The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1910-08-12
THE MACKAY DAM
CONTINUED from page ~


9 to close it and carry that section q
y the work up to level with the res
e OF the dam which was carried we
up In advance. Through the rive
0 bed steel sheet piling was drive
: down to depths varying from fiftee
a to Sc feet, the chief engineer SAYS
: driven to refusal. Some of the work
5 men and visitors say they were driy
y en- until they bent, and others sa
: driven their full length but not al
ways to refusal, one section it i
, claimed being sunk SO feet under tn,
, weight of 100 pound hammer sim
ply resting upon the top of it. Tn,
t sheet steel is jointed so that /
: matches like flooring at the sides.
The earth and gravel are dumped
IN from trains operated upon trestles
and the coarser gravel rolling dowr
the slopes always reaches farthest
and necessarily constitutes the bot
tom course in each belt or section
laid or dumped from a given eleya.
| ton. This permits of leakage where
IT is dumped on hard surface if the
weight of the material above it does
not press it into compact form so as
to fill the voids between the stones.
When the gravel is shoyeled IN
from the bluffs and dumped, it does
not fill the space solid where it rests,
but contains about 80 per cent voids
when dry. The maximum depth for
water in the reservoir is ITO feet:
height of the dam 1870 feet.
The citizens of Mackay fearing
Washout of the dam when filed. en-
ployed j. B. Lippincot, an eminent
civil engineer now in charge of the
Ownes river project in California de-
signed to carry the waters of Owens
lake distance of $50 miles through
difficult engineering works to supply
water for Los Angeles for all time, a
project costing $4,000, 100000, to
examine the dam and tell them whet-
her or not it is safe.
Lippincot condemned it in almost
every particular. Says the founda-
lions are not good, the core not thick
enough nor connected as it should
De with bed rock or something i'm
previous, says the water will go right
through the gravel dam, that the
core is not high enough, the spillway
not large enough. He admits that it
VIII hold water as high as the core
goes, but would enjoin them from rs
ing 1T above that point Says that
II the reservoir were full of water
and should break, that it would make
hood wave about II feet deep and
thousand feet wide. Says the wat
er may go under the dam, NAV go
through it, may go over it, may leak
200 fast to ever fill up.
The people of Mackay sent a copv
II his report to Governor Brady, he
stopped construction work on the ,
lam pending investigation by the :
tate, the Mackay people asked the '
privilege of selecting part of the en-
'lneers for the investigation, the gov +
rnor advised taking little time to +
all things, did not grant 4
helr request at once and they de- q
ided to force action by publishing o
ne Lippincot report in their local f
aper, The Mackay Miner, and as g
hey said, giving it the greatest posi- a
lie publicity to compel him to do :,
lem justice.
Accordingly the paper was print 81
devoting nearly all their space to a
grading the calamity in their COM :.
unity, many extra copies were print +,
for distribution, c. E. Arney the II
oecial correspondent for the Salt n.
axe Tribune was invited to go to a,
ackay and feature the story, and
ISIS Belle chamberlain, member h.
the state land board who visited :,
e place at the same time was taken ca
It by the citizens committee. and /,
nong other things was shown the 70
w through the opening we have h,
oxen of in the core at the lowest ST
int, and was so misinformed con- IN
rning it that she returned to Black do
ot believing this to be weak pface If
the dam which they were unable mr.
cope with, when in reality they 90
We not put in the final section of mr.
1crete nor the puddled part of the IL
bankment adjacent to it. so1
The state had an engineer on the til,
'und watching construction at all th.
les, and he is said to have made n
ly reports for some time, that the
cifications were not being follow da,
but in what respects we are not ~,
Used. At any rate he kept the n .
te engineer and the land board adj oxc