The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1914-01-02
WHAT HETCH-HETCH(
!: IS AND HOW FRISCO
WILL BUILD PLANT
PART of THE GREAT YOSEMITE
VALLEY AND NATIONAL
| PARK.
CLOSING TO GRAND CANON
Project One Of the Most Extensive
in the. Country and VIII Require
More Than Ten Years to Get Com
pleted Ready for Operation.

More Than Ten Years to Get Com
pleted Ready for Operation.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 1.-Hetch-
Hetchy, the largest engineering pro-
ject ever undertaken on the Ameri-
can continent with the sole exception
of the Panama canal, has passed both
houses of congress and active plans
are now under way by the city Of
San Francisco to build the giant res
ervoir and system Of pipes. Not
withstanding the thousands Of col
umns of space that have been devot-
ed to the project by American news
papers, few people seem to under
stand exactly what Hetch-Hetchy is.
Picture to yourself beautiful val
ley, one Of the most beautiful in nat
ural charm and wildness in the
known world. 1t Is part of the ia
nous Yosemite national park and the
territory that will be affecte by the
invasion of Hetch-Hetchy for the pur-
poses Of supplying drinking water for
San Francisco and the vicinity COM
prises about half Of the Yosemite.
The bill involves the closing Of the
entrance to the grand canon Of the
Tuolumne river, equalled in magnif-
icence only by dam and large
electric power plant, and diverts the
water supply, after issuing from the
park, from the arid valley Of the San
Joaquin to the city Of San Francisco.
The bill was fought bitterly by an
Organization called the national COM
mittee for the preservation Of Yosem-
tie National Park. This organization
has among its officers such officers as
Charles w. Eliot, william H. Taft,
DR.. David Starr Jordan and Cardinal
Gibbons. The committee has oppos-
ed the giving of the franchise to the
city mainly because they allege a
precedent will be established where
by other cities may use our national
parks for water purposes until they
will be destroyed, because the beau
ty of the park will be somewhat les
sened and that the bill provides for
work involving $122,0O0,0OO and other
good opportunities for grating.
On the other hand the city Of San
Francisco favors the project because
it will give the city franchise esti-
mated to be worth $45,000,000 free.
They claim a water famine in parts
of the city that makes the final pass
age of the bill an EN- Urgency and that
no other supply is SO near and can be
reached at so little cost as the Hetch-
Hetchy valley. They also claim that
the beauty of the valley will be i'm.
proved by the damming and flooding,
making a picturesque lake of great
size
San Franciscans allege that nature
lovers and power companies are the
supporters of the opposition to the
measure.
Despite the bitter fight over the
bill, cold business policy has won out
over sentiment and Hetch-Hetchy will
serve as the supply of San Francisco 8
water. Plans are already under way
by the municipal authorities. City
Engineer O'Shaughnessy has retired
from his position and will have prac.
tical charge of the big project The
first step taken by the city will be
the creation of the water commission
to have exclusive control of the I'M
dertaking for which the people have
voted $45,OOO,OO0 Az per cent bonds,
The project will require ten years
of steady work to complete. Hetch.
Hetchy is $50 miles from San Fran.
cisco, and much of this distance will
have to be tunnelled and piped. Ac-
tual work will be commenced early
in January. The first work will be
the building of twenty-nine miles OF
tunnel through the coast range. After
that coast rangeen6cuR San gCgk
that a road will be built along the
canon of the Toulumne river for the
transportation OF supplies into the
Hetch-Hetchy valley, the scene of the
work for many years to come. Water
from 500 square miles of the park
empties into this valley and this wa
ter is intended to supply the city
the city plans to food the valley tc
La depth of about 200 feet, making Q