Show the great G r e a t tie kieton tieton ton canal FROM N Y CEMENT AGE I 1 am among ong the greatest reclamation service projects of the united states was the construction st ruction of the tieton kieton canal which derives its water supply from the tieton kieton river in the state of washington one of the feeders st ruction of which novel features of design have been introduced the tieton kieton river throughout most of its course flows in a canyon calyon approximately 2000 feet deep the main canal with a length 01 A opp IN A W U view showing size and shape of concrete sections of the naches the most important tributary of the yakima the accompanying illustrations aff afford ord a very clear idea of the magnitude of this undertaking the construction of the canal is described in detail in an interesting te paper by mr E G hopson M am soc 0 E in the august 1910 proceedings ce of the american society of civil engineers As described by mr hopson the tieton kieton river drains a mountainous area of about square miles on the east slope of the cascade range the tieton kieton project includes some acres mostly of excellent semiarid semi arid agricultural land lying north and west of the city of north yakima in the basin of cowiche creek which requires for its proper development an artificial supply for irrigation during the summer the supply will be diverted from the tieton kieton river at a point some fourteen miles above the irrigable lands and conducted in a reinforced concrete conduit or aqueduct along the tieton kieton canon to an elevation sufficient fi to permit of piercing the naches ridge by a tunnel so as to deliver into the cowiche basin for distribution the diversion of the summer flow of the tieton kieton river however necessitates the construction of compensating storage on the naches river to satisfy vested rights on the naches and yakima rivers a reservoir of some acre feet being now under construction at dumping bumping lake for this purpose mr hop sons paper describes the main canal or aqueduct along the tieton kieton canyon in the con of about 12 miles from the diversion point in the river to the lower extrema extremity ty oi of the tunnel through the naches ridge encountered practically every variety of material in its course but at no point excepting in the extreme upper 1000 feet was the formation such as to permit of the use of the ordinary type of unlined earth canal the reclamation service therefore attempted to combine some of the advantages of flume construction with more permanent types by working out a design in reinforced concrete which alone promised to give the lateral stiffness necessary to resist both external and internal loadings as well as to reduce the undercutting of the side hill slopes to a minimum owing to lack of concrete materials water and working space on the location the idea of building the canal in separate sections of reinforced concrete each self contained and sufficiently rigid to permit of transportation and handling was conceived river flats in tho the vicinity were utilized as manufacturing yards during the spring and summer of 1906 several designs were prepared for concrete shapes and later experimental sections were built and tete tested on the grounds of the local office of the acclamation service at north yakima the shape that appeared to be the most satisfactory L iry after extended and severe tests rus resisted isted internal pressures of pounds from each strut which was more than twice what the hydrostatic pressure would be with the canal entirely full of water the sections or shapes are of uniform length measured along the canal of 2 feet both for open canal and tunnel work each shape consisted of a slab of reinforced concrete 4 inches thick molded to the desired shape the reinforcement consisted of 3 8 inch corrugated rods placed 4 inches from center to center each open canal shape was stiffened by a 4 inch by 6 inch crossbar which had for reinforcement 23 2 3 8 inch corrugated rods the tunnel shapes were completely cylindrical the concrete in these shapes was generally composed of one part cement to ten parts unmixed aagre A 11 L 4 41 Head gates kieton tieton canal gates the latter being proportioned so as to give a mixture as dense as possible the shapes were all cast on their sides in steel stae 1 molds the molds were made of thin sheet steel riveted to steel angles and stiffened with suitable bracing of light angle iron the molds for the open canal were made in four pieces two inside and tw two 0 outside all tunnel molds were made in six pieces of similar construction all parts were light the heaviest being handled easily by two men mixing was done in cubical batch mixers each batch exactly filling a mold the open canal shapes containing about cubic yards and the tunnel shapes about cubic yards all the aggregates were screened by rotary screens and segregated into two grades of gravel and one of sand the coarsest gravel used passing a 21 inch mesh A very wet mix was used the process of setting up forms and placing concrete and steel was performed with remarkable expedition and by a comparatively small number of men the regular gang for setting up and handling the forms and preparing the bases consisted generally of one foreman and ten men who would set up 41 r M Z 4 AN fa 1 R e U ai r 7 AA traversing a hillside near the tunnel f from rom 80 to forms a day at an average cost of little more than 50 cents per form or equivalent to per cubic yard of concrete the average cost of excavating handling cru crushing and screening the concrete aggregates was about per cubic yard of concrete the cost of mixing and delivering the concrete to the molds was about 70 cents per cubic yard the cost of placing concrete in the molds including the handling and placing of steel reinforcement was about 65 lents pr por cubic yard in other words the total labor labo cost for the finished concrete in the moldy was about per cubic yard the cost of plant and supplies added about 33 to this figure the latter including the coltof cost of all sheet forms mixers crushers pipe pumps teams and wagons used in connection with making the concrete for the open canal shapes the total cost therefore for labor supplies and plant for this concrete was about per cubic yard the concrete shapes after being cast were left undisturbed for intervals of from 24 to 36 hours before the forms were removed the period being extended to two or three days in colder weather the concrete when stripped invariably had clean smooth surfaces with sharp edges and good color it was covered with gunny sacks or canvas and was sprinkled continuously for a period of about ten days in warm weather the cost of wetting and finishing the concrete for open canal shapes was about per cubic yard thus bringing the cost of concrete up to per cubic yard for labor plant and supplies for the completed shape or about for each shape measuring two feet along the canal line or equivalent to a little more than per lineal foot of lining for the open canal about 35 pounds of steel was used for each shape and about a half barrel of cement each costing about and respectively ively so that the final cost of the concrete in the open canal shapes when completed and lying in the yard ready for transportation por tation to the canal including the cost of cement and steel was about per shape or per foot of canal lining or if reduced to a yardage basis equal to about 17 per cubic yard T the e cost of tunnel lining were somewhat eigher than the above the weng permitted to lie in the yards for a period of not less than 30 days after which they wire waxe raised from their beds and hauled to the point where they were loaded on special cars for delivery to the canal the process of delivering and setting the shapes was a very interesting one the gangs being thoroughly drilled and each man an expert in his line of work the laying gang consisting of an inspector foreman and eight laborers laid on an average 40 to 50 shapes per day in open canal work or a total of from 80 to feet of canal lining the cost of labor in handling and placing the shapes was about 47 cents per lineal foot of lining this price including the cost of all backfilling back filling the joints were made of concrete of a fine aggregate the stones passing a 12 inch mesh the finish surface of the joint which was made of mortar was tro on exactly flush with the surfaces of the adjacent shapes the result of the jointing has been very satisfactory the interior of the canal having a remarkably smooth and even surface the appearance of this remarkable and interesting engineering work is shown in the accompanying illustrations it is believed by mr hopson that construction of this type has not been used elsewhere on any large scale if at all he states in his interesting article that it has proved a successful method of building b and ad may be recommended for adoption elsewhere wherever conditions are such as to warrant it while he does not so state it is needless to say that it would be extremely difficult to carry out a project of this kind without the use of cement the engineers in local charge at the commencement men cement of the work were joseph jacobs M am soc C E district engineer and E mcculloh M am soc 0 E president Eres resident ident engineer both acting under ander the direction of D C henry M am soc 0 E supervising engineer and mr hopson hobson the organization of the work however wa was s mainly built up under the local direction of mr C H swigart then project engineer aided by an able corps corp of assistants much of the success of the work is due to the skill and ingenuity of mr maney the superintendent and mr cronholm master mechanic mr hopson was associated with the work until un til the beginning of 1909 after which it was continued and completed under the direction of mr swigart as supervising engineer and mr J S conway engineer all operations were under the general direction of F H newell M am soc C E director and A P davis M am soc C E chief engineer of the reclamation cla mation service |