Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-22
Two Cents Per Word

cally described as four units, each con-
sisting of 10000 horsepower turbines,
capable of generating all together 120,-
600 horsepower, is on the ground,
ready to be installed. SO far as con
struction machinery is concerned, there
is equipment of that character on the
dam works, which have been inventoried
at $4,000, 900, and therefore nothing
in that line with the one exception Of
the tow-boat has been needed, and that
has just been bought.
Barden in Charge
Colonel w. J. Barden, corps of engi-
neers, United States army, is in charge
of the dam builders. He has been able
to retain during the idle period a small
nucleus of the civilian engineering
forces and is now searching for a few
more high-class engineers, but Is I'M
able to locate them, probably for the
reason that the government does not
pay enough high salaries to skilled
technical men. The work Of building
the dam, under Colonel Barden.. is oil.
vided into two parts. One consists OF
control Of the dam proper, which is a
little more than half the distance across
the river, and is known as construction
division No. /. Lieutenant Colonel
Weeks, United States engineers, is IN
charge of that, and is also in charge
of the engineering staff of the Office
The. other part consists of construction
division No. 2, which includes the work
of the power house, and that Is IN
charge of Major John S. Butler, United
States engineers. Captain Ralph Mil
lis, United States engineers, has Just
been added to the staff, and he IS IN
charge of accounting and disburslng.,
The work will go IN all through the
winter, under the program, because
there usually is no ice worth speaking
of in the Tennessee. In 1917 and
1918. there was something in the nature
of an ice iamb at Muscle Shoals, but
as a rule the winters are open. ASIDE
from weather questions, however, the
dam builders are finding a problem In
the supply of concrete aggregate, to
use a technical term, consisting OF SAND
and gravel. This is obtained by dredg-
ing in the river, nine miles below Flor
ence. 1t must be placed on barges
and towed up to the dock at Florence.
During low water the channel IS not
deep enough to permit Of bringing up
filled barges.
Conquer All Problems
But this problem, like all others, is
being conquered, and the dam builders
expect to finish the foundation work
in the north channel by January /,
1923. They expect to finish the same
work in the south channel by January
/. 1924. They expect to close the
openings under the dam and create
the pool by January 1. 1925, or not
later than the spring of that year.
This "pooL" as engineers modestly
describe it. will in reality be a beauti-
full lake, IS miles long, formed by the
water backed up by the dam. Finally,
they expect to install the electrical
machinery and have electrical current
ready during the late winter of 1873
or the early spring of 1926.
The construction plant, cofferdams
and temporary structures were depre-
ciating at the rate of approximately
100000 a year until sS.100,00O be-
came available at the hands of con-
gress in September and on October |.
All that deterioration has been stopped,
new work has begun, and the army
engineer dam builders are singing the
song of peace. If they were naval
officers they would probably describe
themselves as being equipped with
chart and sailing directions and pro-
eeeding full speed ahead"