Paradise echoed Monday not with the voices of park visitors, but with the thump and crash of 4,500-pound wrecking ball smashing through the old visitor center.

Using a 160-foot crane, crews began demolishing the saucer-shaped structure at the most visited location at Mount Rainier National Park.

Drew Perine/The News Tribune
A 160-foot crane directs a 4500-pound wrecking ball into the old Jackson Visitors Center during the first day of demolition Monday at Mount Rainier National Park.

The building, which opened in 1966 at a cost of $1.6 million, had become too inefficient to heat and maintain. The new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center opened Oct. 10 at a cost of $22 million.

As the ball sent concrete flying, it drew oohs and aahs from some of the 25 park employees who came to watch. The public could not attend because the park is closed while crews repair flood damage to the Nisqually Road.

Among those on hand was park superintendent Dave Uberuaga. Before the work began, he took one last opportunity to walk through the building.

“You can’t figure out where you’re at in there. It’s all concrete and steel,” he said. “It’s kind of one of those moments when you say ‘Dang, that’s a lot of building to come down.’ ”

Onlookers gasped when the ball -- slightly smaller than a 55-gallon drum and weighing as much as a full-size pick up truck -- plunged through the roof but broke from its cable. The ball slowly tumbled off the roof before crushing a small pine tree on the ground. Other times, one could feel the vibrations in the ground as the wrecking ball crashed into a stout section of concrete.

You can read a full story in Tuesday's News Tribune.

If you click here, you can use the park's Web cam to see the crane and the building.