The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1938-01-07

Addison Miller and Fielding g.
Shepley, contractors Wound up
their seasons work at the Fort
Peck spillway a few days ago.
Since completion of the great flood
channel they have ben every Ell
fort to bring the cellular cutoff
structure at the lower end OF the
channel to a point where 1t would
be practical to leave it for the
winter.
They reached hat point and to spare
and made good on their boast to get
the boys out of the trenches by Christ
mas" Not only are all of the trenches
eXcayated but they have been back
filled with reinforced concrete.
The cutoff structure is composed d
vertical rectangular cells With concre6e
walls eight feet thick and a few OF III.
foot thickness. It consists essentially OF
two main walls, 80 feet apart. tied to-
gether at intervals by cross walls max
ing a series of cells. One of the main
walls is 1853 feet long, 524 feet OF when
had to 60 down 100 feet below the
ground surface. The other main wall IS
Sis feet long, 1896 feet of which Went
down 100 feet below the top OF the
ground. ,
The whole structure is in the ground
and involved over 80. 900 cubic yards OF
the most difficult excavation required
at the Fort Peck project, not except,
ing the diversion tunnels and control
shafts, This remarkable piece OF con-
%struction work was hazardous all the
way but by extra precautions the on
tractor succeeded in doing all OF
trench work without a single iatal ac+
cident. Not a mar has lost his lie al
the cutoff structure since it was started:
APPROXIMATELY 1,4OO,0 900 man-hours OF
work have been expended at That
point. A few accidents resulted IN PAM
full injuries to workmen but none OF
them was so serious as 10 cause loSs
of life.
of the nature Of the work,
excavation was the most dl1ilcult par
of it. The trenches were made In Bear
paw shale and required heavy. steel
bracing to hold them open until they
were excavated from top to bottom;
Then. additional steel in the form OF
reinforcing bars was placed IN horl-
zontal and vertical position and the
trenches filled with concrete. EXcava-
ton was necessarily slow but the FOL
lowing daily averages were made during
the latter stages of the work: August,
45O cubic yards per day; September
1894 cubic yards per day, and November,
Asst cubic yards per day. Best Gays ouI-
put was 937 cubic wards on July l7th.
Concrete poured amounted to 1899
cubic wards and was placed in many
separate pours. the largest OF Whlch
was 1854 cubic yards. Although the
channel. requiring that concrete be
hauled by trucks to the trenches, pour
ing was not difficult.
The method used whereby flat-bed
trucks carrying two-yard buckets OF
! concrete drove directly over the trench
es and dumped through holes n the
! beds of the trucks into hoppers Sus-
pended in the trenches below the plat
of the fresh mix. Loading, the mile
haul, and dumping we're often accom-
plished in eight minutes time per
batch.
Average daily concrete yardages in
, creased toward the end OF the work as
follows: August, 430 cubic yards; Sep.
TENDER. $50 cubic yards; November. 722
per day. Biggest days output was 2.O3l
cubic yards on Dec. 18th. The last -four
DAYS work dec. 16 to 10, inclusive) re
suited in 6.519 cubic yards being placed
There remain about 1900 cubic yards
to be poured next spring to finish the
channel sidewalks and -parapet.
Steel used amounted to 1l.74O.OOt
pounds $3.50 tons) including bracing
steel. corrugated sheets. sealing strips
and reinforcing bars. This is equal to a
one-inch diameter round bar 800 miles
long,
AS it is now, the concrete floor OF
the channel is complete and the side
walls about a third of the way up or
each side for a short distance at the
very end of the mile-long trough. Next
spring will see the remainder of the
walls completed in a short time. The
work can safely be left over the winter
without fear of damage from rainWate1
coming down the channel.
Employment figures compiled fol
Dec. 18th show $685. persons on project
payrolls. a decrease Of 344 since the
previous report. Men laid off are leav-
ing the vicinity and many people or
vacations at this time of year are going
south for a bit Of warmer weather
during the holidays.
DIT INFO tn UAVE