Show PRESIDENT OPENS GUNNISON BORE taft lets waters flow into uncompahgre compall gre valley BIG PROJECT IS COMPLETED mountain ridge pierced by the go gov v eminent in order to irrigate beautiful but semi and arid tract in colorado montrose col sept 23 president taft standing at the west portal of the great gunnison river tunnel a little before five 0 clock this afternoon pulled a lever and with a mighty rush the waters of the river six miles away poured into the uncompahgre valley in a life giving flood thousands of men and women nomen who a moment before had stood in silent awe burst forth in wild cheering can non which had been captured by col orado troops in manila roared a salute and brass bands added their patriotic music to the clamor mighty completed thus ws fittingly signalized the comple completion tiou of the gunnison river tun nel the first project undertaken by the united states government re cla mation service work on the pro eject was begun tour four and a half years ago and had progressed steadily ever since together with its main and distributing canals the tunnel will ir brigate 1 acres of land in a val ley naturally one of the most fertile in colorado but which has been semi arid because of the annual summer droughts and the inadequacy of the uncompahgre river this day of the opening of the tun uel nel was made the chief day of the western slope fair now being held here all the morning special trains kept coming in from various parts of the state and at 10 SO 30 there was a parade of the visitors early in the afternoon the explosion of a bomb told the people that the special train bearing president taft and other gov eminent officials had entered the city limits A second bomb announced his debarkation at the station and a third was vas sent up as the distinguished guest escorted by a great procession pio cession started for elks park president taft welcomed at the park after introductory re marks by F D catlin chairman of the gunnison tunnel opening commit Colora doans the celebration winding up with an illuminated parade and py ro display story of the great tunnel first ot of the big government recia matlon projects to be undertaken the gunnison river tunnel has been one ot of the most difficult to carry through the ample waters of the gunnison flow through narrow valleys s ed to agriculture or through deep rocky canyons while only a few miles to the west the lovely buncom valley has been suffering tor for water the gunnison descending in ever deepening gorges finally plunges into the black canyon one of the most magnificent mountain gorges in the world this unpromising spot was se lecter as the starting point of the tunnel brave engineers lowered themselves into the black canyon it points where the granite walls valls rise almost perpendicularly hundreds ot of feet and after their surveys were corn com plated active work was started on the immense project at great expense and under enor difficulties a wagon road wag built to the east portal of the tun nel it is 15 miles long and climb ing the granite ridge between the canyon and the uncompahgre valley descends the rocky wall on shelf work bore bu it for all ali time simultaneously work was begun at each end of the tunnel and at a point several thousand feet from the west wet end where a shaft was sunk As fast as the tunnel was driven through the shale and solid rock it was timbered and then the heavy timbers were covered with impervious cement this gives a tunnel of solid concrete built t I 1 akki XV 4 A 0 view of west portal before completion to withstand the wear of ages all the flumes culverts division gates drops and other work along the lines of the main canals are built of steel and concrete there Is no dam across the black canyon at the point where the river is turned into the tunnel instead of this the tunnel itself taps the river from beneath its granite bed by this plan neither floods nor slack wd wa ter can present ent the tunnel taking from the river all the water needed has immense capacity A few statistics of this tremendous project are worth setting forth the tunnel Is 30 feet long and 11 by 13 feet inside measurement the main canal is 30 feet wide at the bottom and 83 feet wide at the top and the average depth of the water is ten feet the capacity is 1300 1 cubic fert fer t of water a second after the water leaves the west portal of the tunnel it is conducted through 12 miles of canal to the uncompahgre there IQ 1 a drop of feet in this distance and this great fall will be utilized for ere cre N Y A wa V wr W A ai 4 0 y A 4 k i S 4 abw A X 1 1 11 concrete drop on the south canal tee mayor J Q alien allen turned the key ke of the city over to the guests then john C bell delivered the formal address of welcome to which dent tatt taft responded briefly and happily the exercises here con eluded with remarks by senator charles J hughes and gov john at four 0 clock trains start ed for the west portal of the tunnel where president tatt taft opened the gates and speeches were made by I 1 W mcconnell McCon nelI consulting engineer of the reclamation service and senator horace T delong of grand junction after the return to montrose there was a reception to president taft and others and this evening speeches were by a number of well known acing power A series of concrete drops has been constructed and the immense body of water rushing over them Is capable of generating at least 10 horse power which will be util iced in lighting the entire gre valley by electricity the cost of the tunnel and distria canals is over 5 and perpetual water rights will be sold to actual settlers at about 35 an acre |