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

the work that had been accomplished
in the six months Of labor. To be sure
the delay in the es;npletion of the
spillway disquieted Elm little.
The dam had reached the spillway
level fortnight before, and had now
passed it. Indeed, on the fifth Of Jan
uary the dam builders were within
five feet Of the top; that is, the crest
Of the dam was 12O feet above the
level Of the valley. they had planned
to run the spillway around the east
ern end Of the dam. The rock drills
and dynamite which had been ordered
had finally arrived in December, and
by putting as many as possible to
work on the spillway Vandeventer had
succeeded in opening it for it's entire
width to an average depth Of about
seven feet below the intended top of
the dam; that is, it was now about
two feet deeper than the actual crest
Of the dam, but it still lacked FIVE feet
Of its designed depth.
The rainy season, an inspection of
the records had shown, was not due
for month and half yet. That
would give him ample time to COM
plete the dam and the spillway. This
year, however, there had been some
very unusual rains duSing the fall and
the water back of the Gam was now so
feet deep, which made it % feet below
the level to which the dam had risen
and 20 feet below the spillway. This
was much more water than anyone
had dreamed would be in the reser-
voir at that time, and was perhaps
more than should have been allowed.
Still there was safety margin of
% feet, which Vandeuenter was sure
would be ample. The financial promo
tiers of the project were very anxious
to have the reservoir full when the
irrigating season opened, and the en-
gineer's judgment had seen Influenced
by their eagerness to get 1t working.
The broad sheet Of water ran back
into the valley for msny miles. In
fact, the dam had transformed the
country into a beautiful lake. Some
times it rained in the mountains when
1t did not rain down in the valley,
and there was constant, If very
small, rise in the level. Vandeventer
personally carefully gagged the water
every day. Naturally he had noted
that it rose gradually, but as the dam
rose prOportionately more rapidly, he
was not uneasy. Yet, as a good en-
gineer, he was watchful and largely
because of the unfinished spillway he
urged the men to the very limit.
The weatherwise fEpm the town,
who sometimes rode up to inspect the
work, assured Vandeventer that it
could not possibly rain before March,
and the mere fact that so much water
had fallen rendered it more improb-
able that any more would come down.
But at three on the afternoon of JAN
uary sixth it suddenly began to rain
hard without warning and with no
premonition on the part of anybody.
1t was not one of those terrible down
pOurs known as cloudbursts, but it
was an excessively hard, steady rain.
The heavens over the range were
black with clouds and so far as any
one at the dam could see, it was rain
ing from the crest Of the mountains
down. There were some anxious dis
cussions in the dining room of the res
ident engineer and his American as
Sistants.
At four o'clock it was decided to
open the undersluice gate about half
way, but when this was done the vol
ume Of water it was capable of dis
charging was too small to help very
much, and on opening it to it's fullest
extent the velocity of the water rush
ing through was so great that the
river bed was rapidly secured out. For
fear Of undermining the toe of the
dam, it was necessary partially to
close the sluice once more.
The water was rising, first at the
rate of three or four inches an hour,
then half foot, and finally nearly a
foot. BY six o'clock that night it
had risen two feet. 1t was still rain
ing hard at that hour, although not
quite so furiously as it had been. If
it did rain until morning at the pres
ent rate, there would still be mar
Gin of safety Of perhaps fourteen or