Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1906-07-19
RELATIVE COST OF
MASONRY DAMS
They are Constructed Much
Cheaper in the West
Than in the East.

the Reclamation Service, well as
the one affording highest gratifica-
tion, is the cost of structures COM
pared with those which have be-
come familiar to engineers in the
cast
When the reclamation work was
inauguratcd, it was a matter of con-
lecture whether or not the stand
ards of cost for dams, canals, ETC.,
that had been established by cngi-
ncering practice in the eastern part
of the country, could be relied upon
as a basis of estimates of the cost of
the proposed western structures.
AS the work has progressed, it las
become more and more evident that
many classes of engineering work
in the west can be performed much
more cheaply than in the east, and
at the same time the natural con-
ditions are such that these struc-
lures are more economical and ef-
fcctive.
If we take, for example, the
three great masonry dams now being
erected for the purpose of storing
water, viz, the Roosevelt dam in
Arizona, the Pathfinder dam in
southeastern Wyoming, and the
Shoshone dam in northwestern Wy
Orning, we shall find that the effec-
tive storage capacity and costs are
far below those of some of the great
eastern dams, like the new Croton
in New York and Wachuset in Mas
SaChuSetts. The height of these
dams are as follows: Roosevelt,
$50 feet; Pathfinder, 21O feet; Sho-
shone, sos feet; new Croton, 2o7
feet; and wachusett, 2O7 feet.
These heights are measured from
the foundation stones to parapet in
each case, and they show that the
Shoshone is the highest, while the
new Croton IS second and the
Roosevelt third. If, however, the
height above the river bed be con-
sidercd, that is, the effective stor-
age height, the new Croton is. the
lowest. The order is then as
follows: Shoshone, 24o feet; Roose-
welt $50 feet; Pathfinder, 200 feet /;
wachusett, 1S5 feet; and the new
about fifty per cent of the masonry
in the new Croton dam is below
ground and is serviceable for foun-
dation purposes only.
1t is inter SSting to note the COM
the new Croton dam is the largest
in the world from the standpoint of
its amount of masonry, the storage
capacity of the reservoir formed by
1T is by far the lowest of any of
those above mentioned. In fact
from standpoint of storage econ
omy, the new Croton reservoir IS
one of the poorest that has been
constructed il1 recent years. The
dam contains $50, 900 cubic wards
of masonry, and was erected at a
cost of 81, 6oO,o 900. The capacity
of the reservoir formed by il is
900, 900, 900 cubic feet, or a cost of
ST., 900 per million cubic feet storage
Similar figures for the Wachusctt
dam show that it contains $50. 600
cubic yards of masonry, and was
erected at a cost of about $4,000. :
oOo- Its storage capacity is 8, 4OO,-
900, 600, cubic feet, or cost of
1888 per million cubic feet storage
In contrast to these excessive costs
the three western dams appear re-
rnarkab1e.
The Roosevelt dam, for example,
contains $4,000 cubic yards of
masonry, erected at a cost of So
$50, ooO- The capacity of the res
ervoir is OIL, o0o, 900, ooU cubic feet,
or fifteen times that of the new
Croton, and a bout seven and one
half times that of the Wachusett.
The cost of this dam per million
cubic feet of storage is only sos.
Even more remarkable appears the
Pathfinder dam. 1t contains So. 600
cubic yards of masonry, erected at
a cost of 100000. The capacity
Of the reservoir is 43, 500, 600. 600
cubic feet, or more than ten times
that of the Croton. The cost of the
dam per million cubic feet storage
IS therefore only S22. 95, as against
81, 900 for the new Croton. and
S25S for the Wachusett Similar
figures for the Shoshone dam. the
highest IN the world, are: Cubic
yards of masonry, 90, 600; cost ST.
600, GEO; capacity Of reservoir, 20.
600, 600, 600 cubic feet; or cost
per million cubic feet of storage OF
S5O-35.
These extremely low costs have
seldom been equaIed in the history