Imperial Valley press., 1922-02-06

Fighting storms with "sausages'
is an effective method the California
Highway commission has tried out
this winter in Southern California.
The "sausages" however, are not
of the ''fido" kind but consist of
dykes constructed Of heavy steel
mesh wire and filled with heavy rock.
These dykes the workmen have dubbed
'sausages." They are proving TO be
an effective method of combating
streams swollen TO torrential proper
tions that threaten the state highway
system.
Official reports Of storm damage in
Southern California reaching the Cali
fornia Highway Commission tell an
interesting story of the fight OF high
way maintenance forces to keep traf-
fic moving.
Between San Bernardin5 and Sum-
NIT thirty inches of rain fell in very
short time. Three hundred feet OF
pavement where the road hugged the
narrow edge of the mountain side,
was swept away by nine foot flood
which came down Caion Creek. Fur
ther down, a section of road two hun
dred feet long, ten feet wide and flf-
teen feet deep was lost. Slides and
debris covered the road in thirty two
places, ranging in length from sixty to
one thousand feet.
Notwithstanding the severity OF the
storm and its resulting damage, traf-
fic through this gateway to Southern
California was stopped only two and
one half days. When Cajon Greek was
so swollen with floods that 1t was I'M
possible for travellers TO get across
without assistance, trucks and teams
were kept for several days by the
California Highway Commission at
two fords assisting travel in crossing
the streams and guarding against &C
cident.
In Riverside county two bad wash
outs occurred north of Beaumont.
Travel on this road was at no time
stopped.
Between Saugus and Castaic huge
volume of water and debris were
thrown on to the highway. In order
to keep the road open to travel which
was very heavy owing to the holiday
season, maintenance forces were i'm
mediately tripled. At no time was the
road entirely blocked except for few
hour on the morning of December Is,
when two trucks got stuck in parai-
lei position.
Maintenance forces worked night
and day, disregarding Sundays and
holidays. in combating the storms,
The energy with which this work was
pushed saved a heavy loss in Los An
geles county between San Fernando
and La Canada. There the Big Tu-
junga has a wide bed. The floods
sought a channel on the northerly side
of the river bed and the current swing
ing in a wide curve cut deeply into
a high bluff. Several acres planted TO
walnuts and citrus trees were carried
away. The GROUND was cut to within
twenty-five feet of the edge Of the
State highway pavement and within
three feet of highway right of way.
Highway forces weer rushed to the
scene and the wire mesh and rock
ssausages" were installed. Another
storm sent a fresh flood down. Addi-
tional orchard lands were swept away
but The "sausages" however DETECTED
the channel from the foot of the high
bark and thus prevented further dam
age to the highway right of way.
FLOOD damage IS being repaired un-
der allotments from maintenance
funds and under rush orders.
Striving for Lower Cement and Ma.
terial Prices
According TO newspaper adylces
from the middle west, over 5000 miles
of cement highway construction in
eight states, aggregating in value
$125,00O,000, are being held up BY
highway officials pending a readJust-
ment of cement prices downward by
the cement manufacturers. The state
ment is made that in case no drop in
price is made that road specifications
will be changed 10 another type Of
hard surfacing. The price against,
which the officials are protesting Is
around $1.75 per barrel, mill base.
The price Of cement at present made
to the California Highway Commits
sion by all northern mills in California
is S2.35 per barrel, mill base, the mills
all quoting the same delivered price
and absorbing any freight differen-
tials due to differences in distances
from delivery points. Among the mills
of Southern California, however, d
limited competition exists and +he mill
base price there Is appreciably lower.
Before the war the California High
way Commission enjoyed a range of
price from $1,04 TO $1.40 per barrel,
mill base. The peak price on account
of war time conditions was$ 270 on
September 2, 1920 1t has since dropp-
cd to $2.35 but is still fully $1.00 per
barrel above pre-war prices.
in certain sections Of tn" state a
monopoly also exists in sand and
rock. The prices Of these commodi-
ties have not hopped one penny be
low the peak war time price. Sand
wa, purchased before the war for 25
cents per ton and rock for Is cents
per ton. During the war the price
was raised TO G5 cents per ton for
sand and $1.15 per ton for rock.
These prices are still in effect. Whcr-