Mendenhall Valley in Juneau in Juneau Borough, Alaska — Northwest (North America)
Power in a Pipe
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Photographed by Thomas Smith, August 10, 2025
1. Power in a Pipe Marker
Power in a Pipe
This steel pipe carried water over one mile from Nugget Creek to the Nugget Creek Powerhouse.
In 1910, the Treadwell Mining Company bought the water rights to Nugget Creek from miner Ben Bullard for $10,000. The pipeline, built between 1912 and 1914 from Nugget Creek to the powerhouse, passed through a 650 foot tunnel carved through the ridge between Nugget Creek and the Mendenhall Valley.
Excavating the tunnel by hand at a cost of approximately 37 dollars per foot was expensive. Work on the tunnel halted while a power line was built bringing electricity from another power plant to the rock drills On the Mendenhall Valley side of the tunnel, a wooden stave pipe, 4 feet in diameter and almost a mile long, fed the water to a smaller diameter riveted steel pipe stretching over 2000 feet in length.
Pipeline segments were positioned by an elaborate aerial tram system The route was neither flat nor straight, with uses supporting most segments and narrow catwalks for worker access. Water power was transformed into electricity at Nugget Creek Powerhouse Here you see a portion of the
this page online
Erected by Tongass National Forest.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1910.
Location. 58° 24.788′ N, 134° 32.705′ W. Marker is in Juneau, Alaska, in Juneau Borough. It is in Mendenhall Valley. It is at the intersection of East Glacier Trail and Glacier Spur Road, on the right when traveling east on East Glacier Trail. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 6000 Glacier Spur Rd, Juneau AK 99801, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southeast Alaska, in Tlingit and Haida & Tsimshian Region. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, the Inside Passage, the Pacific Rim, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Russian Empire.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 5 miles
Photographed by Thomas Smith, August 10, 2025
2. Power in a Pipe Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on August 28, 2025. It was originally submitted on August 27, 2025, by Thomas Smith of Waterloo, Ill. This page has been viewed 85 times since then and 41 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on August 27, 2025, by Thomas Smith of Waterloo, Ill. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.
