able to work at either dam for more than five months a year because of fish migration.
The Olympic Hot Springs trailhead near the Glines Canyon Dam will remain closed until the project is completed. The trail can still be accessed through a 13-mile hike from the Sol Duc Hot Springs.
Demolition progress can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/damremoval.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
