Arizona republican., 1922-06-16
CAVE CREEK.
DAM WORK IS
GOING ON At.
RAPID RATE
Record Being Made In
Pouring Concrete For
This Flood Control Con-
struction = Employing
100

Progress of a tangible nature is
reported on the Cave Creek dam.
This project for flood control which
was authorized some time since amid
a considerable furore or public in
terest, has momentarily dropped out
of public attention.; but the report
from the engineer in charge of the
project. John S. Eastwood, is that the
work under Contractor Lynn S. At
kinson, Jr, is coming along splen-
didly and promises to be fully COM
pleted by next October.
The work up to the present time
has been by way of preparation, anu
more lately, excavations; but now the
positive work of construction has be-
gun and is proceeding satisfactorily,
according to Mr.. Eastwood.
The excavations for the foundations
have gone down 10 bedrock and there
can never be any question about the
foOtings that have been put in, Is the
view. The work of pouring concrete
for the walls of the dam and the
abutments is going forward at a pace
that is making a record.
Devices Expedite Work
One of the devices of the contractor
that makes for expedition, commend
manner of handling the materials for
the concrete. This is done by series
of bins in which the cement, the sand
and the. gravel is stored. These bins
supply pockets wherein the materials
are let fall in a. predetermined
amount. Specially fitted bodies on
the chassis of Ford trucks, when
driven under these pockets. are filled
in a moments time with the materials
for the concrete, in just the right
amount for the mix. The trucks then
convey this rightly apportioned load
to the concrete mixers and, without
hand or shovel being lifted, the ma
terial for the mixer is dumped lnto
the apparatus that raises and dumps
the material into the mixer. From
The mixers the aggregatesis Is conveyed
BY cars drawn by caterpillar tractors
TO where it is dumped to puHd me
dam. The record, to date, is the
placing of 102 yards Of concrete; a
record so far as known, for this
kind of difficult. work.
At present an even 100 men are at
work on the job, but it is likely that
moro soon will be put to work. me
construction camp, it is pointed OUT,
has been constructed and is being
supplied with a view to taking good
care of the men employed. As an
instance of this kind, a well was
driven that rock water, free from all
surface contamination, might be had.
The food. too, is described of good
quality. 1t is likely that the number
of men on the project will soon oe
as high as 125 to $50. Considering
some of the unavoidable delays IN
getting started, Mr.. Eastwood says
the project is making headway- that
seems likely to offset any handicaps
suffered at the outset.
Other Projects
Mr.. Eastwood talks Interestingly of
dam building in various sections OF
.he Southwest and in other sections
of the United States and elsewhere.
He says that there appears to be
general awakening at this time to a
realization of the feasibility OF dam
building and what may be accom-
plished thereby. One of his projects
which he designed is in Idaho. He
states that it is coming along in a
highly satisfactory manner. Another
project is one in British Columbia,
almost up to the Alaskan border. He
expects soon to go to inspect that
undertaking. However, before going,
he has numerous projects in this part
of the country and in California that
he has been asked to inspect.
Dams and their building and hy-
draulics have been the constant study
and subject of investigation of Mr..
Eastwood since he graduated from
the engineering school Of the Univer-
sity of Minnesota. He was recently
in conference with noted Swiss en-
gineer, and together they reached
asIf ta
and improve the management of i'm
pounded waters as never before.
Mr.. Eastwood says that gradually
this community city, county, state,
and others who are contributing to
the Cave Creek project, viii come to
know that they have builded better
than they knew and that benefits un-
thought of when the project was au-
therized are pretty sure to accrue.