Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1937-01-28
GETTING DOWN TO
BRASSTACkS"
BOULDER DAM

DOWN In II rOck-WalleQ receSSeS
of the Bleak Canyon of the Colorado
river, a veritable army of men (just
such a crew which has come TO be
familiar with us on our own Fort
Peck damn joining with manual la
Dor the services of a vast array of
titan machinery. are completing the
greatest engineering project of its
kind the world has ever known -
BOULDER DAM.
Great, not only In its own magni-
tude as a structural project, but in
the far-reaching results that will
accrue from its completion. BY hold
ing back the torrential waters Of
the Colorado during flood periods.
1t has stopped forever the periodical
flood ravish which has already cost
farmers and property wner Of the
great Imperial valley millions of
dollars. At the same time the dam is
storing the excess waters for dis
tribution during the dry season,
making available an increased sup
ply that will irrigate more than two
million acres of land in the Pacific
Southwest. Although perhaps not so
direct in its benefits, this is just such
a service as is to be expected from
the construction Of our ninety-mil-
lion dollar earth-flled project at
Fort Peck.
Besides a%ffording flood protection
and providing irrigation to rehabil-
tate thousands of farm homes, Boul-
der dam will furnish a supply Of
domestic water sufficient for a pop
ulation of more than 100000 600 in
Southern California. And lastly it
will, while serving these other three
major purposes. generate more than
three times as much electric energy
as is now produced by Niagara Falls.
Notable as the project is from an
engineering standpoint, it is even
more notable as a monument to pat
riotic zeal and lofty vision.
Boulder dam project has three
major divisions. The dam itself and
the great lake it Is creating; the
huge power plant at the bottom Of
the dam; and the great waterway
that wiz jrrigate a vast area in the
Imperial valley. Lake Mead has al
ready become the largest IMAM
made" lake in the world. Eventual
ly it will be lis miles in length,
with a maximum width of eight
miles, and will have a shore line of
some $50 miles. 1t covers an area
of about 230 square miles. 1t rather
awed us to look at large islands in
the lake, now poking their heads
above the water to a height of an or
binary ten-story building, and then
told that these would ultimately be
entirely submerged in water which,
at some points, would have a vast
depth of more than 500 feet. The
water in the reservoir, when filled,
would cover a fiat area as large as
the entire state of Connecticut to a
depth OF ~ feet.
We of Northeastern Montana
would be quite familiar with all the
preliminary work in connection with
this vast project. Similar to Fort
Peck, a modern city was built -
Boulder City-where some four
thousand workers, with their famil-
les, were housed. Built on a desert
site ten miles from the dam, it
seemed very similar to our prairie
city of Fort Peck. The nearest rail-
road point to the dam-site, % miles,
is Las Vegas, Nevada, 800 miles
across the desert from Los Angeles.
Naturally enough, this little city of
5000, merely a railroad division
point before, now, with its legalized
gambling games, is taking on new
life.
1t is really hard to appreciate the
real magnitude of Boulder dam. BY
looking at a few facts regarding its
size. the material which went into
it, and some of the working prob
lens, you can gather some idea of its
real v~astness. The project required
our years to build; there are yet
many months of labor left TO in
stall the huge power units to be
placed both on the Nevada and Ari-
IONA sides. The cost is already
1855, 900 900. This expenditure,
great as it is, represents less than
one-half of the total outlay, when
the huge Los Angeles %aqueduct is
included. Communities of southern
California have voted 100000, 900
in bonds to construct this giant
conduit that will carry domestic wa
ter supply over mountains and des-
ert, a distance of 275 miles by
far the most %stupendous undertake
inc of it's kind in history.
The dam itself is 1927 feet above
bedrock-almost o~ne-seventh of a
mile high! Its thickness is As feet
at the top and $50 feet at the base.
Notice. lacking only 81 feet being
as thick at the bottom as 1t is high.
The width at the crest is 1850 feet.
There has been used in construction
of the dam approximately 4,45O,oOO