Show Mole st starts on 73 miles Vat Tunnel Funnel A tunnel-drilling tunnel machine has started work on the Vat Tunnel at Currant Creek Reservoir to drill a diameter tunnel 73 miles into the West Fork of oC Duchesne River according to Richard safety engineer for the Bureau of Reclamations Reclamation's Duchesne office of the Central Utah Project THE TIIE TilE MACHINE is 22 long and bores into the mountain with a cutting head from the head drop into a catch- catch chute and are into a conveyor belt that carries the tailings to ore cars behind the mole Tailings then are hauled on a narrow gauge railroad tracks to the dump zone which will be under water when Currant Creek reservoir fills Larry Greep Creep tunnel engineer said the drilling contract was awarded in August 1975 to J. J F. F Shea Walnut California for with two years to complete the excavation after receiving notice to proceed Lining of the tunnel with reinforced concrete is expected to be completed in 1979 The finished tunnel will carry water from Uinta Basin streams into the enlarged Strawberry Reservoir u At one point along t the e tunnel route under Red Creek Mountain Moun Moun- Mountain tain there will be 2000 feet of overburden above the mole The mole must finish as it cannot back up once it gets underground Power and hydraulic lines have to be added as the mole proceeds underground underground un guided by a laser beam focused on a small target in front oi of the operator Once underground the machine will not be in daylight until it emerges on the other side of the mountain in the West Fork of Duchesne two years later OTHER features completed on the Bonneville Unit Central Utah Project are the Soldier Creek dam which enlarges Strawberry Reservoir Water Hollow Tunnel Layout Tunnel Currant Tunnel Currant Creek Pipeline and Currant Creek Dam and Reservoir When Vat Tunnel is complete waters from West Fork and Wolf Creek will be fed into the tunnel As other features are completed it will pick up waters from Hades Creek South Fork of Rock Creek and Rock Creek made passi possible le with Stillwater dam and tunnel Hades Creek pipeline and North NorthFork NorthFork NorthFork Fork tunnel and siphon |