Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1913-08-08
THE ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM.
Being Built BY v. s. for Greatest
irrigation Project in World.

Lest we forget" it is necessary
once in a while to repeat that the Uni
ted States government is building at
Elephant Butte, N. M, on the Rio
Grande, the greatest irrigation project
in the world. The Assuan dam, on
the Nile, in Egypt, is not to be COM
pared with it. 1t is to cost SO, 600, 600
and vast territory both in the United
States and in Mexico will get the waters
for irrigation.
Five times bigger than the Mills
building at New York, 100 feet higher
and with a storage capacity which
would cover the State of Delaware
with two feet of water, was Project
Engineer l.. NJ. Lawsons comparative
picture of the Elephant Butte dam,
which he gave at the chamber of COM
merce luncheon last week.
Mr.. Lawson said the dam would form
a lake Al miles long and six miles wide,
and the main canal would be one of the
largest in the world. He said that the
work was being done as rapidly and
economically as possible and that the
foundation would be completed within a
few days, when the dam proper would
be started.
Under date of Elephant Butte, E. H.
Baldwin, consulting engineer, writes
as follows: During the latter part of
April the grab buckets which had been
eXcavating about 1900 cubic yards of
sand and gravel per day on the dam
site We're removed from cableways
and skips substituted in order to help
out the derricks, which were handling
powders and loose rock on a section
near the flume, the desire being to pre-
pare an area of the foundation about
200 feet square, adjacent to the hume
section, for masonry, so that concret-
ing could be going on while the balance
of excavation was being completed,
thus enabling a larger force to be en-
ployed and consequently hasten the
work.
The material eXcavated during the
past month has been mainly powders,
loose rock interlad with broken shale
and clay, and some thin layers of hard
sandstone, the most of which required
blasting, but deposits near sound
bedrock had to be carefully handled,
much of it loosened with picks and
wedges in order to avoid cracking the
foundation. This, of course, has been
tedious work, the volume eXcavated
daily was small as compared with the
output when handling sand and gravel.
There was also more of this to remove
than was expected, as the surface of
the bedrock, though corresponding ex-
actly with the location shown by dia-
mond drill borings, was in many places
shattered and had to be removed to
greater depth than anticipated
In several places the excavation is
now at depth of so feet below the
lowest point of the old river bed and
in one place even deeper The large
areas of bedrock thus far exposed ind-
cate an excellent foundation, the rock
dipping at such an angle as to afford
the best possible protection against
sliding and presenting a very uneven
surface which is very desirable for
the same reason. With the exception
of narrow strip at both heel and toe
of the dam, work on which was hither-
to not possible on account of the posi-
ton of the derricks and water pipe
lines, this area is about ready for con-
creting; but in order to carry the work
most economically, no concrete will be
placed until the aforementioned areas