, 1897-04-29

hol 10 WOre tnan nalf work at such an
elevation. During the two years and
more n a the work was in progress the
company was sending in a constant
stream OF men who were as constantly
leaving, with or without notice. A large
number were physically unable to endure
the work, but even those that did mo-
get positively sick became homesick
Nostalgia was epidemic among them.
Idle men who jumped at the cnance to
go % the works and earn good wages
men with families who were most in
tenseiy anxious to support those fami-
lies, could not stand the influence of the
altitude and the seelusion upon their
nerves. With good wages, good board
and snort hours Of work they would get
10 Drooding on their situation, to worry
ing about their families, to fancy sick
ness when they did not have it, become
sieepless, and rather than, wait for the
n OF the season and be hauled down
comiortably in the company's wagons
they would fold their blankets and kits
and silently steal away on the 75-mile
tramp 10 civilization.
The same difficulty has been found i n
keeping men to do the work Of the pre-
liminary survey for the ditch from the
Grand river, where the conditions are
somewhat harder. Even in the midst of
the hard times it was almost impossible
to keep men enough to push. 1.-The survey
ing work. Mr.. J. II. Nelson, who was
the engineer for the first work and is
making the surveys for the second, gives
these facts about the men, and on cross
examination admits that while he did
not yield to mere inconsistencies, yet he
mad to come out the mountains for a
zine because his growing
upset his digestion.
A secondary result OF the great alti-
tude is the constant dampness. The
mountains rise from a semi-arid plain,
but all the moisture there is in the air
is condensed about these mountain
peaks. This has some advantages for
the work in hand. Evaporation is very
slight. and after the water is once Sc
cured not much of it is stolen back again
by the sur. The green spruce logs that
are used in the many miles Of cribbing
rarely get dry enough to rot. They last
almost as well as piles completely sub
a., 2H-nl l- ,,.A, Dat ,,L;la ,to -,
is in progress it is far from pleasant 10
have ii rain every afternoon. 1t is all
very well hat the pine boughs cut for
bedding remain green three months aft
err they are cut. but n hardly likes the
thought of sleeping in an atmosphere
where that is possible. The surveyor
works a man to hold an umbrella over
the instrument. Optical instruments
have to be constantly wiped to remove
the moisture. AS for the men, they sim
ply have to work through the showers,
which are usually not heavy nor very
prolonged. but only intolerably fire.
quent.
lulS 1OliSltil "StiCoS u nv uoupt ohS
of the influences that make the men
homesick. As fall approaches and the
showers turn to light SHOWS it becomes
almost impossible to keep them. They
get to thinking that the snow may come
so deep that they can not get down at
all, and will have to live o + perish
tbro,,pb tho mountain winter In the
fall, when work was continued latest,
the handful of men that stayed until the
end were almost desperate in their anxi-
ETY. to get away. The morning fixed for
going down, although it was bitter cold
and the snow W. feet deep, no trouble
was experienced in getting the men out
of bed. In fact, they were all up by 3
| o'clock. and the cooks had stayed up
all night to have breakfast at that hour.
| This was the elimination of the insom-
MIA brought on by altitude.
Two devices used for the protection OF
the canal deserve notice. One Is to keep
it from stopping over A little spill on
| the lower side might speedily wash a
gully that would not only empty the
canal, but might Don be so much Of a
canyon that it would give a new engi-
neering problem to get across 1t. Where
| the incline is so nearly perpendicular no
| chance OF a break must be left. Accord
ingly, an automatic spillway is provid-
| ed, so that when the water reaches q
certain height in the ditch the rise Of
the water alone raises a water gate and
the surplus goes %careening down a chan
mel prepared for it.
The second device referred to is that
whereby a stream crossing the path OF
the ditch is led harmlessly over it, but
contributes water in SO far as such con-
tribution is needed. The commonest
way of arranging matters would have
been to take the ditch s%traddling across
the ravine on high trestle-work. This
would have had two disadvantages. The
water OF the cross stream would have
gone to waste. and, secondly, the drift
landed against the foot OF the trestle-
work would eventually have come to ex-
ert q pressure that might have wrecked
the entire structure. The mthod adopt
ed was to lead the stream over the ditch
Instead of leading the ditch over the
stream. The ditch follows the side OF
the ravine until 1t intersects the water
course. Then fiuming is pushed back
to bedrock in the streams course. and
n 10 ~udo to inmn the ditch. Right Oy.