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Show BLAME ALIEN ENEMIES, WATCHMAN'S NEGLECT TOR DAM DISASTER Outside agencies caused the breaking break-ing of the Mammoth reservoir dam iu Gooseberry Valley the forenoon of ' June 24 last, is the theory advanced by the directors of the Price River Irrigation company. In other words, the directors believe it was blown and that it was the plot of alien en-cunes. en-cunes. The directors, the report stales, met July 3, after the going out of the dam, with the state land board to talk over new phases of conditions caused by the disaster and the threatened threat-ened suits for damages, which if planted successfully, would have meant the annihilation of the company. com-pany. The state of Utah, the report says, was the one secured creditor and was in a position at the time to foreclose and take over the assets of the company leaving nothing for any other creditor. The other creditor was the Utah Savings,; and Trust company. Consultation was held by the attorney attor-ney of the company and the attorney attor-ney general, relative to the legal phases of the case, with the result that it has been decided to leave the announcement of the legal policy to he recommended by the directors until un-til after it had been placed before the state land board for its approval. Engineer Wheelon says: "Viewed in the light of experience and the history of the construction, operation and behavior of the dam the thought that the Mammoth reservoir res-ervoir dam failed from natural causes cannot be considered." He goes on to state that the material used in the dam was of exceptionally fine quality, and the work was first-class. first-class. The line of saturation was fould to have in no case extended beyond be-yond twelve feet into the earthen portion of the water face, leaving from eighty to two hundred feet of earthen work between the water and the corewall of the dam. The dam, he states, was built in easy stages, thus making possible the testing of every foot of work each year. The sheltered location of the site of the dam and the construction of two test wells, it is declared, added add-ed to the security of the dam's equipment. equip-ment. The corewall also was of excellent ex-cellent construction, evidenced by the fact that pieces of the wall examined ex-amined showed that less than 10 per cent of the fractures at the time of the break occurred on a line of cleav age between the joining of new work with that previously completed. "That the corewall was higher than the water in the reservoir is 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 the top of the dam. If the spillway had given way and all that portion between the water front and the corewall had been wrecked, the waters coming into this breach would hack up against the corewall. to a level lev-el with the water in the reservoir and pass through the opening provid-' provid-' ed for the spillway, which is now intact in-tact on the downstream side of the corewall, and easily escape without any damage to the structure. "Two actions were necessary in the failure of this dam, and both of these must have been artifloial. In addition to wrecking the spillway, a section of the corewall at a point near the center of the dam must have been blown out. The two sounding wells, located as they were on each side of the corewall, opposite each other and about four feet from the wall, and being each sven and one-eighth one-eighth inch gaspipe, would offer a mine for any quantity of explosives without any work or disturbance of surrounding conditions." State Engineer Differs Donald B. Pratt, engineer for the Utah-Idaho Sugar company. In hU re-i re-i port declares there" is absolutely no ' evidence that water ever percolated through any part of the corewall and that Investigations show that the corewall did not break on the lme ! where the wall was completed last year. Pratt says: "I am forced after investigations which bring out facts that are submitted sub-mitted elsewhere in this report, to i i differ with others who have maae tne statement that the construction of the dam was faulty. The- following well known engineers have been associated as-sociated with the project either in tiie 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. "I name A. F. Doremus, formerly state engineer; J. S. Kelsey, Col. C. D. Moore, F. P. Coates of the Wal-lace-Coates Engineering company, M. S. Darrow and J. C. Wheelon, the present chief engineer of the company. com-pany. Disregard of Orders Responsible '"To my mind, the primary cause of the failure was an absolute disregard of orders on the part of the caretaker care-taker and watchman, in permitting the water to raise to the level that it did and going away and leaving the dam unguarded for probably five hours while the water was at a dangerous dan-gerous height. That this water came from the mouth of the spillway and through that section of the wall that was broken, there can be no doubt. "The water either found its way around the end of the spillway or it was deliberately turned that way. I am of the opinion that the concrete corewall was amply strong enough to have held unless it had been tampered tamper-ed with. It must be borne in mind that the watchman was away from this dam at least five hours and pos sibly more. During this period anyone any-one who wished to do so, could have wrecked the structure." Company Directors Explain Following the reports of the two engineers quoted, this statement is given by the. board of directors: "Your directors have received communications, com-munications, and these with independent indepen-dent investigations, led strongly to the belief that outside agencies had caused the disaster to the dam. The fact that the Denver & Rio Grande, a transcontinental line, was the key to the great coal camps adjacent; that these coal mines supplied the smelters smel-ters in Salt Lake City and vicinity; that the smelters were largely engaged engag-ed in producing copper, and taking into consideration the labor difRcul-I difRcul-I ties, in Bisbee, Ariz., and in Butte, ' Mont., and the presence of the Industrial Indus-trial Workers of the World agitators in Utah, led strongly to the belief that the dam has been tampered with. "Subsequently, developments and investigations have only confirmed this idea in the minds of your directors. direc-tors. Among the recent published statements purporting to be based on examinations were those that the disaster dis-aster was the result of a sudden influx in-flux of water by reason of melting snow. This has since been refuted." Warnings Are Unheeded. Copies of letters appended to the report show that warnings carefully to watch the dam day and night were sent to C. N. Christensen, dam superintendent, sup-erintendent, from officials of the company on April 12 and May 2, and that these went so far as to suggest the deputizing of two men and lighting light-ing the dam by night at both ends. The total assets of the company are stated as $647,587.85, its capital and liabilities as $649,832.86, including in-cluding a mortgage of $80,000.00 to the state of Utah; its revenue as $27,646.93; its expenses as $27,446.-93, $27,446.-93, and permanent expenditures, $9356.23. |