The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-08-16
CLEANING UP
THE RIVER-B
Interesting Work Going on
at Dam Site.
HOW THE DIVER WORKS
River at Brattleboro Bridge Will Be
Raised 10 Feet from Present Level
According to Altered Plans-Pro-
lection for Brattleboro Retreat.

lection for Brattleboro Retreat.
As work on the Connecticut river
dam progresses the interesting feat
ures attending il increase as does alsc
the number of visitors from Brattle
boro and the towns bordering on the
dam-site. Never day passes at the
seat of activity without its delegation
of sght.seers, while on occasions the
crowd is so large that the good nature
of the men in charge is put to a Sc
we're test. People cannot be blamed,
however, for liking to watch the op'
Grafton of the vast system which
steadily prods forward the project
which is to mean so much for this
section Every week brings the work
to more interesting stage and fur
nishes more convincing illustration
of the organization that is required
to push to successful cOnsumma-
tion such a big enterprise. So care.
fully do the engineers follow every
detail of the work that they can tell
in few moments just what has been
accomplished every day-just how
many cubic yards of earth have been
removed. how much rock has been
blasted, and so on. And yet the work
is carried on with a hustle that the
average unskilled onlooker would be
pardoned for installing for confusion
at first glance.
Particular interest of late has ac-
companied the work of the diver who
superintends the construction of the
coffer,dam. On the upper side of the
crib which extends from the New
Hampshire shore to the ledge of rocks
| two thirds of the way across the river
water.tight planking is being laid.
| The planks are driven down by means
of mauls and to serve their purpose
must reach bed rock Some difficulty
is being experienced in accomplishing
this for the reason that the river bed
is covered with a silt composed of
limbs of trees and other decaying veg
etable matter. In fact several large
water-logged tree trunks-some of
them probably relics of long passed
log drives--have already been hauled
from the bed of the river by means OF
derrick and many more will have to
be moved. To clean the river bed
thoroughly, however, and make posi-
bic the sinking of each plank to bed
rock an air jet will have to be used
This consists of a pipe through which
air is forced at high pressure and
which will be taken to the bottom of
the river by the diver and used to
blow away the silt along the line
where the planks will be driven. Mr..
Parks, who has charge of the Golfer
dam construction and does all the
diving, is considered the equal of any
Golfer man in the country,
Before the work of laying the
foundation for the dam proper can be
begun a second crib parallel to the
one now under construction and about
500 feet down the river will have to
be built as well as a third crib joining
the ends of these two. The space thus
enclosed will then be pumped dry by
means of large pumps. The contract
ors hope to begin laying the founda-
tion early in September. While this
is being done all of the water in the
river will have to flow through the
channel between the rock ledge and
the Vermont shore. This will raise
the water a few feet at the dam site
but will not affect it farther than a
mile or two north. When the section
of the dam between the New Hamp-
shire shore and the ledge is built to a
height few feet above the surface of
the river a cofferd dam will be built in
the other channel and the section at
that point constructed, the water
meanwhile flowing over the partially
completed section. When the second
section, on which the power house will
rest, is done the water will be turned |
through the wheel gates ard the first
section brought up to the required
height. Comparatively little concrete
will have to be laid to complete that |
portion of the spill-way which is to
be located on the site of the bluff now |
being removed, as borings show a
ledge nearly as high as the dam will
be.
The superficial earth on this bluff
is now being removed by means of
scrapers, and dump-cars running on
two narrow gauge railroads, one on
the south and the other on the north
side 1t is the plan of the contract
ors, however, to get rid of most of
the earth by means of huge hydraul-
ic pump which will force the soil into
the river above the coffer-dam. This
pump will differ from those now in use
at the dam site. Under the present
arrangement the water is simply
pumped up from the river and al
lowed to flow down again, earth be-
ing shoveled into the stream by
force of laborers. The new pump will
wash the earth away by pressure as is
done in hydraulic mining.
Since the plans of the company
were first made they have been
changed somewhat, and the fall devel
oped will be nearer 80 than 26 feet.
This will raise the water fully 10
feet from it's present level at the
river bridge at Brattle-
boro and about seven feet at the
mouth of West river. In order to
protect the meadows of the Brattle-
boro Retreat the company has decided
to build along the upper end of the
meadows dixie of sufficient height
10 keep the lowlands dry except in
time of high water. On account of
the width of the spill-way of the dam
to the original width of the I
river the variance in the height of
,he water will not be so great when I