The Wrangell sentinel., 1938-10-28
WRNGELL HIGHWAY CONS. FOLLOWS INTERESTING ROUTINE
lContinued from bad onel


 Continued from page One)
 10 explain a little more in detail 1 the general operations of a eontrae- tor on grading and surfacing pro- ject of this nature. The rock mater lal is first drilled and shot. This work is handled by crew of from live to eight men using a portable air compressor for drilling. Inei- dentally, about ten to fifteen tons of dynamite will be used to blast the rock on the Wrangell Highway extension. The rock crew is followed l by a culvert crew of five men, who place all culverts and thereby elim- mate considerable of the water from the area to be graded. These culverts | are delivered on the job in half sections of two-foot lengths, and are assembled at the place of instala- i, tion.
 The grading crew of five men fol- i low the eulyert gang. A power show el of about 1 cubic yard capacity isl used to exeavate the material and i load it into trucks or dumptors, which haul it to the sections to bel filled. In southeastern Alaska, theI wet condition Of the material ne- l eessitates the planking of both thei excayated and filled areas. in order to prevent the miring down of i equipment. As much as 500 feet of roadbed might have to be planked at one time. The blanks are moved from one place to the next by a crew of three men with a tractor. They work in close cooperation with the grading gang. The rough grad ing crew is followed by a fine grad ing crew of six to ten men, who smooth out the wrinkles, so-called, in the surface and bring the grade up to the grade plugs set by the en- gineers. The subgrade is now ready for the surfacing material.
 Ready For Surfacing
 A crushing plant which has pre- Yiously been set up is used to crush the surfacing material either rock or gravel. This plant usually con- sists of a dragline or scraper to get the material from the pit to the 1 plant, one or two crushers to crush the material to the proper size, screens and water to take out the excess of fines, ana conYeyor which lifts the finished material into a bin from whence it is spout ed into trucks. The trucks haul the 1 finished product to the road where it is spread over the subgrade Again blanks are necessary on the sub grade and the immediate newly placed surface material, to support the loaded trucks.
 On this particular job, a seven eighths cubic yard Koehring shovel will be equipped with a dragline and will be used to load the material | from the beach into a movable 1 bunker, from whence the trucks 1 will haul the material to the crush ing plant. This material has been tested in the laboratories in Seat tie, and gradations of the material placed on the road will be control led by tests made by the engineers on the job.
 Dangerous Piece Of Work
 To date the contractor on the Wrangell Highway project has shown the following results: erect ed a 40-man camp near the start of the project, placed the culYerts on fbo firc+ Yaila nf tho 0rojoot driIIod and shot the rock between mile 1 and mile A, a very heavy and dangerous piece of work as it isl over a granite boulder slide, and excayated for the crushing plant. Equipment which has arrived on the job include two B cubic yard Koehring shoyels, two 7-cubic yard dumptors, two 50 HIP tractors, one grader, the crushing plant, three 2-cubic yard dump trucks, one 165 cubic foot compressor and two 105 cubic foot compressors.
 The work will be prosecuted this fall as long as the weather permits. Then it will be closed down for the winter and operations resumed early in the spring, with completion of the project sometime in July CT August 1899. The present crew Of Is men will not be greatly increas- ed this fall. but at the height or operations next year, there will be between 35 and 40 men on the pfu ject
 W n n IT MEETTNn