When some lights in the Museum Gallery blinked late Friday afternoon, our maintenance supervisor, Dave Unruh, headed to the underground electrical room. In checking breakers and power readings, he discovered we had lost one “leg” of power. (The Museum has three power “legs”.)

After discussing several options, it was decided we needed to guard against possible equipment damage until the system could be thoroughly checked out. So Dave pulled the disconnect switch to the transformer and our emergency lights immediately came on. (The emergency system actually provides more light than our regular museum lighting which is designed more for aesthetic qualities.)

However, some areas such as the exhibit videos and the gift shop registers had no power. Always preferring to err on the side of caution, and wanting adequate time for our electrician to conduct testing before continuing tours, we gathered all our underground visitors at the hoist to return topside.  Many had completed their tours, but those who had just recently arrived down under were certainly issued refunds. And our 4:00 tour group had to be told that their trip underground, unfortunately, would have to be another day.

If you think the visitors were disappointed, you should have talked to the staff and docents. We love sharing this unique experience, and turning away visitors just isn’t something we want to do. Our first priority is safety, though, and we needed to wait for an evaluation by the electrician who knows our system inside and out -- and who was on his way.

After a preliminary look Friday evening, Pat Thompson from C2i returned Saturday morning with a crew to further assess the situation. The final verdict was that a high voltage fuse had blown at the same time Dave pulled the disconnect switch. Imagine our dismay when the search for a replacement from local and surrounding sources led to a dead end. We ultimately had to accept that waiting until Monday morning to contact larger metro electrical suppliers was our only remaining option.

We never want to turn visitors away and especially now, in the height of our tourist season, it would cost us a lot. The weekend had the potential for the highest attendance of the year, so it was hard to remember to count our blessings that the blown fuse, as frustrating as it was, had protected a $50,000 transformer!

Of course, we quickly posted updates on our web site, put signs on the Visitors Center doors, and added messages on our phone system. We repeatedly (and sincerely) apologized for any inconvenience to our visitors. Staff members were here both Saturday and Sunday to greet those who had not called ahead or checked the web site before driving to the Museum.

Monday morning came and so did the greatly anticipated good news -- a fuse had been found! Then came the bad news – it was in Portland, Oregon. (The fact that these types of fuses cost about $700 each, and we needed to pay overnight shipping, isn’t the kind of news you like to get either.) Actually, the Portland supply house had three of these fuses in stock. Considering that they are not necessarily available on a local basis, and if one cannot be located in stock somewhere, the production lead time is 6 weeks, we decided it would be prudent to purchase all three. So now we have two spares in anticipation of future needs.

Nonetheless, we now knew the Museum could soon be back welcoming visitors. The projected arrival time for the fuse was 10:00 Tuesday morning. Wait, now I’m told it will get here by 8:00 am. Why, we can be back operating in time for our regular first tour of the day at 9:20. I’m encouraged.

Tuesday morning, 6:30 am, I get a message from our electrician, Pat: “Something in shipping instructions went awry and shipment will not arrive at 8 am. It may be noon.”

Then at 10:20 am, a message from Pat: “The fuse has arrived and we’re on our way!!!”

I reminded myself of a first time expectant father outside a delivery room the way I was pacing the office waiting for the moment we could once again open our doors for business. Then, the part arrived with a C2i electrician, I excitedly escorted them to the hoist... and at 11:01 am we had full underground power.

Because of all the uncertainty about the shipment’s arrival time, we had postponed morning tickets until the afternoon to minimize the possibility of any additional inconvenience for visitors. But I can assure you that all of us -- staff and volunteers -- immediately, eagerly, and enthusiastically started greeting the visitors now walking through our doors, ecstatic that once again we were able to share our passion for this place with others!

Gayle Ferrell

Director of Operations