Weekly journal-miner., 1910-08-03
ROOSEVELT PLANT
 STOPPED BY FISH
CFrom Fridav,s Dailvl

From Fridays Daily)
 PHOENIX, Ariz., July 2S. - Get out tae gold and diamond medals and hand them to Supervising En- gineer L. c. Hill of the Reclamation service, who this morning told the biggest true fish story that has yet been related in Arizona.
 Nothing less than the entire sus- pension of the Roosevelt power plant for half an hour is involved in the report made by Hill, which will go to Washington and there cause com ment in the Interior Department from Secretary Ballinger down to the most inexpensive emplOye.
 For about thirty minutes the power was off in Phoenix this morning, and probably but few outside of the Reclamation service and Pacific Gas and Electric company offices knew that nothing but fsh-tons and tons of fsh-was the cause.
 After the water leaves the diver sion canal and before it passes into the power tunnel to hurl itself over the immense turbine, it passes through a sieve that is eight feet in diameter and twenty-five feet long.
 In the sides of this sieve are hun dreds of holes, through which the strained water passes, the purpose of the sieve being to clear the water of all refuse and debris that is car ried down by the canal before it reaches the power wheel.
 All the water in Tonto Creek has been turned into this diversion canal, none of it passing into the res ervoir, and as a result all the fish have been going down the canal. Recently the muddy water has driven the fish further down until they numbered thousands in the vicinity of the sieve.
 Muddy water forced them inside the sieve this morning, and so thick did they become that not enough water could get through the sieve to run the power wheel. Then men got inside and tried to shovel them into a trough that catches the mud and debris that sticks to the side of the sieve as it constantly re- wolves.
 Faster than several men could shovel them into the trough did the fish come in until they became so thick that no water at all could get through, and then the power plant had to be shut down while more men were summoned and the entire school out and thrown over a bank to wiggle down the hillside and into the reservoir just above the dam.
 This is the second time that the fsh have filled the sieve and the power plant has had to suspend. En- gineer Hill stated that if the trouble continued it would be necessary to put an elevator into the canal just above the sieve and clean the canal of fish when muddy water drives them down.
 Fish taken out this morning ranged in length from two to eighteen inches. In several tons handled were carp, catfish, boney-tail and river salmon. The only estimate on the amount is that they filled the eylin- drieal sieve, eight feet in diameter and twenty-five feet long.
 As soon as he heard the fish story, Ensign of the Pacific Gas company ordered the steam aux Hilary plant started to provide against Phoenix being again without power.
 This makes the third time recent 1 ly that the power has been of on | account of trouble at Roosevelt. ! Twice fish were the cause and once a pin dropped out of the engine governor and the power wheel ran away until the plant was shut down and the damage repaired.
 Engineer Hill stated this morning that he had heard of eels stopping water wheels, but this is the first time fish had been responsible. MILLER VALLEY IS