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

series of plumbers and mishaps,
which Included the explosion Of a 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. Its opening should
have hsen about twelve feet below the
level Of the dam. Vandeventer was not
responsible, Of course. The chief engi-
neer has fumed and protested, but had
been directed by headquarters to 60
ahead with the other work and tackle
the spii:way later. There was, indeed,
little reason to hold up the building of
that particular dam because Of the
noncG@pletion Of the spillway.
That was country, so the most de-
votes inhabitants freely admitted, in
which it 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
fGs 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 1t, and sudden
ness of 1t, would be such that the West
erners would graphically call it a
"ci6udburst," which, indeed, it seemed
to be.
Outside the rainy season cloudbursts
were unheard 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 tne dam, but when its crest began
to rise above the designed level Of the
spHlway 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 fearedl Still
there was nothing Vandeventer could
do but obey orders and 60 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 fill it.,
long lake going back through the val
lev, g. 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 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 new ca
reer, Meade yet explored every foot Of
the valley and ravine. He climbed to
the top of Spanish mesa, and from it's
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 all it so solidly
carried the heavy freight trains Of the
railway.
He could see far up and around the
crooked course of the Picket Wire. The
big grass-covered, but otherwise bare
and treeaess hogback, that ran from
the upper end Of the stone island Of
the mesa was equally visible to him.
AS it was the low tide of the new res
ervoir, he descended to it and studied
it carefully. On another occasion, hav-
ing said nothing to anyone about his
excursion, he took advantage of half
holiday tn go out and inspect the hog
back ana ascertain it's elevation witt.
relation TO the dam. OF course the en-
gineers who planned the great irriga-
ton works had done that, but he want
ed to do it for himself. At one place,
where the distance between what
might be called the edge Of the valley
and the head of the ravine was narrow
eSt-indeed, he estimated after pacing
it that 1t measured not over twenty
feet across-he discovered that the
rounded earth crest was slightly lower
than the intended level Of the top Of
the dam.
When he returned to the office, he
found on examining the construction
drawings that an earth dixie was
planned to run along the hogback so
that the top level should be higher
than that c. the dam. This dixie would
be only q hundred and fifty feet long
and few feet high, and could be built
in few days time. Work on the main
dam being more important, nothing
had as yet been done on the dixie.
Meade had been promoted toward
the end of the fall and in a rather
unusual way. One Of the transit men,
a young engineer, got a better job
and left his instrument. Vandeventer
called Meade before him.