Long before it became a tourist attraction, the 270-foot-tall Snoqualmie Falls attracted the attention of engineers marveling at the world’s first completely underground hydroelectric power plant. It also attracted the attention of rivals Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, who were battling to see whose technology would take over the U.S. power grid.
Behind it all was Charles H. Baker, an engineer who, while helping build a railway just 50 feet from the falls, quickly saw potential for cheap electricity for both Seattle and Tacoma.
“One man’s vision for a hydroelectric power system in the Northwest served as a microcosm of the power struggles taking place throughout the nation,” says Elizabeth Dubreuil, consulting cultural resource scientist for Puget Sound Energy.
The vision, the engineering and the business battle will be shared by Dubreuil at the Redmond Historical Society Saturday Speaker Series at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 8. The program is held in the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center.
“This talk will provide the audience with an in-depth understanding of the development at Snoqualmie Falls and its place in history through photographs and records housed in PSE archives,” Dubreuil says.
Work began in 1898, making it one of the oldest hydroelectric dams in the U.S. It was also a time that Edison’s direct current and Westinghouse’s alternating current were vying for control.
“At a time when no standards, rules, or laws existed for regulating the electrical business,” Dubreuil notes, “two manufacturing giants, (Edison’s) General Electric and Westinghouse, stood toe to toe to settle the argument between DC and AC power and gain control of the Puget Sound electrical markets.”
Baker, for his part, had a vision “borne out of a 19th Century utilitarian ethos,” Dubreuil says. That and his engineering degree “fostered a strong belief in utilizing nature with new technologies for the betterment of humanity.”
“While the site at Snoqualmie offered many challenges to a young engineer, they were solvable problems with the right resources,” she adds. “The advantage of having the Seattle International Railway (previously Seattle Lakeshore and Eastern) within 50 feet of the site was incalculable.”
Baker ended up on the side of AC. And while the Snoqualmie Falls Power Co. was not the first to use AC, its success helped show that the new AC technology worked just fine and allowed hydroelectric dams far from cities.
The falls’ history has multiple layers that make it fascinating.
“People who love history love context, because it allows them to fully understand the challenges of people in different periods and allows them a way to form an opinion on the significance of events and even people,” Dubreuil says. “In the case of the Snoqualmie Falls Power development, there are many contexts that make this story interesting. We’ll focus on the struggle of one man to fulfill his vision of utilizing hydropower for the betterment of society in a period of ingenuity, growth, competitive markets, and new technologies.”
The Saturday Speaker Series is presented by the Redmond Historical Society on the second Saturday of the month with three programs each in the fall and spring. Topics range from local, state and Pacific Northwest historical interest. There is a suggested $5 donation for non-members.
The Redmond Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that receives support from the City of Redmond, 4 Culture, Nintendo, the Bellevue Collection, Happy Valley Grange, Microsoft and 501 Commons as well as from other donors and members.
