[naturealbeing]

Does anyone have any information on some old wooden pipes? Let me explain, while checking out a creek on Troublesome Mtn. I came across some old wooden pipes coming down the mtn. They were close to 8’’ in diameter and were held together by 1/4’’ steel rods that were threaded at the end and put through a hole at the other end with a nut to keep the rods tight on the pipes. Like a clamp used on most radiator hoses. I followed the pipe to the source, which took me up the mtn. side about three to five hundred feet from the road. This was near a waterfall and there was some scrap metal lying around this area. With so much water in this area it’s a mystery to me why anyone would go through the trouble to plumb a water pipe down the side of a mtn. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[mike]

It could have been used to power a water wheel or for domestic supply among other things. These old pipes are pretty common although most I've seen are about 10-12 inch size and wire wound. As a kid I used to walk the pipeline up on Cultus Mtn that fed into the Judy reservoir I think. I believe it tapped into Walker Ck. My property has an old wooden waterline passing through it. Handy stuff, I've used several sections of it for culverts.

[Riverside Laker]

That's probably a water pipe for powering drills or whatnot used in mines. Those pipes could be as much as 100 years old.

[-lol-]

[Malachai Constant]

Most likely it was the supply for a Pelton wheel which was a vertical wheel that worked best with a big head. That way it did not require a lot of watter dams and a flume. They usually powered a generator which ran compressors and lights. There is still an operating one at Trinity.

[naturealbeing]

Thanks for all the information everyone. This is one of the great qualitys of this forum. The willingness of the members to take their time and share their knowledge, so others may be enriched. Your contributions have been greatly appreciated.

[cheakamus]

There's some of the 10-12" wire-wound variety on the way up to Gothic Basin. At one point the path crosses over it and if you poke around in the bushes there's quite a bit of it in very good condition, partially covered by rocks mounded over it.

[mb]

they use similar (but modern) systems in alaska for hydro power... don't think anything that small is in commercial use down here (though people sometimes still build their own) http://www.uaf.edu/aetdl/blackbearlake-goatlake-grimm.pdf

[Riverside Laker]

You can find this sort of piping on the Wonderland trail not terribly far from Longmire, and on the old McClellans Butte trail.

[Reachsea]

I believe the pipes belonged the water system for Garland Mineral Springs. The pipes were probably on Coulter Creek which did feed into a Pelton wheel running a Direct Current powerplant. The powerplant would have been down the line and about 70 yards from the road. Jon

[Barron Brown]

I came across a shattered pipe of this sort on the Mineral Creek trail on Friday. This pipe was made from individual staves like a small barrel, held together with wire. It lay about a hundred yards upstream of a ruined miner's cabin (more like a pile of wood chips: you have to look hard to see that some of the scraps are milled lumber). This pipe was about a foot in diameter, clearly way bigger than required to supply drinking water. I'm thinking it was either for placer work (though I didn't think this sort of mining was done in WA) or to power a water wheel, as above. In Port Townsend's Chetzemoka Park, right at the edge of the bluff, there is a very old looking wooden drainpipe made of a hollow log with wire banding. It's still doing the job it was made for. I love finding things like that in the twenty first century.