| OCR Text |
Show j BOULDER DAM PROJECT BECOMES REALIT By WILLIAM C UTLEY BOULDER dam is ready to begin be-gin operations within about a month's time. The gigantic project, one of the mightiest engineering jobs ever undertaken un-dertaken by man, once the subject of thousands of columns of newspaper news-paper comment throughout the land, has been all but forgotten with 'the new Interests that have attract- feet In diameter. Two of them have been filled with plugs of concrete 350 to 400 feet long. When the river has risen to a height of 200 feet, the third channel, which contains con-tains gates to regulate the flow, will follow the permanent structures, huge pipelines 30 feet In diameter. It will be June or July before there is sufficient water for the operation op-eration of the power house, which r,:iii ho finished about July 1, with 210,000 cubic feet a second 30r ago laying waste vast area.;," wild antics of its most spree. It was more destruYY rage than even a Nia Yj loose to batter the coiY'' random. Now California's hT perial valley, lying be, " I of the river and further nY by levees, may rest In re i, ,iK its age-old fear. ef lf Floods are caused by th. J v ed public attention ine utpicsaiw.., the New Deal and others, but for five years since the undertaking was begun In 1030, 5,000 workers have toiled night and day until now the great dam Is a reality. The project Is costing America ?1G5,000,000 and other projects directly di-rectly associated with It account for another $230,000,000. With the Job so little removed from completion, engineers of the bureau of reclamation reclama-tion pronounce it ready to eliminate five of the seventeen generating units installed, the rest to be put In over a period of a few years. "The greatest of these units, to be the largest of its kind in use anywhere, any-where, will generate 115,000 horse power. Built in the shape of a horse shoe, with wings G25 feet long and the side against the dam 300 feet wide, the 15-story power house will be the seat of one more of the federal fed-eral government's numerous ventures ven-tures into the electric light and power business of late. Unlike the TVA and other projects, business outlook is particularly good here, for. all of the power has been contracted con-tracted for in advance. Income from the sale of electrical energy is expected to exceed $7,000,000 a snows. on the many mountal na the regmn. After the reY Sl of 1000, it took 18 months of Vc on a vast scale and theeO,, of $2,000,000 to return the , i its rightful bed. " There will still be flood, Jc't Colorado, but cow they can Utl in check to a size that will orf ri beyond control. Probably no fl0 Jeer will ever be more than 48,000 if feet a second below the (Yepi 35,000 cubic feet a second fs-or down the river, in the lrri6atIk tions. ray Irrigation Most Important Of all the operations of theieir irrigation was perhaps helium most important by the lawffiY who appropriated the monejfL llillfiillllltelilil year. The water In the reservoir will be ready long before the machinery. construction. Although the avbme flow of the Colorado is 22,000 ie m feet a second, this dropped o(Wv mere trickle of 1,700 cubic tSn year. Such a failure of watefe de ply was the cause of alraost'e la parable losses in the fertile Lur-of Lur-of the Imperial valley. The holly it is that when the water ,g co river fails, that is just the taied is most needed for irrigatioa. bart Now the flood-time watwerets be arrested and held untiiljiisti parched months of July and i'lvls , During the summer months tt'na will permit the passage of jpect. 10,000 cubic feet of water per1"''?, ond into the valleys below, brespc the winter-time flow to about? Da' cubic feet pectei Another constant threat toFe 011 culture has been the large act e s of mud and silt carried dowsl slle1' the mountains by the (Yrseve Atnh r.,,- de th if v;: a PiiillPiiiiililiiiiiiiiMiiiiii River Harnessed at Boulder Dam. Much of this silt was depos:ue 111 irrigation ditches where wr'trovf revive thirsty vegetation wrters" ly needed. (same Twenty-four hours a day, ' acti days a week, the crews ares: part to bring all these benefits fad tt area served by the dam.- ' esta s gvgf At the finish of their davVjwne(1 the workers return to sj a cheery homes in a city that J the' , like a mirage in the desert))e Boulder City, six miles fri th dam. The federal governing to . cause it owns all the laniiDilIs all the rules for the Inha jn These rules are interpreted ition I by the government's"" efficAs manager, Sims Ely. robablj Efficiently Managed.?01! th Tlie city manager issues ' n the two great dangers confronting the territory which It serves. They are the mad, deadly floods of the giant Colorado river and the parching parch-ing drouths caused by lack of irrigation. irri-gation. When entirely completed, the dam will also furnish power I to generate more electrical energy than any other water power developed de-veloped in this country, 1,735,000 horse power. It will become the source of water supply for several large cities, notably Los Angeles. Even more Interested than Los Angeles In the nearing of the end is the third largest city of Nevada, Boulder City. Built in the desert, six miles from the dam itself for tho h -a x,. - The four Intake towers through which the water enters the power plant, checkered in design, are the principal contrast to the broad white expanse of the dam itself, which rises in a great triangle from the bottom of the canyon. To assure as-sure obtaining of clear water, they begin 250 feet above the Colorado's bed, and will extend 3S0 feet above. World of Caverns. With no water running over the top, the face of the dam on the downstream side slopes In a steep and graceful curve, bracing itself against the weight of the tremendous tremen-dous wall of water on the other side. business permits in the ci; . ' no one can enter business j Bill a permit. There are neilif few business houses for ,n a 1 ity nor too many. Mr. Elv i There Internally, the dam is a magic subterranean world of caverns, boring bor-ing their way into the rugged mountainsides of volcanic rock cast ".v. .,ou,ca o! Uie employees and their families, Its population of approximately ap-proximately 5,000 souls will begin to dwindle until probably only the ghost of this comparative metropolis metrop-olis will remain when all the construction con-struction work Is over. Rising like a gargantuan monument monu-ment from the bed of the Colorado up the steep mountain sides, Boulder Boul-der dam is already the highest dam In the world, by far, although workmen work-men will still be busy completing Hon Vf,U WheD U beg!ns operation. opera-tion. Taller than any skyscraper west of Manhattan, with the possible possi-ble exception of one or two in Chicago, Chi-cago, it towers 5S4 feet above the bottom of Black canyon. When the reservoir Is filled a 50-story building build-ing would merely poke the tip of Its tower above the surface of th w. ment 1 I s :;Wv0 e cleat v;!V t5 ;v'v: after) fg - KivS vvx Plet,che ' S, S K x edthebi XV gall and SsrS:- -i- Jddle wit: K? "4XMtwas U"lr -tO -$f, that t ix - v n v sed. The C-xx , ,ure V v x? . 'ralReser xV x on powf N x .vW x y expansi, A Xx 5 s bank nd L x v sstom, a N x s , f a an unsti : i 1 NNxx ' C01Ild the I x x x X lestroy con VN:K- o.- xx -xvxx: ter seen in the perspective of the lofty peaks that cleave the clouds above the dam, ,t would seem " bottom I 8 reed that Ses e bottom of your boat in a fishing Huge Artificial Lake. So huge Is the reservoir that will form one of the world's lai-est ar toifi.1lakietS- W take with 1 ' b6 125 mlles long, w th a shore line of more than 50 miles, and will C0Ver 227 sqYaS tTe dam the cnon above me dam is being cleaned out in preparation for the creation of tie lake. Leaving the canyon forever e a railroad, an old concrete mix Plant and a large camp. Ihe Colorado Is one of the most temperamental and InconslsVpn-? V.ew Looktng Down Stream From the Crest of Boulder ers m he United States, it drain.. flow now Is about 4,500 It wn, ? be until the sort J 11 not throu-h thl nVGr bei,s cleft "u" tne mounfitna n these tunnels rrr L. ..ne of lowed two of a kind to;"1 ,)J""s e: tho city t n time, In ori'r ' ""trlos down prices through comr UMr sp'"vi( wn.vs a sound plan In tln'J nt all. Trosldont Hoover, for vl Ilr-;"e ' Is sometimes called. T''f tho ""od of business concerns nrf',,' the fl to what is necessary toc'n iVow or needs of the community tllore he s Valors cannot meroUl ',.'two,n the Ko to Boulder City !' !' S,,"m worn craters In prehistoric davs towns. United States i"F(,, , , , ( out ii hut those who Y'" ,Pi Mn This reduces crime, U'.(T q"M" l'ersons never get rWr 't , , '"S ,nnn-.Kit ,nnn-.Kit crlmes-ruey .Y '' avl There has been only in s , all nonlder Cy's "nr, "P. Its perpetrators 111,11 sentence Inside of ttrallzej " Tninslent visitors , . 0 ho law-abiding cltW ' lf "I hour pusses which rroctlv-f , , ,uw'''- i '".",, y C w,.t.rn nwm'"M control IM'v now, but at times four "W They cannot al hi T Yd nPfHl-once nPfHl-once to be-in hn i- 1 down t -ir, becS z:h: rsor- "eeded for the irriY "r ls r and ImpcY, YS ' When the needs of Irri, ,'ion , been met, gates bclnj ? hn,ve evada diversion tunne I n H,e tu the ErpU3 Yth re" The three diversion res"volr. aUersIon tunnels are 50 l-ono now Is tho terror ,,f' V, flood periods of n, f Uw of the t w s n r,"''m'"' ,'--" ' eo, d ac , ,J? f I!"1"1'1'"-o I!"1"1'1'"-o n J o :iU,"nl " "" f o-lnary fl, w ' 'ZT T''ls Is neces,. lrv fNI"K"i falls. .rtver reached Y ; ' , W'U'n ' " "s 'u',lk Hood flow of |
