CARLSBORG — Jeff Monroe, proprietor of Monroe House Moving, Inc., will be honored May 19 for moving the Enchanted Valley chalet from its precarious perch above the East Fork Quinault River in September.
Monroe will be presented with a 2015 Washington State Historic Preservation Officer Award during a special ceremony in the Columbia Room of the Legislative Building in Olympia.
Monroe, the third generation of his family to operate the house moving business founded in 1930, was pleasantly surprised when he learned he was a recipient of the award.
Monroe and a crew of about six volunteers moved the chalet, built in the early 1930s, about 100 feet away from the river’s crumbling banks in Olympic National Park.
The river had undercut the structure by 8 feet.
The historic 2-½ story chalet weighs about 64 tons, and was moved entirely by hand over the course of several days.
Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said that park officials decided to move the chalet because of possible environmental harm to the river if the structure fell into it, not to preserve the chalet.
Planning the future of the chalet will begin this summer, Maynes said.
But to Monroe, saving the chalet was the point of the effort.
The chalet “is really, really important,” he said.
“This isn’t just a building anymore. This is something else. It means a lot to a lot of people.”
After learning in January 2014 that the chalet was endangered, Monroe said he was confident relocating the historic building would be possible.
In March 2014, he hiked in to the chalet, located within Olympic Wilderness more than 13 miles from the trail head, to assess the feasibility of the move, and offered his services to park officials.
“This was a community service issue at this point,” Monroe said.
“This building had to get saved, and I wanted to do it. I wanted to go get it done.”
The day after park officials — following a concise environmental assessment process, authorized the moving project — Monroe hiked back up to the chalet to make final preparations for the project.
The project was logistically challenging, Monroe said.
Heavy equipment — including steel moving beams, specially made dollies and steel skid shoes used to slide the house — were flown to the remote location over the course of three days via helicopter.
The rest of the equipment, as well as tents, food and other necessities, were hauled to the site by two teams of pack mules who made daily trips to or from the chalet continuously for two weeks.
The mule teams were contracted through Sol Duc Valley Packers’ owners Larry and Sherry Baysinger by Olympic National Park officials.
To reach the site, four team members rode horses while the rest hiked the 27-mile round-trip up Enchanted Valley.
About 15 people in all were involved in the project in some way, including the cooks who provided meals for the crew while on location.
To move the building, Monroe and his crew used two wheel dollies, specifically made for the project, and custom crafted skid shoes to slide the chalet over three steel rails to the new location.
The conditions at the site, and the fact the chalet was teetering on the edge of the river, posed a significant challenge for Monroe and his crew.
“The ground that is up there is basically drain rock with dirt in it,” Monroe said.
“It gives it just enough binder. If you take the dirt away from that, it collapses. So [the chalet] is hanging over eight feet and we are just over the bank inside of that . . . trying to hold it.”
Once the move was completed, the building was lowered onto cribbing towers — a temporary wooden foundation — and secured.
The building will remain closed to the public while in its current temporary location.
The ultimate fate of the chalet has yet to be decided, with no plans of yet to relocate it as of this time, Maynes said.
A study to determine the final location and the future of the chalet is expected to begin in a few months.
Options could include finding a new spot for the structure, taking out sections, or removing it entirely, park officials said.
“The next step is to begin and then work through a planning process that will involve the development of an environmental assessment that will include at least two opportunities for public comment,” Maynes said.
“What we will be doing in that process is assessing and deciding what the final disposition of the chalet will be, and that planning process — we anticipate — will begin this summer.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
