d)U fr^P
4 - By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
OME time late In 1936 or early In
1937 Uncle Sam will be able to
say to the other nations: “If you
want to see one of the modern
wonders 6f».the world, come down
Into the southwestern part of my
country and take a look at a job
that I've just finished on the Col
orado river." And in saying that
he won’t be uttering any idle
boast 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 it will be the biggest structure of its kind
In the whole world.
Not the least part of Uncle Sam’s triumph will
be the fact that the dam and Its appurtenant
works will be completed In record time. When
the contractors began work on April 30, 1031,
they were to be allowed seven years In which to
finish the job. That would have meant Its com
pletion by April 20, 1938. 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
•r less.
Impressive as are the statistical data con
nected with the Hoover dam, the average person
cannot get an adequate idea of the immensity of
the project from abstract figures alone. Most of
ns are poor judges of distance so It would
mean little to say that the dam will have a
maximum height of 730 feet above Its foundation
rock, that the top of It will be approximately
600 feet above the level of the river and that
It will raise the water surface of the river
684 feet
But let’s get at it 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.
Can you visualize 4,400,000 cubic yards of con
crete?. Probably not But If some one told you
aboufa 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 a standard paved high
way, 18 feet wide, which would extend all the
way from Seattle, Wash., to Miami, Fla.
You’ll admit that 10,000,000,000,000 gallons of
water Is a considerable amount of moisture.
That means 80,000 gallons for every man, woman
and child in the United States. That 10,000,
000,000,000 gallons is the amount of water which
the reservoir created by the Hoover dam will
hold. They also figure it In acre-feet, an acre-foot
being the amount of water that will cover one
acre one foot deep. When this reservoir is full it
will contain 30,000,000 acre-feet—enough water
to cover the whole state of New York to the
depth of a foot
But enough or statistics ror a moment m ravor
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 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas,
Nev., 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 $165,000,000 divided up as follows:
dam and reservoir, $70,600,000; All-American
canal, $38,500,000; power development, $38,200,
000; and Interest during construction, $17,700,000.
But lest anyone think, since this is a federal
project, that Its construction means fhat many
millions out of the pockets of American taxpay
ers, let it be stated at once that Uncle Sam’s
Investment In It (In the form of congressional
appropriations) will be repaid In full within the
next 50 years from the Income derived from sup
plying irrigation water and from the sale of
power generated in the power plant, a huge
structure of steel and concrete, 1,260 feet long,
which will stand Just below the dam.
Although power development was a secondary
consideration In planning this project, It prom
ises to become a very important one In the future
because of the efTect which cheap power will
have upon modernizing community and civic
life in the Southwest. The plans for this power
plant call for the Installation of 15 turbines of
115.000 horse power each and two turbines of
66.000 horse power each with 15 generators of>
82,500 kilovolt-ampere capacity each and two
generators of 40,000 kilovolt-ampere capacity
each. The larger units exceed In size the largest
yet manufactured, the 83,000 horse power tur
bines and 76,500 kilovolt-ampere generators In
the world-famous Dnleprostroy plant In Rnaat*.
One of these mammoth generators will weigh
over 2,000,000 pounds, will measure 40 feet in
diameter and stand 32 feet high.
This power plant will have a total capacity of
1,835,000 horse power, or four times the amount
developed on the American side of Niagara Falls
and nearly double the amount developed both at
Niagara Falls and Muscle Shoals, even when the
latter reaches the peak of Its capacity. It will
be operated and maintained by the city of Los
Angeles and the Southern California Edison com
pany, under the general supervision of a director
appointed by the secretary of the Interior. The
city will generate power for the states of Arl
sona and Nevada, a large number of southern
California municipalities and for the Metropoli
tan Water district, and the Southern California
Edison company will generate power for com
pany purchasers.
An essential part of the project Is the con
struction of the All-American canal, so-called
because It is entirely within the United States.
It will begin about 15 miles northeast of Yuma,
Arlz., where the new Imperial diversion dam will
be built, and will connect with the present sys
tem of Irrigation ditches in the Imperial valley,
a distance of about 80 miles. At the same time,
a 130-mile extension of this canal will pass east
of the Sal ton sea and carry water to the adja
cent Coachella valley.
From the beginning of the All-American canal
near Yuma It will pass through a ridge of shift
ing sand and there the deepest cut will be about
100 feet deep. Huge siphons or culverts will
be needed In many Instances to carry the canal
under numerous washes.
Plans call for ten or tnese on tne main line
and 79 on the Coachella branch. Siphons will
also be used to carry the water under the Alamo
and New rivers. The canal Is expected to cost
at least $27,000,000 and bids will be asked soon
by the bureau. Plans contemplate a maximum
canal capacity of 16,000 second-feet.
The Imperial dam, to be of the floating type,
will be 1,700 feet long and will raise the river
level 22 feet. The canal will provide Irrigation
water for 850,000 acres In the Imperial valley
and an additional 160,000 acres will be brought
under cultivation by the Coachella extension.
Some distance up the Colorado river will be
located the Parker dam, Intended both as a
power plant and as a diversion dam. Designs
for this hydroelectric plant are rapidly nearing
completion. There, 285 miles directly across the
state from Los Angeles, will originate the water
supply for the Metropolitan Water district
The Parker reservoir will be located approxi
mately 150 miles downstream from the Hoover
dam and Is a natural site for a diversion barrier.
The first 113 miles extending west t6 ^Shaver’s
Summit will require heavy expenditure for con
struction and operation, as the line will make
an ascent of 1,500 feet Power from the Hoover
dam will be used to operate pumping lifts.
Although the Metropolitan Water district Is
paying for the construction of the Parker dam
by the reclamation bureau, the project wl# be
of Immense Importance to the Southwest Ulti
mately, It Is proposed to build a power plant at
the dam and then to extend transmission lines
on down the river to the Imperial dam, using
the power thus delivered to pump water for Irri
gation purposes In the vast undeveloped area In
Arizona. This project will be known as the Olla
development
One unique and interesting phase of the gigan
tic Hoover dam project was the tremendous
Job of diverting the flow of the Colorado
river before the construction of the dam could
be started. To do this It was necessary to drive
four tunnels, 60 feet In diameter, through the
rock of the canyon wallSf two on each side of
1. A recent view of the dam, taken from a
point downstream.
2. Showing the eite of the dam before con
struction began. Ita height of 000 feet Is more
than twice the height of any concrete dam now
In existence. '
3. This picture was taken before tone of water
began rushing through these diversion tunnel*
4. Thle is how they “pick ’em up and lay ’em
down” at the dam. A motor truck la lifted like
a child’s toy by the 150-ton crane, the biggest
In the world.
5. The first completed tower for transmission
of power from the dam. It is 109 feet high
and stands near Kingston camp.
-
the river and build a temporary earth and rock
fill coffer dam to send 200,000 second-feet of
water rushing through the tunnels which have a
total length of IS,934 feet or three miles.
After their use for river diversion, these tun
nels will be utilized in the project scheme as
follows: After being plugged with concrete iat
locations approximately one-third their length
below the Inlet ends of the Inner tunnels and
about midway In the outer tunnels, the two Inner
tunnels will contain 30-foot steel pipes connect
ing Intake towers In the reservoir with the
penstocks to the power plant and the canyoa
wall outlet works and the lower portions of the
two outer tunnels will be used for spillway out
lets. m
And these 30-foot steel pipes bring up again
the phrase “world's largest" which must be
used so often lift connection with the Hoover
dam. For they are the largest pipes ever con
structed In the history of manufacturing. They
are made by an Ohio company and because they
are too big to be shipped by railroad from the
company’s plant In the Buckeye state, It had to
build a fabricating plant near the dam. One
length of this pipe, 12 feet long and 80 feet
In diameter,-Is made from three steel plates, ao
heavy that only two plates can be shipped from
the steel mill In Ohio to the fabricating plant
near the dam on one railroad car. Two such
lengths of pipe welded together comprise ona
erection section weighing ISO tons, which la
heavier than many types of railroad locomotive*
And this Is typical of the scale upon which
everything Is being done at the Hoover dam. To
tell of any detail of the work there Is to deal
In superlative* for It la there that Unde Sam.
the greatest engineer In the world, Is working
day and night, rushing to completion "the world’s
greatest engineering project"
• by Waatarn Nawapapar Union.
Viceroy of India at His Home in New Delhi
Taken by special permission, this photograph shows the viceroy and vicereine of India, Lord and Lady Wit
Hngdon, In the beautiful gardens of their residence In New Delhi.
Four Oldest Members of the House Get Together
These four oldest members of the house of representatives were photographed at a recent get-together In
Washington. Despite their combined age of abont three hundred and nineteen years they are all very active In
legislative work. Left to right, they are: Schuyler Merritt of Connecticut, who la nearing eighty; Andrew
Jackson Montague of Virginia, another eighty-year-old; Edgar Howard of Nebraska, seventy-five, who used to
be William Jennings Bryan’s secretary; and Clement Cabell Dickinson of Missouri, elghty-fonr years old.
Memorial to General Pennypacker
n This massive bronze monument has just been erected on the Parkway
In Philadelphia to the memory of Brig. Gen. Galuaba Pennypacker, who
was the youngest general officer to serve in either the Union or the
Confederate army in the Civil war.
California’s New Governor Sworn In
Mh
Lieut Got. Frank F. Uerrlam (left) la here being sworn In as gov
ernor of California following the death of Gov. James Rolph, Jr. The oath
was administered by Superior Court Judge F. Cl Colder of Los Angeles.
HULL AT WORLD’S FAIR
<!
Secretary of 8tate Cordell Hall
▼lilted A Century of Progress, the
great Chicago exposition, the other
day and reviewed a battery of the
Sixty-first coast artillery that is
stationed on the fair grounds.
NEW RING CHAMPION
i .
Barney Rom of Chicago, who re
centiy won the welterweight title
from Jimmy UcLarnln in a ten
round battle in New Xorl^ Boas al
ready held two other champion
shlpB, He la twenty-four years old.