The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-08-24
This Is the Way Quincy Journal Char
acterIzes Great Engineering Work
Now Going on In
keokuk.
ADVANCE OF SCHEDULE
Says That Quincy Must Move Faster
In Securing Enterprses-In-
teresting
Stcry.

kuk and Hamilton profit big by the
construction of one of the greatest en-
cheering feats of the world in the
building of the Mississippi river pow
er dam, but during these construction
days of the big dam great crowds daily
visit the work, and on their return
to their homes they induce more
crowds to go see the big work, and
all this brings many dollars into the
pockets of the Keokukians and the
Hamiltonians, says the Quincy Jour-
nal.
And be it said to the credit of
these two towns, they seem to know
how to derive all the benefit possible
from these travellers, and at the same
time treat them right. One cannot
ask man anywhere about the works
or In the two towns regarding the
project without he receives a courte-
GUS reply and the questions answered,
| if it is possible to do SO. Sometimes,
| if the person asked can not furnish
the Information, the inquirer is dHect-
ed to some one who can impart the
information desired And it is unnec-
essary to state that thousands OF
questions are asked, some of them
foolish, it is true, but the answer
comes just the same.
After looking over this great enter
prise for the first time, the writer is
constrained to remark that it looks t.
be bigger job than even the exten
sive write-ups make it appear. It's
one of those tremendously big things
that must be actually seen to be ap
preciated The extensive write-up Civ
en- this project in the Booster edition
in the Journal sizes the thing ur
about right.
/ 1t is colossal piece of engineering
work, this job of damming the grea
Mississippi river. 1t shows the mas
ter mind behind it to be man who
saw the great operation even before
ton Of rock was blasted from the
nearby quarry on the Hamilton side
or single pier of the dam construct
!, ed or one load of earth dumped int
the river. Hugh Cooper certainly II
an engineer among engineers, as thi
job indicates.
, UP to Gate the job is being SO wei
handled that the contractors ar
, ahead of time. They have had mos
favorable season for work. Alread
the Illinois side of the dam shows 8
of the spillway arches completed
: with six more in the constructor
. stage. A cofferdam is now being bull
: at the west end of the Illinois al
i proach.
i Some of the Big Things Observed.
D The biggest things about the wor
f that attract the attention of the gel
eral observer are the immense trave
ing cranes, the pumping dry of waite
from some fourteen acres of the rive
8 bed on the Iowa side, known as tn
q power house Golfer dam; the gres
;. concrete mixing machienry and tn
il ease with which great tons of roc
d are torn loose from the everlastin
:. bed of the Father of Waters, and d
d posted some distance away from tt
g spillway piers or dam arches.
l. Did the average person who lool
It on this work accomplished by men
scientific knowledge know Of tt
. thousand and one details that mu
II be worked out in the construction
J. dam Of this proportion, that mu
II stand for generations to come, al
IL IL. 10,
y. know tnaI this plg Jop 10 W We eol
v. pleted and power furnished in lie
IT that two years from this time,
10 would marvel still more.