The Butte inter mountain., 1903-07-08

tains have been built beneath the waters
of the lake.
This work has required the operation Of
seven great steam shovels with capacity
for moving earth that is truly remarkable.
Each one Of these monster machines lifts
five yards OF earth at time and in the
course of single day will load 100 cars
OF capacity of 100 tons each.
"The hillside from which they have been
tearing the rock and earth for the past six
months presents an appearance that is well
calculated to impress upon a person the
magnitude of this marvellous undertaking.
"The construction of the tres,e work on
the cutoff is the next greatest feature of
the work
Twenty-eieht Miles.
Twenty eight miles of piing will have
been driven when the cutoff is completed.
More than IS miles of this is now stand
ing. OF the sS miles across the lake there
are IS miles of them where the depth of
the water is too great to permit of a fill
being made. The remaining iS miles is
over portion of the lake where the water
ranges IRON 2S to so feet. that being the
greatest depth discovered thus far. Here
permanent treste is being built. Over the
other portion the tresile was merely tenn
porary, that is TO say. il has since been
entirely buried with the fill. Its sole pur-
pose was to allow a track to he built that
the trains could run out on and dump.
The. immense weight of long dir1 trains
made it imperative that the temporary
trestle be well built in a manner that
would not permit il to break down or give
way. -Four spliced piles were driven
about six feet apart at the water edge
and at right angle across the line OF the
track.
Each pile was driven so that IL leaned
toward the center. The means OF driving
them will be described later. At a point
II feet above the water line they are cut
off perfectly square. That this cut may
be exact as regards to the height above
the water, a civil engineer makes an exact
measurement on each pile.
Bolted Down Solidy.
"A timber IL inches square and r4 feet
long is placed on the top of the four piles
and bolted to each Of them. This is
termed the cap. On either side of the
piles Of plank IL inches wide and four
inches thick is spiked diagonaly from the
top of one outside pile TO the water line
of the opposite outside pile.
Another plank of the same size is
spiked horizontally to them just above the
water. These planks are termed sway
braces and collar braces and the completed
structure a bent The bents are driven
II feet apart along the entire distance
The bents of the permanent trestlc are
constructed in the same manner except
that they contain five piles instead OF four
where there is to be a single track and
from eight to I3 piles when there is to be
a double track.
These bents when completed are per-
fectly rigid and are of a sufficient strength
TO sustain the weight of five locomotives.
Two carloads Of provisions are con
sumed on the lake daily, not counting the
fresh meat, which constitutes the major
portion OF each meal. These stores are
supplied from general company store
at Promotory. which keeps on hand all
the time a stock of provisions valued at
$a5,ooo.
1.-TWO men have been accidently killed
on the cutoff since the work commenced.
One was a brakeman who was caught
under an engine that topplcd over at a
| point where a sink i'll the fill had occurred.
| The other was a laborer Who was suifo-
Gated last week He had dug hole about
seven feet deep in bank Of earth prepara-
tory 10 putting in a blast. He crawled
into the hole for some purpose and the
dirt caved down on him. A force of men
attempted to get him out. but the dirt con
tinucd to cave in as fast as they dug. and
when they reached him he was dead.
THE body OF a third man was found
washed up on the hill after the heavy
wind OF week ago. but from letters
found in his pocket it was learned that
body probably washed to where it was
found from some other point.
"The many reports to the effect that
dozens of men have been killed are un-
founded.
MANY serious difficulties have con-
fronted the engineers experimenting the
construction of this gigantic enterprise.
The two sinks OF which so much has been
published have caused more trouble than
anything else.
The Bottomless Pit
"The first OF these, known as the bot
tomlcss pit stretch of fill about 800 feet
long, is located about mile out from the
east shore OF the lake. There seems TO
have been a gulch of unusual depth at
some time.
ut has become filed with soft mud from
the Bear river and this continues to ooze
out from beneath the great quantity of
rock and earth that has been dumped in
upon it, allowing the fill to sink.
ABOUT THE TREASURE STATE