Arizona republican., 1905-07-19
RESERVOIR CONSTRUCTION
Latest Phases Of the Work Going on
 at Roosevelt.

Engineer L. C. Hill in charge oi lconstruction work at Roosevelt. arriv- ed here yesterday morning and left last night for California. expecting to return to Phoenix in about week
 MT. Hill reports that good progress is | being made on the various enterprises at the dam site.
 The penstock tunnel is completed so far as the driving is concerned though the steel lining has not yet been plac- ed That however is task small in comparison to the digging of the hole. | The tunnel is the incline shaft from 1 the end of the power canal to the riv- CT bed, 226 feet below vertically. l though by reason of the incline the penstock is 61O feet long CT deep as ! the reader chooses to define it. It is the drop through which the water ! from the power canal will be precipi- tated for the development of water power for the generation of electric power About the middle of next month the start will be made for the installation of the permanent electric power plant which will be q lob of but very few weeks. Much of the machinery is now on the ground. or as near to the ground as it is desir- able 10 have it at this time. The plant will be ready to furnish power for ac- tual dam construction by the first of October. This plant will easily fur nish 5000 horsepower and additional horsepower will be developed through the dam proper so that there will probably be available : O00 horsepower at all times.
 Good progress is also being made on the power canal now and the finish of the work can begin to be calculated on. The 5wo tunnels between the pen stock or mouth of the canal and the cement factory are finished and all the tunnels have been driven and lined but two and one of them is nearly nu- ished. They will probably both be finished by the last Of this month when there will be nothing left in tunnel construction but straight excavation. The contractors now have 77-OGO yards more of excavation to accomplish and the time required to do that can be guessed at by the fact that last month 3lO00 yards were eXcavated. IL is be- ieved therefore that by the first of September the power canal will be a completed project.
 Another feature that is being sue cessfully carried forward is the com pletion of the sluicing tunnel and it's equipment with gates. As has been
 
 nel, which is to be the outlet of the irrigation water from the reservoir. and which runs through the solid rock around the dam site on the north side of the river, was driven last winter be- fore the floods. The high walter filled this tunnel full of mud and silt As the water receded and the mud dried ft settled sufficiently so there is an air current going through though the tun- mel is yet well filled with debris. From the top of the hill A shaft of huge di- mensiOns was sunk. to connect with the sluicinS tunnel. In this shaft are to be placed three sets of gates to be operated from the top of the hill. any one of which can be closed or opened Independently from the others so that one may be in use when either of the others may need repairs. This shaft was completed last week and there is now ventilation through the shaft and sluicing tunnel and the removal of the silt from the latter will be mat ter of quick work. The gates will then be placed and that part of the job will be finished. The project as a whole is moving along very satisfac- torily and it will soon be up to the point Of actual dam construction. the final chapter of the story though the biggest single feature of the project