The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1910-09-23
HIGHEST DAM ON EARTH
III BUILT BY
III MARIETTA MAN

height is also its greatest di-
mension, is in Wyoming on the
Shoshone River, just beyond Vel
lowstone National Park. 1t was
built by the United States Reclama-
ton Service to irrigate 10000
acres of land in the Big Horn Basin.
The constructing engineer of this
dam, with its many accessories, is
Mr.. Daniel Webster Cole, brother
of Mr.. De Witt Clinton Cole, assist
ant postmaster of Atlanta, and son
of Mrs. H. G. Cole, of Marietta.
The dam was completed soon af-
ter midnight January 10th, 1910.
The small trowel used by the con.
structing engineer in putting on the
finishing touches was subse-
quently silver-plated, appropriately
inscribed, and sent as a trophy of
victory over the Shoshone floods in
the Rocky Mountains-to his moth
er, who still lives in the house he
was born in AZ years ago, on Wash
ington avenue.
The editors of the Engineering
Record induced Mr.. Cole to write
an account of the methods employ
ed in this great work. In the July
23rd number of this technical maya
zine you can read full, profusely
illustrated and thrilling account of
what has been accomplished under
the supervision of a man whose
boyhood was spent in Marietta.
Space will not permit anything
like a description of the details. 1t
required four years and the first
efforts were washed away by the
floods from melting snow.
The dam is wedge-shaped with a
convex side to resist the current of
water. 1t is between granite cliffs
only go feet apart at the bed of the
river and 100 feet across at the top.
The dam 1928 feet high at the
highest point. 1t is built of con-
crete with hand-placed stones rein
forcing it. These stones had to be
washed thoroughly andgranite was
crushed as a substitute for sand to
go with the cement.
The current of the river was di-
verted from its channel by a
temporary dam and the work was
carried on in winter when there was
no danger from floods.
At great expense the concrete was
kept at temperature considerably
above freezing by the use of steam
heated pipes. Three shifts of
laborers were employed so the work
continued without delay. The
chemical heat generated by the
setting and crystalizing of the con.
crete was also great advantage.
Beside the high dam there are a
spill way, a controlling apparatus
made of steel and bronze, tunnels
through rock, Is miles of roads with
bridges and 100000 worth of real
estate for which Uncle Sam has paid
81, 100000.
Mr.. Cole says: The congestion
of business in building a dam in
the bottom of a rock gorge 80 feet
wide and 1000 feet deep, and the
exasperating interdependence of all
efforts and movements in the
progress of excavating, quarrying,
blasting, conveying and building
within the rock-ribbed confines,
forms a chapter of troubles which
cannot briefly be told"
What thrills US with pride in
contemplating this achievement of
the reclamation service is the
knowledge that a Marietta boy,
tutored only in the school of ex-
perience, has carried it through to
success. His strong brain, clear
eyes and strenuous conscience stood
behind the great machines and con-
structive works. He was always at
the front and never sent a workman
where he wonld not dare go himself,
Since the completion of the