Omaha daily bee., 1922-04-27

of Retards
Made Here
over $50 Spectators Watch
Cement Piles Sink Without
Using Driscr-S,ops
Erosion Of Banks.
River to Be Navigable


weighing SIX tons was sunk 10 the
hilt IN one minute on the shore OF
Carter lake yesterday morning.
Then. in four minutes. another pile,
srooyed to III closely into the other.
MAS put down beside il.
There was no pile driver, nothing
but swift stream OF water driven
through a pipe running from top TO
bottom through the center oi the
pile. The water washed out the
earth under the pile and il sunk of
ITS own weight.
In the crowd oi more than $50
spectators were bridge builders.
railway executives and engineers.
drainage and reclamation experts
aud public officials from Chicago TO
California and IRON Minnesota TO
Missouri, Each saw in the demon
stra,ion OF the invention OF Edward
Bignell the solution OF some OF his
particular problems.
Governor Hyde Interested.
One OF the most interested spec
iaiors was Gov. Arthur NJ. HYDE
OF Missouri, who had come with
Lieut.. Gov. Hiram LLOYD and nine
other Missourians working for Mis-
souri river navigation. Standing so
close that the muddy spray flcoked
his collar he watched a pile sunk
lar beneath the surface, "a feet to
bed rock, in II IL minutes.
The demonstration was given By
Woods Bros. Construction company
OF Lincoln. In the afternoon the
visitors were shown the rcclama-
ton work now being done along the
Missouri river in the East Omaha
drainage district. There 1000 acres
OF land destined for all industrial
district is being protected from the
river by levees and, by the system
OF q current retards that arc
anchored to the Bigncll piles.
Four OF these retards. which con-
sist OF iclcd trees laced together
with cables and held in place by
the concrete piling, arc already in.
The current. which had CARED away
900 acres of farm land east OF
Florence. is now detected to the
-sefrey. OF tic river, where it is
securing a deep channel. The
stream has slowed down at the bank
and is dropping its sediment to form
tandbarS The trees are being buried |
in sand, and most of them will be
covered from sight by silt after
the June rise. A sloping beach is
already forming.
Drive 80 Feet
The party watched as the Wood |
Bros steamboat sent four-ton. 20, |
foot pile down 80 feet to bedrock.
Water at pressure OF about 80 |
pounds to the square inch was pump |
ed down through the four-inch pipe |
running the length OF the pile. As
il came out at the bottom through
a one and half-in. muzzlc it washed
the sand and clay upward and away.
Jets OF water squirting upward from
tic sides washed the hole larger and
soon the pile was completely buried.
4 cable which was firmly attached
to the concrete was fastened about !
a barge load of trees. These were
pushed off in the river, close to the
c;ving bank. Each tree had been
laced to the other by large cable,
and as they fell in tangled mass the
concrete pile. buried in the river
he'd $50 feet upstream. held them in
place. Other piles sunk in the bank
above kept them from floating out |
in the current.
As far as the engineers were con-
cerned, the current retard was COM
plete, All that remains is for the
river to drop its sediment and cover
the work. The water and the sand
preserve the trees from rotting and
6 permanent barrier to the encroach-
ment OF the river is formed.
Want Channel Opened.
Our great problem" said Gov
ernor Hyde, is to do something with
this river, even if we do nothing but
stop its depredations. Missourians
are particularly interested in open
irg the channel from Kansas City
to St. Louis to steamboats,. l see
no reason why. if we can accom-
p.ish this, the channel cannot be ex-
tended past Omaha. Even with
Kansas City as the head OF naviga-
ton. Nebraska freight rates would be
reduced"
c. H.. Conrick, city engineer OF
Iankton, S. D.. recalled the days
when river boats made this city
real port. He was. however, more
Immediately interested with party
lTurn Ia Pane Tun Cnlunan Eour