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Show W ork Started On Cottonwood Shortcut Route To The Glen Canyon Dam Harvey Liston on the "Cat" makes the dirt move as he deepens cut at head of Cottonwood. On hand for first day's real dirt moving work were also Bart Smith, Harvey Man gum, Doyle Clark and Loral Barton. A view from the top of Cotton wood looking south. Frank Jensen of the Tribune and Gall Smith of the Reaper get a closeup of Loral Barton on grader as he deepens Cot tonwood cut. m 9 m w Starting a "Do It Yourself" project of history-making proportions, a group of volunteer workers made the dirt fly at the head of Cottonwood Canyon starting that mile-saving shortcut to the Glen Canyon Dam. Friday, June 28, was the ground-breaking day. Preliminary survey and route planning work was climaxed then when a series of ten dynamite blasts set off by Harvey Man-gum shot out a ridge of roc-K at the head of the Canyon and enabled a D-7 "Cat", operated . by Harvey Liston of Escalante, and a road patrol grader, operated by Loral Barton of Tropic, to open an eight to ten foot cut. This terrain at the head of Cottonwood is called the toughest of the entire route, but it is still merely "blade-work no heavy rock drilling and blasting. Nothing to compare with the engineering difficulties being encountered on the Kanab-Dam road at the "Coxcombe". The one small ridge of rock blasted out Friday morning is all the rock that has to be blasted until the road reaches well into the Cottonwood Canyon when it is planned to blast a ledge alongside the wash in order to keep on the cast side of the wash and avoid all necessity of bridge building. It is now possible to drive to the head of the Cottonwood Canyon in a touring car, visiting beautiful Grosvenor Arch along the way. A party 'of newspapermen, consisting of Frank Jensen of ..theSalLLakejrr.ibuncJ3aiL; Smith of the Richfield Reaper and Stanley Mikulewlcz ot the County News, made a trip d6wn the Canyon Friday with Sam Pollock, Harvey Chynow-eth and Byron Davies. They were amazed with the scenic beauties afforded by the rout and the ease of the terrain. Independent engineering surveys along the route, accord ing to Byron Davies, indicate that a good paved highway could be constructed for ap proximately two million dollars not the nine million plus figure thrown out by the State people to discourage speculation on why this route, was not chosen for the Dam road. |