The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-11-26
GIGANTIC WILSON
 DAM |S NOW OVER
 ONE- E-TH|RD BUILT
Ideal Weather, Advantageous Labor Conditions and Low Stage of River Greatly
 Facilitate Work
ocontinued from Page seveno

feet long and as tall as the average teu-story building. The dam crest will be so feet above the river bed and by means of gates IS feet nigh the head will be increased to a maxi mum of 9S feet.
 The power plant will be located on the south end of the dam on the Colbert county side of the river and will contain four 30.000 horsepower and fourteen 36.000 horsepower tim bo-generators with generating capacity ranging from 315.000 horse power to 625.000 horsepower. On the north or Lauderdale county side or the river there will be two locks 60 feet wide and $50 feet long for use in affording navigation. A roadway 40 feet wide will surmount the dam.
 It is estimated that more than 6Oa,O0O cubic yards of excavation will be moved for the foundation Of the dam. the power house and locks and a million and quarter yards or concrete will be poured. The con struction work is divided into two divisions, division number one in- cludes the locks. cofferdams numbers one and two on the north side of the dam and Jackson island in the mid ale. Division number two consists Of most of the spillway section and the power house cofferdam on the south side.
 Record Mixing Plant
 On Jackson island is located the concrete mixing plant which is said to be the largest one in the world. It has capacity of crushing and mixin gfour cubic yards of concrete
 ,t,,tt toe nt fu over 2.OO0 cubic yards during 24-hour period. The plant, during the past week has mixed approxi mately 1 LOGO cubic yards of con- crete per day and this amount Is being increased daily.
 In division number two, or the power house section of the dam. there has been more than 31 900 cubic yards of concrete poured up to date. There will be IS units in the power house installation and the founda- tion of three of these units has all ready been finished.
 Onc-Third Complete
 Officials at the dam stated to an Age-Herald reporter Thursday that 35 per cent of the concrete had been poured and 70 per cent of the exca- vation work completed. The big job is therefore very near one-thir1 complete and under favorable weather and working conditions will be finished in about two years.
 One piece of permanent work that is being done at present is the clear ing of the right-of-w for the rail- road track running from the upper level of the bank on the south side of the dam to the power house.
 During the late spring or early summer of next year news coffer- dam will be constructed in the south channel of the river which will con meet with the power house coffer- dam. Engineers have taken advan- tage of the low water this fall by putting in place all starting sections of this coffer so that construction will be rendered more simple. i, Construction of cofferdam on the north side of Jackson Island has completely blocked off this channel of the river changing the water level in this channel to from six to seven feet higher than on the south side. In case of an unusual rise in the river this winter this condition would greatly jeopardize construc- tion work in this area. It has there fore become necessary to dig an "equalization canai' entirely across Jackson Island a distance of more
 
 complete. Thege remains less than ITS feet of excavation to be dc ne The canal will connect the north and south .cannels and next summer when the south channel is blocked eff the water will be transferred to the north side, thereby removing danger of damage on account of high water.
 Tri-Cities Aided
 Sand and gravel used in mixing concrete at the dam are obtained at Buck island. several miles down stream from Florence. This material is dredged from the bed of the river and hauled to the unloading dock s at Florence bridge on government barges. It is there transferred from the barges to railway cars by gigan- tic electric shovels and carried to the mixing plant on Jackson island An elaborate and well planned sys- tenn of railroad yards. shops and bridges is in evidence everywhere on the job.
 Wilson Dam and Muscle Shoals are fast becoming a mecca for tourists and during the past summer and fall thousands from all parts of the coun- try took look at the worlds great est monolith and visited the idle ni- trate plants which stand as monu- z. ent to Americas ingenuity in prep