Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-01-15

Taking full advantage OF recent
.aT,is. xveafher. the army engan-
aers al Fort Pack have accom-
s,I;eI,ed a large amount OF WORK In
1,ranaration for completing uredge
operations this year. Besides SCI
ting much necessary WORK @oAe,
large numbers of men nave Deen
kept on the payrolls az 2 - o.
,yideSuread unemployment. fr01cct
emnIovment figures as OF Dec 81
1927 show 3,14A persons as work
This number is considerably above
what was Anticipated some monShs
ago that IL would be and SHOWS
fba Advantages Of careful advance
Manning by the army authorities
vUith a view to retaining the max
iTuuul number of w0rkmen conssS-
tent with good construction prac-
While ysSi all four dredges and their
r1ootino boosters are having machinery
thoroughlv overhauled, construction
crews nave relocated railroad, moved
land humps and RACED a long tlulpeI
treStle. one land pump has been nauleu
around fine road at the tunnel outlet
nortals to a new position near the river
hank north of the discharge channel.
Another car has been pulled naLIW va
iIp the dam to a position near tne
skyline road leading to the east sloe
ohservation point Still third car mas
beey dracged halfway up coulee near
tIoe town Of Fort Peck. Connecting pipe.
lines are being erected rapidly 70 al
land equipment. They VIII remain II ~
tna rev locations until complexion OF
Jred0ino operations this fan. Heloca-
lions Of nipelines has entailed large
arnount of work building trestles, max
ing cuts and fills and boiling miles o.
28-inch pipe. 20 4,..,,,o,
,,,1v11 . mile of railroad trestle leading
~ Ho@ 9ha old Missouri river bridge is not
able illustration Of the fact that, Wnlie
II takes engineers long time ana mucn
hard work to build q structure, oe1noh-
tios1 forces can undo their Work III q
SreTv short time. With the ground
frozen hard and the wood piling also
frozen at the ground line it was found
that a sideWise pull from q tractor
would snap the poles like matcnes Ius y
at the top of the ground. Inc res9iI u
fhat the whole treStle ramp mas DeeAi
s Iii down and this old landmark no
longer lends interest to the local scene.
Practically all of the piling and jumpers aIl
ran he reused at other parts OF glle
project without loss.
Bridge Being Taken Down
A. the same time, track crews were
relaxing the ties and rails at a lower
level Trains viii soon be able to go TO
the subway. or to the upstream race
Of the dam past the spillway. ms done
track crews and cranes, with the al
Gitjon of a few oxy-acetylene burners,
are now tackling the 20O-fooC SOeeI
trusses of the bridge with view 70
taking them apart for compete re-
moval and salvage. Seyeral OF bne se S,Sa-
plate girders of the bridge approaIciie 81
have already been dragged ous u
place.
Even with the large amount OF timber
obtained from the old railroad treStle
there will not be enough to supply tne
needs for the coming season, SO, otner
crews have been occupied cutJlLg
cottonwood poles and sawlogs IN the
reservoir. area above the dam. They
have worked as far UP as Filth polhe,
and the useable timber is being hauleo
ID the dam by auto trucks ana Cralle ~
AT the dam, the logs are rolled OIL Inc
trucks near temporary SaWLillIi 10
tho1ssnds of board feet Of good timber
are heino produced by this sawmll ana
useful work is provided for large
number of practically all OF
whom are the heads OF famllles
nam~ Furnish Much Employment
A total of 1O,539, ass man-hours OF
work was performed at the Fort PECK
project during the calendar year OF
I937. Although less than the 1885 total
Of l5.878,O 58 man-hours, 1t boosted the
total since the start OF the dam 70 81
36o am man-hours. Using the multiply
NO factor of "a. { the ratio Of factory
Ia lob Site employment), indicated by
The limited States bureau OF labor sta
fistics for PWA construction projects,
H can now be said that the worlds
LARGEST earth dam has contributed over
I55 600 600 man-hours of work to the
Eotal national employment. This shows
that large earth-fill dam projects IN
volve more man-hours OF labor than
many other types OF construction
work, including masonry dams.