Sandpoint, ID

Located west of Priest River is Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille river. My friend and I stopped one day on a trip back from Washington. Inside the visitor center we found a list of tour times, with the next tour leaving in 30 minutes. We waited outside in their picnic area where there were a few information signs about the dam and several picnic tables. Once it was time for the tour we met up with our tour guide and another group that was taking the tour. Our tour began with a descent down a small hill towards the powerhouse. The path was gravel most of the way with some pavement near the powerhouse parking lot. We chatted with the tour guide, where we learned she was a high school student working the summer at the dam. The dam, which belongs to the Army Core of Engineers, has a program set up with the high schools that allows kids who have interests in engineering studies to work the summers as tour guides until they graduate college. This was our tour guide’s first summer and although she was pretty knowledgeable about the dam, her knowledge about the area was not quite as extensive, but I am sure will come as she continues in the program.

Our tour continued into the powerhouse location. We walked along the top of the dam which had several cranes, some of which could lift up to 100 tons. The cranes are used to remove the garbage from the lake that piles up in front of the intake channels. They are also used to open the spillway gates. The guide pointed out that the dam had a log chute that was no longer in use, however they had plans to change it into a fish latter, since this dam does not have one. The only problem is that this dam would have a fish latter, and the dams upstream from Albeni do not, so the fish would be caught between the two dams. The guide also pointed out an antenna on the side of the dam which she informed us counted the Bull Trout as they swam by the dam. The Bull Trout are an endangered fish and apparently have some sort of tracking device implanted in them which allows them to be counted.

We moved along to the west side of the dam and looked down the river. The guide pointed out a line with a 97 written above it. This was the waterline from the spring run off in 1997. If you were not here in 1997 there was a huge ice storm that year accompanied by lots of snow. The guide told us even with the large snow packs this year (2007-2008) the water line did not even come close to the spring of 1997.

We moved inside the building and got into an elevator which took us to the 3rd floor. Inside here we found the 3 turbines, creating the power that is sold by Bonneville Power and supplies about 15,000 homes according to our tour guide. Our guide also told us the dam was not original constructed to generate power, but for flood control. The power she said was a nice added bonus. The room was filled with a lot of interesting information regarding the dams in the area and the HUGE tools they used to construct the dam, and probably the shiniest floor you will ever see!

The dam tour was very informative and I really enjoyed myself. If you would like to go on the Albeni Falls dam tour, all tours and parking are free. Albeni Falls Dam is found heading west on Highway 2 for about 30 miles from Sandpoint. The visitor center will be located on the left side of the highway along with plenty of parking. There are restroom services located at the visitors center and a gas station across the street. Old Town is also less than 5 miles away, continuing west on Highway 2.