The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1910-02-24
800 Men ToiIing to
Make 1t Ready
Great Headway Being Made
on Huge Structure---A
Dirt-Digging Rec
ord In Sight.

Three hundred men, five locomotives
and two steam shovels are now at work
at the big DAM
They moved close to 40, 600 cubic
yards of earth during the past month,
and small mountain of rock.
The great temporary hume, so feet
wide, feet deep, and capable of carry
ing 10000 cubic feet Of water a second,
is pretty well finished.
The diversion dam for the North
Gooding tract is we'll along; it will be
finished by the middle ST March.
These are few of the larger facts
of the construction work now being car
ried on by the J. G. White Co. for the
Idaho Irrigation project.
Just now, the chief efforts are being
directed toward the completion of the
big temporary fume to carry the spring
flood across the top of the dam, and the
diversion dam for the North Gooding
tract before high water comes. The
big reservoir dam is now approximately
rs feet high; but the great quantity of
material required, and the unfavorable
winter, made it impossible to complete
it this season. So as an insurance, the
big fiume is being built for the excess
of the spring flood that can not be stor-
ed behind the 75-foot dam. The tunnel
will carry away close to 1900 cubic feet
of water a second; the fiume will carry
10, 600 cubic feet, a. total of IA, 600 feet
a second, practically three times the
highest flood record of last year of 1900
cubic feet a second. Adding in the
storage capacity of the dam, which can
be filled gradually from the excess of
the flood, the dam has margin Of safe
ty Of at least four or five to one against
any flood that was ever known. The
completed dam, with its rock spillway
300 feet wide, will have far greater
discharge capacity, and an increasingly
high factor of safety.
The diversion dam is built several
miles below the reservoir. 1t is of con-
crete. The work is about three-fourths
done, and with all the materials on the
ground ready to put into place, it can
be finished by the middle of March, be-
fore the high water.
The first diversion dam for the Rich
field, Dietrich and South Gooding tracts
was built two years ago, by the Slick
brothers, and is complete in every part
1t is much larger than the North Good
ing dam, and is one of the finest struc-
lures of the kind in the West.
The steam shovels are working stead
lily and very successfully considering
the weather, at filing in for the dirt
seal or apron at the upstream face of
the dam. This dirt will fill in and eff
fectually close and seal the dam against
all seepage. There will be a lot of this
dirt apron---100, 600 yards of it.
Three hundred men are employed at
the dam. A new high level is being
laid for the railroad, which will carry
the dirt to the top of the dam. The five
locomotives will be able to handle the
dirt from the two shoyels, and every
body be as busy as bees. Within a
short time, when the weather clears up
and the snow is off, there will be some
of the most remarkable dirt digging in
the history of the West. In November
the two siovels and the three locomo-
tives then on hand made close to a
world S record for the class of machines
No. 20 Marion steam shovel No. 20,
Ia cubic yards capacity. With five
locomotives, good weather, and train
Dads Of coal on hand to work night and
lay, there will be big chance to see
some interesting developments.
1t isn't particularly good time to
yisit the dam, but visit now or any
,ime will show any one as well built a
structure as there is in the country to-
lay, East or West.
VIII Invest Here.