Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-03
FAST WORK ON
AQUEDUCT BORE
BIG ELIZABETH TUNNEL Is
HALF FINISHED
FIFTY PER CENT OF DRILLING
DONE in 30 PER CENT TIME
Fifty-four Men Employed on Three
Shifts Each Draws Down Forty
eight Dollars of Bonus
Money

The big Elizabeth tunnel on the Los
Angeles aqueduct system, 26,S60 feet
from north to south portal, is half fin
ished, and, incidentally. some records
in tunneling have been smashed and
the forces which are working toward
each other from south and north are
keyed up to a high pitch, with promises
of even greater accomplishment before
the meet in the middle of the great
bore.
The Elizabeth tunnel extends from
the Fairmont reservoir through the
coast range and is the key to the COM
pletion OF the aqueduct work, for the
reason that only a certain number of
men can be worked and the limit of
the ground broken depends on the in
dividual effort and the team work of
the gangs. The engineers in estimat-
ing the time which would be required
to finish the tunnel allowed for break
of eight feet every twenty-four hours
on each end, and for a time before the
installation of machine drills 1t seemed
that the pace set was a little swift.
Later. however, the men got their
stride, with the result that so per cent
of the work has been done in 40 pen
cent of the time, and at the present
rate, If il can be maintained, daylight
can be seen from end to end within
thirteen months.
Records Broken
The break of the tunnel is II feet
wide by IL feet high. The north portal
was opened November 8, 1907. and the
south portal October l of the same
year, the work being started under the
direction of John Gray, tunnel super
intendent. Later on Mr.. Gray, who
had devoted his attention to the north
portal, went up to Jawbone to attend
to some difficult work and A. G. Aston,
an accomplished and capable engineer,
who was in charge of the south END
of the bore, began to make good rec
ord. The record for tunnel work in
the United States had been'held by the
Gunnison tunnel, which was driven 449
feet in one month. Aston attracted
attention in October, 1908, by advanc-
ing the face of the south portal 467 feet,
beating his own high mark in the fol-
lowing March with 476 feet. In the
meantime John Gray came back and
took personal charge of the forces in
the north portal and in September, a
short month, drove ASS feet. This was
considered the limit of human accom-
plishmeut by the men employed on the
work-12 feet better than Aston's best
and in twenty-four hours less time,
but John Gray was not satisfied, and
in October he pushed the work ahead
547 feet in hard, water-bearing gneiss,
timbering ASS feet, employing four min
ers, eight muckers, one shift boss and
five timbermen on each shift. The
work was done with Leyner water
drills and twenty pounds of dynamite
were used to every foot of ground
10,940 pounds altogether. The broken
rock was transferred TO the outside by
means of electric cars and used in
back-flling the core of the Elizabeth
reservoir. The average cost was $3.50
per foot, which is between Sc and 81
less than the estimate of the engineers
for that kind of rock.
Men Who Did Work
John Gray is the antithesis of A. c.
Aston-the one is a bluff. hard-fisted
miner who learned by practical expert
ence the weak places in the seemingly
inVulnerable rock; the other an engin-
eer by profession, who earned his spurs
on difficult and dangerous work in
Colorado. John Gray gives all the
credit for his remarkable perform
ances to the team work of his men. He
is a hard worker himself and arouseS
an esprit de corps among his men, who
are intensely loyal to the boss"
John Breslin is the foreman and An
thony Gallagher, William Wright and
Adolph Oleson the shift bosses. The
fifty-four men employed on the three
shifts each draws down $4S of bonus
money for the October stunt, the aque-
duct commissioners having adopted the
bonus system to inspire interest in the
work and hasten its completion.
The average for last month in both
portals was 30.9 feet, as against 16
feet, the engineers estimate. The eX-
act measurements November l were as
follows: South portal, 6727 feet, north
portal $3.50 feet; total completed, 13,417
feet. But 730 of the 1880 days allowed
have been consumed in doing one-half
the work, and unless unforeseen acci-
dents happen a much better average
will be made In the future.