Inside the building it was warm. As we entered I saw racks and consoles of control and test equipment. I also saw the two men who worked up there. They would live up there for a week and then be down at home for two weeks.
We looked around. Some parts of the building hadn't changed from when I was a small boy. The kitchen was still the same as when I first saw it in the mid 1960s with 1950s style table, linoleum, and refrigerator. The food storage was still the same – rows and rows of Campbell’s Soup greeted me, although I was sure they weren't the same cans of soup I saw the first time I came up to Coon Peak when I was four years old!
There were changes though. My Dad showed me a new tunnel that had just been completed. It connected the main building to an emergency power plant. There was a large diesel engine that ran a generator. Dad said there was enough fuel stored up there to keep the station on the air for several weeks if there was an extended power outage.
From there we went back outside. We hurried past the last tower of the old tram. Currently, the car was not on the platform. It was down at its starting place in the valley. The empty platform looked sad. Like it wished people could ride the tram again. The feeling was mutual.
(Pictured: The building that would house the emergency generator – being built)
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