The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-14
EASTON DAM IS
 NEARING G0MPL ETI0N
VIII Have Capacity For Billions of Gallons of Water When
 Available.

Reaching from one side of the val ley fully quarter of a mile over | to the other side, and towering for | nearly 100 feet up from the valley bottom, a solid wall of masonry is be- ] ing built in Easton on the land of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company. The great wall of concrete and rock is the new Easton dam of the Hydraulic Company which is being built to hold back the waters of the Aspetuck river ! forming one of the largest reservoirs in this part of sthe country.
 The officials of the company yester- ] day afternoon conducted local news papermen to the scene of operations to let them see how the work on the big dam is progressing. 5I
 Everything is done by machinery and as one of the men superintend-
 ing the job said: From the time ; the gravel is taken from the bank far up the valley until 1t goes into the wall of the dam in the form of concrete it Is not touched once by
 man. The gravel Is taken from the bank with a steam shovel, emptied into dirt-cars holding several tons apiece
 and taken along a little railway to the foot of the dam Here the gravel s is dumped into g. bin and an endless chain of shoveIs carries it up to the
 top of an incline where it is dropped upon a heavy wire screen. The screen separates the sand from the gravel and rocks and the sand is thrown toI one side while the gravel and rocks slide into stone crusher which breaks the stone up into trap rock sfzee
 As the crushed rock is dropped from 7 the crusl1er 1t Is caught in another endless chain, drawn up a second in- icltne and dumped into a vat where 1t is mixed with the finest grade of white Portland cement and sand which , has been thoroughly washed. A TO- itadng drum mixes the cement, sand, and fine rock. and it is then poured ] into a waiting carrier holding two square yards or five tons of the mix Lure, shot on flat car to the very s3oot Of the wall of the dam where lit is picked up by crane, lifted fdOo feet into the air and dumped s1nto the forms on the top of the Every grain of sand. and every 5piece of rock is washed thoroughly Fin running water before it is mixed with the cement thus removing all ts'grft' plant roots, or other foreign
 vegetable matter which might weak Yen the wall in any way. As a re-
 suit of the thorough washing which ,au the materials receive the concrete wall Of the dam when 1t dries out is as white as marble and as firm as sol Id rock To every 20 tons or so of concrete that Is used in the construction of
 fhe wall a huge boulder weighing any rvhere from to IS tons Is dropped in with the concrete and solidffes in
 the wall with the cement mixture. To zee these hugh boulders being lifted fby great boom derricks up into the
 Eair as though they weighed only few
 pounds Is one of the most awe-inspir- 4ng sights one would care to see
 Hundreds of iabo-ers are employed 9n the construction of the dam and
 fhese laborers as well as their bosses .RIl live within stones throw of their work in shaclzs and houses built es-
 peciaIly for their accommodation. Men are working day and night lay
 carry the water from the reservoir
 down to this city. The pipes being l
 used in the construction Of the main l weigh five tons apiece. There are l
 MAO pipes per mile, they cost approxi- l $nateiy S12O to make and there will be 1 tseven miles of them laid before the | iline is completed And the cost of | laying this pipe line is nothing as compared to the cost of building the | sdam-
 The water which will be stored in | s4he reservoir when the dam is com .pIeted will be measured by billions | of baIIons and 1t will supply Bridge | bort, Stratford, Fairfield and other ir 1 Efervening and surrounding territory. When the work of building the dam | .as completed, it will be finished off on .4op with a sidewalk and guard rail 50 | that people may walk out on top of | .44 the grounds about 1t will all be | graded off, grass seed sown and the solace converted into one of the beauty | Epots of this vicinity
 
 The fast Sacred Heart school base
 --n.a aH-.- IL