The city of Snoqualmie and Puget Sound Energy (PSE) have finalized a new tourism opportunity at the falls on Monday, May 11, at the city council meeting. Visitors now have access to a museum on-site at the falls, a historic train depot with displayed archival materials and a turbine (“Generator 5”) from the underground powerhouse.

The museum, located at the top of the falls on the adjacent side of the Salish Lodge, was built in a repurposed carpenter shop and a glimpse of larger artifacts and retired equipment.  The interpretative material will explain the hydroelectric history of the falls.

The museum is just off the train tracks.

Operation hours are tentatively set for Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m during the height of summer. This year, the program will begin in June and offers three new jobs for seasonal interpreters: two interns and a historic area coordinator, who will be managed by the city. Puget Sound Energy will cover expenses.

The museum is small and is slated to house roughly 50 people at a time. Elizabeth Dubreuil, consulting cultural resource scientist for PSE, said the museum is open to working with schools in the future, but for now this summer opening will act as the pilot program.

The museum was built as PSE finished a four-year redevelopment project for two hydroelectric facilities after it received a renewed 40-year license in 2004. The renovated facilities were: Plant 1, the more than a century-old structure (the world’s first underground power plant), housed in bedrock 260-feet below the surface; and Plant 2, its above-ground neighbor located a quarter-mile downstream from the falls. Together, the facilities now produce up to 54 megawatts of energy (10 more than before the renovations), enough to power 40,000 homes.

A view of the “Generator 5” turbine.