Snoqualmie Valley Museum

We collect, preserve, and share the history of the Snoqualmie Valley, so present and future generations can understand our past.

The Power of Snoqualmie Falls
$19.95

The Power of Snoqualmie Falls

This is the unbelievable story of how one man built the world’s first underground hydro-electric plant beneath Snoqualmie Falls.  At the turn of the 19th century, when electricity was still in its infancy, civil engineer, Charles Baker, envisioned the potential of Snoqualmie Falls and embarked on an ambitious plan. In the incredible span of just 16…

Description

This is the unbelievable story of how one man built the world’s first underground hydro-electric plant beneath Snoqualmie Falls.  At the turn of the 19th century, when electricity was still in its infancy, civil engineer, Charles Baker, envisioned the potential of Snoqualmie Falls and embarked on an ambitious plan.

In the incredible span of just 16 months, Baker and his crew blasted downward 270 feet through the shoulder of Snoqualmie Falls, carved out an enormous cavern the size of two basketball courts, assembled massive turbines and generators and strung electrical wires from Snoqualmie to Seattle and Tacoma. When the switch was thrown at the Falls in 1899, electricity surged through 27 miles of line and the Northwest was never the same. Length: 60 min.

Additional information

Dimensions 14 × 1.25 × 19 cm
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