CARLSBORG — A Carlsborg house moving company has been awarded the Olympic National Park contract to move the historical Enchanted Valley Chalet to safer ground.
The estimated cost is $124,000, and Monroe House Moving Inc. is expected to move the structure — now teetering on the edge of the East Fork Quinault River — during the first two weeks of next month.
A statement from Olympic National Park today said that once materials and personnel are at the site in the park wilderness, moving the building will take about one week to complete.
The contract covers all necessary labor, supervision, equipment and transportation by either foot or pack mule.
In addition, the National Park Service will provide helicopter transport for equipment and materials that are too large or heavy to be carried by humans or pack stock.
National Park Service staff also will be on the site.
Enchanted Valley Chalet, which is 13 miles from the nearest road, was built as a backcountry lodge in the 1930s, before the creation of the national park.
It is 13 miles uptrail from the Graves Creek trailhead in the Quinault Valley and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Storms, fallen trees, rock slides and the constant process of erosion caused the Quinault River fork to change direction and cut a channel to the building.
Monroe House Moving will move the chalet between 50 and 100 feet from the river’s edge.
The Enchanted Valley and Graves Creek Stock Camp will be closed to the public during the project, Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum said.
