The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-06-21
COMPLETION Of STRAWBERRY Tunnel
ONE Of WORLDS GREATEST PROJECTS

| This was the laconic message re-
layed by telephone from Camp Quin.
ton in the Wasatch mountains, Utah,
and flashed by wire today to the rec
lamation service here. 1T marked the
completion of the Strawberry Tunnel
one of the largest and most difficult
pieces of engineering work the recla-
nation service ever has been called
upon to undertake.
With one exception this under
ground waterway tunnel is the lare
est in the world. Many hard engi'
neering problems had to be overcome
in planning it, and great physical
endurance was required of the men
who carried out the work.
The tunnel pierces the solid rock
Of one OF the highest peaks of the
Wasatch mountains at point where
those eternal hills are more than 90
600 feet through. 1t will move a good
sized stream. the Strawberry riv-
\er, from one drainage basin to an
other forty-fie miles away: OnEyl
1000 feet below the snow capped
crest of the mountains the tunnel
, has pierced its rocky way.
To the south and east of Utah Lake
in one of the most beautiful valleys
in the west, are about 10000 acres
of exceedingly fertile land, now only
partially productive for lack of water
| To transform this valley to a rural
settlement, dotted with thriving towns
! and villages and barred with long
rows of fruit trees, the government
engineers have overcome almost un-
heard of obstacles.
lieyond the Wasatch range which
! rims the valleys eastern border,
Strawberry river, for centruies bank
full. perhaps, has run uselessly by,
its waters finally reaching the Gulf
Of California through the Colorado
, River. TO divert this water from the
Colorado drainage basin and turn it
into the Utah valley, the enormous
Strawberry Tunnel, nearly four miles
long, has been bored through the Wa
satch mountains. It's cross section
measures more Than 60 square feet.
1t is walled and buttressed with tim
Der and lined with cement.
Before construction could begin,
! thousands OF square miles of valley
and rough mountain country We're sur
veyed and mapped, and tunnel and
! canal lines marked out \ telephone
! line IS miles long, extending from
| Spanish Fork to both portals of the
! tunnel was constructed, and a wagon
road from Diamond Switch, the ship
ping point on the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad to both portals 30
miles long, was made. Down in the
foothills a div ersion dam was thrown
across Spanish Fork river and the
waters turned into a power canal 3la
miles long, which dropped them
through huge pipes on the big turbines
100 feet below. Power thus generated
was transmitted electrically to the
tunnel site Ynere ii was used to turn
the diamond drills in the rock. light
the camps and run the heavy machin
cry. The surplus has been sold to
towns in the valley for municipal and
commercial purposes.
The camps are located a mile and
a half above sea level, and during
several months each winter have prac-
tically been isolated from the world
the roads blocked by masses of snow
and ice. For more than two years the
work has gone on without ceasing,
three shifts of men alternating during
the twenty-fonr hours of the day and
night. Thousands of gallons of water,
poisonous gases and swelling ground
have made the work difficult and
dangerous. The men fled for their
! lives on several occasions.
In 1910 the work of placing the con-