The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-03-28
AMERICAN FALLS DAM NOT YET UNDER
COURSE OF ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION WORK
Very Little Employment Other Than Engineer
ing, Clerical and Legal-Revenues
Must Be Collected With Which
to Garry on Undertaking


been complete.
The clerical organization is bus
preparing vouchers and making dis
bursements for the purchase of RICH
OF way. For every document re
corded it is necessary to prepar
voucher and attach check for TIN
amount of the recording fee. l
seems that some arrangement coult
be perfected whereby payment coult
be made at the end of each month
for the total of months recording
fees, thus eliminating hundreds o1
vouchers and checks, but from wha,
| learned this is not permitted by oul
state laws nor urged by the Federal
government.
The department looking after the
new townsite is made up of an ex.
perienced architect and builder and
plans are being formulated for a
modern town laid out in the most up
to date manner, providing for all the
parks and other civic improvements
too often provided after town is
permanently located and too late to
develop the best of schemes for civic
improvements.
The engineering section is now at
work estimating quantities of work
to be done in connection with the
Luilding of the dam and relating
features. These estimates relate to
concrete in dam, earthfill in dam,
townsite improvements, gravel pit
studies, etc. When the work to be
done is expressed in some unit of
measure such as Gu. yds., lin it., So.
yds., ETC., these estimates are for
warded to the western headquarters
of the U. S. Reclamation Service,
Denver, Colo, where estimated unit
costs are inserted in the estimates
and extended, thus arriving at the
total estimated cost of the proposed
American Falls dam.
The design of the dam is merely
matter of study at the present
time. The Arrowrock dam was
drawn on paper several dozen times
and rejected each time by superior
engineers until design was finally
made which met all the require
ments. The problem of upward pres
sure, stresses and strains is most i'm
portant in the design of large dams. |
The American Falls dam as it now
appears on paper, but which is still |
changes in design, is |
about one mile long from one end !
to the other. The location of the
dam is about midway between the
railway bridge and the wagon road
bridge which crosses the river at
American Falls. The maximum
height of the dam in the river Sec
Ion is about 100 feet (the Arrow
'ock dam was 348 feet.) The main
portion of the dam which obstructs
he river flow will be of concrete
bout 5000 feet in length-the re-
nainder of the total length of one
nile being built of earth or gravel
III. 1t has not been determined as
ct whether this portion of the dam
5ill be hydraulic fill or simply earth ;
r gravel rolled and packed. 1t will {
OF be necessary to do much excava- {
ion in the river bed for the founda-
on of the dam as there is compare
vely little gravel or loose material S
the river bed. At the Arrowrock a
am 1t was necessary to excavate in +
le river 80 feet to reach the granite I
,undation. t
The dam will likely contain one set
gates, all being located at the
me point of elevation. The Arrow a
'ck dam has gates at three eleva-
ons. 1t will also be necessary to
Use the railroad BRYCE which crosses
e river at that point, about 20 feet,
JUS eliminating present grades at :,
'th ends Of the bridge. y
Please bear in mind the plans =
ven here all relate to a dam built =
r maximum storage. If money y
ms short and it is necessary to 4
lid a smaller dam the description ~
st given will not apply. a.
The maximum storage provides for is
100000 acre feet of water covering il
1000 acres of land. The reservoir e,
ii be about twenty-four miles long CO
an air line from the dam to the a.
ad of the reservoir. The head N
aters of the reservoir, when filled, b.
III be fourteen miles from Black h.
OF, or point almost due west of fc
'rt Hall. The greatest width of W
ater on the reservation will be OF
out twelve and one-half miles, ex- 81
nding from Springfield to Portneuf. CO
In closing, if you have ever been tc
the railway depot in American in
Ills, or expect to be there soon and NJ
ght on the depot platform, imagine p1
urself as standing 43 feet under OF
ter, because in few years when tn
3 American Falls dam is completed
d the reservoir filled, that particu- sa
spot will be almost half hundred II
It under water. M
--.s-- p.
6 NIERSERvE sa