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Show ESERVOIR'S CONSTRUCTION WAS POOR lie Engineer McGonagle Makes Official I Report On Mammoth Reservoir I Break to Governor. U Id board hesitates on another loan oBtadequntc construction nnd dclibcrnto operation contrary to Brtcedent nnd all cnginccrinjr practice were responsible for the ,... of the Mnmmoth dnm the morning of Sundny, June 21th, !!rWthe consequent devastation of vnluabic properties totaling MlnMi of thousands of dollars of loss, nccordinK to a rejwrt Width Gov. Simon Bamberger Inst Monday by George I-'. Mc- 1 lalc cnKinecr. It was staled there was nbsoiutely no If mkoce to indicate that the dam had been tampered with by out parties. After a study of the disaster and ita causes on the I Jiad McGonnRlc reached the conclusion thnt four causes were tributary to the breaking of tho dam. . first, thnt the flume portion of the spillway was improperly H inadequately constructed. m Second, that the horizontal reinforcement of the corcwnil had n stopped twelve feet above the base instead of being carried ct Hhe top of the core. ? Third, thnt the bond between the older section of titc wall and fire-foot raise built last year was not what it should have been, Let indicated by the shearing off of the wall five feet from the before nny other portion of the dam failed. Fourth, that the management permitted the level of the water be reservoir to rise within ten inches of the top of the core, tnry to precedent and correct engineering, if the water level had been maintained five feet below the top the corcwnil, McGonagle states, the dnm would still hnvc been t There Were No Unusual Flood Conditions. At tho time of tho collapse and resultant inundation there was jnusunl flood condition, the level of tho reservoir being station-, station-, or if not altogether stationary, falling slightly, according to rintendent Christiansen. No water was passing through tho ae. Christiansen had nnlled three six-inch bonrds across the erend of the flume, forming a bulkhead eighteen inches high, I the water level was four inches below the bulkhead. Sunday, June 2lth, McGonagle's report recites, Watchmnn H left the dam at 11 o'clock of the forenoon and went to lunch ihe bunkhouso about a thousand feet away. On his return two jrs later the water had broken through tho earth dyke alongside 'temporary flume, had filled tho intervening space between the e and the corcwnil, and n section of tho core about five feet I'h and thirty feet in length had fallen outward, allowing the tr to pour through tho breach onto tho earth fill forming the er half of the dam. As the earth washed away, leaving the t unsupported, sections of the core continued to fall until 75 nt of the dnm had gono out and the reservoir was emptied. Facts Ah to Construction of the Dnm. . Relative to the construction of the dam, McGonagle says he d the following to be tho facts in the case: "The concrete Hwas raised five feet in tho fall of 1910. The earth fill was jut five feet below the top of tho corewall on tho up stream side, J ten feet below tho top on tho down stream side. The top width i the dam was a hundred and sixty feet and the top length about hundred and forty feet, the unusual top width being caused by act that the company expected to raise tho dnm about fifty "t to n total height of a hundred nnd twenty-five feet. The core-w core-w Iwas located on tho axis of tho dam. , a ... , At the junction of the up stream slope and the top of the dam arth dyko had been erected eighty feet up stream from the re and parallel to it, tho top of this dyke being two feet higher the top of the core. The water in the dam was two feet ten :bea below the ton of tho earth dyke and ten inches below the ewali. ,"A wooden flume hnd been constructed extending from the to a rectangular notch in tho core, tho flume being two feet 'inches deep, ten feet wide nnd eighty feet in length, this flumo Intended to carry flood waters from tho dyke to the carets nil i thence over u vertical drop of six feet six inches into a tern-y tern-y wooden spillway butted against tho lower side of the core. ' flume was laid through tho earth dyko without an uuik-s uuik-s or cutoff walls." State Ih Avcrso to Foreclosing Lien. .Price River Irrigation company will not be Immediately pressed Jft the eighty thousand dollar mortgage held on its property by state land board. Time will be given ho company n lcn "adjust its affairs and get under way, if it can. a Pe Jor '.rebuilding of the big dam. While tho state will " foJJJ t mortgage at once, it will take every care to protect Itscit tt loss, Governor Bamberger says. r ,Jhe state land board, however, will not lend any more money Je company under present conditions, it not be'nnnbf,evrJt j Proper security All of the company's owning o jlue at 18 Mammoth reservoir was swept away when the dnm colinpseci. Railroad Company Talks Damages. Official of tho Denver and Rio Grande , at : Denver .Colo., are rted to have expressed the intention of instituti. g a mimon J 'dnmngo suit against tho irrigation company if 8nlnj"g discloses that the Mammoth dam was '"ffK PWaring at his headquarters in Denver for the first time , o g last since tho washout which des troyed track wjen ,to5 nnd Helper, II. U. Mudge, president of the Denver a"""' JJIe. declared that W$m of the road will ke tb tavesU Jftn s soon as the reconstruction of tho washed out raiiw-j ,,!J well nlong toward completion. , nf nrocedure Patches from Denver say that tho program of prooeuur whi h ik l,,ng Mitiinrd for thr iom n ng.n . r in t inducting the In. 'Ml(W!l.,n will lo In relation to c-tai.ll.hlng c-tai.ll.hlng whether mgllgetiie In con-lni.ti..n con-lni.ti..n M the ,lT t ,Hl1,c of ((l0 "llMwo It Ih . X,Imm1 I.) ufflrlftU rf llw mllrmil thnt th lnrtlimilnn. whn inctltutnl. Hill l Ihtkimi In n Writ of iirntrrtlnn wilely liMcllciill.m Ik-Rim Mn,n. Whni J a (H)r. niM.li.tnnt nitre-Ihd nitre-Ihd f the I'rice Itlver IrrlKnllon wmiiv. who Informal thh w,.ck of tn rriwrtnl Intcntloii of the mllromt to .MlKr n ilamnxo milt, lie rcjillr.l lhat tlu wmiiany hail hennl r Kurh Intrntlnn Its mlil, t)oMrr, that nn inxwtlicatlon iirolialily u illvcloxa Ihm thr tlam lld not ten out nn the re-Mill re-Mill of ncKllicfnio. leor. Aimtln. tirralitrnt. mIiI that In ifninlanre lth a irucrnm of In-Vi-atlitatlnn meinlxrii of tho lioanl of illr.ttoM of Hip I'rlc ItUer Irrlnntlixi iniHtn, nrcomiianled ly J i Whve-Ion, Whve-Ion, the iomian' conauttlnn eticln-err, eticln-err, will conduct on InveMlKatlon of the Mammoth dnm break t ginning Mnnda), July ICth At lent two or Ihree othpr cnclti-eern cnclti-eern will be Invited to imrlklpnte. The reMirt of Oeore I Mcflonniclo. Mato mitliieer. Jireeented to Oo. Hlmon lntlieruer. tlml tho dlmuter renulled from fault) iontrucllon. paiued h offlclnl of Ihe imtninii) Hllhoiit lomtnent. I'roldinl AiimIii 1itlUp. "In thlx dnm lirenhlne, no are not lireimred lo imi ulint the ciiiiiie wan. hut we are taklnit Ihe ery lxt talent Hint we inn net Into the dUtrlct and will try to learn the avn- of Ihe break. Whin we tomtruiled the Mammoth dam. we built It an Mnina an liowlble We hired on of the lel i iikIiimtk to niifrle ita ronntriittlon. And In addition tit our own enxlneir, we hail cotuullliiK enRlnrern to walch the iirnKrewi of the work while Ihe dam wan k.iIiik up Wo apared uu ex-piue ex-piue In our effort to iiiimttml Ihe dam III nil mtv , wn) aa we piowlld) iimld "Aliimlio imxt we exeet to take two or three of our director, our own i inducer, John O Wheelor. who Ml-' lerll the iiuntriietlon of the ilum. Hinl In Hitdltliin uu ennliuer who In entlrel) Independent nf the eoniiHli) Then we will . thorouithl)' and i-oro-rull) Into the iiiiimi of thn dliHrnter. After Unit nurte), we hope to le uble ilKflullel) to tell whether the dlMtr w4 i-aueed from Milne oveilxlit. or from raueea over whhh mil) nature hereelf hod iimtrol |
