Bisbee daily review., 1912-06-23
GREAT TUNNEL IN UTAH Is NOW THROUGH Reclamation Service Gets Word That Strawberry
 Tunnel Is Now
 Complete WILL lRRIGATE A
 FERTILE VALLEY Wonderful Engineering FeatS Have Been Ac- . cOmpliShed tO Divert
 q Large River
WILL lRRIGATE A
 FERTILE VALLEY

WASHINGTON, June 2l-~Hole,
 through today"
 This was the laconic message re
 layed by telephone from Camp Ouiu
 ton in the Wasatch mountains. Utan
 and flashed by wire today to th,
 reelanatlon service here It marked
 me completion of the Strawberry tun
 neh one of The largest and most dif
 hcult pieces or engineering work the
 proclamation service ever has been
 called upon to undertake.
 With one exception this under
 ground waterway tunnel is the lars
 est in the world. Many hard engin.
 eering problems had to he overcome
 in planning it; and great physical en.
 durance was required of the men who
 carried out the work.
 The tunnel pierces the solid rock of
 one of the highest peaks of the Wa
 Sdtch mountains at point where
 Those eternal hills are more than 20
 n'U feet through. It will move \
 good sized stream the Strawberry
 rlVer. from one drainage basin 10 an other forty five miles away. Only
 2,OOo feet below the snow capped crest Of the mountains the tunnel has pierced it's rocky way.
 To Irrieate 6O,00o Acres
 To the south and east of Utah Lake, III one of the most beautiful valleys in the west. are GO.OO0 acres o' 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 govern ment engineers have overcome al- most unheard Of obstacles.
 Beyond the Wasatch range which rims the valleys eastern border Straw berry river, for centuries. bank 'ull perhaps, has run uselessly by its waters finally reaching the Gulf ot california through the Colorado riy- CT To divert this water from the ooioiado drainage basin and turn il ! lhto the Utah valley, the enormous | Strawberry tunnel, nearly four miles l 'ons' has been bored through the W asatch mountains. Its cross section 1 measures more than GO square feet | II IS walled and buttressed with tim Der and lined with cement.
 Great Engineering Work
 Before construction could begin thousands Of square miles of valley | ana rough mountain country were sur | 'eyed and mapped. and tunnel and | canal lines marked out. A telephone | line 3S miles long, extending from | spanish Fork 10 both portals of The | tunnel was constructed. and q wagon road from Diamond Switch. the shin Il ping point on the Denver and Rio I Irahde railroad, to both portals. g niles long was made. Down in tbe oothlIls diversion dam was thrown across spanish Fork river and the waters turned into a power canal 31-2 niles long, which dropped them hfoush huge pipes on the biz tur 'lnes loo feet below. Power thus gen. rated was transmitted electrically to | ne tunnel site where it was used 10 | urn the diamond drills in the rock. isht the camps and run the heavy | hal:hlnery. The surplus has been old to towns in the valley for mupI- lpal and commercial purposes.
 The camps are located a mile and
 half above sea level, and during | everal months each winter have 'racticaHy been isolated from the 'orld, the roads blocked by masses | snow and ice. For more than two ears the work has gone on without easing, three shifts of men alter atlng during the twenty-fouT hours ' the day and plight. Thousands Of allons Of water, poisonous gases. and yelling ground have made the work lnicuit and dangerous The men fed pr their lives on several occasions. Beyond the tunneE in the shadow the granite peaks, a great reser- DIT is being built. A retaining dam rock. cement and steel is being lilt so deep that six story build ig might be hidden behind it. Fed melting snOws the waters win rise shlnd this structure. covering S,2O0 res with 27s.000 acre-feet of water. The valley 10 be irrigated Is es- eclaliy Interesting because it is the 'ene of the earliest irrigation by nslo-Saxons in the west. Settled Brigham Young and his flowers in 1S47, after their march rough more than thousand miles
 unknown territory peopied by say 'es, II is the oldest example of com unity farming by an English speak g people in the west. For protection ;ainst the Indians the farmers lived
 little towns throughout the valley. cir houses built close together and cing common street or square. us practically forming forts.
 When the storage and distribution stem is finished and an ample ater supply assured for all time. the Hey will support more than 8 thou nd farm homes. Salt Lake City Id the nearby mining camps will rnish home market for many of 2 products and three railroad lines lich traverse the irrigable area. Il furnish unusual transportation eilitieS to tho outside world