The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-04-11
CANAL WILL OPEN
ENORMOUS AREA

By JOE d. THOMSON, N 0RE6oNIAN
While il is generally known in the
Northwest that the United States Gov
ernment Is engaged in the task Of con-
structing a canal and locks to make
possible navigation around the obstruc-
tion familiarly known as the dalles Of
the Columbia, not even the people Of
Wasco Co.. through which the artificial
waterway will be cut, and of the ad-
jacent county of Hood River, seem to
know the magnitude of the project.
The Dalles-Celilo Canal, as It IS Of
ticially known to the War department,
is so little discussed in this section
that citizens who have been residents
of the communities for more than a
year have scarcely head il mentioned.
However, for three years the great
task, which, when completed, will open
up to navigation the vast expanse Of
fertile country drained by the Colum-
bia and its tributaries, has been stead
lily progressing. Indeed, the upper
portion Of the canal has been COM
pleted and the clear waters of the
mighty stream have already been
turned into its concrete walled channel.
The laborer with drill and sledge has
been slowly cutting a way for water
traffic through the basaltic cliffs that
line both sides of the Columbia, which
flows at this point with tremendous
rapidity and whirling treacherous ed
dies.
The canal, on the Oregon side of the
river, parallels the lines of the O-W.
K. q N. Company's lines almost its
entire length and the smoke from en-
gines driving steam drills and operat-
ing steam shovels may be seen by the
passengers of the North Bank line,
just across the river on the Washing
ton side.
The completed work on the Cello
end of the canal was done by contract
under the supervision of the War De-
partment. However, a little more
than year ago, after it was decided
that the work could be carried on more
cheaply and advantageously by labor
hired directly by the Government,
Federal engineers took charge. They
have pushed the construction of the
canal. The exact length is ten and
four-tenths miles, and when completed
it will have cost between four and one
half and five million dollars. The eX
penditures, when the present year
appropriations have been consumed,
will amount to about So, 800, 900. With
additional appropriations Of $500, 600 a
ear, the engineers in charge of the
work estimate that the waterway will
be completed within three years.
The cost of building the canal is
made heavy because Of the extraor-
dinary difficulty in cutting way
through the hard basalt cliffs. The
severest work has been met with at
the lower end of the channel about
four miles from the city of The Dalles,
where, for the purpose of constructing
the tandem locks cut more than 70
feet deep through the solid rock was
made necessary. Carload after carload
of blasting powder has been exploded
to drive the way through the rivers
bank. and the lower excavation and
most difficult work of the entire under
taking is now almost complete. The
debris of loose stone is hoisted in huge
steam shoyels and drawn in little
trans by shrieking miniature, but
powerful, engines to the huge rock
crusher located but a short distance
from the point where the boats will
enter the river from the lower end of
the canal.
At the crusher two large burrs grind
the stone to small bits. The larger
stones, often several feet in diameter,
are fed into the hopper of powerful,
whirring mill, which rends them to
pieces. The smaller shattered frag-
ments, by automatic contrivance, are
fed into a second mill which grinds
them into a sand almost as fine as
flour. Both the sand and the crushed
stone are used in the manufacture of
the concrete used in building the walls
of the canal.
1t is an interesting fact to note that
the cement used in the work is made
in Belgium, since the Government has
found that it can be purchased much
cheaper there than from American
manufacturers. The material is
shipped in boatload lots from the
European country around the Horn to
Portland and transported theucs by ear
to the scene of operations. When the
work is progressing normally about 480
cubic yards of concrete are used daily.
The canal will have four sets of
locks. The tandem locks, at the lower
end near the city of The Dalles, will
have a lift of 70 feet. The five-mile
lock will be sufficient to get boats
! through to the Cello end of the canal
in low water However, it will be
necessary to make use of the ten-mile
lock in high water. The Cello lock
will only be used in extreme water.
At the tandem locks, where the great
lift will be made, the deep channel will
be fed by means of tunnels cut from
the river In these subterranean pas
sages cut through the solid rock two
men met death last spring in practi-
cally the only serious accident since
the beginning of the undertaking.
The exact cause of the premature
explosion which snuffed out the lives
of the two laborers has never been
found. During the entire time of the
work only one other fatality has &C.
cured and but few serious injuries
have resulted. Owing to the health
fullness of the climate and the excel
lent sanitary condition in which the
camps are kept, no serious sickness
has ever prevailed among the crews of
laborers. A hospital is maintained by
the Government and a trained nurse is
ever on hand to care for the ordinary
cases of illness that may prevail among
the men and to be ready for any
emergency caused from accidents.
Until about six months ago. during
the past year, crews totaling 600 men
were at work on the project. How
ever, on account of the depletion of
the funds at present provided for by
Congressional appropriations, the list
of men has been cut in half. The ma
jority of the laborers are Greeks and
Macedonians. They are industrious
and are more desirabple for the task
because of the fact that they stick to
the work for long period, while for
the most part the ordinary laborer is
unreliable in this respect.
The majority of the Macedonians
band themselves in clubs for the pur-
pose of providing themselves with food