Show r ran EAM AN STARTS STORING RIVER WATER nev record fast nearing completion the mighty boulder Bou lifer dam Is taking on 1 its final appearance and a mammoth inland water starts backing up iron from its coll osal upstream side to form a giant late lake friday february marked a historic period in the progress of the dam construction that morning the river was turned into tunnel no I 1 on the nevada side into the lower end of which a gigantic I 1 tunnel plug of concrete was built the colorado river went back into its centuries old bed in black canyon surged lustily down stream and bumped its head on boulder dam six workmen with spades and a steel gate twelve feet thick moved a river that tor for uncounted years has gone on its way irresistible until three years ago men and machinery swarmed into the depths ot of tha canyon and behind the great dam the water began to rise a tiny traction fraction of an inch at a time the beginning or 0 a great lake that will be milea long lone routine job it was just a routine job said ald r tank frank crow construction engineer for the six companies incorporated and walker R young 0 of the reclamation service the rising sun was waa touching the top ot of the dam site when th ax vor kmen swung their sh shovel ovel I 1 an and d cut away the last earth barrier at the mouth of tunnel no I 1 on the nevada side water beg be ganto aOto trickle through grew into a stream but in the tunnel the exploring waters I 1 found o und themselves controlled by 0 pates s and valves valve that will let thru only enough to meet the needs ot of tho the area below the dam A minute later three million pounds of 0 steel fell ell with a dull clang as the immense gate blocked tho he tunnel across the river and t turned uy nea bark the waters that have been carried around the dam during construction work done quickly shut ot off from its road down the tunnel on the arizona side held down to a controlled low flow on the other the river plunged over the cofferdam met a cushion of water many feet deep that had been accumulated behind the dam to break the he shock and went no farther be continued to page tour four BOULDER DAM STARTS STORING STOKING RIVER WATES WATER continued from first page cause a concrete barrier feet act wide said heres where you stop and go eo to work the actual task ot of moving the river and beginning the storage of water took less than an hour it was the culmination of three years of 0 excavation and construction ot of many more years of planning engineers estimate that with normal flow the lake behind the dam will be 60 miles long and feet deep by june 1 in some tour four years more or less depending on how much water comes down the colorado the like lake will be miles long with it shore line ot of miles and hundreds of feet deep one tunnel yet open while it Is tilling filling work will be completed on the power house below the dam tunnel no 4 where the gate dropped today will be plugged with a huge cork ot of con crete halfway down its length when the lake level rises to the base ot of the tour four intake towers that stand on benches feet above the river bed and it is time to let the water into the penstocks pen stocks tunnel no I 1 will be plugged The reamer except tor for whatever water may go down the spillways spill ways in time ot of flood the waters of 0 the colorado will generate power before they go racing on down to irrigate imperial valley or at park er dam to flow into the metropolitan aqueduct bound tor for southern california with the colorado tamed imperial valley is now safe from floo 3 and drought mike alike for or just as the dam holds back floods the reservoir waters can be released under control at need finished ahead of time actual work at the dain sito began in the spring ot of 1931 the first concrete Von crete was poured on june 6 1933 and the job Is nearly two years ahead of schedule I 1 a boulder dard dam is feet high one nd one on alt times as high as the los angeles A U e ls city hall it Is teet feet thick it at the base and for ty five 14 tc e thick at the crest and 11 1180 0 teet feet long enough concrete went into ji to build a twenty toot foot highway from california Call tornia to florida the estimated cost Is and power contracts already let assure sufficient revenue to pay this entire kulii sum in less than fifty years the power plant in which the government will warl install the machinery will be able to generate general power I 1 I 1 to carry the power dower to loi log angeles angelea the los LOB angeles angelea bureau of power and light Is comp complesi leti ig a double line of toot foot steel tover lovers miles from the dam to cajon pass and forty miles of single towers lers from the pass to los angeles |