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Show COMPANY'S ENGINEERS REPORT Blame For Mammoth Resmoir Catastrophe Charged to Alien Enemies and Also Watchman's Negligence. vo!r,Xmt "rviw'r "" Iwaking of the Mammoth roaur-comnnST roaur-comnnST if l 'y t1hc; !rol0" of the I'rkre River Irrijmtion ItntJ , 1 ?K. &l '! """ (,n,t,mi,,, Tlie '"recUiw. the report K J u1 ' ft- f K"IJT out of the (torn, with the ntntc ..In I MU'0Ver M?T ,',mH'4 "f fOlMlitioll. CHllewl by tltC 1,7. -If h. t,R'1t1h;elt'l iiUi for iLrrmKe. which if plnntotl Micccmtrully. would live meHiit the annihiUtion of the company, ine UUe or Ltali, the reMrt ii. whi the one necuretl cretlitor Hiul wan In a ixmition nt the time t.. forecltwe antl take over the Hjwets of the coinian.v leaving nothing for any other cretlitor. The oilier cretlitor wn the Utah Saving nnd TniPt cnmimny. Conaultation wait liekl by the attorney of the comimnv and the attorney Kerwral. relative to the l.-yl phawa of the cane, with the result that it lint lwen decided to leae the announcement of the uKiil iwhcy to be recommended by the dlrectorn until after it had been placed before the atate land lioartl for IU approval. EiiRlnoor Wheelon ayH: Natural Causes Cannot He Conildered. "Viewed in the light of experience and tho hlatory tif the construction, con-struction, operation nnd behavior of the dam the thought that the Mammoth ronervoir tlam failed from natural caue cannot bo considered." He goes on to state that the material used in the dnni wna of exceptionally fine quality, and the work was first-class. first-class. The lino of saturation was found to have in no case extended ex-tended beyond twelve feet into tho earthen portion of tho water face, leaving from eighty to two hundred feet of onrthen work " between the water antl the corewnll of the dam. The tlnm, ho states, Was built in easy stages, thus making pes- Bible the testing of every foot of work each year. The sheltered location of tho site of the dam and the construction of two test ! wells, it is declared, added to the security of tho dam's equipment. The corewnll also was of excellent construction, evidenced by the ' fact that pieces of the wall examined showed that less than 10 per ' cent of the fractures nt the time of the break occurred on a line of cleavage between the joining of new work with that previously' completed. Conclusion of Whcclon's Report. "That the corewall was higher than the water in the reservoir if conclusively proven by the fact that no water went over the wall. That there was ample freeboard on the crest of the earthen dam is proven by the evidence that the water did not go over tho top of the dam. If the spillway hail given way and nil that portion por-tion between the water front nnd tho corewall lintl been wrecked, I the waters coming into-this breach would back up against tho I corewall to a level with the water In tho reservoir and pass I through the openig provided for tho spillway, which is now intact .on the downstream side of the corewall, and easily escape without any damage to the structure. "Two actions were necessary in the rilliuro or this dam, and ilxith of those must have been artificial. In addition to wrecking the spillway, a section of the corewall at a point near the center I of tho tlnm must have been blown out. Tho two sounding welh, located as thev were on each side of the corewall, opposite each 'other nnd about four feet from the wall, and being each seven nnd one-elghth inch gaspipe, would offer a mine for any qunntity of exnlosivcs without any work or disturbance of surrounding conditions. Differs With the State Engineer. Donald II. Pnilt, engineer for tho Utnli-Idaho Sugar company, In his report declares there U absolutely no evidence that water ever percolated through any part of the corewall and that investigations in-vestigations show that the corewall did not break on the line where the wall was completed last year. Pratt says: ! "I am forced after investigations which bring out facts that are su mitted elsewhere in tills report, to differ with others who avo n a le the statement that the construction of the !" wiw faulty. The following well known engineers have been imncliiteil "it h the project cither In the drawing of specifications and plans or in the actual supervision of the work and it does not seem possible pos-sible they would all be wrong. "1 name A. F. Doremus, formerly state engineer; J. S. helse, !col CD Moore V. V. Cnte of the Wallaco-Coates Engineering 'comimny. MS "arrow and I. C. Wheelon, the present chief en-'gineerof en-'gineerof the company. j Disregard of Orders Is Responsible. "To mv mind, the primary cause of tho failure was an absolute i. emf nr li rs on the Dart of tho caretaker and watchman, in regard o ortlerj on -PJt u , , Uint lt dlll nnrt KOinK permitting the ate t raw .w im. M fve hom.s iMiiiVr u broken thore can be no doubt. ,s? StSES fa shwss - ffi .unless it had been tar npci e w u n. ii j " fl , , 'iffmo?". "ZSf&ZS&S -ho wished to do so, i !'"...'. i?v wrecked tho structure." 1 Directors of the Cnnipuny Explain,. ' ,. ii ..i tl... renorts of tho two ongineors quoted, this stato- Follow ng the P" " . jirectorn: "Your directors have .nent U jslvon by tl e boa i of auv ciors ,unt imMlm. , ions, led utronjfij JntT J" 'f tllIlt th, Denver and Rio-Grande, Ithedlwuttortot Jujg. J , 'Xy to lie groat coal cainps adja- tranacoii nental I he. wan ht ko o k I cent; that thew coh I ml ."W JJ l ir roly engaged in producing .and vicinity: .''UrSu eratlon the labor difficulties, in ,0fUt01,,, Warnings to Watchman Not Heeded. ,in,i tn the renort al "W that warnings Con,tt,.of WtB'Snl Tday nndXt ara'acnt to C. N. carefully to wVn?rintendent, from officials of the company Ch a tC'l Si S K-Sand tha't these went so far as to suggest the it. iMiiuinir of two mm an.lllKht-Itiir an.lllKht-Itiir th. (turn by Hlxht nt Imth en.l The it ii antHi r the . umimny arp td i. l?,K7.U. IU enpltal ami Itnl.lllllMi a.. fSI9.ASS.S6. InelmtlnK a mortKii' ..f M. e to the ntate ef Utah. li. retenne a tlt.SIHSI. It expen.- a 117.114 91, ami ihthmii-eut ihthmii-eut etp, n.llture. I9IIC S3 |
