The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-06-22


he won't be uttering any idle
Doast For the completion of the Hoover aaIn
Will mark the conclusion of one of the greatest
engineering feats of all time, greater even than
another of the triumphs of Uncle Sam engineer.
that Of digging the Panama canal-and when
this gigantic mass of steel and concrete is fin
ished 1t will be the biggest structure of it's kind
In the whole world
Not the least part of Uncle Sans triumph will
be the fact that the dam and it's appurtenant
works Will be completed In record time When
the contractors began work on April 30 1881,
tney were to be allowed seven years in which to
finish the job That would have meant its COM
pletion by April co. 1888. Right now they are
nearly two years ahead of schedule and it is
estimated that at the present rate of progress
the whole thing will have been done In six years
less.
Impressive as are the statistical data con-
nected with the Hoover dam, the average person
cannot get an adequate idea of the immensely of
the project from abstract figures alone Most of
us are poor judges of distance so 1t would
mean little to say that the dam will have
maximum height of 100 feet above it's foundation
rock, that the top of it will be approximately
600 feet above the level of the river and that
1t will raise the water surface of the river
584 feet
But let's get att this way: if the Washington
monument were set up alongside the dam and
you stood on top of that monument some one
standing on top Of the dam would have to let
down nearly 60 yards of rope in order to pull
you up to where he stood. Or take one of the
skyscrapers in the city of Chicago-the Board
of Trade building, for instance because it's the
highest-and place 1t in front Of the DAM You
could stand on top of it and you'd still have to
look up more than 100 feet to see the ton of
the dam.
Can you visualize 100000 cubic yards of con-
crete? Probably not But if some one told you
about tower that was 100 feet square and rose
two and a half miles in the air, you could get
some idea of the amount of concrete that's
going into the Hoover DAM the power plant
nearby and the appurtenant works That amount
OF concrete would build standard paved high
way 10 feet wide, which would extend all the
way from Seattle, Wash, to Miami, Fla
You'll admit that 10000, ooo,oOOoOO gallons of
water Is a considerable amount Of moisture
That means $4,000 gallons for every man. woman
and child In the United States and 5000 gallons
for every human inhabitant on earth-certainly
enough to keep them from going thirsty for a
long, long time. CAS- a matter of fact, every
American would have to live more than 500
years to drink up his quotaD Well, that 10000
100000 gallons Is the amount Of water which
the reservoir created by the Hoover dam will
hold. They also figure it in acrefeet an acre-foot
being the amount of water that will cover one
acre foot deep. When this reservoir is full it
will contain 100000 acre-feet-enough water
to cover the whole state of New York to the
depth of a foot.
Incidentally this reservoir will be the largest
artificial lake In the world 1t will be 115 miles
long and its width will vary from several hum
dred feet in the canyons to a maximum width
of eight miles. 1t will have shore line of $50
miles and it's area will be $4,000 acres or 227
square miles.
But enough of statistics for moment In favor
of some more general information about this
gigantic project. The Hoover dam is being built
In the upper Black canyon on the Colorado
river about % miles southeast of Las Vegas,
New, where the river forms part of the Arizona
Nevada boundary. The purposes of the project
are flood control and general river regulation
(for the Colorado has long been one of the
most unruly and destructive of all the rivers in
America), irrigation, silt control, domestic water
supply and power development. For these pur-
poses the project calls not only for the con-
struction of the huge dam and power plant In
Black canyon but also the construction Of the
All-American canal in southern California,
; The total cost of the project is placed at ap-
proximately S165O00,0O0 divided up as follows:
dam and reservoir. $70,6O0O00; All-American
canal, $3s5O0,O00: power development, $780,,
600; and interest during construction, $17,700OOO.
But lest anyone think, since this is a federal
project that its construction means that many
millions out of the pockets of American taxpay-
ers let 1t be stated at once that Uncle Sans
investment in it Tin the form of congressional
appropriations) will be repaid In full within the
next so years from the income derived from sup
plying irrigation water and from the sale Of
power generated In the power plant, huge
structure Of steel and concrete, 1890 feet long,
which will stand just below the dam.
consideration in planning this project 1t prom
Uses to become very important one In the future
because Of the effect which cheap power viii
have upon undermining community and civic
life in the. Southwest. The plans for this power
plant call for the installation Of Is turbines of
$4,000 horse power each and two turbines of
5000 horse power each with 10 generators OF