Evening star., 1906-02-24
IRRIGATION PROJECTS
Chief Engineer Newell Has Just
Inspected Them.
ALL WORKS PROGRESSING
Difficulty in Obtaining Labor and
Material.
THE GREAT GUNNISON TUNNEL
A World Record in Tunnel Making
Established-Three Shifts
Day Working.
THE GREAT GUNNIsON TUNNEL


ington over month on a tour of the big
southern projects. The inspection COM
menced with the Mlnadoke. in Oklahoma;
took I'm Roswell Las Cruces and Engle, In
New Mexico: the Salt river and Yuma
works. in Arizona; the big Carson -Truckee
project, in Nevada; the Strawberry valley,
in Utah; the plans of the pumping station
scheme at Garden City, Kan, and the big
Gunnison project in Colorado where there
is under construction one Of the biggest
tunnels in the world. six miles long and
already about a third completed.
In speaking of the general aspect of
the work Mr.. Newell said one of the great
est difficulties just now was with the sup
ply of labor and material. There is hardly
plant in the country that will promise
immediate delivery on any sort of ma
chinery requiring steel or iron In it's con-
structon, because the raw material is al
most impossible to get The extension of
railway building in the west, the extension
of the AtchisOn line, the putting through
OF the new Gould road and lot of other
similar big enterprises has simply alb
sorbed all the iron and steel there is in
sight. He says that he was informed one
railway had not only bought up all the
rails it could get in this country for future
delivery long time ahead, but had con-
tracted for 100000 tons in Spain. There
has been boom in work of all sorts in
the west. and both about all the labor and
material IN sight have been annexed.
The Labor Question.
The labor question is one of the hardest
that the contractors have had to deal with
on the irrigation works. There is the
greatest dearth of competent foremen and
there is more than dearth of labor Even
when they are imported from distance. 1t
is almost impossible for the contractors
"a a
who come on the works are what is known
as i've day men They arrive almost
naked, hungry and destitute They have 10
be furnished with clothes and a blanket
and three meals before they are even fit
10 start. Fortunately the clothes and the
blanket are held out of their wages till
they are paid for. But just as soon as
they get few days pay ahead of the
game they jump the job and start off
somewhere else. Really the best men that
are secured are the Indians and Italians
The Italians often come in punches. often
under a foreman of their own choosing
and they Will work. keep sober and there
Is some chance of controlling them The
Indians, while they make good laborers are
getting so rich and Independent that they
DO not care much whether they work or
not and they are increasingly difficult to
handle ~
The eight-hour law has been injected into
The problem. Mr.. Newell said that all the
plans or the survey had originally been
made on the government eiRht-hour basis
ana II the contractors were willing To gam
pIe OF getting men they could work long
or hours that was their gamble A great
many or them did, still many of the men
especially those who are sober ana m
dustrious, would actually rather work for
zen hourS at reasonable gait than he
ugIFeh lor eight, There are also many
or them willing TO work overtime for
lhe most Of the contracts are awav from
any sort OF civilization and there is moth
ing IN the way Of amusement outside Of
drunk W get
The contractors and the engineers try
tueir best to keep liquor out of the carnDs
but II is hard job. and many of the NO.
"Heh tHey get little money ahead insist
VH setung on and going into the nearest
town There they promptly go through
What Is known in the mining country oe
the separation This Is usually a line Of
salooHs on The main street. where If the
iis mouse IeaNcs man any money at
an the others will separate him from, ~
u they have to knock him on the head to
90 IT, OF course, they do not prefer mis-
Inethod IN OF highway robbery, but 1t is a case
OF gently II we can, forClbly IL we must -
ana they usually succeed IN getting an the
coin the workmen have on them So +aLe
~ as whole, the men on the work are
aSjahS aj1hS DETER of under the ten than the
elght-hour regime.
Great Gunnison Tunnel.
'Uhe work on the great Gunnison tunnel
Is progressing rapidly. They have estah-
Hshed what is believed to be a world record
IN tunnel construction of thirty feet a dav
th'oush the snale rock. The men have
wen trained gradually TO their present
Hate OF efficiency, and now they 90 ar
the tunnel face Ike a lot Of gophers three
elght-hour shifts a day and nearly ayer,
shlft working TO beat the others record
Inc tunnel when completed will be cemant
- -.-,su' oHu II mas been found that 80 per
- more OF water can be Z through the
same sized tunnel with a perfectly snootb
as with rough lining
VI course, the farthest along OF all tho
projects Is the great Truckee-Carson works
r., mIiea'lhg Joooo acres There has
neeh rush to this irrigated land aIrnost
I'he a stampede 10 a new gold field or the
"pchhS OF an Indian reservation Rut
mere are sun about 100 farms of eighty
acres each open TO settlement
good many Of the homesteadere have
taken up l6-acre tracts. and as they bars
no Fght TO them have been ordered 10 cut
tHeh Gown. notwithstanding they have
NOT the shadow claim TO the eyfra
taHu' there lssa brisk trade driven in 'sre
4lhqElShments' sometimes as much as to0o
or 800 being paid by newcomer on an
eighty y-acre farm. or course this is nnra
graft for the first settler. but then n {s q
private transaction and there Is nothing
that can be done to stop II.
The newly irrigated section is changing
lhe whole aspect OF that section of Nevada
1here mas long been a little narrow guage
road wandering down and losing itself In
that part of the desert. but the Union
Pacific has recently straightened the line
ana put In direct broad-guage road 10
Iouopah and Goldheld. and promises soon
70 build branch line over to the center of
the irrigated tract. When this Is done the
farmers Will find themselves right at the
back door OF southern California where
there Is steady demand for hay and al
falfa and the grains and hardy fruits that
the region produces
The aspect OF all the Wrnrks &c
and the only things In the way Of rusbinR
matters are the questions Of labor and ma
terial. As both OF these are necessarily
the accompaniment OF healthy times and
prosperity. il seems hard 10 find fault with
them. and II any Of the unemployed OF the
great cities want jobs as laborers In a new
country there is every chance for them
under any one Of twenty contractors on the
big irrigation projects.
Buoy Out of Position.
Capt. Bob Brown. master of the tug