The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-04-23
blankets and kits and silently steal away
on the seventy five mile tramp to ciyiliza
tion.

blankets and kits and silently steal away
on the seventy five mile tramp to ciyiliza-
tion.
The same difficulty has been found I'm
Keeping men To do the work Of the pre-
liminary survey for the ditch from the
6rande river, whore tho conditions are
somewhat harder Even In tho midst Of
the hard times il was almost impossible
TO keep menonough 10 push the surveying
work. Mr. j. III. Nelson, who was the
engineer for the first work and is making
tho surveys for the second, gives these
facts about the men. and on cross-cxami-
nation admits that while he did not yield
10 nero holnesickncss, yet be had to
come out III the mountains for time
because bis growing NERVOUSNESS upset
his digestion.
A secondary result of the great altitude
Is the constant dampncss. Tho noun
tainS rise from "A scmi-arid plain, but all
the moisture There is in the air Is con-
densed about these mountain peaks. This
has some advantages for the work in
hand. Evaporation Is very slight, and
aftcr tho water is once secured not much
OF it is stolen back again by the sun.
The 0rcGn spruce logs that are used in
tho many miles OF cribbing rarely get
dry enough to rot. They last almost as
well as piles completely submerged in
water. But while the work is in progress
10 is far from pleasant TO have it rain
every afternoon. IL is all very we'll that
the pine bOughs cut for bedding remain
green three months after they are cut
hut one hardly likes the thought Cf sleep
ing IN an atmosphere where that is pos
sib!e. The surveyor works with n man To
hold an umbrella over the instrument.
Optical instruments have TO be Econ
Stantly wiped TO remove the moisture.
AS for the men, they simply have TO
work through the showers, which are
usually not heavy nor very prolonged, but
only intolerably frequent.
This constant wetness Is no doubt one
of the influences that makes the mon
hOmesick AS fail approaches and the
showers turn TO light SHOWS 10 becomes
almost impossible To Keep them. They get
10 thinking that the snow may COMO SO
deep that they can not get down ut all and
Will have 20 live or perish through the
mountain winter. In the fall, when work
was continued latest. the handful OF men
that stayed until the end wero almost dos
perate in their anxiety TO get away. Tho
morning Gxed for going down, although
it was bitter cold and the snow 2 feet
deep no trouble was experienced in get
ting the men out of bed. In fact, they
were all up by 3o'clock, and the cooks had
STAYED up all night To have breakfast at
that hour. This was tho elimination OF
the insomnia brought on by altitude.
Two devices used for the protection of
the canal deserve notice. One is to keep
il from stopping over A little spill on
the lower side might speedily wash n
gully that would not only empty the
canal, but might soon DO so much OF
canyon that ii would give "a new engineer
ing problem To get across It, Where the
incline is so nearly perpendicular no
chance of break must be left Accord
ingly, an automatic spillway is provided,
so that when the water reaches certain
height IN the ditch the rise OF the water
alone raises IA water gate and the surplus
goes careening down a channel prepared
Tor IL.
The second device referred to is that
whereby "A stream crossing the path OF the
ditch is led hnrmlcssly over it. but con-
tIibatos water in so far as suCh contriDu-
tiou IS needed The commoDest way OF
arranging matters would have been to
take the ditch a straddling across the
rayine on high trestle work. This would
have had two disadvantages. The water
OF the cross stream would have gonc 10
waste, and secondly, tho drift landed
against the foot OF the trestle work would
eventually have come to exert pressure
shat might have wrecked the entire struc-
ture. The method adopted was to lead
tic stream over the ditch instead of lead
ing the ditch over the stream. The ditch
follows the side of the ravine until 1T
intcrsects the watercourse. Then 1uming
is pushed back TO BEDROCK In the stream 3
course, and it is maGe 10 jump the ditch
Right over the ditch is placed grating
OF heavy timbers, so inclined that rocks
and drlftwoud do not lodge but are washed
over without resistance, while the water
flows through the grating into the ditch.
This lands the debris far down the noun
tain side, but saves the precious water,
or SO much of it as the canal is able to
carry at "a given time.
When, after more than two years OF
work, the canal was finished on the 4th
of July, 1894 it was found to deliver into
Chambers Lake constant How Of water
of 1872 cubic feet per second. The value Of
this water was SO great that the canal paid
for itself the first season after its compile
ton. When such results are achieved it Is
not strange that investors and engineers
are on still hunt for more rivers TO kid
nap.