The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-08-10

the men grouped around the big camp
fires, for the nights were growing chill,
smoking and laughing, exchanging ex-
periences and telling stories. Nothing
would have pleased him better than to
have joined in, and he could have told
stories and related experiences that
would have been unique even in that
gay crowd Of young Adventures. But
he did not dare. He feared to betray
| himself. What he wanted above ev-
erything was to preserve his incognito.
1t would be fatal to his chances of ever
working up to anything worth while
| if they found out who he was.
And he had a tremendous pride to
sustain him. They respected him now.
AS a matter of fact, they put his with
drawal Of himself down to vagaries of
temperament or causes they could not
imagine, and they grew rather to like
him even as they left him alone. And
a few of the men of the humber sort
to whom he had been kind on occasion,
and helpful, were stoutly devoted to
him.
The idleness of an aimless life did
not appeal to him even in his off-duty
periods. Doing nothing had no attrac-
ton. He could not get relief that way.
Even rambling alone about the hills
would not serve. So quick and active
man, so vigorous and buoyant q
spirit, so strong body and mind were
not calculated for aimless wandering.
Meade was very accomplished en-
gineer indeed. There was no branch
Of the art about which he did not know
a little, although hydraulics and struc-
tural steel were the things that most
appealed to him. He got relief in the
duality Of his affections for these
branches of his profession. Neither one
of them ever palled on him because he
did not work monotonously at either of
them. He had natural instinct for
topography, and instead Of purpose
lessly strolling about the country, he
made a careful inspection of the valley
which was to be converted into huge
reservoir by the dam.
The dam itself was, perhaps, an
eighth Of mile long at the bottom and
touched the receding hill on one side
and the spur of Spanish mesa on the
other at the top-a huge mound Of
earth with clay core extending from
side to side at the narrowest part Of
the valley. When completed it would
be 125 feet high above the old river
bed, with a roadway 20 feet broad on
top of it. Below the dam and on the
low ground between the mesa and
Baldwin's knob the camp, with its gal
vanized iron shops, bunkhouses, dining
halls, kitchens and officers quarters,
had been erected. The coniguration
of the ground was such that, although
it was unusual to put them there, con-
venience had rendered it desirable in
this case.
It was intended to complete the dam
before the early spring of next year,
which was, if any time in the country
could be so characterized, the rainy
season. Of course, just as soon as the
dam had begun to rise, the flow Of the
Picket Wire below 1t had been stopped,
except when an occasional freshet had
been allowed to pass the undersluice.
1t was known that the run-off of the
river in the rainy season of some years
was so small as scarcely to fill the res
ervoir, and it had been decided to store
all the flow of the autumn and winter
so that even if the spring rainy season
were deficient, the beginning of the
next summer would find the reservoir
full and the new irrigation system
could commence operations success
fully.
Vandeventer, like the lost Abbott Of
the International, was also a driver,
who spared neither his men nor him
self. The work had proceeded with as
tonishing rapidity, although this was
partially accounted for by the fact
that the spillway, which should have
occupied their attention, had as yet
been only partially excavated. Now,
to those ignorant of engineering, an
earth dam may seem a temporary ex-
pedient, although most of the great ir-
rigation dams of the world are of that
character; and everybody knows that
if the water should rise high enough to
overflow an earth dam it would not last
longer than it takes to describe it's
utter giving way. A flood would sweep
it out of the way at once.
The device whereby possible floods
are controlled and such dangers avert
ed, consists of a broad channel at one
side of the dam, and at such a dis
lance below it's crest that if, through
any mischance or natural happening,
such as the failure of the sluice gates,
excessive rains, cloudbursts, or floods,
the height of the water is increased
until it promises to overflow the dam,
this opening will carry off the surplus
harmlessly. An earth dam without a
spillway would presage almost certain
destruction to all who lived in the val
ley below it.
In the case Of the Picket Wire dam,
the spillway had to be cut and, in part,
blasted out of the mountain side-that
is, through tho spur Of the mesa, which
reached down from it's high we'll
towards the narrows. There had been