The Greeley tribune., 1911-07-06

prise in the world. The great earth
work dam that faces t rises 10
height OF l13 feet. When al the
trimmings" are put upon II the
total height will be l4O feet. 70
build the reservoir 3.O0O,ooO oupie
Yards OF earth were excavated WIN
the steam shovel. Two irrigation
dams recently constructed in lndla
exceed the Standley reservoir N
yardage, but not in height. 1t Is
actully the biggest earth dam IN the
world. The capacity of the reser-
voir is 100000 acre feet OF water.
Since March II. when the kene-
fic- Quigley- Russell Construction
company. with 100000 backing
from the Franco-American bank OF
Paris took up the temporarily
abandoned work to finish 1t. record
time has been made with the exca-
walton. J. E. Hays. chief engineer
of the Denver Reservoir and lrriga-
ton company. whose enterprise 1t
was, had general supervision.
Wonderful Speed
'If the excavating on the Panama
canal had been done with the same
speed that the work on the Stand
lev reservoir was DONE" Mr. Hays
said today, THE Panama canal
would now be finished. The under
taking was simply stupendous. The
contract of the Kenefick company
required that the entire construc-
tion must be finished by October l..
Under Robert Russell, the contrac-
tor, $4,000 cubic yards of dirt were
moved with the equipment OF a
Marion shovel with a two and a
half yard-dipper and two 'ocomo-
tives with ten cars each, in twenty
four days. This average was kept
up for three months. l understand
that the greatest amount of dirt
moved in a month on the Panama
canal was 10000 cubic yards. On
April 2S last we moved 244 cars Of
dirt, each car containing about
fourteen cubic yards. This is the
greatest amount OF dirt ever moved
in a single day. The dam Is now
finished. All canals, embankments
and laterals will be finished within
the next sixty days"
The Standley project also includes
the Henrylyn irrigation district. ly-
ing south and east of Hudson,
which includes 10 miles of main
canals exclusive of the laterals.
The site of the Standley reser-
voir, originally owned by John
Kinnear. came into the hands of
Joseph Standley several years ago.
In 1902 Standley, with Thomas B.
Croke and Milton Smith, organized
the Farmers Reservoir and Irriga-
tion company, stock company in
which the farmers who bought wa
ter rights were to be stockholders.
The Standley dam was planned by
them, but nothing was done with it
until 1906, when E. A. Neresheimer
of New York, representing the
American Development and IrTiga-
tion company, became interested in
the enterprise and succeeded in in
teresting j. J. White Co., construc-
tion engineers.
A company incorporated for s12,-
| 900, 900 and called the Denver. Res
ervo.r and Irrigation company was
then formed and the contract for
the construction of the Standley
dam was awarded to the J. ]. White
company. Work was started early
in 1908, but it Jagged, and finally J.
]. White & Co. withdrew. The con-
tract was then given to the Kene-
fick- Quigley- Russell Construction
company and work began in Janu-
ary. 1909. June 6 the Denver Res
ervOir and Irrigation company went
| into the hands of receiver, Arthur
Day. Last fall the Franco-Ameri-
can bank of Paris undertook to COM
plete the dam for $2.0OO,000 and a
contract was awarded to the Kene-
fick company for that amount.
Water for the Standley reservoir
is obtained chiefly from Clear creek
through Croke creek, which takes
out just below Golden. This inlet
is eighteen miles long and has ca
pacity of 900 second-feet. Water Is
other creeks. From Standley lake
the Platte river at a point near Riv-
erside cemetery in Denver. From
there it is conveyed by the Burlin 2
ton and O'Brian canals into Berr
lake and into the Henrylyn canal
just south of Barr lake. from Barr
lake the water is distributed by the
Brighton lateral canal, the Speer,
the Beebe, the Neres, the Platte
Valley and the Gilmore canals to
lands east OF the Platte river near
Brighton. Lupton. LaSalle and
Platteville. The northern end of
the system is six miles from Gree
ley. To the lands west of the Platte
the water is conveyed through the
Bull canal as far west as Erie and
as far north as Platteville. A sub
sidiary system is the Marshall lake
J system, which obtains water from
South Boulder creek near -ldorado
Springs, conveys it to Marshall lake
and through the Community canal
: to Burns Junction.
or the land under the Standley
system 100000 acres are now under
water. During the past spring TO-
900 acre-feet of water was taken
out of that stored in the reservoir
Denver Times.
THE CREE,l.cAr .ICvropN