The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1905-08-15
BIG NUUANU
RESERVOIR STARTED
(Contlnued from page oneN

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contractor, but recently owing to
slight injury to his foot he has been
unable to give direct personal atten-
ton to the work. Charles Smith is the
engineer in charge and the men are
under the hand Of Frank Foster. That
a more energetic pair of young men
could not be found to direct a big UNI
dertaking is evidenced from the pro-
gress already made. For a space of
considerably over a hundred yards in
width and running the whole length of
the damste, the hau thicket has been
cut away, uprooted and dragged aside.
Little white flags 1utter in the breeze
along the place which will mark the
end of the dam and there is the COM
mencement of a huge ditch in which
the core wall of the dam is to be built.
The present reservoirs in the Nuuanu
Valley will be mere duck ponds COM
pared with the new storing place for
water, for the dam itself will be 17O0
feet long and the water will back up
for over two thousand feet. There will
thus be created in the Nuuanu valley
a lake Of over seven acres in extent,
some forty-aight feet in depth and
containing over 100000 900 gallons Of
water. The core walls of the dam will
be eighty feet in height from the sill
to the top and the trench being dug
now for its reception will be between
thirty-fve and thirty-eight feet in
depth. The digging of the trench is ac-
companied by many difficulties for the
earth there is full of huge volcanic
rocks which have become firmly ce-
mented together Dozens of men are
at work drilling the rocks iii prepara-
ton for blasting.
"The work so far can only be con-
sidered as preliminary" said Frank
Foster this morning. 1.-THE clearing
away of the hau forest was difficult
work to start with as it was extreme
ly dense. When we get things in shape,
which will be in a week or so, we ex-
pect to get ahead much more rapidly"
The new work will certainly scar the
hillsides Of the valley for a considerable
distance for one ditch is already being
dug for the purpose of tapping one of
the waterfalls on the Waikiki side. The
power thus obtained will be used for
much of the earth to be handled will be
treated by this simple but efficacious
means. Another hume will be run
across to the other side of the valley to
tap some of the falls that leap down
the rocks there.
Directly through the middle of the
dam site runs the gulch which carries
the Nuuanu stream and from the eX-
hibitiOn given by that stream on the
occasion Of the recent heavy rains, the
workers admit that.it will be a source
of anxiety to them. The freshet caused
by the sudden precipitation came hur-
rying down the valley forty feet in
width and five feet in height, sweeping
everything before it. Seventy-five mil
lion gallons of water, it was estimated
disappeared into the ocean inside of
the day. When the building of the core
wall approaches the gulch it will be the
hope Of the engineers that the fresh
cts will stay away. A wooden bridge
Is being erected across the gulch at
present and i'm a few days busy little
locomotive will run painting about Nhe
work pulling, showing and Juggling cars
terial for the big dam. stone quarry
has already been located on the Wal
kiki side of the valley and lovers of
the beautiful will be torn with
anguish as they see the ruthless hand
Of utilitarianism dig into the moss and
fern-covered rocks.
For the accommodation of the large
force of men employed and to- be en-
ployed, three camps have been built.
They are not beautiful. these camps,
but they are eminently comfortable.
There is a thoroughly equipped black
smith and carpenter shop, store house,
well stocked grocery and general
store which is in charge of r. H. Wor-
rail-, and a restaurant which is run as
private venture by an enterprising
Pake. Citizen labor only is employed
on the work, Hawaiians being in the
majority with Portuguese a close sec
ond. There are quite a number of
whites employed and also some ne
groes. Rock drilling is new to many
of the men, but the Hawaiians in par
ticular are showing a marked aptitude
for the work.
A stranger passing along the Pail
road would not suspect the amount of
energy that is being expended on the
site of the new work for the operations
so far are nearly all hidden by the crest
of a hill covered with bush, but when
the hau thicket is still further cleared
away the work will soon be appreciate
ed. The merry ring of steel on steel
might indicate that something was dis
turbing the ordinary quiet of the val
ley and if the stranger happened to
pass at noon when the blasts are set
OFF 1t is certain that his contemplation
of the beautiful scenery. would be mo-
mentarily disturbed at all events.
It is expected that the work will be
finished in fifteen months, and If 1t
goes ahead at the same rate that has
marked IL since its inception 1t is cer-
tain that the expectation Is not a bit