I’ve noticed a lot of abandoned industrial buildings and equipment molded into the landscape since I moved to Tacoma. For example, old sawmills and a smelter have become waterfront parks; pieces of railroad machinery have been transformed into artwork all over town; a gravel quarry was renovated into a golf course that includes several large structures; rusted valves and other maritime equipment adorn the marina; the list goes on. There are even abandoned and partially demolished structures that were once bars and fishing stores in nonindustrial areas.

Therefore I wasn’t surprised at what I found when we took a drive along Hwy 20 to explore the Northern Cascades before it closes for the winter.

A guidebook led us to a small town named Concrete. You can guess what its main industry was.

This was a concrete manufacturing plant built by the Washington Portland Cement Company (WPCC) in 1914. The company built a town to house the workers and stayed in business for ten years. The property was then purchased by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and converted to a hydroelectric power generation facility.

The new owners recently began the archeological work.

Industrial archeologists have begun field work to reconstruct life in a company town more than a century ago.

The site has rest rooms and picnic tables, and a small visitor center housed in what was once a lab of some kind. However, the museum and rest rooms were closed for winter.

This view shows part of the tramway used to move hot concrete pellets from the kiln, which is gone but was to the left of the concrete structure to the left of the photo. The concrete silos were filled with–you guessed it–Portland cement by a screw device on top of them, which is apparently still installed but not open to the public.

This building was connected by the tramway but the signage doesn’t explain everything yet; this is a scientific investigation in progress. After what I’ve seen around the area, I am not surprised at all by PSE taking an interest in such a humble project.

PSE constructed this dam on Baker River. I think the building is the original generator house, but they haven’t installed detailed signs yet. There is a new facility just downstream that appears to be using the original plumbing. The transmission lines are on top of the hill, where this photo was taken, but I don’t know if this antique is still operating; there were several power lines leading down to it however. Hydroelectric generators last for decades, but this one would have been inefficient and probably not very useful today.

But you never know…

The National Park Service visitor center was closed for winter, but PSE had a small facility located a few miles further up Hwy 20. We stopped to stretch our legs and discovered a pedestrian suspension bridge crossing the Skagit River … and guess where the trail led.

About a half-mile walk led to a hydroelectric generation facility that was in use until recently. It was used to power a sawmill. Two water turbines/generators can be viewed through the window in the middle of the building, but they weren’t spinning and no water was flowing through the output spillway to the right.

This is one of the turbines that ran the generator.

PSE maintains a small sculpture garden that includes this representation of a salmon nest in a stream bed. In the background, you can see the edge of an arch built of electric insulators from the power station.

Final Thoughts

Industrial archeology wasn’t the principal reason for our journey through the Northern Cascades, but it was a welcome and rewarding addition to a great fall weekend in the Pacific Northwest.