The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-01-26
BIG EARTH DAM TO BE
BUILT IN WHITINGHANl
New England Power Company viii
corttruet Mammoth Storage Rec
eryo!r and Tunnel

Brsltleboto. Ian, % 49, Equipmeut Is
being gotten together for the work.
which viii be begun before tue end
OF this weeE. Of Blasting tunnel
;hrOugA a hills Dc In the town OF
Nhitingham. IN the southwestern
part of WiDdham county. through
which to divert The Deerheld river
while a big earth dam zoo feet high
Is being built by the New England
Power Co.. % create vast storage
reservoir The contractor for build.
ing the tulnel Is the Roln Construc
don Corporation o. Boston, which
has built rover plants in
Rochester, y. y, and Kansas City
and whose men all have been trained
in work simiar 10 the Nottingham
job On New York aud Boston SUB.
wsys
While the tunnel IS being construct
'el prellm nary work viii be done by
She New Englaud Power Co. 80 mat
tho dam can be butt as soon as pos
sible. Tho Roiun Construction Cor.
poCatiou will emp oy about 95D men
and the New England Power Co. VII
employ enough more 90 bring the to
tal up to between COO and 100 by
next August
The tuuuel will be 1000 feet long
and IS feet IN diameter and all but
100 feet of it Will be cut through
rock by @ ectrlcaly driven ar com.
presse7s and drills and the material
viii he removed By small steam shoy
els The contract calls for the com
p elton OF the tunnel by July Of this
yea,
After the river has been diverted
past the site Of the dam the Power
company wifi begin hau ing IN dirt
from ne'ghbor ng hIllsdes by stand
ard gauge trains Tor building an
ear dam 200 feet hiss and quar-
ter Of q mile long. The base of the
dam will be a quarter Of a mile thlek.
that Is, il viii extend that distance
up and down the river bed, and Il vii
narrow down gradually . 40 feet
through at the top.
THIS dam win set back the main
branch OF the Deerileld river over 10
miles, to t5e edge OF Wilmington vii
lage, and will necessitate relocating
that much of the Ho0sac Tunnel q
Wilmington railroad, II will flood
out Whitlngham station. which VIII
be moved about mile nearer Whit
!ngham. and will food out the Noun
tain Mills dam and pulp mill near
Wilmington.
The exact location OF the dam Is
10 be Aa Z nile below Nottingham
station, az Davis Bridge, and .or the
present IL ls to be known as the
Davis Bridge development The con
struction Of the dam VIII require
2 100000 yards Of earth,
In the fall Of 1923 a power plant
will be bui.t below the dam for de-
ve,oping 10000 horse power, and the
dam viii be completed early in 1921
so as to catch the spring flood that
year. The purpose OF the dam how
ever, Is not 80 much to deye op 10 i
600 horse power as II Is TO create an
immense storage reservoir to. ne
drawn on for eQualizing the power ~
i've other stations on the Deerhe
owned by the Now England Power
Co. which is the largest distributor
OF electrical energy in New England.
The company Is about completing
an earth dam so feet higl and 500
feet long on the Deerheld river at
which was begun June >
o. last year and on which 500 mon
were employed From this dam the
water is to be conveyed through a
wood stave pipe eight feet In diane.
ter mud four miles long to q hydro
electrical unit Of 6,0O0 kilowatt en-.
pacty farther down the river, secur.
ing 930 feet of fective head.