September 17 will mark the start of dam dismantling operations.
The shabby edifice of the Elwha Dam is showing its age. It towers over the lower Elwha River valley as it has for nearly a century. It still generates electricity for the regional grid.
But the days for this North Olympic Peninsula landmark are numbered.
Generators inside the powerhouse of the 33 metre (108-foot) dam west of Port Angeles will be turned off June 1, Olympic National Park spokesman Dave Reynolds said.
Three-and-a-half months later, a National Park Service contractor will begin to tear it down.
“Everything is on schedule for Sept. 17 for the first concrete removed from the dam,” said Reynolds, during a tour of the Elwha Dam and powerhouse on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of site preparation that will go on before that as well.”
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