The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-22
State Land Boards Blunders
and Bad Work of an In
competent Company.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE
AND WHAT IS PROPOSED
The Sanitary Conditions at the
LabOrers' Camp Are Some
thing Frightful.
Special to The Tribune.

MARYSVALE. Utah. Aug. 21.-When-
ever the more than patient taxpayers Of
Utah read anything IN the public press
regarding the Piute reservoir project, now
being built by the state In this locality,
hey are justified jSta In asking Are the h,
| the state land board in the building Of
| the Piute project a duplicate Of the In
competence iavoritism wa waste S,a1 and eS1 &,
| the Hatchtown reservoir
And are they also justified in asking:
lis the Plute dam also being built on
quicksand abutmentsg
The public Is entitled to all the In
tions asked above, and The Tribune. as
| In the past, is the only paper In Salt
Lake city that is not under The big paw
he elders to the last dscR
no matter how fragrant their crimes.
AT point about ten miles south Of
cuts, through an, eruptiye arm that
reaches out easterly from the east bench
OF the Tushar range to the mountains
| just indicated. the locality is a maze OF
| volcanic hills amid which nature has pro-
Gus building stone. beds Of clay and
croppings OF copper,
The opening made by the river is about
SI9 feet The y Wess side as6 o5 tn, the
high. and is composed of volcanic brec-
sia, or pudding" stone. OF sufficient
density to form form first class ;, abutment
the top of the cliff. The west side of
the opening is formed by a hin, or ridge.
Of similar mTaterial covered by three Or
| feet high from the bed Of the river chan
| mel TO its summit The depth OF the
river gravel from the surface down to
bedrock. at the, deepest point, is thirty
| six feet To the south OF the eruptive
arm, Just described is stretch of bot
tom land mile and half long by a
| width, extends up the river a distance Of
about seven miles. and is nearly level
from the dam site 10 the south.
The Work Done.
The first work done by the state was
the boring Of tunnel twelve by nine
TO the west and which forms the west
abutment. From the top of the, intake
wide. by twelve inches deep and eighty
feet high. was made In the face OF the
cliff and at an inclination OF about S
degrees from vertical. Holes were drilled
call It, and bolts securely lended In the
cliff Cross rods were also used to make
as was also the intake OF the tunnel
Three headgates. each four by five feet.
lifting rod secured by four cast iron
guides. secured by bolts in the groove.
extends up to the lifting. platform eighty
| feet above the river bed
1t would appear that Utah's heaven
| favored land board. the state engineer,
or someone else. learned something about
headgates at the taxpayers expense,
since building the Hatchtown dam, The
| Hatch hcadgates were so badly con-
structed that, when the floods compelled
the opening Of the gates. man from
Marysvale, and hundred pounds of
| c,I1 t1,ia m a
gates so that the Hatch project could
be temporarily saved from total annihi-
lation. The Piute project headgates are.
| TO all tenderfoot appearances, well and
strongly built.
The next undertaking on the part of
| the state was to. build dam and turn
the river through the tunnel, The dam
| is now about thirty-elght feet high. Last
spring the floods came down on the dam
with such unexpected volume that the
water rose to nearly thirty feet The
old Boreas had 1t in for the state land
| board. hurricane set in from the south
west and began licking up the dam as
| though II were made OF Utah salt, or
ergy Of Foreman Silas Munson and the
| loyalty Of his men. who worked like
beavers. the 10000 yards Of dirt In the
dam would have been spread over the
Sevier valley farms.
Incompetent Work.
A y,srSg year or SO ago there was organized
brethren" known as the Western Con-
struction company" Results have
proved that the members OF the "W c.
c." were ''long' on self confidence and
short" on Inspiration or experience
they arc synonymous and interchange
able terms In Utah. The state land
board. with unexpected foresight. or ex-
perlence gained at the peoples expense
In the Hatch project. decided that Ii the
excavation to bedrock and the cement
foundation for the clay core of the dam
couldn't be built for $4,000 by contract.
the board would do it by days work,
A wise brother from Sanpete. after al
inspection of the ground. offered to do
the job for si2o' 600. The w 9: G,
OF Richfeld. with inspired hindsght, bid
S22,500 for the privilege OF doing the
work aforesaid. About the first thing the
''W. c. c. did was to install an upright
engine of about ten-horsepower, a der
rick and hinged bucket, made exclusive
~ for lifting mud at cost OF $4,000. The
intellectual aggregation comprising tho
wv c. C" made two or three drops OF
ancient river bed The result OF the sew
eral drops was less than fifty pounds
of mud and boulders-mostly dumped in
by hand and the engine. derrick, bucket
and experience are now to be seen at
the dam site as monuments OF highly
discounted self -confidence At about
| eight feet the ''W. c, c." encountered
the underflow of the river. A twelve
horsepower traction engine and six
inch pump were then installed; and after
many. many moons the CIV. c. G" has
n trench about 800 feet long. averaging
about twelve feet wide and fifteen feet
deep. as n starter toward receiving the
reward OF s22 500 for their efforts. Al
the east end OF the trench is a quick
sand quagmire which the brthren have
carefully dam(n)ed off with the View, no
doubt, OF turning over that portion OF
the Job TO the state. AT the present
writing the ''W. c. c. has six ten-gal-
| lon slush scrapers. one plow team. and
| an extra hand for aiding in loading the
scrapers. at work on their fifty-year con-
tract. The traction engine is busy tug
gins at the water twenty four hours OF
| each day TO the end that the seven
| teams may get IN eight hours per day.
Reliable men on the job say that dur
| Ing the last month not the slightest per-
| ccptible headway has been made toward
| reaching bedrock. In fact. from my own
| observation of one day at the dam a
| four-horse team could pull the entire re-
| suits OF one shift for the six scraper
teams. and there can be no reflection on
! the employees, who are doing their ut
| most to Offset the kid-like management