Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-10-15

With the mud ankle deep and the rain | pouring in torrents the mayor. engineer and few of the more enthusiastic of the | party essayed to walk along the pipe line | from the last highway crossing to the dam, a distance of three-quarters of O mile. A | good view of the retaining wall built along the gorge was obtained and all admitted that the job is creditable piece of work. The pipe has been laid and tested to within one hundred feet of the dam. A short distance down the stream a pile of granite was observed by the eagle eye of Alderman Cross. and he asked if that was what Contractor Gaffney wanted the extra s10.000 for. "No." said Engineer Cairns. "What he wants the first Sl0, 900 for is already in the dam. That pile represents the second slO.OO0 he will probably claim" No one said anything for a few moments after this. but all thought hard.
 Work upon the dam is progressing favorably. ''It begins to look like some- thing now" said Mayer Kilduff. and it did. It IS massive structure built be- tween natural walls of solid rock. It has reached a height of thirty feet above the bed of the stream and stands upon foundation that extends fifteen feet under ground. When completed at an elevation of 415 feet the dam will be sixty feet in height over the bed of the | brook, six hundred feet in length, sixty | feet thick at the bottom and twelve on top. It is slightly bowed. giving greater strength at ;he center where most of the pressure will be. Every joint in the face of the dam is carefully inspected and the best of Portland cement IS used, so that it will be absolutely safe. There is eighteen square miles of watershed. and the reservoir will contain 300, DOC, 900 gal Ions ot water. At some future time an additional hfteen feet may be added to the dam. whickwih double the capacity of the reservoir. The city engineer estimates that the present flow would fill the reser- voir in a month. The minimum flow dur ing the summer was about l ,000, ,000 gall Ions day. At an elevation of 415 feet seventy-two acres will be flooded.
 There are three gate houses on the pipe line. and three at the dam. the latter contain ing eight gates. The opening at the dam is ~" shaped, making practically two out lets. so that in the event of accident to one the city may be supplied from ths other. Two chambers in the center of the dam, built of brick, are of special interest. In these will be placed the strainers through which the wa.er must pass before reaching the main. They will be sixty-one feet ir depth when completed and will contain
 fifty six feet of water. Each works inde
 pendent of the other, so that one may bI drained and cleaned while the other is ir use. City Engineer Cairns became en
 thusiastic over this part of the work. anC delivered a lecture whild standing upor the dam:oblivious of the fact that the rair
 was pouring in torrents. He was called
 back to earth by the mayor. who noticed
 the growing darkness. and the start wal
 made for home. At 30 seventeen watel
 soaked and mud covered city officials ar
 rived at the City hall. It was a tough trip
 but the DEMOCRAT man found it exceeding
 ly interesting
 It having been said that the average Tiff,
 of an iron pipe is only twenty-five ol
 thirty years. the reporter asked Mir Cairns if Waterbury would be obliged to rela, the main during the life of the presen generation. "The pipe ought to last on, hundred years" said the engineer. liner, is not much sulphur or other destructiy, salts in the ground. The pipe is abou
 one and one-eighth inches thick and eacl
 length weighs from about $500 to 5 5.4O' pounds. When filled the pipe will weisl about l QUO pounds per running foot.
 No one who only knows about the worI by what he has read can have m idea o the magnitude of the undert Iking. It i ! 2 simply immense and will well repay a visit But will s75O. .OOO pay the bills Not unles the contractors complete their work withi ? the specified time.