The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-08-02
FEDERAL ROAD UP
DIAMOND CREEK
Twenty-Five Miles of Tedious
and Difficult Work AL
ready Completed.
BLASTING BRINGS FORTH
MULTITUDE OF SNAKES
Reptiles Are of the Rattle
snake Variety, but Not
So Dangerous.

George L. Swendsen of tho reclama-
tion service and engineer in charge of
tho Strawberry valley irrigation pro-
iect, is ut the local office for a few days
after nearly n month of almost contlnu-
Gus work in camp. II will be romem-
bered that preliminary to the opening
Of the bids for driving the great tunnel,
which will occur on August 80, that
efforts are being made TO have COM
pleted the now wagon road betwoen the
mouth of Diamond creek and both ends
of the tunnel. While labor has been
difficult to obtain during harvest time,
yet the work has steadily progressed
with moderate complement of men
and teams, and it is now assured that
the roadway Will be completed WlInln
the present month.
The camp is now located in canyon
a short distance above the western por-
tai of the proposed tunnel. The loca-
ton is about ZOO feet above sea level
and is considered by its inhabitants as
q model summer resort.
Work Tedious and Difficult.
The conditions arc conducive to good
appetites, good health and hard work.
Tho road is now completed to within
two miles of the western end of the
tunnel. The work Of the last month
has been through what is known as the
"narrows, ~ and has been tedious and
difficult task. The canyon is SO narrow
and the banks are so steep that the
conditions require the road to be kept
on one side Of the creek. Crossings
can not be made as there is not sufli-
cient room on the sides for turning the
teams. The road is so constructed that
it will allow a six-horse team and
wagon TO pass along.
In tho recent work r great deal OF
blasting has been done and the way
has been cut in many places entirely
from the sides Of the steep rocks that
form the banks Of the stream. For
that reason the road is q substantial
structure and will remain an everlast-
ing improvement.
Multitude of Snakes.
A peculiar attendant incident to this
road building, or rather road cutting,
Is the multitude of snakes that have
been driven from the clefts in the rocks
by the discharge of the explosives used
in blasting. They are exclusively Fed
eral snakes, both by reason Of discov-
cry and of possession. This title has
been strengthened greatly by capture
md slaughter, although the represen-
tatives of the Government are not
overly pleased with their discoveries of
reptile. The serpents are of the rat
lleSudhe variety anu lueS n1N0 Dsen
killed by the score as they come out OF
their hiding places as result of the
disturbance made by the explosives.
The snakes are the kind that have on
them black spots and are not SO VII
cious or so venomous as the yellow
spotted rattlers. Neither are they so
large as their more dangerous relatives,
but some of them show age to the ex-
tent that they carry as many as
dozen rattles. But few snakes are
found at an altitude above 5000 feet.
Road Completed 81 Miles.
The road is now completed a distance
of twenty-one miles and six miles more
Of work will reach the eastern end Of
the tunnel. From that point to the
dam site but little work will be re-
quired to construct the road
Mr.. Swendsen recently had as guests
at camp j, FL. Quinton, supervising en-
gineer Of the reclamation work, and j.
W. Mcconnell, engineer in charge Of
the Gunnison tunnel at Montrose, Colo.
Building Telephone System.
Work is now progressing In the con-
struction Of the telephone system und-
der the direction of z. H. Hess of Clin-
ton, Ia, who is the contractor, and the
indications are that it will be com
pleted on contract time, by October 3.
The holes have been dug for distance
Of eleven miles and the poles are now
being set. This system will connect
with both ends Of the tunnel, the dam
site and the mouth Of Diamond creek,
which flows into Spanish Fork canyon.
m August l, 1906.