Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1914-10-15
DIGGING BIG IRRIGATION
DITCH IN COLORADO
BY H. w. BATTiN

shale and the heavy slate that is the
lot of our own steam drag-lines but for
the easier material the kerosene en-
gines are economical. the fuel is pur
chased in tanks, car lots, delivered at
nearest sidetrack to the work.
The operators use about a gallon of
gasoline to stast the engines, when the
latter have been shut down long enough
to become cold.
In addition to the eight schedules
sub-let to Crane, and which are gener-
ally on the east end of the work, seven
have been let to w. H. Knowlton of
Denver, the same being at the extreme
west end of the work. The latter
party is doing his work with team out
fits entirely At present about lao
head Of horses and mules are Ibeing
worked on fresnos and plows. A little
wheeled-scraper work suffices to finish
the canal bottom and the tops of the
embankments. KnoWlton has sub-let
such of his contract to outfits with 16
to &c head of stock, all of Wlom keep
pegging away at the excavation and
accomplishing a goOdly amount of
yardage monthly. Shale is struck at
depth of about or 8 feet below sur
face, which shale gradually gets hard
er the deeper the excavation. In spots
hard-pan is met whi Oh has baff1ed the
efforts of nine horses on plow and
which has only been conquered by nine
horses on a rooter. This letter is ex-
ceptional however, the general blowing
being done with four head of stock.
At one part of the valley about six
miles west of Palisade, the foothills of
the main cliffs, jut out into the bench
land. This topography causes a rough
profile for two miles, all of which work
is to be done by Winston Bros. COM
pany and which work will be accom-
plished by steam shovel, trap tunnel
and team outfits. The steam shovel
work will contain short runs for the
shovel, with considerable moving back
and throwing of tracks, all of which
tends to high costs and restricted out
put. For this work a model 40 Marion
has been installed. 1t is digging with
out trouble the shale thus far eucoun-
tered. The trap tunnel work is being
done by Alfonso Morelli and Co.,
crew of Italians, whose work was very
successful in central Montana. The
highest part of the cut which Morelli is
taking out is 60 feet above grade. The
material shoots nicely and mucks by
gravity to the cars under the trap. The
team work in these two schedules will
be as nearly model team work as can
be found on the whole project. The
bulk material of IL schedules will be
moved by steam drag-lines. Right on
the start we are encountering as hard
digging for these powerful excavators
as will be met during the whole work.
Strata of slate twelve inches to
fourteen inches thick and coming out
in blocks with eight or ten square
of area, are being met in the first
two thousand feet of their work. Some
of the larger pieces have had to be
chained out, but most of the material
breaks up under the action of the
powerful dippers or buckets and is
handled through them. Two class 20
Bucyrus drag-lines are working to-
gether from the east end of their terri
tory toward the west. The first one
erected, got start of three weeks
over the second one. The former is
taking The north half of the ditch and
making all the north bank, and a por-
ton of the south embankment. The
second machine follows, completing the
section. The dragIines work from 700
a. m. till $3.50 p. m. with one half hou1
for noon, and from $3.50 p. m. till mid
night with a similar time for supper.
Illumination entirely by Milburn lights, |
which certainly do the work we'll |
Progress in the most easterly schedule |
to be done by the steam machines, has |
been slow. With the first dragline |
now working in the second schedule,
the rate of progress has been material
ly increased with every expectation |
from this time forward, of getting a !!
good output. Water for these machines |
have been pumped about three miles. |
A second pumping plant, adapted for |
the winter weather, will move water |
about five miles. Coal is obtained from |
a mine in tn, cliffs about seven miles
from the work. Delivered on cars at
point where the narrow gauge railroad |
intersects the line of the ditch; hauled |
thence on wagons to place used. Coal
is bituminous and is second only in
quality to the Pennsylvania and Ohio
Goals. Much better than Illinois and
Iowa product, as it is better than the
average coal from Montana and Wyom-
ing.