The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-10-05
HATTON SAYS
HE DECLARED
DAM UNSAFE
FORMER CONSULTING ENGINEER
OF CITY OF PENSACOLA SAYS
THAT AUSTIN DISASTER WOULD
NOT HAVE OCCURRED HAD
RECOMMENDATION BEEN FOL-
LOWED.

In its story OF the Austin, Pa. dis
aster OF last Saturday in which 10
many people lost their lives. ths New
York Herald of Sunday morning car
ries q statement from T. ChallIley Hat
ton, designer Of the dam and former
consulting engineer Of the city OF Pen
sacola- The special Is from Whining
ton, Del, the home of Mr.. Hatton, and
Is as followsI
T. Chalkley Hatton, the ctv1 en-
gfnesr who originally designed the dam
recommendations for repairs were ac-
copied he could not see how the disas-
ter occurred. He said:
IF the recommendation made by me.
In collaboration with E. WegInann,
consulting engineer Of the New York
Croton Acueduct Commission, in jan
uary Of last year, regarding repairs TO
be made to the Bayless dam We're car
ried out, 1 do not see how the awful
disaster could have happened. I do
not know whether our Recommended
tions were adopted, for was not con-
suited further. I do not know, in fact,
whether the repairs were made or were
not made"
Mr.. Hatton said he had been OF the
opinion the Bayless company was not
using the basin since he pronounced
1t unsafe. He added:
I'VE made a good test OF the rock
foundation OF the dam before we be-
gan the original construction. We
bored through the rock for nine feet.
This, we believed, was sufficiently deep
drill to search for assures, even for so
extensive a dam.
The assures must have existed fur
ther down, however, for the rock under
the dam slid in January, 1910, allowing
the large wall to go forward. The foot
of the dam was set in a channel four
feet deep in the rock foundations. The
sides Of the dam, the structure being
of reinforced concrete, were set TWEEN
ty feet into the rock Of the hills to
each side They were then anchored
there by steel rods two and one-half
inches thick and twenty-five feet long.
Naturally, when the foot of the dam
slid forward the topping pressure be-
came too heavy for the basin to with
stand.
Il understand the company has had
under course of construction a second
dam up stream from the Ill fated one.
1t was designed to take some Of the
strain from the original dam"
Mr.. Hatton described the breaking Of
the dam January "a Of last year, when
a workman saw the great wall trern-
Bile, buckle and slide forward on its
bed. With a shout Of the dam is
breaking" the workman rushed back
to the town and alarmed the inhabi-
tants. They took refuge in the noun
tains and for two days remained there.
Meanwhile the water imprisoned be-
hind the great wall forced its way
through a assure beneath the rock
foundation and began to trickle down
the face Of the wall. An outlet pipe
had been provided by Mr.. Hatton, but
the valve was not in place, q steel cap
being bolted over the mouth Of the
pipe At the risk of their lives work
men blew a large hole in the concrete
wall with dynamite. The imprisoned
water escaped through the breach and
the dam and town were saved. It
was at this time that Mr.. Hatton pro-
nounced the dam unsafe and made ex-
tensive recommendation for it's repair.
He was not engaged to SUPERVISE the
work, however. and knows nothing
about II.
The i'll fated dam cost 800, 900. 1t
held two hundred million gallons OF
water and was erected to replace an
older dam that held twenty-five mil
lion gallons. The older dam had with
stood freshets for eleven years.