Snoqualmie Valley Record, January 11, 2012

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VALLEY RECORD SNOQUALMIE

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2012 ■ DAILY UPDATES AT WWW.VALLEYRECORD.COM ■ 75 CENTS

District denies transfer, preserves ‘cascading’ corridor

Musical grower Nels Melgaard named Citizen of the Year Page 3

Parents on far edge of Valley schools ponder next move BY CAROL LADWIG Staff Reporter

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

SPORTS

A vast pipe splits behind Dave Jennesse, project manager for Puget Sound Energy’s $200 million renovation at Snoqualmie Falls’ twin hydroelectric plants. The split pipe is part of a new feature meant to ensure river flow at Plant 2. Below, workers dismantle a turbine at Plant 1, located 260 feet of solid rock below the crest of the Falls.

Mind and body toughness helps Wildcat wrestlers gut out big win Page 11

113-year tuneup Spirit of 1899 still echoes at the Falls as power plant gets makeover of the century BY SETH TRUSCOTT Editor

INDEX OPINION LETTERS SCHOOLS CALENDAR MOVIE TIMES OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS

4 5 6 7 12 13 14

Vol. 98, No. 33

Critics called it “Baker’s Folly.” The idea of tunneling 260 feet through solid rock to install a power plant at the base of a waterfall was considered so bold as to be ludicrous to some. But not only was the Snoqualmie Falls hydroelectric plant a success, it’s also had an amazing longevity. It took Charles H. Baker, a visionary engineer and entrepreneur from back east, 16 months and, they say, only 35 employees to build the subterranean power plant, the world’s first. Electric lights in a cavern below the Falls proclaim the year that it all started, “1898.” If Baker could see his creation now, he’d probably be amazed and proud. “As he predicted, his project is still running,” said Elizabeth Dubrueil, resident historian for Puget Sound Energy, the company that operates the Falls plant today. “This plant is still doing what he built it to do,” Dubreuil added.

While the Falls power plant is now at the midpoint of a 114-year tune-up, Baker’s concept, as well as his original four hydroelectric generators, are still at the heart of it all.

Change of the century Above and below ground, great changes are happening at the Snoqualmie Falls. SEE SPIRIT OF 1899, 2

After two failed attempts to transfer out of the Snoqualmie Valley School District, a group of Sammamish parents is deciding on their next move. “We’re definitely frustrated,” said Terri Thompson, a parent from the Sammamish neighborhood that petitioned to transfer into the Lake Washington School District. “I don’t think it’s over, but I don’t know.” The petition, signed by Thompson and representatives from some 60 other families, requested changing the school district boundaries to allow their Sammamish neighborhood to leave Snoqualmie Valley and join Lake Washington School District. Snoqualmie Valley School District denied the petition Dec. 15, and Lake Washington did the same at its Jan. 9 meeting. This is the second petition filed by the neighborhood in the last 10 years. The first, filed in 2003, was denied by Snoqualmie Valley but approved by Lake Washington and went to the Puget Sound Education Service District for a final decision. The ESD ruled in favor of the petitioners in Oct. 8, 2003, but Snoqualmie Valley appealed the decision in November, and it was reversed the following March. Now, the petitioners may appeal. SEE APPEAL, 5

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