idaho history
Behind the Gates at Swan Falls Dam
By Sharon Fisher, 5-22-08
Not far from Kuna is the cradle of Idaho’s hydropower industry, the Swan Falls Dam, on the Snake River Canyon. Built in 1901 to provide electricity to the Silver City mines, the dam continues to provide electricity today (though the powerhouse was rebuilt in the 1990s).
The three-phase electricity used by the dam was the “testing ground for modern electricity,” said Aldis Garsvo, programs manager for the Western Heritage Historic Byway, on which the dam is one stop.
In those days, Thomas Edison was a proponent of direct current, while Nikola Tesla was an advocate of alternating current – and AC was better able to traverse the distance between the dam and Silver City, said Joe Bell, of the Canyon County Parks, Recreation, and Waterways Department.
The dam is 1,150 feet across, 107 feet high, and with a surface area of 1,525 acres, Bell said. The reservoir catchment are covers 41,900 square miles, he added.
More than 100 vintage pictures of the dam and its construction are available through the Library of Congress.
After the powerhouse was rebuilt, the old powerhouse was turned into a museum to celebrate its history, including pictures of the old and new powerhouse being built, equipment from the powerhouse, explanations of how electricity works, and vintage advertisements encouraging farmers and farmwives to use electricity.
In the wake of 9/11, access to the powerhouse was restricted as a security risk, but the museum and surrounding area – which is on the National Registry of Historic Places – has an open house one day a year in May during Idaho Archeology and Historic Preservation Month, and by appointment during the year on Tuesdays and Wednesdays – including to a legion of fourth- and fifth-graders on tours, said Shane Baker, an archeologist for Idaho Power, which controls the dam itself and the area immediately around it.
The powerhouse is currently in its relicensing process, and Baker said he hopes that when that process is completed in two years, the museum will be open more regularly. In addition, the relicensing plans include improved parking and toilet facilities, as well as a dock that would allow visitors to approach the dam by boat. This would need to be arranged through the Bureau of Land Management, which controls access to other parts of the canyon, he said. “What we don’t have are tour guides,” he said, noting that security people staff the museum during the year. But the annual open house is very popular – in 2008, its third year, 389 people had been to the museum by 2:30 pm.
The area is currently used for recreational purposes as well.
To get there, take the Kuna-Meridian exit off Interstate 84 toward Kuna and take a left on Swan Falls Road after Kuna-Meridian Road changes its name to Avalon. past Paul’s Supermarket. Follow Swan Falls Road about 20 miles til you get to the sign for the am, then take the switchback down the canyon and remind yourself that all the equipment for the dam and powerhouse also went down that grade, by horse-drawn wagon.
To arrange a tour, call 208-736-3458 at least one week in advance.
Full disclosure: Sharon Fisher is a candidate for the Idaho Legislature, District 21.
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