The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1907-04-10
GREAT PROJECT;
DUMPING LAKE
work HAS Been HELD UP
Comprehensive Description Of Opera
lions Which Will Work
Wonder for Valley.


with the stringency Of the labor mar.
ket, has retarded the gigantic pro-
ject of the reclamation service to i'm
pound 1900, 100000 cubic feet OF
water for the reclamation of the arid
section Of the Yakima valley al
BuIhping lake. This undertaking
started last fall, involves an expendi-
ture of 100000 and includes the
building of an immense dam, $500
feet in length, SO feet in height and
having a width at the top of twenty
feet. The course OF Dumping river,
the present outlet OF the lake, and
one OF the principal feeders of the
Yakima through the Matches, will be
shifted nearly 1000 feet and will re-
quire the building of large amount
of false work and Golfer dam crib
bling to effect the change.
Two hundred men have been en-
ployed throughout the winter pre-
pairing to accommodate force of 500
men during the summer months,
which will be used to complete all
the initial work on the project the
present year, says the Seattle
Times. Sixty acres will be slashed
to provide timbers for the cribbing
and to clear the present shore ter
ritory which will be engulfed when
the dam is completed.
The dam, one of the largest in
this section of the country, will be
$500 feet long, SO fet high and with
a thickness at the apex OF 20 feet
Earth will form the chief material
used in the slope from the toe to
the inner center of the bore, which
will be composed of selected mater
ial ranging in thickness from ten
feet at the top to twenty feet at the
bottom.
| During the excavation operations
to carry the dam base to hardpan
bedrock, temporary cofferdam and
spillway will be erected, diverting
the course of the river to the right.
This will permit the building OF
the main division of the dam and
| the installation of the seven foot
conduit, which will carry the waters
of the lake through the dam dur
ing the low water stage. At the
opening to the conduit at the upper
tide Of the slope a gate house of
concrete will be built to regulate the
flow.
The spillway for the permanent
dam is at an elevation of 3,425
feet above sea level and seven feet
lower than the dam apex. 1t will
be 200 feet in width at the dam and
will be capable of easily handling
the flood waters during the spring
and fall freshets.
The spillway win be fioored with
S-inch planks and will narrow grad
ually from its width Of 200 feet at
the dam to rs feet at its confluence
with the former course of the river.
An alternate channel is also pro-
vided.
The slope of the dam will be
lined with two feet of rip rap, the
back fill to slope to /. A cutoff
trench will be excavated to water
tight material.
Two years will be required to
complete the work, the United States
reclamation service having complete
control of the project. Surveys
have been made preliminary to the
inception of the dam to ascertain the
available rock quarries and barrow
pits. A great many horses will be
required at the lake during the
spring and summer months and a
large number OF bunk houses and
stables erected to provide for the
forces employed.
The Dumping lake project is an
integral factor in the plan OF the de-
partment OF the interior to provide
ample irrigation for the lower Yaki-
ma valley.
The other lakes ami their relative
capacities which are being impound-
ed as part of the same undertaking
are Lake Keechelus, 7S4,000,000
cubic fet; Lake Gle Elum, S71,O00,.
900 cubic feet; Lake Kachess, l.
524 100000 cubic feet. and Bump
ing lake. 1,200.O00,oo0 cubic feet,
providing a total OF 4.379.sS0. 900
cubic feet OF impounded waters.
Engineer Joseph Jacobs Is in d.
rect charge of the Dumping lake
dam. d. c. Henry being supervising
engineer. The consulting board
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