Barge Services To Stehekin Face Mounting Problems In Wake Of Storm Damages

The damages caused in and around the town of Stehekin by last month's strong storms are magnifying the impacts of a problem which has already been mounting for some time now.

Issues created by the storms like flooding and mudslides are making it more difficult for the barges that carry vital goods and supplies to the small community on the northern shores of Lake Chelan to get in and out of the town's docks, and placing an extra layer of strain on the company that provides the service.

"It's a very frustrating situation up there," says Chelan County Commissioner Shon Smith. "The people who live up there and are isolated live up there for that very reason, but with that isolation comes certain issues with transportation. And when you're trying to get things in and out of a place like that - especially in an efficient manner, and the infrastructure is down, it makes it very hard to do that. We have a lot of lives up there that are relying on constant boat service from Chelan that bring up everything from repair materials and equipment to everyday staples and food."

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Chelan-based Mountain Barge Services has been providing cargo transports to Stehekin since 1976, but in recent years the company has been finding it more difficult to operate from its longstanding staging yard at 41 Anderson Road, and shipping dock at 1222 West Woodin Avenue.

"Mountain Barge Service has been operating out of downtown Chelan for many decades," explains Smith. "But they've grown out of that spot and all of the new development going on around their location is really pushing and pulling on them and making it a less convenient place to have things like big trucks and equipment coming and going to be loaded on the barge."

The recent damages in Stehekin and the need to repair them as quickly as possible have increased both the frequency of Mountain's barge runs to the community, as well as their urgency.

Smith says Mountain is currently considering a couple of possible sites to relocate their operations, but these moves will take some time to both broker and physically facilitate, so the need for a temporary solution is great.

"It takes a lot of work to find a good location for a business like this which is so heavily relied upon by so many people, and there are a couple of locations that could work for them. But what we need right now is a short-term fix, so they are able to continue to provide the critical and even life-saving services that are going up-lake."

Although the need for a new location for Mountain to stage and dock its barges is already great and growing, no fixes - temporary or otherwise, have yet been identified.

Chelan County Natural Resources Department Director, Mike Kaputa, tells KPQ News in an e-mail, "The county is exploring a variety of options at this time and hopes to know more in 30 days."

Until then, barge runs to Stehekin will continue as often as possible from the same base of operations that Mountain has used for the past 50 years, as its search for a new permanent location also goes on.