The Nisqually River begins as melt water from several glaciers on the southern slopes of Mount Rainier. It ends where it empties into Puget Sound between Dupont and Lacey. During that 80-mile journey, the river drops more than 5,000 feet in elevation. That's a lot of potential energy!
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In 1907, the City of Tacoma decided to extract a bit of that potential to feed the growing power demands of its citizens. The Tacoma City Council asked voters to approve a $2.3-million bond to build a dam to generate electricity at La Grande.
At that time a Boston conglomerate, Stone and Webster, provided the city's power. Feeling threatened by the bond issue, the company decided to play hard ball. Before the citizens could vote, the company raised rates and shut off power to the pumps that supplied water to the city. Not surprisingly, that didn't sit too well with voters in the City of Destiny. On January 2, 1909, by a 3-to-1 margin, voters approved building the dam.
Construction began in February 1910 as one of the first public hydro-power dams in the western U.S. The project consisted of a 35-foot-high diversion dam that brought water into a settling basin to remove some of the glacial silt. Then water was carried through a 2-mile tunnel to the top of four penstocks above the generating station at La Grande. Power was generated by four 6,000KW turbine generators (a fifth generator of 40,000 KW capacity was added in 1945).
By WWII, the demand for power had increased, so a new, larger project was planned. Alder Dam was built just below the old diversion dam and LaGrande Dam was built about halfway down the river toward the powerhouse. The 192-foot tall LaGrande dam was finished in 1945 and feeds the powerhouse at La Grande. With the added generating capacity of the expansion of the powerhouse at La Grande, the dam now generates about 228-million KWh annually.
A mile and a half up river from the LaGrande Dam is the larger Alder Dam. This 285-foot-high concrete-arch dam has two large generators located in the base of the dam. This dam is used for peak power and generates about 345-million KWh annually (enough for about 16,000 homes).
As part of the periodic re-licensing of these dams, the minimum flow of water through Alder Dam was increased in 1997 as an aid to salmon and other fish species that spawn in the river. A curious feature of both dams, or lack thereof, is that neither dam has a fish ladder. That's because a natural obstruction in the river above the LaGrande Dam kept salmon from ever reaching the upper Nisqually River even before the dams were built.
2016 was the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, and to celebrate, Visit Rainier and WSGA hosted the Visit Rainier Centennial GeoTour - 100 caches placed in and around Mount Rainier National Park. The geocaches highlighted the rich history, scenic wonders, quaint communities, and hidden gems of the Rainier region. Participants received geocoin and pathtag prizes for finding all the caches.
