Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-22
EXPERT ENGINEER
LAUDS AQUEDUCT
DECLARES CITY SHOULD BE
PROUD OF PROJECT
Will Prepare for Early Number of the
Engineering Record the Story
of the Great Un-
dertaking

The Engineering Record of New York
will contain, in an early number, a
glowing account Of the Owens river
aqueduct project, If S. T.. Henry, asso-
ciate editor of the magazine and him
self an expert engineer, writes with the
enthusiasm with which he discussed
the matter yesterday.
Mr.. Henry spent several weeks on the
aqueduct examining it most minutely,
and is now in Los Angeles, where he is
compiling his notes. He was present
at the meeting of the water commits
sion yesterday afternoon.
Il do not believe the people of this
city fully appreciate the magnitude Of
this project" said Mr.. Henry. with
the Panama canal ranking first, this is
the fourth largest engineering project
of the day in America. 1t is remark
able in many ways. You have estab-
lished ditch records as we'll as tunnel
records, and l believe, if a standard
of the kind could be set, you would
establish records for the spirit of Or
ganization and lack of jealousy
This spirit Of organization and team
work is one of the most interesting
features of the aqueduct work. 1t is
this spirit that has resulted in driving
so fast through the hard rock of the
Elizabeth lake tunnel and laying 1000
feet of cement ditch work every month
in each division.
Long Hauls Difficult
THE difficulty in handling the work
is not appreciated. To bring this
conduit over the desert is no simple
problem. In many places hauls of
twenty and thirty miles are necessary
to get supplies to the places of action.
That is one of the serious features that
IL
discussing the magnitude of this work.
IT understand there has been some
complaint about the food served at the
camps on the aqueduct. | found no
fault with the food myself, and 1 like
good things to eat / believe the chief
difficulty has been that the men who
are building the tunnel are highly paid,
high class workmen who expect to be
served banquets. The food | saw
served to the aqueduct workmen is
far superior to any / have ever seen
in railroad camp. At railroad mess
table the men are not served butter
with their bread, syrup with their
cakes, and other daintfes. Up on the
aqueduct the men get all these, and
more. They have plenty of pie, not
one little slice, but all they care to
eat and pie is a rarity in railroad
camp. For the price they pay, which
Is 20 cents meal, they get a most
excellent meal. 1t would be called
good food anywhere. and it Is especially
good for the desert, where such long
hauls are necessary.
Tunnels Cheaper Than Cuts
Prom an engineering standpoint one
of the most interesting features in the
construction of the aqueduct is that
the original plans called for fifteen
miles of tunnel and the finished pro-
duct will contain forty-five miles. The
interest lies in the fact that 1t has been
found cheaper and better to bore tun-
nels than TO work through the open
cuts. This shows the high efficiency
of the organization. Many people seem
to think that the workmen on the aque-
duct are common laborers and officered
by commonplace engineers. This is
not the case. The engineers are the
highest grade possible to secure, and
the work they have done is evidence OF
this.
II hope the people of this city are
awake to the necessity of voting the
bonds for the power development. To
build this aqueduct and not develop
its power would be like building a
house and leaving out the windows.
Bringing this power to Los Angeles
will do more to bring the large man
ufacturing concerns to your city than
anything else could do. 1 know that
in the east the manufacturers are
watching this part of the country with
great interest and many of them are
waiting only for cheap power to locate
their factories here"