Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1922-07-28
CONTRACT GIVEN
FOR Big TUNNEL
Adds Million and Quarter to
Cost of Power Project
Will he Two and Half Miles Long -
Power Station TO BE Built at Sherman
Instead of at Davis Bridge DAM

In order to obtain the greatest pos
slble hydro-electric development from
the great storage reservoir which the
New England Power Co. is having con-
structed on the Deerfeld river lust south
Of Nottingham station, the company
has Just awarded the contract for an
extension of the l,600-foot tunnel now
being bored into the bank of the river
Tor diyertng the flow of the stream
around the site of the dam to give IL
dry bed for the construction OF the
dam. The extension will be about 1900
feet long, or nearly two and a half
miles, and will add about 81 100000 to
the cost of the so-called Nottingham
project. The exact cost of the whole
project cannot be stated, as the con-
tracts are awarded on unit basis.
but the estimate is around 81 100000.
As has been published in The Re-
former, the Power Co. is to build an
immense earth dam on the Deerfeld
river at Davis Bridge in the town of
Nottingham, which Will change the face
OF Nature by covering the wooded banks
Of the river northward to the edge of
Wilmington village. The dam is to be
built of earth and will be 200 feet high
and 200 feet long, 400 feet thick at
| the base. For several months work on
the project has been in progress. and
| within u few days actual construction
work on the dam has been begun.
The original plan was to tunnel around
| the site of the dam to send the water
| through the tunnel SO it would not in
| terfere with work on the dam, and this
| part Of the project is we'll toward com
| pletion. 1t is 25 feet in diameter and
about | 900 feet long.
After the contract for this tunnel was
awarded. which went to the Rollin Con
! struction Co. of Boston, the Power Co.
! decided to build a longer tunnel through
| mn, 4
! ", which would give a greater fall and
thus increase the development and the
efficiency Of the project, and the con-
tract for the new tunnel. which will eX-
tend through the rock ribbed embank-
ment two and half miles down the
river 90 sherman, also in the town of
| Whitinpham, has been awarded to the
Nason-Hangar Construction Co. of New
York. 1t will be IA feet in diameter and
will be lined with cement.
This change nccessitates the erection
of n power station at Sherman instead
of at Davis Bridge. 1t will increase
the New England Power Cos yearly
whereas power station at Davis
Bridge would yield an increase of only
105,000.000 kilowatt hours. 1t will in
crease the head from 200 feet to $50
, feet.
The dam itself will require abou
Z.WOtOO cnDic yaruS OF MI, WHICH VII
be taken from the river banks. hauled
out on trestles and dumped. The fine
silt will be washed into the center fol
core and will be impervious. as is the
case at the big earth dam at the Somer.
set reservoir.
The Davis Bridge reservoir will con,
tain. when filled, about 45,000,000, 00C
gallons of water and will necesstatC
an entire relocation of the Hoosac Tun'
mel & Wilmington railroad from there
to Wilmington and will flood out Noun
tain Mills at Wilmington.
Some idea of what the Davis Bridge
dam means to the company can be OBJ
trincd by comparing its development
with that at the Vernon dam, where the
yearly capacity is about 244,00000(
kilowatt hours.
About 1000 men are employed at the
Davis Bridge works, and more are ex
p"cted The dam is being built by the
W, +. Carey Co. of New York.
The New England Power Co.'S dam al
Somerset controls 81 of the 1Sj square
miles of drainage area. The Whiting
ham dam will control the remaining 154
square miles.