The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-07-24
ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM.
Greatest Irrigation Project in the
World on the Rio Grande.

Lest we forget it is necessary once
in while to repeat that the United
States government is building at Ele-
phant Butte, n. NJ, on the Rio
Grande, the greatest irrigation pro-
ject in the world. The Assuan dam
on the Nile, in Egypt, it not to be
compared with it. 1t is to cost s1O,-
100000, 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 high
er and with a storage capacity which
would cover the state of Delaware
with two feet of water, was Project
Engineer L. NJ. Lawson's comparative
picture of the Elephant Butte dam,
which he gave at the chamber Of CON-
merce luncheon last week.
Mr.. Lawson said the dam would
form lake forty-one 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 economical
ly as possible, and that the founda-
tion would be completed within a
few days, when the dam proper would
be started.
Under date of Elephant Butte, +.
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, were 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
fiume, the desire being to prepare an
area of the foundation about 200 feet
square, adjacent to the flume section,
for masonry, so that concreting could
be going on while the balance of the
excavation was being completed, thus
enabling a larger force to be employ
ed and consequently hasten the work.
The material excavated during the
past month has been mainly bowld-
ers, loose rock interlaid 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 tc 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
expected, as the surface of the bed
| drill borings, was in many places
shat-rock, though corresponding ex-
actly with the location shown by dia-
mond drilled borings, was IL many
placed shattered and had to be re-
moved to greater depth than an
ticipated.
In several places the excavation is
now at a depth of 80 feet below the
lowest point of the old river bed and
areas Of bedrock thus far exposed in
dicate an excellent foundation, the
rock dipping at such an angle as to
afford the best possible protection
against sliding and presenting very
uneven surface which is very deslr-
able for the same reason. With the
exception of a narrow strip at both
heel and toe of the dam, work on
which was hitherto not possible on
account of the position of the der
ricks and water pipe lines, tais area
| is about ready for concreting> but in
order to carry the work most econom-
ically no concrete will be placed until
the aforementioned areas are ready.
Labor conditions have been some
what unsatisfactory of late, but steps
have ~been taken to supplement the
supply and a steady Improvement in
this respect is noticed. At the pres
ent much hard work on the excava-
tion preparing the bedrock ror ma
sonry, a shortage of labor effects the
output much more noticeably than
| when such work is being done
by machinery. But with a large
area of bedrock uncovered in the
deepest part of the excavation and
concreting practically in sight, it is
confidently expected that the masonry
will be up TO the elevation of the old
river ped by the close of the year.
Ell Paso Cor. st. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat.
ONE WIFE rs ENOUGH.