Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-05-19
WORK RUSHED
On FLUME BREAK
IN THREE SHIFTS
Tunnel Now Being Driven
Night and Day
SEVERAL ENGINEERS
CALLED IN COUNCIL
Miners of Pine Have Contract for
Tunnel-Dirt Work Finished
Hope for Is Feet per Day

Work on the big break in the main
canal connecting Camas reservoir
and Long Tom reservoir of the upper
irrigation system has been pushed
the past week and good progress
made. About one hundred feet of
tunel is being driven and about a
hundred feet of flume.
The slide is a bad one, the entire
half of the mountain through which
tunnel No. runs, slid into the gulch
and into the Boise river. One hum
dred and twenty eight feet of tunnel
was swept away and nearly 100 feet
of flume.
A representative of the Republican
visited the scene of the break, where
everything was action. A large force
of men with pick and shovel were
busy together with teams and Fres-
noes and plows removing the dirt
from the slide. A force of carpen-
ters were at work on repairing the
flume and miners were driving al
tunnel.
]. Robb Brady, president of the
company, was in active charge of the
work and pushing work to compile
tion. He refused to give out state
ment for publication but invited the
press to make its own comment. AS
surance was given, however, by Mr..
Brady, that neither time nor money
was being spared to repair the break.
I'VE are working night and day in
every possible way to put water thru
the fume at the earliest possible
moment, and that is all that we can
do"
An effort was made to drive tun-
mel straight through the slide but
no foundation could be found. A
hurried trip by night to Shoshone to
the government powder depository
and five hundred pounds of T. N. T.,
one of the most powerful explosives j
known, was hurled by motor car to 1
aid in excavation work at the big !
break. Special motor car trips to I
Boise and Mountain Home were I
made to secure workmen. A large
force of men and teams, about half s
hundred men being in the camp t
hastily established at the break, q
went up from Mountain Home a
Saturday the company officers and a
owners of the irrigation system, ]. t
u ohh and @ u nrodx oaJIad n emo | VI
cial consultation of engineers to be t
certain of progress and aid in assur- X
ance of the surest and quickest way "
to repair the broken flume and tun- s.
nell r. c. Bruce, of Boise, one of
The best known mining engineers of b
The state, and a geologist, G. J.. n
Franklin, consulting engineer, of a
Boise, VIII H. Gibson, formerly chief v
engineer of the system for several m
years, and manager of late until TAX m
ng position as State Utility Com n
and Santon Park, county IL
of Elmore county, went m
'ver the entire mountain, including II
he broken slide and solid formation NJ
They agreed that put
ing a tunnel through the broken tu
lide formation was quite dangerous pl
nd that the present plan was the bl
nore certain and quickest snanner al
getting water through the flume Xxi
0 the farm lands below. tn
Work on grading the broken slide sa
vas completed Wednesday morning lu
nd the teams and men returned to 1t
fountain Home. All the loose dirt pl
yhich was thought apt to collect ou
rater in pools and cause another WI
Iide was removed. AS soon as the tn
round settles vertical deep drains te
ill be built down the sides of the pli
fountain.
Grant and Toler, miners of Pine, ~
-ell-known here, were given a con-
act to drive the tunnel. Three
lifts will be worked night and day.
hey assure ten feet per day of tun-
Ell will be made. An air pumping COZ
achine is being brought down from ses
lie Franklin mine at Pine to aid
fastening the completion of the an
Innel. The miners have made their mu
ce and entrance to the tunnel, laid to.
ack and are about twenty feet in be