Happy Birthday Lake Tapps!

Known as being one of the premier recreational lakes in the region, Lake Tapps began its life in 1911 as a reservoir to turn turbines and generate electricity as part of the White River Project and this weekend the new owners at Cascade Water Alliance are throwing a party for its centennial.

According to Cascade Communications Director Elaine Kraft, the new owners, who are completing their second year of management of the lake, were going through some files and discovered that this marked the 100th anniversary of the lake’s construction.

“So we decided to have a little celebration,” Kraft said.

Construction of the lake began in 1909 as four natural lakes – Crawford, Kirtley, Church and Tapps – and the swampland between them were flooded to create the lake we know today.

The result was a storage basin that held 2.4 billion cubic feet of water, enough to generate 18 million kilowatt hours of electricity in the powerhouse at the base of the hill, which will be open to the public during the celebration.

“They need power for Seattle,” said Greater Bonney Lake Historical Society president Dennis Dhaese.

The Historical Society is co-sponsoring Saturday’s event and have been involved with creating the exhibits and presentations that will be on display during the event.

According to Dhaese, there will be Powerpoint presentations and slideshows of old photographs as well as maps and other images from the time, showing how the lake was constructed.

Dhaese said the most interesting part, however, will be tours of the powerhouse, which stopped producing power more than a decade ago, but still contains all of the original equipment. Water still flows through the powerhouse today, as the outfill back into the White River from the lake.

“To me it’s kind of amazing to think it’s still operating with the same equipment,” he said.

Kraft said a scale model showing the entire system, from Mount Rainier to Mud Mountain Dam to the diversion flumes to Tapps to the powerhouse will also be on display.

“It’s a cool process,” she said.

In addition, Winona Jacobsen, author of “Images of the Bonney Lake Plateau,” which contains a chapter on construction of the lake, will also be on hand to sign copies of the book, which will be available for purchase. All proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the Historical Society.

Food and entertainment is also planned for the day, including free picnic food, a taste of birthday cake for all and special activities for the kids, all to the sound of live, old-time music performed by the band “1928.”

The event is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Powerhouse, 2111 East Valley Highway in Sumner.

Cascade is offering tours of the Powerhouse every half-hour from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Space on the tours is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Powerhouse is not an ADA compliant facility, however and individuals interested in the tour are warned that there are a series of steep staircases and extensive walking on the tour.

The event is free and open to the public.