Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-02
AQUEDUCT CHIEFS
WORK FLAWLESS,
SAYS BETKOUSKI
Councilman Declares Close In
Spection of Project Shows
Great Achievements
SOME COMPLAIN OF FOOD
City'S COmmissary Department
All Right, but Other Boarding
Places Poorer
SOME COMPLAIN OF FOOD
E CANNOT speak too highly of the
work of those in charge of our
y great r1111ninir,nI On rri,, nn,ir,. r,rn.l,-

E CANNOT speak too highly of the
work of those in charge of our
great municipal engineering prob
lem, the Owens river aqueduct," said
Councilman Betkouski last night. "a
careful examination of the work on
every division of the line failed to
show a single instance of careless or
sighted workmanship or poor con-
struction'
Tired out from the hardships of a
four days automobile trip across 250
miles of desert and mountains, COW
cred with alkali and baked to a rich
brown by the desert winds, the council
manic investigating committee re-
turned last night from the tour COM
menced last Tuesday evening, ready
for prolonged session with a good
feather bed, but thoroughly satisfied
with conditions found on the great
water line.
Leaving Los Angeles Tuesday even
ing at o'clock the party travelled to
Olancho, the northernmost division
point, at the south end of Owens lake,
which was reached Wednesday after
noon. From this point north the water
flows in an uncovered ditch, for twenty
miles cement lined, about twenty feet
wide and eleven deep, and for sixty
miles north an open canal about thirty
feet wide and seven feet deep.
blanche is the most southern point
at which water is taken into the aque-
duct The canal is here fed from the
streams which flow down from the
| melting SHOWS on the slope of the
Sierra Nevada range, twenty-five or
thirty creeks of clear, cold water en-
tering 1t, while it has been proved to
the satisfaction of the engineers that
sufficient water to keep the conduit
full at all seasons of the year can be
1 II
the line of this ditch. The party found
work at full blast late at night on this
stretch of the work. the steam shovels
and dredgers operating at full capacity
under electric lights from the power
plant at Cottonwood creek.
START NORTH ALONG LINE
Thursday morning the party en-
barked in autos and started north
along the line. Fright here is where
wish to correct misstatement often
made regarding the water which will
! be carried by the aqueduct," said Mr..
Betkouski ''It has been said that
water being taken in as far south as
Olancho could not fail to be impreg-
mated with alkali and soda, such as
fills Owens lake, in which no life exists.
when as a matter of fact the ditch
running north from Olancho is fifty
feet above the level of the lake and
river, and receives no water except
! from the fresh creeks which flow direct
from the melting SHOWS in the noun
tains.
1.-THE city owns $4,000 acres of land
adjacent to Owens river, but for fifty
miles north of the lake no water is
| taken from the river. For fifty miles
along the open ditch artesian wells to
the number OF six or seven to the mile
can be drilled, which will flow about
| fifty inches each. This alone, regard
less of the creeks flowing into the
canal would furnish sufficient water
to keep the canal full at all times Of
the year.
! "At Cottonwood creek we found the
power plant, which furnishes electricity
| for all the machinery as far south as
| the Mojave cement mill, to be in fine
shape. The creek never runs less than
100 inches, which is sufficient to de-
velop 2O00-horse power, and in connec-
| tion with the division creek plant,
which develops about S00-horse power,
furnishes power and lights for al the
air compressors in the tunnel work,
| the concrete mixers, tunnel railways,
| dredgers and machine shops as far
| south as the Mojave cement mill. From
there on the line is paralleled by the
Edison company's line, which is tapped
| wherever we need it,"
VISIT HAIwEE RESERVOIR SITE
Thursday night was spent at Haiwee,
| ten miles south of Oancho. A natural
depression at Haiwee is being improved
to make one of the three large reser-
voirs which will serve to regulate the
| flow in the aqueduct, and from Haiwee
to Los Angeles the water will flow en-
| tirely in covered, cement-lined conduits
or cement lined tunnels.
Leaving Haiwee Friday morning, the
| party travelled through the Little Lake
country, next to the Jawbone district,
the most mountainous and difficult of
| construction on the entire line. In spite
of the solid granite hills the conduit
is being built in practically straight
line, tunnels piercing one rocky spur
after another. while high on the noun
tain sides steam shovels are at work
gouging the conduit way between the
tunnel mouths. Work in this district
has been hampered by the lack of rail-
way facilities and men, but with the
completion of the tunnels farther south
the forces will be concentrated and the
work rushed through.
cat each division point we found 4
| complete headquarters established"
said Mr.. Betkouski, connected by tele-
| phone with every camp on the entire
| line. AS soon as we reached camp
Mr.. Lippincott would go to the phone
| and get into touch with all of hiss
| superintendents. Within half an hour
after the Newhall tunnel had been
pierced through the news was known
| at every camp.
"South of the Little Lake division is
the Grapevine division. much similar
to the Little Lake district. with many
| tunnels. In the Freeman and Red
| Rock division, next south, the line.
after running through long tunnels,
reaches the more level desert, where
| the water flows through a cement COW
! cred conduit, never open.
CITY WILL SAVE 100000
'Next south is the Jawbone division,
the hardest to construct ON the entire
line. But in spite of the fact that the
cIty had to build roads costing $50000
in order to reach this country We win
save, by building under our own en-
kno.tt....a m DaNa T4nN