Electron Power Plant

Day 186: Set at the terminus of a dead-end road, you will find a beautiful view of the Electron Hydroelectric Plant. Don't assume that there is a town called Electron, despite what the road sign might lead you to believe. Electron consists of two houses, a pretty little postage-stamp park with an interpretive sign and (appropriately) two picnic tables. It is habitation of convenience, presumably for caretakers or managers of the plant's operations. The plant itself is a period piece, its architecture worth the detour off Orville Road East.

From the interpretive sign: "Constructed in 1903-04, by the Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation of Boston, the Electron plant was the first hydroelectric project in Pierce County and one of the first 'high head' plants in the United States. The plant is unique also in that a 10.1 mile wooden flume carries glacial waters diverted from the Puyallup River - waters whose origin lies high on the western flank of Mt. Rainier. Atop the flume runs a maintenance track for equipment, dubbed 'The Crookedest Railroad'. From a reservoir and intake structure high on the hill above the powerhouse, the water begins its 872-foot vertical drop to the waterwheels. After traveling through huge pipes called 'penstocks', the water energizes impulse-type waterwheels connected to each of the four generators. The plant and flume are the result of the labor of hundreds of men and horses. On Tuesday, April 12, 1904, the plant began its operation, generating power to streetcars and street lights in Tacoma and Seattle, and powering the lines of the 'interurban' electric railway that connected the two growing cities. Much of the original powerhouse and equipment were destroyed in a large slide in November, 1936. Two units were operating again in 1937, and restoration was completed on December 13, 1941."

I hadn't been to Electron in years and I don't know why I went there today. Maybe I just needed to recharge my batteries.