Imperial Valley press., 1917-10-29

securing out the piles.~and this it
volved at least two days lost time o
driving.
| Dumping of rock began on IN
night Of August ~, though not in an
quantity until the morning OF Au
gust l3.
On the night of August II FRIDAY
the steam shovel was buried by
rock slide in the quarry.
| On Saturday, August Is, Mr.. Clark,
made arrangements to get rock from
the Reclamation Service quarry i;
Potholes.
The second steam shovel was pa,
in commission and worked until break
down occurred on Monday or Tues
day, August 20 or q, and was not in
operation again until Friday, August
-.
After that time, the weir gradual
ly raised ana the volume OF water
in the Alamo canal steadily. though
slowly, increased, until September Is.
when it reached 1888 second-feet.
On September II about 80 feet OF
/ the weir slipped down. leaving lS49
, second feet in the Alamo canal For
tunately, the trestle, though put out
/ of alignment, was not carried out. ana
the slipped section was rapidly re
filled, the discharge in the Alamo ca
nal reaching 400 second feet on Sep
ten Der 20, and has been maintained
at 1000 second-feet or more since that
time-maximum $685. second feet
and in relation with demands.
From the long continued period OF
high water-in excess OF $4,000 sec
ondfeet for sixty dayS-and the small
percentage OF silt carried, the river
bed secured quite deeply during flood,
end did not refill with deposit during
the falling stream. The water sur
face at the mouth of the intake canal
was from 212 to 3 feet lower, with
the same kuantity of water, than it
had ever been before This required
the creation of a higher weir dam than
evcr before, in the deepest section.
the dam is over 20 feet high at this
tine.
1t required the maintenance of a
greater head against the dam, that is
to lay, the difference between the wa
ter surface above and below the weir,
tie maximum being SR feet this year,
or September 16, as compared with
a maximum Of Az feet, for two DAYS
ronly, in 1916.
This necessity involved longer
'acron" on the dam, to permit the
river flow to pass over the dam with
out washing it out, and that called
for the placing of much more rock
than had been used in previous dams.
1t has been stated that the permit
for the construction of the weir grant
ed by the War Department placed no
liE1itation upon it's character, beyond
pl oviding that its location should be
$50 feet away from any previous dam
In the agreement with the Yuma
Valley Water Users Association the
material to be placed in the dam was
limited, as in 1916, to steam showed
rock.
The quarry at Pilot Knob had been
shot up and prepared for the needs
of both the levee and weir, if required,
| early in the season. The demands
made on it for levee protection were
greater than could have been fore
seen, and on extending the blasting
area an inferior quality of rock only
was obtainable. From lack of avail
able labor, the work in the quarry
could not be maintained in advance
of the demands upon it.
In operating the steam shovels
working at the Pilot Knob quarry,
the maximum of difficulties and
breakdowns were experienced. The
Reclamation Service freely gave the
use of their steam shovel and dump
car equipment and of the quarries at
Yuma and Potholes, where also, un-
fortunately, the greater quantity of
rock obtained was of small size and
inferior quality.
Labor conditions were very unsatis-
factory throughout the whole of the
work. Many Mexican labors removed
from the country in fear of the draft
law, and other conditions were APP
parent, similar to those with which
many farmers and employers of the
valley and elsewhere have become fa
miliar.
1t had been the purpose to complete
the new rdredge and place it at work