Historians get a feel for the old and new of Wyckoff plant

Published 12:08 pm Friday, January 14, 2011

Several of the island’s history buffs toured what’s left of the closed Wyckoff creosote plant on Bill Point and a new water treatment plant, which is the most recent addition since the Environmental Protection Agency began its clean up of the polluted site more than 20 years ago.

The tour, which was led by EPA’s site manager, Stan Warner, was set up primarily by Hank Helm, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum, “so we could just see what progress is being made and what remains to be done.”

Helm, curator Rick Chandler and BIHM Board President Joyce Lhamon were among the dozen islanders who made the tour inside the fenced area.

“From a historic standpoint,” Helm said, “there’s really nothing there except the old tanks and lots of concrete.”

Chandler said there were a few things worth saving, such as some steel hardware, but most of what remains isn’t salvageable. The old water treatment plant is scheduled for removal.

“For us, this was more about getting a look at where things are and where the pressure cookers and other large structures were at one time,” Chandler said. “It gave us some reference points.”

Chandler said the museum already has a large number of items from the old site, which began as the Perfection Pile Preserving Company when it moved its wood treatment plant from Port Madison to Bill Point in 1905.

“We have several hundreds of pounds of tools and documents in our basement,” he said. “We weren’t sure of what was left, which is one of the reasons we went out there. Now it’s down to the old water treatment tanks and piles of concrete rubble. That and the creosote lurking beneath them.”

He said the tour was worth taking. While the museum has collected a considerable number of aerial photographs of the old plant, it has no ground surveys of the property dating back to its beginning.

Chandler said the tour of the 2-year-old water treatment plant was a highlight since it was “good to see the level of care EPA is taking” to get rid of the polluted soil just below the surface.

“They’re pumping non-stop and we’re told that no polluted water is now leaving the site,” he said. “That’s encouraging, although I know it’ll take years and years to get rid of it all.”