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Show TITANIC TASK SLATED FOR BOULDER DAM WASHINGTON. Following the announcement that bids tor the construction con-struction of Boulder dam proper would be called tor by December 1, the interior department has given out further details in regard to this project. It is stated that the first of the tasks at the dam site will be that of driving four tunnels, each 50 feet in diameter and about a miles long, through the solid volcanic rock cliffs on each side o the canyon. These alone will cost between fifteen and twenty million dollars. When these tunnels are completed, a cofferdam 80 feet high will be constructed con-structed some distance above the site of the permanent dam, and a similar one below the dam site, their purpose pur-pose being to divert the water, no matter how great the floods during the time of construction. This will leave the river bed between the cofferdams coff-erdams dry. The initial task at the actual dam site will be to remove from the bed of the river the loose boulders and dirt that lie above bedrock. This loose material is from 100 to 1500 feet thick and it will be a Herculean task" to sweep the bed rock clean of it. Not until the tunnels are completed, complet-ed, the river diverted, and the bedrock bed-rock exposed can the actual construction con-struction of the dam itself begin. Starting at bedrock this great concrete con-crete structure, 650 feet long at the base, sloping to a width of 4 5 feet at the top, will begin to arise to its ultimate ul-timate height of 727 feet. Here it will constitute a span 650 feet long over which a transcontinental highway high-way will pass. Building this wedge which reunites the ends of a severed mountain chain will be the final task to be figured on by contractors. Originally it was thought that it might be wise to let the different items it-ems in this final undertaking of dam construction to different contractors. One firm might drive the tunnels ou one side of the canyon and another firm those on the other side. A different diff-erent contractor might build the cofferdam, cof-ferdam, might excavate for the great dam, might erect that dam. After careful study and consultation with the leading contractors of the nation, however, it was decided that this entire en-tire undertakaig through the elimination elimin-ation of duplication, could be more economically handled as a single project. The bids i'or this huge contract will call for the expenditure of sixty or seuventy J million dollars. Not i I many contracts of this size have been let in the history of the United States. Stat-es. It is known, however, that there are a score of contractors, in this country capable of handling an undertaking und-ertaking of this size and a number of bids are expected. Ninety days will be given contractors contract-ors to submit their bids. The contract, con-tract, therefore is expected to be let about March 1. In the meantime, the preliminary contracts bringing transportation to the damsite, providing pro-viding power, living quarters, water supply, etc., will have been executed A full force can be put on, furnishing much employment and much stimulation stimu-lation to allied industries. |