The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1911-01-12
THIS PROJECT To Be EXTENDED
Lower Carson Dam Construction to be Started
Within Thirty Days. Acreage to be In
creased From 80, 900 to 2o6, 900.

withal, of uncertain eventualitles, is
to be soon superseded by an active
project extending program that will
cover a period of from four to five
years. This is the burden of the various
reports that have come to local folks
during the past week from autherita-
tive and undoubted Washington sources.
Local reclamation officials are in re-
ceipt of official notice from the depart
ment chiefs that the secretary of the
interior, under date of December 3lst,
authorized the immediate commence
ment of work on the Lower Carson
reservoir and dam, sanctioning the
waving of the customary advertising.
Co-incident with this notice are the
published reports that the President
has tentatively approved the plans of
the reclamation department calling for
the expenditure Of 81, 596, 900, for
project extensions, in addition to the
81, 1873, 600 set aside upon recommends
tion of the army board from the $40.
900, 900 bond fund. Speaking in a
general sense the first named sum will
be used in the construction of necessary
project extensions to conduct water TO
embryonic districts, contiguous to the
80, 900 acres tributary to the system AS
it stands today, while the apportion-
ment from the bond fund will be used
solely in the building of the Carson
storage dam.
The two sums aggregate nearly S3,-
600, 900, the sum that has been carried
on local project books for several years,
as the amount needed TO bring the
project to its proper state of efficiency
|: would seem that the officials who
have the projects future in their care.
coincide with the views of their local
subordinates upon thorough investi-
cation. Already plans are being ma
tured looking towards the starting of
work on the dam project and within
another thirty days the establishing of
construction camps will be under way.
Available machinery, now on other
government projects, suitable for use
on the dam building operations, is being
inquired into, and transfers will soon
be effected wherein this machinery will
be brought to this project for use.
1t is interesting to note that in all
probability, the work of building the
dam and project extensions will be al
most wholly done by government forces,
although certain subsidiary contracts
may be let to individual dirt movers.
This method will be adopted, it is said,
for the reason that the building of the
Carson dam presents certain intricate
problems, with which individual con-
tractors will hardly be able to cope.
1t is pointed out that a government
force is more pliable to the plans of the
government officials, in instances
wherein careful and conscientious work
is necessary.
While the actual work of building
the dam proper cannot be instituted
until the low water stage of the Car
son river in July, the establishing of
the camps, certain preliminary grading
and the excavation for dam foundations
that will be situated above the high
water mark, will be set under way, as
stated above, within another thirty
days. With the completion of these
preliminaries, it will be possible to
enter upon the work of constructing
the main features Immediately after
the high water season.
The type of dam to be placed in the
gorge fifteen miles west of Fallon is
unusual in many respects. Owing to
the fact that a river wash is present to
the depth of many hundred feet, bed
rock foundation is impossible. Much
discussion has been indulged regarding
the type of structure, but a definite
conclusion has finally been arrived at,
and when work starts early next month,
/ it will be upon gravel and earthen
dam, 1000 feet across the top, 100 feet
across the bottom, ITO feet high and of
a thickness at the base, up and down
stream, of 600 feet. The dam will
have a rip-rapped face on both sides,
while at each end will be installed a
massive concrete spillway. When COM
pleted the floodwaters of the Carson
watershed will be backed up for a dis
tance of about twenty miles. The
lake thus formed will be one hundred
and fifteen feet in its deepest part and
figured in acre feet this body of water
will at the outset of irrigating seasons
contain approximately 2S0, 900, or an
amount sufficient to cover $4,000 acres
of land one foot deep.
The work of building the dam will re-
ouire about two years, although it is