The Churchill county standard. (Fallon, Nev.) 1908-1920, 1912-12-25
PROGRESS ON LAhOATAA DAM
Work VIII Be Complete In a
Little More Than One
Year.

Although the Lahontan dam en-
bankment is but IL per cent. COM
Dleted and the concrete work but
30 per cent In its stage of advance
ment the plan has been so altogeth-
er condensed and the preparatory
Work has been so thorough under
the immediate direction of Super-
intendent L. G. Nancy that less
time will be required to complete
the dam from this time on than was
consumed in bringing affairs to
their present stage. Stated diff
erentiy, the completion of the dam
With all OF its various attributes.
viii not be delayed longer than the
first program estimated, /. e., during
he middle OF late summer of 1914.
And in anticipation of storing the
1914 food, land will in all probable
ity be restored to entry in units
some time early next fall when
general invitation will be emblaz-
oned to the outside world to come
and locate in this matchless land of
fertility and assist in bringing to
ffultioh The potential resources that
abound here.
Visiting the dam in company with
Project Engineer D. W. Cole last
Wednesday We were particularly i'm
pressed with the aspect of prepared
moss that seems to have been the
working axiom from the inception of
things. Everywhere. from the Offices
ol the hill TO the dam site and
thence to the generating plant IN
der the Truckee chute, which silent
~ and subtly lends the power to the
great machinery that nearly as 81
lently and without ado performs as
signed tasks. each unit acts in uni
son with a plan that Is coordination
complete.
In this plan one of the most i'm
portant units is the great dirt and
gsayel belt eonveyor; figured in ac-
mplishment. it is probably the
most important aside from the pow
er station, for upon this 36-inch belt
800 feet long, is being run at the
rate of 5000 cubic yards of material
in eight hours, a constant stream of
dirt and gravel that enter into the
ombankment as the principal build
ing materials
Another fact that finds ready i'm
preston is the prodigality of Nature.
IN this great enterprise Nature is
dam building factor for which fu-
ture generations in this valley must
be thankful for the gravel banks but
a stones throw from the dam proper
and the silt that covers them, are
both of the utmost Importance as
elements that lend stability and
form the larger part of the great
upon which we must
soon depend 10 withstand the tre-
f.endoue statieal pressure to which
the dam will be subjected when a
lake with so miles of shore line is
at its back.
The original allotment from the
reclamation fund for the building
of the Lahontan dam was $l,500,-
900, made tentatively, for the dams
cost must depend largely upon the
methods and materials invoked in
its construction. Let us see just
now large a factor Nature has been
in reducing the cost of the dam:
Had the gravel stratas not been de-
veloped nearby, a structure termed
a rock ribbed dam would have been
erected at a cost of some 100000
in excess of what it will require to
utilize the first named material.
And then there is the matter of a
saving of around $1S,750, possible
because Project Engineer d. w. Cole
the genius behind the dams build
ing, evolved the scheme of using the
silt oyerlying the gravel beds with
cement, mixing the two materials in
equal parts and running them
through a specially constructed mill,
which though lessening materially
the cement cost, maintains relative
ly the same efficiency. In view oi
thesa savings the dams building
will be accomplished within the firsi
estimated cost. To have been de
MED the use of the gravel and sill
would have been to increase the cos
of the dam to close to S2,000,0O(
with a consequent increased cos
charged against the lands of th'
project when they are reopened t.
settlement.
AS matters stand. it is believed