Drive up to La Grande and you can’t miss the Alder Dam, built in the 1940s. But there was another dam before this one — smaller and built in the 1910.
“The water was forced through a pipe bridge that carried the water across the valley and then down four large pipes (5 feet wide) to a powerhouse 410 feet blow.
Inside the powerhouse the four sets of Allis-Chalmers turbines and generators each produced 8,000 horsepower.” (Per Upper Nisqually Valley)
Photos courtesy Rich Williams
Click on photo to Enlarge.
- Transformers inside La Grande Powerhouse
Eatonville To Rainier 
7 responses to “Alder Dam Powerhouse 1912”
this is so cool
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Excellent!
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Excellent posting
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[…] guessing these pipes related to the Alder dam that was constructed around that time to provide power to the City of […]
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[…] shot of the La Grande dam, built in 1910, was taken from unique angle to include some farming of the […]
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We moved to Alder in 1952… my Dad was able to get on with the City of TAcoma’s Nisqually project…. his first job was the run the tram. I could get away with saying he was a dam tram man…. closest to swearing allowed in our house.. was able to ride it several times. It was scary and awesome at the same time.
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What a “cool” experience to to take the tram. My stomach lurches just thinking about it. Thanks for sharing!
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