The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-07-31
SIX MILLIONS
SPENT ON DAM
Ono Twelve Hundred Feet Long 10
Nearing Completion Across tho
Tennessee River Near
Chattanooga.
is BUILT OF CONCRETE
VIII Improve Navigation and Develop
$4,000 Horse Power for the
Cities Of the
Vicinity.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. July 81
The great dam and locks at Hale's
Bar, on the Tennessee river, thirteen
miles west of Chattanooga, designed
to develop $4,000 horsepower is near
ing completion, after over five years
of unusually difficult work The dam
is 1900 feet long, 65 feet high and 65
feet wide at the base. The hydro-elec
trio development will represent an ex.
penditure of $6,00,000 when completed.
The dam is being built of cyclopean con-
crete and contains 100000 cubic yards
of concrete, 10000 cubic yards of earth
fill and the excavations involved no.
900 cubic yards of rock and 100000
cubic yards of earth About 1000 men
are employed on the work.
This dam will provide electric pow
er for Chattanooga, Huntsville, Stew
enson and other cities. The dam will
also improve navigation for about thir-
ty-five miles up the river, and the
necessary lock facilities for boats
passing the dam have been provided
The power and transformer houses
are built of steel and REINFORCED con-
crete the power house being 9Sx240
feet, four stories above the ground,
with its substructure extending rs
feet below the surface in solid rock
excavation. Each unit in the power
house consists of three turbine wheels
on vertical shaft SO arranged as to
i give a sufficient power at all stages
\ of the water. The shafts are each 94
4 feet in height, and carry at the upper
/ ends the rotors of the electric gen.
4 orators, supplying alternating three.
1 phase current. These shafts, with the
turbine wheels and generators, are
supported entirely by oil-thrust bear
| ings
The lock for boats passing the dam
is 60x312 feet and was quarried out OF
the solid rock. 1t provides a lift OF
from 40 to 80 feet, depending on the
stage of the river Each leaf of the
lower lock gate is "a feet wide and so
feet high and weighs 1870 tons. The up
per gate is 81 feet high.
! The stone in the concrete work was
secured from quarry about 500 feet
upstream from the dam, and that
from the various excavations was al
so utilized The large amount of equip
ment, cement and other materials that
were used necessitated a branch line
of railway from the dam site to con-
meet with the Nashville, Chattanooga
| and ST Louis railway at Ladds, about
three miles distant Materials needed
on the opposite side of the river were
J transferred on barges from dock on
this branch line.
Owing to the isolated situation OF
!, the dam site, it has been necessary to
build a fully equipped town, with
houses, hospital, church, schoolhouse,
, hotel, recreation and athletic club,
moving picture theatre, etc
The fact that this work is done on
t navigehle stream required the ap.
: proval of the United States Govern
: ment through the Corps of Engineers
t United States Army, Maj. w. w Harts
e United States Army, and Assistant
Engineer George Tinsdale represented
l the government in the supervision OF
Y the work The contractors are Jacob &
: Davis consulting and constructing en-
j. gineers, 30 Church Street, New York
: This company was contractor for the
I construction of the McAdoo tubes un
). der the Hudson river
Messrs. Bradley and Anthony Of
New York, the financial hackers OF
!. this development by the Chattanooga
and Tennessee River Power Com
pany express themselves as beins
It pleased with the present progress O
the work. The chief engineer o
the work, representing the power com
pany, is John Bogart of New York
Y who is we'll known for the many larg'
II undertakings that he has carried
g through in the south.