The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-05-05

been only partially excavated. Now
to those ignorant of engineering, an
earth dam may seem O 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 1t takes to describe its
utter giving way A. flood would sweep
1t out Of the way at once.
The device whereby possible floods
are controlled and such dangers avert
ed, consists of broad channel at one
side Of the dam, and at such a dis
lance below its 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 q
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 the spur of the mesa, which
reached down from it's high wall
towards the narrows. There had been
a series Of blunders and mishaps,
which included the explosion Of ship
ment of dynamite on the railroad, with
very disastrous consequences to accom-
panying rock crushers and mixers, and
other machinery. The spillway had not
been completed. It's opening should
have been about twelve feet below the
level of the dam. Vandeventer was not
responsible, of course. The chief engi-
neer had fumed and protested, but had
been directed by headquarters to go
ahead with the other work and tackle
the spillway later. There was, indeed,
little reason to hold up the building of
that particular dam because Of the
noncompletion of the spillway.
That was country, so the most de-
voted Inhabitants freely admitted, in
which 1t was always safe to bet that
it would not rain, no matter how
threatening might be the appearance
of the sky; for in ninety-nine times out
Of hundred the negative would win
the bet. Said inhabitants did not say
the hundredth time might compensate
for all the other failures. The weather
was like the little girl with the pro-
verbal curl-when it did rain there
was no doubt In anybody's mind as to
the fact. Sometimes the fountains Of
the great deep, which, in Holy Scrip
ture at least, extended overhead, would
be broken open and the violence of the
fall and the quantity of it, and sudden
ness of it, would be such that the West
erners would graphically call it a
"cloudburst," which, indeed, it seemed
to be.
Outside the rainy season cloudbursts
were unbeard of, and even in that sea-
son extremely rare. For the valley
Of the Picket Wire and in the plain
beneath carefully tabulated reports Of
the rainfall for years had been consid-
cred by the engineers. They had cho-
sen the right season for the building
of the dam, but when its crest began
to rise above the designed level of the
spillway the delay In opening the chan
mel gave cause for some alarm. It Is
not the probable or certain that is
feared. An old version that, Of "omne
ignotum pro magnificent is only the
unknown of which men are afraid, or
only the unknown to be feared! Still
there was nothing Vandeventer could
do but obey orders and go ahead. The
danger, after all, was trifiing. Another
consequence of the waiting was that
in his inability to work on the spill
way, he had more hands to devote to
the dam and it rose the quicker.
The shape of the country behind 1t
was such that when the Picket Wire
flowed with sufficient volume to I'LL it,
a long lake going back through the val
ley, or canyon, and twisting among the
hills for some miles would result. In
other words, the dam would make a
beautiful artificial sheet of water bor-
dered on one side by a high range of |
hills, on the other by the dam, and on |
the third by the hills and the low hog
back above Spanish mesa, which sepa-
rated the Picket Wire valley from the
Kicking Horse gorge up which the rail-
road ran.
Buried in his own thoughts COM
muning with himself, considering cease
lessly his position, dreaming Of the |
woman he loved, planning q new ca
reer, Meade yet explored every foot Of |
the valley and ravine. He climbed to
the top of Spanish mesa, and from its
height the whole country clear up the
valley to the main range was visible
to him. He could look down into the |
deep ravine of the Kicking Horse, and
note the marvellous beauty and airiness
Of the arch bridge for oil. 1t so solidly |
carried the heavy freight trains of the
He could see far up and around the
course Of the Picket Wire. The
big grass-covered, but otherwise bare
and treeless hogback, that ran from
the upper end of the stone island Of |
the mesa was equally visible to him.
As Il was the low tide of the new res