El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-06
Reservoir IS Miles Long
VIII Furnish a NeUer-
Ending Supply.
WORK is BEING
RUSHED ON DAM
Greatest Project in World to
Guarantee Annual Crops
Near Ell Paso.
BY z. H. BALDWIN,
Construction Engineer.

Construction Engineer.
TTHE majority Of the readers OF The
Herald are familiar in a general
4 way with the construction Of the
Elephant Butte dam, many having Wis
tied the work, while others have read
the reports covering It's progress from
month to month. For this reason only
a brief description OF the structure
that means so much to Ell Paso and its
1 tributary valleys will be given.
investigation for storage sites on the
Rio Grande was commenced in 1903
There were several possible sites in the
vicinity Of the one finally decided upon,
and after years Of surveying, boring
drilling and discussion, the present
damslte, about u miles west of Engle
n NJ, was selected Some preliminary
construction work was done in 1903.
but on account of legal difficulties in
securing the necessary rights Of way.
actual construction work did not start
until July, 1910.
Camp Erected; Road Built
The only means Of access to the flat
above the damsite was by a long and
tortuous road from EngIe and there
were no means whatever OF reaching
various points near the damsite A
temporary camp was erected on the
only available site and a new wagon
road constructed from EngIe to the
camp, and later extended to the dam
p
immense amount Of material and equip
ment needed for the work a branch
railroad was constructed from the main
line Of the Santa Fe to the damsite
This was done during the season of
1910 and 1911. the first train reached
Elephant Butte in March 1911 Includ-
ing the terminal yard tracks. about g
miles Of standard gage railroad was
built, much Of 1t involving heavy rock
cuts.
A more permanent camp was erected
tn house the employees and their fam
lilies and to cater to their wants and
welfare On account Of the rugged
topography in the vicinity of the dam
site, il was necessary to divide the
camp into two parts, termed the upper
and lower
In the upper camp the engineering and
clerical forces live The office and
headquarters buildings are also located
there. All others live in the lower
camp which also contains the mercGn-
tile store, moving picture theater, ice
cream parlor and Y NJ. c. A club
room
Entertainment for workers.
1t has been found that to keep men
cOntented IL pays to provide entertain
ment for their idle hours The cOnse-
quence Of this policy is. that IN the
town OF Elephant Butte, which BY
recent count contained 1904 persons.
there is probably less floating labor
than is ordinarily found in construction
camps
Largest Dam Yet Constructed
The Elephant Butte dam viii be the
largest yet constructed for irrigation
purposes and viii impOund a reservoir
which viii be the largest in the world.
The dam is being constructed Of con-
crete with large stone embedded II
will be 1900 feet long, over 500 feet
in maximum height, IS feet wide on top
and 215 feet wide at the base. 1t viii
contain in excess Of 10000 cubic yards
OF masonry, of which 100000 cubic
yards are now in place
Reservoir * Miles Long.
The reservoir Will be about 45 miles
long. an average width Of one and
three-quarter miles and average depth
of Sc feet The maximum depth viii be
a the dam. 1876 feet, and the shore line
viii measure 200 miles around. The ca
pacity OF the reservoir viii be . $4,000
acre feet or S62,20O.000 gallons = This
water. If spread out would be suffjcien&
to cover the entire state OF Delaware
two feet deep
A spillway 800 feet long with a ca
pacity Of 5000 second feet IS pro-
vided at the north westerly end Of dam
Its crest is at elevation 4407 or seven
feet below the top of the dam.
The flow of the water from the reser-
voir win be controlled by valves and
gates built in the dam There are 1c
outlet conduits that pass through the
dam, each equivalent in size to n pipe
about six feet in diameter. Four OF
these COnQultS are for irrigation use.
two for sluicing purposes and six ars
provided for power purposes in case a
power plant is built at some future
time.
Dam Construction Started in 1911.
The first construction work on the
dam proper was started early In the
year 1911 and consisted of excavatinE
to bed rock on the west side of the
canyon for the purpose of building a
f!ume to carry the flow of the river
during construction. When the fOunda-
ton Of this portion had been prepared.
a section of the dam was built upon 10
and at the proper height concrete
flume with capacity of 10000 second
feet constructed. The river was oi-
verted into this flume in November OF
1912
oOrary channel. excavation for the ball
This was considerably deeper than ex-
oected, the maximum depth being over
100 feet Excavation was continued
without interruption until June, 1913.
when a sufficient area of foundation
had been prepared to permit of placing
masonry. Since that date excavation
and masonry work have proceeded to-
yether.
Until March. 1914 only one cable was
lsed on masonry work. the other two
being kept on excavation, but since
hat date two and generally three ca
lies have been used for handling con-
.rete and rock During the IL months
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