PAGE TEN
Great!: Jainiiiairy Clearance Sale
Entire Stock on Sale, the Greater-Part at Less Than
Wholesale Prices. We are Over-Stocked and Must
Unload. This is no Idle Talk, Come and be Convinced.
LADIES' SUITS, COATS, DRESSES
WAISTS, 'fURS, UNDERWEAR, AND MILLINERY.
I
MAKE NO MISTAKE
Observer-United
Emperors, atafeman, warriors and
staff of newspaper correspondent
' circling the globe, have worked to
gether in the columa of the Observer
during the last twelve month to
make 1916 the most wonderful year
for news in the history of journalism.
Through the United Pr&So, - the
Observer has been enabled to tap the
European war a.eas, ihe .-iA,rr. and
domestic field for exclusive news
throughout; the year. The list of
correspondents 'ho cave gr ca '.few
paper it stones of lb war, i-. head
ed by Ed. L. Keen the European tnan
w of the United Press Among
i m assocal'vl wit i Vim luve been
liain G. i'ter-wd u tr u battle
,1-- its; Will ..m Phuia Sinim in Pari
tJ'Wf Aorwa in fetvr. Henry
od m '" Seme and Southwestern
ope, WVtur S. r'oroi: ia lon
Charles P. Siewm witn '.ot lord
f ' it expelai.n sr.! o:strs ... --"
parting .hl cf n.' rltal news
V 5rtS last New Vest'. Jay with the
,.- of the destruction of the British
ti, ieehip Formidable, the, Observer
V'ts received over the United Press
.. es during 1915 a continuous
'i- am of similarly, exclusive stories.
' Vhen the Russians were finally
"- 'en out of East Prussia, last win
'. .it was the United Press that had
- - story of the titanic struggle in the
r iern snows. When Count Zeppe-'.-
fert tha. iny had come to defend
urn sic raiding BioBsUrs he did so
"through the United Prase and Obser
ver Dr. Von Bethmann Hollweg, thi
German" Chancellor, made the same
election to announce to the world
' after the fall of Warsaw, what Ger
many was still fighting for. The
Prime Minister of Bulgaria, through
the United Press proclaimed Bulgar
ia's final terms for intervention in
the war just before German diplomacy
won its victory at sofia.
(The fall of the JYeiich ministry,
the finding of the body of Daniel
Frohman, the description of the first
Zepplin raid over the heart of London,
the story of the war's first battle be-
tweon submarinos and the Bulgar
ian attack on the American flag at
Monastir are a few other events of
through the United Press, was albe to
give its readers n advance of its ri
vals. Count Okuma, the Japanese Premie
sent to the Observer over its
United Press service exclusively its
story of Japan's ultimatum to China
concerning the ( readjustment of inter
national relations in the Orient.
When Yuan Shi Kai was chosen
Emperor of China he too made sole
use of the United Press to announce
the reasons for his acceptance of the
office.
.Nearer home, John D. Rockefoller
told of his objections to the Anglo
French wr.r loan in an exclusive Unit--,
ed Press story to the Observer. Over
.the Washington wire of the United
Press the Observer was informed of
' William J. Bryan's reasons for resig
ning as Secretary of state long be
fore the news was known elsewhere.
So through the year the U. P. wires
have brought to the Observer beat
after beat and scoop succeeding scoop,
': among which have been the following:
Jas 1 Beat on the sinking of the
British Battleship Formidable.
Jan 5 Beat on the sinking of the
mary of Cardinal Mercier of Belgium.
Jan 14 Beat on resignation of
Governor Blease of South Carolina.
February 3 Exclusive story of
first appeal of Polish Women for
assistance for devasted Poland.
February 6 Exclusive interview
with Prime Minister Pashitch of
Servia on conditions in his country.
February 13 Beat on German
Ambassador von Benstorff s annou
ncement concerning Germany's sub
marine war zone.
February 16 Exclusive interview
with the German Crown Princess Ce
rile about German women and the war.
February 23 Exclusive interview
with Lord Charles Beresford uredict-
ing that Germany would engage ia bo
submarine attacks that might lead to
war with America.
February 24 First description ' of
Russian defeat in the snows of East
Prussia under the eye of the Kaiser
February 25 First interview
granted by the French Prime Minister,
M. Viviani, since the beginning of the
March 3 Exclusive interview with
M. Augagneur, French Minister of
Marine, declaring Allies would prevent
all ships reaching Germany. :
March 6 Ahead all day on the fire
aboard the La Touraine.
March 10 Ahead on the news of
(Continued on page 11)
DAM IS READY.
' . Histery , ' "
April 19th to 22nd, 1915, a preli
minary survey was made to deter
mine the feasibility of a storage re
servoir on Beaver Creek to augment
the insufficient water supply of the
City of La Grande. A contour was
run around the so-called Beaver
Meadows at an elevation of 25 feet
above the low water level, at the
narrow canyon at the lower end of the
meadows, and as a result it was louna
that a dam of 25 feet high would
store about 150 million gallons of
water. . It was also found that if a
dam 30 or 40 feet high were built,
it would nermit the use of a natural
deDression. entirely removed from the
dam, as a spwway, tnereoy gimpii
fvinir the construction of the dam.
Acting upon tne report oi we en
gineer, Tiled April 26th, 1915, the
City Commission ordered that a per
manent survey of the reservoir and
dam site be made, and an estimate
be nreDared comparing the cost of
different types of dams, suitable for
the particular site in question.
Following out tne instructions oi
the Commission, the permanent sur
vey was made July 3rd to 19th 191G,
and as a result, it was found that a
dam 30 feet in height would flood an
area of 47 acres, storing about 200
million gallons of water. The com
mission then acting upon the report
of the Engineer, filed August 4th,
1915. decided to construct a masonry
dam of the arch type, the construc
tion camp having alreuly been es
tablished July 25th.
The work of clearing the site was
begun at once, and on Aug. 9th, ex
cavation was started for the founda
tion of the dam; From this time on,
work progressed as rapidly as equip
ment and accomodations for men and
teams would permit. Taie last of
the concrete was poured Nov. 5th, the
spillway completed Nov. 8th, and the
morning of Nov. 9th camp was broken
and all the remaining supplies ana
equipment, other than those left at
the camp for future use, were loaded
and started on the way to town.
Catchment
The catchment to the dam has an
area of 16 square miles, is roughly
rectangular in form, with an extreme
length of about 5 and 1-2 miles and a
width of 3 land 1-2 miles. It is a
mountainous area, entirely within the
U. S. Forest Reserve and broken by
numerous water courses. Some of
the slopes leading down to the chan
nels are steep, others gradual, practi
cally nil being covered with more or
less heavy growths of Fir, Tamarack,
Spruce and Pine. Most of tho area
is also covered with a thick eecond
growth and only under the rarest of
conditions will the storm discharge
be of a torrential character. In this
connection it is interesting to note
that he catchment area is enirely free
from the habitation of human beings.
Neither is stock allowed to graze
thereon, hunting and fishing even be
ing forbidden. It is, therefore, im
possible to conceive of a more pure
natural water supply, and in this re
gard the City of La Grande is unex
celled. Rainfall
Government records give the aver
LA GRANDE EVENING
DRESS GOODS, SILKS, STAPLES, HOODS,
SWEATERS, FOOT-WEAR, GLOVES, COR
SETS, MIDDIES, BAGS, NECKWEAR, EVERY
ARTICLE GOES ON SALE.
GE
Press Scoops Many, And
age rainfall at La Grande as 19 inches
annually and that at the head waters
of the Grande Ronde probably 35 in
ches. It is therefore safe to assume
the average annual rainfall , on the
Beaver Creek water shed to be 30
inches. No effort however will be
made to compute the probable run
off from the rainfall data, it being
considered more accurate to use as a
basis the discharge of the Grande
Ronde River at Hilgard. U. S. G. S
records are available, giving the dis
charge of this station for the past
lz years.
Run-off
Dams are sometimes built and later
it develops that the run-off is some
years insufficient to fill the reser
voir or supply the needs for which the
dam wtas built. We have an example
of this very close at hand, in the Wu
low River Dam in Malheur County,
near Brogan, Ore.. Here a large dam
was constructed based upon the re
cord of discharge for one year only,
1910. To date the dam has been only
about one-third - full. Much suffer
ing, privation, anxiety and loss has
resulted, both to capitalists and set
tlers on the lend below the dam.
! This incident is cited to show the
I importance of making a thorough, in-
J vestigation of the water resources
whenever a storage or water supply
proposition is considered.
I Records are available as . stated
above, giving the discharge of the
' Grande Ronde River at Hilgard, from
1903 to 1915. This station being only
la few miles from the mouth of Beaver
Creek, and only about 18 miles from
the dam site, any error that may
occur in figuring the run-off per
square mile of catchment area above
the dam to be equal to that computed
from the records of the Hilgard stat
ion," will be' on the side of safety.
For not only will the run-off be
greater as the altitude increases but
the variation in run-off will be less.
The lowest run-off during all the
period for which records are avail
able occurred in 1914 and 1915, and
was only 55 million , gallons per
square mile for a period of 12 months.
This for an area of 16 square miles
gives a total - run-off of 880 million
gallons. The City's yearly consum
ption does not exceed 350 million gal?
Ions, so even during the dryest per
iod of 12 months occuring in 12 years
there was more than double the wa
ter necessary for the present cityj
consumption. It remains then only to
show that a storage of 200 million
gallons is sufficient to over come the
deficiency occuring during a portion
of the year. Based upon the records
of 1915, the dryest year on record,
and assuming a daily consumption of
1 million gallons, it is found that a
j storage of 80,000,000 gal. is enough to
overcome the shortage occurring du
Iring a period of 12 months. There
has not been a year since the estab
lishing of the gaugcing station at Hil-1
gard in 1903, when this amount ofj
water could not have been stored, in
addition to the current consumption,
during the month of June alone.
Reservoir and Dam-Site
In outline the reservoir is 'oblong,
with an average width of about 500
feet and an extreme length of 2800
feet. The capacity of the Veservoir
at the level of the crest of the spill,
way is 200 million gallons, covering
a surface area of 47 acres. At the
point selected for the dam the canyon
had in its natural state a bottom
width of 20 to 30 ft. and at 30 ft above
the bottom a width of 140 ft. Out crop-J
pings of bed rock occurred on both
sides of the canyon and solid rock was
encountered at depths varying from 2
feet to 8 feet below the surface. Di
rectly under the stream bed at a dis
tance of about 4 feet a hard mineral
ised material was encountered, and
in this material excavation was car
ried on to a depth of nearly 26 feet
before a suitable foundation was ob
tained. This peculiar material was
absolutely impervious to water,' and
no water entered the trench during
OBSERVER
IBEL'SI
the entire period of construction, ex-
cent at the seam between this mater
ial and the loose rock gravel ox tne
stream bed. Even here the seepage
was so slight that a small hand pump,
in operation only a few minutes twice
daily, sufficed to take care of all the
water that came inV the trench.
The spillway is located about 300
feet from the West end of the dam
and was made by deepening a natural
depression in the rocky ridge which
serves as the West abutment for the
dam. It has a bottom width of 40
feet, a maxium depth of 11 feet with
sides sloping one to one. The same
material was ' encountered here as
under the bed of the stream and its
nature was such ' that it was not
thought necessary to pave with rock
or concrete. This, however, can be
done titer should the action of the wa
ter be found to wear the. surf ace ot
the spillway to an appreciable de
gree, which is not deemed likely.
. Design of Dam
' The narrowness of the canyon and
outcroppings of bed rock on either
side suggested an arch dam las an
economic type for the location. Com
parative studies with an eartn mi
dam as. a practical alternative, con
firmed the selection of ihe arch type.
A rubble masonry structure was first
decided upon, but because of the poor
quality of sand "available - this plan
was abandoned and a reinforced con
crete design adopted.
The requisite cross-section of the
dam was determined by the well
known formula, T equals R. P. over
S. in which T' is thickness at depth
"D" and "P" is the unit pressure at
depth "D" and "S" is tho allowable
unit stress in the concrete. The
values finally adopted in the design
of the dam were: Stress 16.5 tons
per Sq.Ft, radius 100 feet. With
these values the equation for thick
ness became, "T" equals .189 D.
With these values the theoretical
triangular dam section has a verti
cal front face, and a back face on a
batter of 2 1-4 inches to the foot. As
actually built, however, all that por
tion above tne grouna was wiaeneu
to meet ' the practical necessities
which govern a dam top. ;
That the stress per souare foot on
the Beaver Creek dam is considerably
less than many other well known
dams of this sort is proven by en
gineering figures.' Here, for in
stance are some accurate data from
authentic engineering records:
At Bear Valley, Cal., tne deptn oi
water against the dam is 48 feet as
compared to 30 at Beaver Creek; tho
stress per square foot at Bear Valley
is 61 tons. At Beaver CreeK it is 14.0.
The depth of water at Upper Utay,
Cal.,' is 75 feet with a stress per
square foot of 61 tons.
Crowley Creek has a water depth
of 63 feet compared to the local depth
of 30, and has a stress of 26.6 tons. I
Ot.hnr stresses that mirht be inum-i
merited are: Goodwin dam, Cal.,
21.4; Winchester, Ky., 3M.8; Lewiston,
Idaho, 34.2; Triunfo Creek, Cal., 27;
Cheyenne, Why., 9.1; U. S. R. S., Cal.,
16.6 tons per square foot.
The Meer Allum dam in India furn
ishea an interesting example of arch
dam construction Althougn con
structed prior Jto 1800, of brick ma
sonery,"89 feet high,' and only eight
and half feet thick at the base, so
far-aa-jt is known is still standing
Spillway
No stream i- discharge records be
in ir available, the determination - of
the spillway capacity necessary for
safety became largely speculative.
j However from records oi tne u. a. y
S. it appears that the maxium dis
charge of streams in this locality does
not exceed 12 to 15 second feet per
square mile of drainage, area. Thus
a discharge of 200 to 300 second feet
is to be expected from an area of 16
square miles. The spillway is de
signed with a capacity of 400 second
feet before overtopping the dam will
occur. The 80 inch sluice-gate also
has a capacity of 200 second feet
with reservoir full, malting a total
35
THE MEN'S SECTION
Prices hacked to mince meat Shirts, Overcoats,
Sweaters, Underwear, Hate, Caps, Rubber Over
shoes, Blankets, Mackinaw, infact everything that
a man wears. ' ,
BUY HERE
of 600 second feet spillway capacity
which is considered to be ample.
Outlet System
The discharge of water from the
reservoir is effected by pipes con
trolled by standard sluice-gates, the
outlet to the city also having a stand
ard screw valve. The outlet to the
city is protected by two sets of
screens, removable for cleaning. In
the bottom of the screen well a 4 inch
outlet is provided for flushing.
The gravel used was that found in
small deposits along the stream bed,
from one-quarter to one and one-half
mues distant, 'it varied greatly in
size and quality and all had to be
washed. A deposit of fine white
sand was found at a distance of one
and one-half miles from the dam, and
this was used in varying quantities as
was needed to increase the density
of the mixture. The appearance and
feel of the sand were not reasuring,
but its use in but a small diversion
dam constructed a year prior, showed
satisfactory results, and on the
strength of this practical test its use
was considered safe.
About 200 yards from the dam site
was found a large rock slide and this
rock in sizes convenient for one man
to handle was hauled and placed in
tne dam as "Plums.
Concrete
The concrete was mixed in the pro
portion of 1 to 8, and in the upper
portion of the dam 10 to 15 percent
of Hydratcd Lime was added with the
idea of increasing the density of the
concrete. Endeavor was made to ob
tain a sufficient surplus of mortar to
coat thoroughly the "plum" stones
which were introduced as liberally as
practicable. The "plums," first well
wetted were dropped into the mush
concrete and worked around to insure
liberation of any imprisoned air. The
"plums" probably constituted about
20 percent of the entire mass.
Plant
For the lower portion of the dam
the sand and gravel were piled on the
right side of the canyon just above
the dam, and were wheeled in barrows
to a hand mixer which was placed on
top of the forms and moved back and
forth, the concrete being discharged
directly into place. For the last 12
feet of the dam the mixer was set
stationary on the left Bide of the can
yon and the concrete wheel edto place.
Kemforcement '
The up-stream face of the dam is
reinforced vertically and horizontal.
ly against temperature stresses. One
half inch bars were used spaced 1
foot horizontally and 2 feet vertic
ally. The top of the dam has 1-2
inch reinforcing rods placed 2 feet
centers radially and tied at both ends
to circumferential rods of the same
size.. The projections supporting the
floor stands were liberally remforc.
ed with old buggy axles. Twelve 25
pound R. R. Rails were also placed
in the dam as an additional reinforce
ment. The dam facing South, it was not
considered necessary to reinforce the
down-stream face, it never being ex
posed to the direct action of the sun.
Clearing Dam and Reservoir Site
Most of the 46 acres comprising the
reservoir and dam site was covered
with a thick growth of pole-pine,
spruce, fir and tamarack.' This tim
ber was first cut close to the ground
piled" and later burned. In this way
practically -all the vegetation was des
troyed and the stumps so thoroughly
charred that it was not thought nec
essary to pull them. A strip SO feet
wide and cleared outside of the water
line of the reservoir with the idea of
preventing trees and the evergreen
needles from falling into the water.
Cost
Clearing Reservoir and Dam Site:
Labor and teams 8150.61
Commissary . 805.88
Over-head expenses 1017.19
Engineering and Super
intendence 375.00
Total
S 4848.58
SATURDAY, JANUARY J, 1916.
Morning, JL'
J
Big Ones
Construction of Dam: . '
Building roads 117.50
Diverting river 25.00
Building cement house 5.00
Gravel v. . . . 2343.40
Excavation for dam .. 749.00
Cribbing trench 10.00
Pouring concrete 877.07
Building forms 145.93
Reinforcing steel ..... 298.68
Carpenter work ...... 395.39
Hauling and placing
rock 251.00
Concrete finisher ...... 16.00
Over-time 117.08
Sand 134.58
Cement, including haul
ing . .i 8535.84
Lime 423 9
Valves ............... 855.22
Lumber 199.59
30 in. pipe . : ;.: ,.. - 13.50
. Railing , 21.60
Commissary 611.75
Over-head expenses . . 2034.38
Engineering and Super
intendence 750.00
Total .........813930.84
Construction of Spillway:
(Labor and teams S 1048.86
Commissary 101.96
Over-bead expenses . . . , 339.06
Engineering and Super
intendence 125.00
Total
Grand total, 820,393.80'
f 1614.88
Over-head expenses which include
commissary and engineering, are ap
portioned to the clearing, the dam and
the spillway in the proportion of 30,60
and 10 per cent. The over-head ex
penses include the following items:
Camp, cook house, meat house, cess
pools, warehouse and barns. Mis
cellaneous team work, hauling ma
chinery, tools, supplies and general
euqipment, gasoline for pump, auto
hire for trips of inspection on surveys,
road, cement hauling and the main
work. Blacksmith, supplies, tools,
pumps, general equipment. Medicine,
telephone, surveying, general miscel
laneous. The increased cost over that givea
in the preliminary estimate is due
largely to the change from a masonry
to a reinforced concrete structure.
The nreliminaxv estimate wns for the
dam only,- and did not include the
cost of the clearing or spillway.
Taking these facts into consideration
the preliminary estimate was re-,
markobly close, giving an estimated
cost of $13,100,00 as against an actual
cost of $13,930.34. , .
Another condition resulting in a ma
terial increase in the total cost over
that of the estimate is shown by the
following comparison: ,
Height;, above" ground Estimate,
30 feet; as actually built, 33 feet
Length of arc Estimate, 176 feet;
as actually built, 186 feet. - . -
Average thickness-Estimate 4.5
feet; as actually built, 5 feet
Excavation Estimate, . 250 cubic
yards; as actually buu 545 cubic
yards. :.--"; V "'""
Total yardage in dam Estimate,
740 cubic yards; as actually built, 968
cubic yards.
The increase in yardage of excava
tion' and volume of dam was caused
by the necessity of having to go to
an' unusual depth, 26 feet, to secure a
suitable foundation. f"' .
Th unit cost per '.cubic yard of
$14.89 compares very favorably with
other similar structures, a few of
which are as follows:
Unit cost per cubic yard for other
dams: J
Unit cost per cubic yard ?14JJ9.
Cheyenne
18.00
Bear Valley ..
Hume Lake . .
Lee Verjels . .
18.00
20.80
15.80
23.00
Hacal