Show high power rower line in ow deco utah nears finish sun blackened crewmen working near monticello this week began stringing the last few miles of wire for utah power light co s new high voltage lines that will bring new sources of power into the uran jum rich area of southwestern utah the utah power line construction project which began in june in bolves the building of new power facilities stretching miles from helper to monticello the line passed green river earlier this summer I 1 many of the crewmen and their families stayed here for a time divided into two sections the project will cost over 2 million and includes a mile volt portion beleen helper and moab a 58 mile 69 volt portion between moab and monticello via lasal junction working under a mid fall fail deadline schedule men and machines average ed some two miles of construction a day the construction will be the fastest faste st in history for for a job of this type according to C L ericson transmission engineer mr ericson credited good time to mass production like methods us ed in construction first came the hole digging crew then the building crews who constructed pole cures tures on the ground then the structure erecting crews followed by a wire stringing gang only occasionally was the pro line slowed when roads had to be bulldozed out of cliffs or when hard sandstones fouled and broke hole digging equipment new equipment used for the minutes per structure the 60 foot tall H frame structures that support the lines were lifted and set by a large mobile crane the alexi ability of which proved ideal for the terrain considering the area spanned by the new line its building is a feat in itself it its s speed of construction io n first time tune in this area was one on e big reason for a time record set by the pole structure crew on the help er moab section of the line 25 uncanny one example on a 1000 foot span near monticello a road was labor hewed from a cliff face to save 20 miles of traveling otherwise necessary to get men and machines between two structures the hot desert country offered other obstacles to construction in the way of personal hardships crews were limited to just what drinking water they could carry a rough proposition for men laboring under the hot sun other troubles came in the form of rattlesnakes one day on the monticello section of the line crews killed eight rattlers Det detweiler Detwei leg and detweiler twin idaho is builder of the helper moab section cazin and houtz evanston wyo is builder of the moab mon cicello portion line completion date is set for late this month the line will go into operation as soon as connection transmission substations at moab lasal and monticello now under construction are completed |