MOSSYROCK— Saturday was the first time in three years the public has been able to take what had become an annual Mossyrock Dam tour and event, sponsored by Tacoma Power and the Cowlitz River Project. In that three-year period, Tacoma Power worked to replace the 40-year-old generators in the powerhouse.
About 1,000 people, Generation Manager Pat McCarty estimated, rode on the Mossyrock school buses from the bus garage, over the dam, toured the powerhouse and then rode to Mossyrock Park to talk about local wildlife, fisheries and native lore.
Janice Browning, a bus driver for the Mossyrock School District, said they had been fairly busy all day, ferrying people back and forth from the dam.
In spite of the cold and rain, people were interested in seeing what kind of changes had been made inside the powerhouse.
Joe Dewey, the young son of the assistant manager for the Cowlitz River Project, was one of the many volunteers and employees that came to help run the tour and guide the guests.
“I’ve been coming in here since I was a little kid,” Dewey said into the microphone that he used as he guided the dam guests through the powerhouse and explained the workings of the turbine-generators inside the powerhouse. Guests held individual speakers up to their ears to hear their guides as they walked through the cavernous and noise-filled heart of the Mossyrock Dam.
Tour guide and hydroelectric mechanic Jim Armstrong said people had a lot of questions and seemed very interested in the answers.
“We really had to try to hurry them through the tour so we could fit them all in,” he said.
Russell and Sharon Palmer drove down from Randle to take the tour.
“We’re real dam people,” Russell said. “We’ve toured several dams and this has got to be the best. It’s just amazing what man can do when he puts his mind to it. People just don’t realize.”
As people waited their turn to tour the building, there were PowerP oint shows, demonstrations and exhibits that volunteers helped the adults and children to take home a better understanding of the power and strength and care that was put into the engineering of the dam.
Whitney Anderson, 11, Mossyrock, pedaled a demonstration bicycle that powered up a str ing of lights as she rode the stationary bike as hard as she could. She was amazed when she read the sign that said, “You would have to pedal this bicycle, keeping all the lights on, for 24 hours a day for 55 years in order to generate one hour of power generated by just one of Mossyrock Dam’s two generators.”
Back at Mossyrock Park, also owned by Tacoma Power, various representatives from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Cowlitz Fish Hatcheries and the local campgrounds led the people through their educational displays.
Retired Lewis County Sheriff’s deputy and early Native American artifacts expert Larry Nelson put on a demonstration for the guests and displayed arrowheads, spear points and worked to teach about protecting precious artifacts.
The tour was combined with a food drive for the Lewis County Food Bank Coalition. Tour guide Paul Hicke y of Tacoma Power said he didn’t know how much food they had gathered at the event, but he did know the truck was filled with food when it left.
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Kimberly Mason is a freelance writer based in Cinebar. She can be contacted at kz@tds.net.
