The Cairo bulletin., 1912-10-10
REPAIRS ON. BIG
|. -four [EVEE ARE
/ PRONO|U||N(EDf|lE
Citizens Executive Committee
Says Break is Stronger
Than Formerly a 4g
TEN DAYS TO FINISH
New Embankment is Fair
!. Example of Final
7 Work. ~
TEN DAYS TO FINISH

IF the people OF Cairo could see
Iaher excellent work being done on
Ithe repairing of the breaks In the
Big -Four levee they would have a
good idea of what the new leyees of
ithcr Cairo Drainage District viii be-
isaid Mayor Parsons yesterday to, the
of the Citizens Executive
tcommittee and others who went to
Inspect the, work now nearly conn
lpleted on the Big -Four emhankment.
|, The party was taken to the breaks
via. a. special car on the interurban
lrailroad about 3:30 o'clock yester-
fdav afternoon. The lower fill was
| first inspected This Is at a point
short, distance north of the Greer
Wilkerson plant This fill is about
I179 feet in length. The work is
|nearly completed The fill is sever
al feet higher than the regular level
|of the old embankmient, which ex-
Fra height Is 10 allow for settling.
There are easy approacheson each
end of the fill so that. trains can
get over It. This new piece of en-
bankment has nearly double the
amount Of earth in 1t over an equal
stretch of the old embankment. 1t
Stands far out beyond the original
leyee ut the base, as the inner slope
is filled to a grade of 3 to l. The
outer slope is filled at grade of
- teYly The new piece of levee is
much wider. on top than the old and
the distance from the center OF the
track to the extreme edge OF the
slope Is 10 feet.
|, y All members, of til committee eys
pressed great satisfaction on view
ling this new work which strength
ems what has always been considered
weak spot in the lcvee. The big
break about half mile north OF
the lower one was next visited.
This is nearly $50 feet in length and
lis within twenty-five per cent. OF
Completion, Government Engineer
p. e. Regain, in charge OF the work,
|was here looking after it. ~
n. while the committee was here a
train load of drit was brought in and
dumped. Automatic dump cars arc
used and 1t was interesting to see
Fhow quickly and easily train ] of
ten cars, each containing 70 cubic
yards Of dirt. could be unloaded.
Two dirt trains are in contant SER
vice, one being loaded by steam
shovels at the pit just north of
Cache river and the other being
dumped at the fill.
The quality of the dirt used in
these fills was commented upon. 1t
was considered by Mr.. Regain as of
the: best that could be gotten any
where in this vicinity and very suit
able for levee work.
At the inner base of this upper
fill there is a deep hole about rs feet
deep and covering an area of several
HUNDRED feet. 1t is at present. filled
with water. The present contract
does not cover the filing of this
hole, but the committee agreed that
attention would have to be given to
lit later This will be looked after
by the drainage commissioners,
About seventy-five men have been
employed on the work of filing these
1.-TWO gaps. The contractors get
I65c cubic yard for it, but the con-
Etract also covers the work OF remov-
ing the piling and timbers from un-
|der the tracks This is considered
quite "a job of itself,
The first train load of dirt was
dumped into the breaks Sept. a, and
the engineer thinks that the work
| will. be completed as far as the filling
| is concerned in about ten days.
Work has been started on the
Cache levee repairs. This is being
done by teams and scrapers. About
$4,000 yards of dirt will be moved
in this contract. $4,000 yards OF 1t
will be placed at Reno slough
and the remainder at another point.
The dirt for these fills is being. taken,
| from both inside ard outside the.
lleyee.
The filing Of the gap under the
tracks of the Mobile and Ohio rail-
| road near Davis Junction Is pro-
crossing nicely, and as soon as the
bottom of the mole has been filled so
| that it will be safe for the teams
additional force will be put on and