Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-07-01
Hugh Cooper at Keokuk
list. Louis Republic.]


After the money was found Mr..
Cooper had two great tasks. One was
! to build the dam Al all. The other was
| TO build 1t economically. The diff
| Guilty about the first problem was the
| fact that the river was to be taken
care Of all the time the dam was build
| ing. Damming lake is a simple mat
| ter: you build a cofferdam, pump it
out, and then ignore your lake till the
work is finished. But Mr.. Cooper had
to arrange to take care Of the flow Of
one of the greatest rivers of the world
in the same channel where his dam
was building. No work worthy Of COM
! parison with this exists. The British
engineers damned the Nile at Aswan,
but the Nile never freezes. while the
Mississippi sent millions Of tons of ice
against MIR. Cooper's work while 1t was
under construction. And the Nile is
divided by numerous little islands at
Aswan so that the task was to build
several short dams, raising them few
feet in succession across the channel
while Mr.. Cooper damned the Missis-
sippi where there was no obstruction
to the mighty flow from shore to
shore
How did he do it? He first threw
across the river line of massive con-
crete piers, connected by mighty
arches, making a great bridge wide
enough for three railroad tracks with
the river running freely under its
arches. To do this he constructed in
succession series OF dams drying UP
few acres of river bed at time. Then
when his piers and arches were fin
| ished he turned his concrete bridge in
| to a dam by constructing "spiifways"
between each two piers. To do this he
| needed only TO shut the water out Of
portion Of the river bed thirty feet wide
the distance between two piers-at a
time. SO he took care OF the great
river" and built his dam. both at once.
He built it on time. His capacity to
do tasks is as great as his ability to
see visions. The inventive genius that
conceived that unique dam will be APP
preciated by many. But the executive
genius that kept it within the estimates
and never went astray on the number
OF days that each dollar Of the invest
| ment would be idle during the con-
| strCction and the time when II would
begin to earn it's way will appeal to
! few by comparison. Yet it is as
! worthy Of celebration as the other.
| The human side of the work is worth
| more than passing attention. A single
| fact will illustrate the spirit that has
animated 1t. The great lake formed by
| the dam drowned out good many
miles Of country road. The water com
pany agreed to rebuild the water-side
roads above the new level. Then the
management decided TO give two states
| an object lesson in road construction.
| A stately boulevard. built by trained
highway engineers. replaces forty miles
OF Indifferent country highway around
| the margin OF the beautiful pool which
! fills the narrow valley from hill to hill
| This tale needs no aGjectives. The
facts carry their own impression. Who
would net have been glad to live when
| Winstanley labored on the first Ed
dystone lighthouse. in fog and dark
ness or when a certain brawny Lam
cashireman wiped the sweat out Of his
eyes as he drafted the first successful
locomotive? We may pluck inspiration
Of q like kind out Of Hugh Cooper
achievement at Keokuk.