Photograph of Diablo Dam — Photograph by Robert Ashworth, CC BY 2.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Diablo Hydroelectric Power Plant

Built in 1930 (Neoclassicism). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

From the record

“Diablo Dam is one of three dams along the upper Skagit River in Whatcom County, Washington and part of the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project that supplies Seattle with some of its power needs. The dam was built in Diablo Canyon, a gorge of solid granite with vertical walls rising 160 feet (49 m) from the river bed, yet were less than 100 feet (30 m) apart.”
Wikipedia article Diablo Dam, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 74 National Register listings published here for Whatcom County · listed in 1989 · category: District · built in 1930, Neoclassicism.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Off WA 20 at W end of Diablo Lake, Newhalem, 98283
When was it listed? June 1989
Category. district
Also known as. Hydroelectric Power Plants in Washington State, 1890-1938 MPS
Census division. East Whatcom
When was it built? 1930
Architectural style. Neoclassicism
National Register reference number. 89000498 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

38 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 38 fires within 5 miles of Diablo Hydroelectric Power Plant between 1992 and 2019, burning about 2,478 acres in total. 27 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Natural	27
Recreation and ceremony	6
Smoking	2
Fireworks	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Debris and open burning	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2019	Natural	under an acre	North Cascades National Park	WEE
8 September 2019	Natural	2.0 acres	North Cascades National Park	OVERLOOK
7 September 2019	Natural	under an acre	North Cascades National Park	SOURDOUGH STRIKE
4 September 2019	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	North Cascades National Park	SOURDOUGH
23 September 2011	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Ross Lake National Recreation Area	COLONIAL CREEK
1 September 1994	Natural	under an acre	North Cascades National Park	PYRAMID RG
9 August 1998	Smoking	under an acre	North Cascades National Park	PYRAMID LK
7 August 2013	Natural	under an acre	North Cascades National Park	RUBY

Every fire recorded in Whatcom County

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Diablo Hydroelectric Power Plant: 3 occurrences, 1 unknown, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Chromium, Gold, Strontium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
H.B. Brown Claim	Strontium	Occurrence
Diablo	Chromium	Unknown
Diablo Claim	Chromium	Occurrence	Chromite
Scougale Placer	Gold	Occurrence
Scougale Placer	Gold	Past Producer	Stream Placer

Every working recorded in Whatcom County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

5 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Skagit River and Newhalem Creek Hydroelectric Projects (Boundary Increase)	1.5 miles	2011
Sourdough Mountain Lookout	2.3 miles	1989
Skagit River and Newhalem Creek Hydroelectric Projects	3.0 miles	1996
Devil's Corner Cliff Walk	4.3 miles	1974
Gorge Hydroelectric Power Plants	4.4 miles	1989

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 89000498 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Whatcom County	All 74 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.