| Show BOULDER DAM PROJECT BECOMES bality by WILLIAM C UTLEY dam thready la ts ready to be ba gin operations within about a months montha time the gigantic gantle gi project one of the might mightiest lest enzi engineering join jobi over ever undertaken der taken by roan man puce once the subject of 0 thousands of columns of newsy news paper comment throughout the land has haa been all but forgotten with the new interests that have attracted public attention oo 00 ho depression the now deal and others but tor for ove five yeara since the undertaking was amun in workers have tolled and day until now the great dam Is a reality the project Is costing america fIC lc and other projects directly associated ted with it account for another with the job so little removed from completion engineers of the bureau of reclamation pronounce it ready to eliminate MA q 0 ja 1 A V Z wi k 11 feet in diameter two of them have been filled with plugs of concrete 3 U to feet long when the river lias has risen to a height of feet the third channel which contains gates to regulate the flow will follow me permanent structures huge pipelines 30 feet in diameter it will bo be june or july auly b before there Is water for tile the operation of the power house which will be finished about july 1 with five dve of the seventeen generating units installed tho the rest to bo be put in over a period of a few years tho the greatest of these units to bo be the largest of its kind in use anywhere will generate horse power ballf in the shape of a horse slice shoe with wings feet longland lon long glanC and the side against the dam SOO feet wide the 15 story power house will bo be the seat scat of one more of the fed alls 11 N IB jV at ai C 4 1 ag 7 A p y X at S wi f M I 1 11 p alif f at g M WA J 41 x awe K g 1 hw y a i k 4 A W hy A S 1 s 4 1 B J y iten i uv afta ten fT A 4 x k ry K W s A n i IF U k i y f Z L s W alver harnessed at boulder dam the two great dangers confronting the territory which it serves they are the mad deadly floods of the giant colorado river and tho parching drout droutha lis caused by lack of irrigation when entirely completed the dam will also furnish power i to generate more electrical energy than any other 1 water v aier power developed in this c country 0 horse power it will become tile the source of water supply tor for beveral several large cities notably log angeles even more interested than los An accles cles ithe inthe of ft the end la Is the third largest city of nevada boulder city built in the desert six els from the dam itself for tile the homes of tho the employees and their amities ami ties ita IN population of OP dp proximately souls SOUIS will begin to deidle until probably only we the ghost of this oils comparative metropolis will remain when nu all the con work Is over rising jlko a gargantuan monument from theli tho bed edof of the colorado up tho steel etcel mountain boulder dam la Is already tho the highest dam in the world by far although workmen will still bo be busy completing the top of it when it begins operation taller than any skyscraper i west of manhattan with the ble exception of ono one or two in chicago it towers feet above tho the boti bottom m of black canyon when the reservoir to la filled a SO 50 story building would merely poke the tip of its t towar owr above tho the surface of the water boon in tha perspective of the lofty peaks that cleave the clouds above the dam it would seem as the tip of a reed that grazes the bottom of your boat in a fishing pond huge artificial lake so hugo la 19 the reservoir that will form ono one of the worlds largest aril facial lakes hikes it will take three years to hll fill it will be ellei long lona with a shore share line of more than nilis and will cover square miles at af present tho the canyon above the dara dam la is being cleaned out in preparation tor for the creation of the lake leaving tho the canyon forever are ft A rul troad au an old concrete mixing plant and a largo large cam camp tito colorado Is one 0 r the temp temperamental and inconsistent rivers in the united states it drains approximately one thirteenth of the country yet its how flow less than 2 0 2000 cubic feet a second nt at the lowest period to an all of 0 cubic feet a second the foit now Is about it will not abe be until the spring floods that the reservoir in back of the dam begins to fill up while the dam has haa been built en cn i have diverted the flow flaw of 0 the colorado around the project by means ot or artificial river beds cleft through the mountains one of i the these funnels i tunnels carries the whole flow now but at times four are needed they cannot all be shut down at onca om to begin building up the reser coir bec because much of the water la Is I 1 needed for the irrigation of the and imperial valleys when the needs of irrigation have been met gatea being built in the pie nevada diversion tunnel will ivill return the surplus to the reservoir ah abree diversion diron tunnels aro 50 eral governments numerous ventures In electric light ani and power business of late unlike tile the TVA and other projects business outlook la in particularly good here for all of the power has been contracted for or in advance income from the sale of electrical energy la As expected to exceed a year the water in the reservoir will be ready long before the machinery the four intake towers through which the water enters tho the power plant checkered in ln design are the principal contrast to the broad will white to expose of the dam itself which rises in agrest a treat triangle from tho bottom of the ci canyon linyon to assure obtaining of clear water they begin feet abaye boyo the colorados bed and will extend feet above world of caverns with no water running gover over the top the he face of the dam on tile the side slopes in a steep steel and graceful curve bracing itsel itself f against the weight of the tremendous wall of water on tho the other bide internally the dam la is a magic subterranean world of caverns boring their way into inta tile tho rugged mountainsides mountains ldes of volcanic rock cast up from craters in prehistoric days lila trance to the tunnels la Is effected through a cave opening of heroic proportions alere esthe Is the first of the 80 30 root foot piping that will feed water to the turbines irim from this the water rushing with all the force of its long fall enters the power house through secondary pipes 13 feet to in diameter never has a construction job ob teen been mole speeded so BO swiftly more than cubic yards of concrete have been poured from the huge 10 ton buckets in strips 5 feet high it Is nearly a year and a halt ahead ot of schedule tho the contractor says say S gone gona now Is the terror of the flood periods of the colorado each of the two spillways spill ways of boulder dam could accommodate a rush of water of a volume greiter greater than the ordinary low flow over ever niagara falls this Is necessary for when the river reached its peak flood flow of kuble feet a second 30 years year ago laying waste vast areas in the wild nilca of its most wanton spree it was more destructive la in II 11 ir rage than even a niagara turned loose to batter the countryside at rand random now Cali fornias rich imperial valley lying below the level leel of the river and further protected by levees may inny rest in re relief lief from Us age old fear floods are caused by the melting snows on the many mountains of the region after the record break of it took IS 18 months of labor on a vast scale and the expenditure of to return the river to its rightful led bed there thare will still be floods floody on the colorado bubnow but now they can be held in check to ft a size itze that will not get beyond control probably no now flow now will ever be more than e cubic feet a second below the dam and cubic feet a second farther down the r river ver in the irrigated sections irrigation most important of all the operations of the dam Irrl irrigation gatlon was wag perhaps held the most important by the lawmakers ra ft lio ho appropriated tho the money tor for its ita construction although the average flow of the colorado Is cubic feet aeeti a second dropped oft off to it a mere merel trickle of 1700 cubic feet this year such a failure of water supply was wag the cause of almost irreparable losses in the fertile fields of we the imperial valley the pity of it Is that when the water of the river falls alls that Is just the time it la Is most needed for irrigation now tho the flood almo waters will be arrested and held until the parched months of july and august during the summer months the dam will permit the passage of about cubic feet of water per second into the valleys below holding the mn wintertime winter ter time how flow to about cubic feet another constant threat to agriculture has been the large amounts I 1 of mud and silt carried down froni from the mountains by the colorado much of this silt was deposited in irrigation ditches where water to revive thirsty vegetation was sorely needed twenty four hours a day seven days a week the crews are at work to bring all these hen benefits eilts to the area served by the dam at the finish of theli their days labors tho 1110 workers return to spotless cheery homes in a city that sprang ille a mirage in the desert it la Is boulder olty city six nilles miles from the aaro the federal algo government v ern ment bemuse because it ov owns all the land makes 11 all 11 tho the rules for the inhabitants these rules are interpreted largely largel y by the governments effle efficient leat city manager sims ely efficiently managed the city manager issues all the business permits in the city and no one can enter business without a permit there are neither too to q few business houses for prosper ity aty nor too many mr el ely has al 0 S 9 g V Y M WA 1 I 14 I 1 Z 1 I r I 1 I 1 I 1 f 4 je 1 1 V N F 05 1 qz bli aft 4 VW anu unu 0 down stream from the crest of boulder dam lowed two of a kind to come into tho the city at a time la in order to keep down i prices through competition always a sound plan la in the era of ex president hoover for whom the darn dam Is sometimes called the number oi of business concerns are arc held down 0 to o what Is ig necessary emary to supply the needs of the community cannot merely come ani go to boulder city like in other towns united states marshals keep out all but those who have passes this reduces crime tor for undesirable persons persona never got get a chacho ceareo mit crimes they dont donl get la in th there ere has hai been only ne calma in nil all boulder cites history it a holdup its ita perpetrators perpetrator a were under sentence een inside of tro weeks Trans lerit visitors who aho appear ti t bet ba law abiding citizens are re gives given 24 hour bour passes which may be re M C atra |
