Newhalem Creek Hydroelectric Project

The Newhalem Creek Hydroelectric Project (NCHP) is a 2.5-hour drive northeast of Seattle, within the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, a unit of the North Cascades National Park. Newhalem Creek is a tributary of the Skagit River, downstream of Seattle City Light’s Skagit River Hydroelectric Project dams (Gorge, Diablo, and Ross).

The NCHP was the first hydroelectric facility to be constructed along the Skagit River by the City of Seattle’s Lighting Department, now called Seattle City Light. Its purpose was to provide power for the construction of Gorge Dam, Gorge powerhouse, and the work camp now known as the town of Newhalem. Today, the NCHP remains the oldest hydroelectric project operating in the Skagit River area and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

Interest in large-scale hydroelectric development along the Skagit River began in the early twentieth century, with the first claims held by the Skagit Power Company on the Skagit River in 1905 and along Newhalem Creek in 1909. With ideas to construct a 170-foot dam in Diablo Canyon, costing $6 million, the Skagit Power Company filed a federal permit to develop the Skagit in 1908.

However, as Skagit Power Company found out, harnessing the wild and remote Skagit River was exceedingly difficult and costly. After years of unsuccessful planning, the Skagit Power Company was sold in 1910 to Boston-based Stone and Webster, who also controlled the Puget Sound Traction, Power and Light Company.

In 1913, Stone and Webster obtained permits from the Secretary of Agriculture for the $6 million hydroelectric project. During this time, James Delmage Ross, an engineer and Superintendent for Seattle City Light who ultimately became known as the “Father of City Light,” had also begun investigating the Skagit as a source of hydro power. Ross had even tried to purchase the Skagit Power Company on behalf of the City of Seattle before Stone and Webster. In late 1915, Ross learned that the Stone and Webster permits had expired. He wrote to the U. S. Department of Agriculture requesting they not extend the permits since Stone and Webster had failed to develop the area and City Light was ready to do so at once. Regardless of his efforts, the USDA extended the Stone and Webster permits for one more year until January of 1917, just as the U.S. entered World War I.

When the Stone and Webster permits expired for a second time, Ross immediately filed an application and traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby the Department of Agriculture. He claimed that City Light could begin building an enormous dam and powerhouse at Ruby Creek, thus supplying much needed electricity to the ship building industry in Seattle and contribute to the vital naval effort for the ongoing war. The U.S. Department of Agriculture finally granted permission to the City to apply for permits on December 22, 1917. When the Department of Agriculture issued the final permits in 1920, they were contingent on work beginning on the Newhalem Creek Project by December 2, 1920 and ending by December 22, 1922.

With federal permits in hand, City Light moved quickly to finalize plans and secure bids for the NCHP to physically establish a City Light presence in this remote location, something the previous power companies could not accomplish. By the end of 1920, work on the power tunnel was underway and contracts were awarded for the penstock pipe and generator equipment. Working in three shifts, the contractor used compressed air-driven jackhammers and Leyner drills, which used water, to tunnel into the solid granite rock for a distance of 2,700 feet. Simultaneously, City Light begun construction of its own railroad from Rockport to the construction camp. 

To provide material and labor access to the Newhalem Creek construction site on the south side of the Skagit River, City Light constructed two structures:  A wood suspension bridge near the cookhouse (also called the Mess Hall and known today as the Gorge Inn), and an overhead cableway skidding system.

Construction materials were transported from City's Newhalem Camp to the powerhouse site using an overhead cableway system which was common to logging during the early 20th century. The overhead cableway was supported by large log A-frame type supports spanning the river. Winches on either side of the structure were used to facilitate movement of the traveler, the large pulley with a hook. Once over the river, materials were then transported west to the powerhouse along a skid road through what is known today as the Trail of the Cedars. At the powerhouse site, a skidder—a device powered by steam or electricity that operates on or near a railroad track and moves materials by means of a cable—was installed on the hill slope to the east behind the powerhouse. The skidder carried materials and equipment to and from the penstock construction site and the power tunnel boring site at the top of the slope.

The headworks (dam, gatehouse and intake) were accessed via a pedestrian trail, known as the Gatehouse Trail, beginning at the powerhouse and traversing the steep rocky slopes up to the dam site one mile up along Newhalem Creek. Construction materials for the headworks’ timber crib dam and intake/gatehouse were sourced directly from the headworks site and surrounding area.  

The power tunnel was completed in June of 1921, in which the crews were able to drill up to 119 feet in one week. By then, the Coast Culvert & Flume Company was busy installing the 905-foot-long penstock. The Coast Culvert & Flume Company successfully employed electric arc welding to reduce the cost of extensive field riveting in such a remote location, which was the first known installation of welded pipe for such purposes in the Northwest. At the powerhouse, a Pelton Turbine, with two independent runners in separate casings was installed to turn the Westinghouse generator, designed to deliver up to 2.5 megawatts of electricity. 

The NCHP began operations in August 1921, costing the City over $800,000 to construct. Although initially designed to power equipment for the first stages of construction of the Skagit Project, the plant was also intended for long-term use to justify the cost of its construction. Thus, after supporting construction of City Camp and the Gorge Dam and Powerhouse, output from the Newhalem Creek plant was routed into the larger Skagit transmission and distribution network to supply electricity to the greater Seattle area. The Newhalem Creek powerhouse also continued to supply station service power to the Gorge Powerhouse’s electrically operated equipment, such as heating, lighting, and cooling.

By the end of 1921, City Light had also completed building the railroad from Rockport to the construction camp, now called Newhalem. Approximately 1,000 people lived in Newhalem at that time, with electricity supplied by the Newhalem Creek plant. The “Toonerville Trolley,” a gasoline powered motor car that ran on railroad tracks, took visitors and workers from Rockport to Newhalem. Within a few years, the Newhalem Creek plant would also power the electrified railroad that would be installed further up the Skagit River Valley, from Goodell Creek to Gorge Creek. The first of the three-stage Skagit Project, the Gorge powerhouse, was completed in 1924. Its generators were formally started on September 17, 1924 as President Calvin Coolidge pressed a gold key from the White House.

Shortly after completion of the Gorge powerhouse, City Light began to use the Skagit River and Newhalem Hydroelectric Projects as a showcase for municipally developed hydroelectric power. The first publicized tours were held in 1924, consisting of 1-day trips to Newhalem via the railroad and a tour of the facilities. The skid road that was built to access the Newhalem Creek powerhouse from the suspension bridge was repurposed as a pedestrian trail and used as part of these tours. A 1941 tour book noted that after an “ample meal [was] served in the huge community hall” on the first evening, guides led visitors over the suspension bridge, along a “pleasant” woodland trail to the Newhalem Creek powerhouse. City Light's Skagit Railroad provided the only access for tourists until 1939, when the Skagit Truck Trail allowed the first vehicles into the Newhalem area.  

As the U.S. became engulfed in World War II, the surrounding forest was approved for selective harvesting by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 to support the war effort. The selective harvest allowed the lush forest to remain largely intact. Regardless of the changes in the world around, the Newhalem Creek Hydroelectric Project continued to provide reliable service, even receiving semi-automation in the early 1950s, until 1966 when a fire consumed the powerhouse.

On July 16, 1966, a fire began in the powerhouse and burned the wood framed building to the ground. Fortunately, the original Pelton turbines and generator were saved by a burst water pipe that created a 60-foot-tall spray of water. The fire was extinguished before the surrounding forest could be impacted. The powerhouse was rebuilt in 1969 using the original turbines and rewound electric generator. 

In this same year, the headworks and vehicular bridge accessing the powerhouse were also rebuilt, as both had been damaged by flooding. In order to reconstruct the headworks, the road accessing the dam was stabilized with a retaining wall, necessary due to a recurring landslide. Before being brought back online in 1970, the Newhalem Creek powerhouse was fully automated, the first of the Skagit River facilities to undergo this process. After that, it was remotely operated from the Gorge powerhouse. 

While the Project was being reconstructed, the land previously administered by the U.S. Forest Service’s Mt. Baker National Forest was transferred by an act of the U.S. Congress to the National Park Service on October 2, 1968 to create the North Cascades National Park and Ross Lake National Recreation Area. Congress included a clause in the Park’s enabling legislation that reserved the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) jurisdiction over the Newhalem Creek and Skagit River Hydroelectric Projects.    

In 1969, Seattle City Light applied for its first hydropower license with the FERC (issued in 1975 as FERC Project No. 2705). Meanwhile, the long-awaited highway over Rainy Pass, North Cascades Highway (today’s SR 20), officially opened on September 2, 1972, a mere 40 years after it was first surveyed by highway engineers Ike Munson. 

On December 26, 1980, the headworks again sustained significant flood damage, with peak flows of 8,430 cubic feet per second (over 40 times the average annual flow for that year). The height of the water passing over the dam was approximately 8 feet. A tree was shoved up the bank toward the gatehouse, dislodging the structure from its foundation and destroying it. Fortunately, the intake gate remained intact and operational. The gatehouse was rebuilt and operational by 1984.

The NCHP continued operating and was threatened by fire again in 2015 by the Goodell Creek Fire. This fire burned approximately 6,700 acres of the surrounding old growth and second-growth forest around the Project. The powerhouse was saved by firefighters using fire trucks to continuously spray it with water. The original timber saddles were damaged by the fire and replaced with concrete saddles in 2016.  

Partly due to the loss of trees as a result of the Goodell Creek Fire (which normally would have absorbed runoff), recurring landslides along the dam access road worsened in 2019 and RV-sized boulders fell on to the road and blocked access to the dam. Since then, massive boulders have continued to fall onto the road, preventing all vehicular access to the dam.

The NCHP has not been in consistent operation since 2010 due to leaks in the power tunnel, needed maintenance at the headworks and powerhouse, and lack of access due to recurring landslides. As a result of these issues and the cost of relicensing, City Light filed a Surrender of License Application with FERC on January 28, 2022 to decommission the facility. 

The FERC proceeding to decommission is underway, with nine coordinating parties including resource agencies, Tribes, and non-governmental organizations. Seattle City Light has proposed to remove the dam and other headwork components, seal the power tunnel, and retain the powerhouse and penstock for their important historic value. FERC is also evaluating an alternative plan to remove the powerhouse and penstock and return the land back to nature. An Order to Decommission, according to the selected plan, will ultimately be issued by FERC.

The Newhalem Creek Hydroelectric Project consists of:

• Powerhouse – A wood-framed powerhouse with a double-overhung Pelton impulse turbine connected to a single generating unit.
• Headworks – The headworks consists of a concrete diversion dam and apron, sluice way/channel, intake and rock shaft, gatehouse, associated concrete slabs around the gatehouse, and a footbridge.
• Power Tunnel – A 2,452-foot unlined rock tunnel, measuring approximately 6 feet by 7 feet in diameter.
• Penstock – A 925-ft-long steel penstock that conveys water from the power tunnel to the powerhouse.
• Tailrace Channel – An excavated water channel that carries water away from the powerhouse and discharges into the Skagit River over a concrete tailrace fish barrier.
• Transmission Line – A 7.2 kilovolt line, consisting of an overhead and buried cable, that connects to the Gorge powerhouse.