Morning Oregonian., January 01, 1912, SECTION TWO, Page 2, Image 18

CONSTRUCTION
DHOTOGRAPHS that in reproduced
on tbla page are typical of bis
construction projects that axe bo
lus; carried out la Oregon, adding to
the wealth of the state and contributing-
to Its development In rarlous wars.
Fire distinct project are represented
In the Illustrations, and there are
others of equal Importance In many
sections of Oregon. Crest amounts of
money are being Invested by local and
foreign capital. In addition to the work
of river and harbor im rovement and
reclamation enterprtsea financed bjr the
Federal Government.
Two big works that will greatly In
crease the amount of power available
for manufactories anl general pur
poses In Portland were features of de
velopment In 1911. These are the new
am of the Portland Railway. Light A
Power Company, and the building of
the Mount Hood Railway Power
Company's new railroad and allied
power plants.
The new dam of the Portland Rail
way. Light A Power Company, built In
the Clackamas River, near Casadero, Is
declared to be the largest dam of the
ambursen type in existence. It took a
force of 700 men 17 months to complete
It, the machinery being operated for
the first time November 7. 111. The
dam la fit feet In width and fl feet
In height. About 400 feet of the dam
Is the spillway section over which the
water flows which ts not required to
operate the machinery. In building
the forms and cofferdams more than
1.000.000 feet of lumber was used. Fifty-five
thousand ruble yards of con
crete and 1300 tons of steel entered
Into the construction.
The power-house adjoining the dam
la 173 feet, long and SO feet wide. It la
designed to accommodate five units,
each unit producing 000 horsepower.
Three units will be Installed now and
two later, the ultimate capacity of the
dam being 30.000 horsepower.
The Portland Railway. Light &
Power Company has hsd other work of
importance under way during the past
year. Among other things it has con
structed at a cost of I ISO. 000 a high
transmission line from Portland to Its
power plants on the Clackamas River.
This line consists of lit steel towers,
averaging (4 feet In height. Exten
sions of streetcar lines and the Im
provement of existing lines have also
been carried on In the city.
The line of the Mount Hood Railway
A Power Company has been completed
from Portland to Bull Run. a distance
of It miles. It Is a scen'c line, ap
proaching nearer to the bnse of Mount
Hood thaq any other existing railroad.
The weetera terminus Is now Monta
villa, a suburb of Portland, but with
the completion of the Broadway bridge,
the tracks will be constructed Into the
city.
Not less Importsnt than the railway
are the power projects that the com
pany Is financing. Not only will the
road supply Ita own power, but it will
enter Into the general power business
Jo Portland. The company la building
an Immense hydraulic power plant at
the Junction of the Hull Run and Sandy
rivers. It has also constructed an aux
iliary power plant on the Peninsula In
North Portland. A picture on this psge
shows the main power-house under
construction.
Another electric line now being laid
Is the extension of the Oregon L'lectrlc
from Salem to Eugene. The division
of the line between Salem and Albany
will probably be In operation within
three months. It Is not likely thst the
completed track to Eugene will be
ready for trains before the end of the
present yrsr.
Work on the Salem-Albany division
Is being expedited, store than 1000
men and 150 teams are employed. Con
struction for the most part Is not dif
ficult. No serious engineering diffi
culties were presented.
The HI'l lines, which own the Ore
gon Electric, hsve a more serious prob
lem In the construction of tl.e United
Railways to Tillamook. The terminus
of this electric line has been Banks. In
Washington County. It will probably
not be long before announcement is
msde of the extension of this line to
Tillamook, on the coast.
The largest construction project un
der way in Oregon, aside from new
railroads. Is the Celllo Canal, which
will be the connecting link In the ship
channels above and below the Celllo
rapids. In the Columbia River. This
project, which, it Is estimated will cost
$4,145,000. wss authorlied In 10S. A
great deal of construction work has
been done. At first the work was let
BIG CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS THAT ARE
UNDER WAY INDICATE PORTLANDS PROGRESS
Besides Large Buildings That Are Going Up on Every Side, Heavy Development Work Is Going
Forward, Such as Erection of New Bridges and Carving" Out of Homesites on Hills.
NINETEEN ELEVEN has been a
yesr of heavy construction work
In Portland. Not only have a num
ber of large business blocks been com
pleted and others begun, but other big
projects, such as new bridges, grsdlng
of residence additlone and street Im
provements, hsve been extensive.
Among buildings completed the past
year are the lS-atory Yeon block, the
11-story Wilcox, buliding. the fine Carl,
ton Hotel and many others.
At the present time the steel frame
for Lipman. Wolfe & Co.'s department
store Is completed, work Is well under
wsy for the new Holtt department
store, the Multnomah Hotel, one of the
largest hostelrles in the West, is prac
tlcally finished, construction has been
started on the big building for the Ore
gon Journal and on the big business
block for Woodsrd. Clsrke Co.. the
new home of the Merchants' National
Bank Is rising st Fourth and Washing
ton streets, and many other buildings
of smaller eiie are under way through
out the city. Nineteen eleven also
witnessed the completion of a second
large pipe-line to carry water to Port
land from Bull Run River. New In
dustries sprang up en the Peninsula
between the Willamette and Columbia
Rivers, electric lines, both city and In.
terurban. were Improved and extended.
Altogether It was a y. ar of marked
construction activity.
No less promising of heavy construc
tion work is the year tnat has Just
dawned. Resides the large buildings
t-iat have Just been started, many other
similar projects are soon to be
launched, including an lrr.mense annex
to the Oregon Hotel, plans fir which
are complete. Before many months a
great auditorium, one of the finest in
tie country, will be un.ier way. as well
as a new 1400. coo public library build
ing. Work will also be betcun on an ex
tensive system of public dorks for
Portland. The task of carving out
choice homeettes on the htllsldes west
of the city will continue. Millions of
dollars will be spent In Improving and
beautifying Portland, giving employ
ment to hundreds of men.
Photographs of some of typical con-
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by contract, out In 1910 the Govern
ment decided to carry on the construc
tion Itself end Lieutenant H. H. Robert,
Corps of Engineers. U. 8. A., was put
In chsrge and baa since directed opera,
tions. Eighty per cent of the entire
canal remained to be constructed when
Lieutenant Robert took charge.
The Celllo Canal Is about eight and
one-half miles long. It will have a
depth of eight feet and a ship channel
S feet In width. There are five locks.
100 by 4S feet In dimension. Much of
the construction Is through solid rock.
Where -earth and aand are excavated
heavy concrete walls are constructed.
Construction of the Celllo Canal
means much to Portland and to the
great territory on the Columbia and
Snake Rivers. It will make It possible
for river boats to run from Portland to
Lewlston. on the Snake River, a dis
tance of 0 miles, and to Priest rapids,
on the Columbia River, a distance of
100 miles.
Entirely different from railroad and
csnsl construction, but of great Im
portance. Is the reclamation of over
flow landa along the lower Columbia,
which Is now In progress. Large areae.
hitherto worthless, are being drained,
diked and made tillable.
Engineers have estimated that more
than 100,0)0 acrej of overflow land
Jong the Columbia, between Portland
and the sea, a dlstsnce of 100 miles, can
be commercially reclaimed. This la
In addition to lands that are already
subject to cultivation.
The first step In this work has been
undertaken by a. syndicate known as
the Columbia Agricultural Company,
which Is conducting reclamation oper
ations on a tract of 15.000 acres, known
as the Columbia Delta Gardens. More
than 1000 acres hss already been made
available to the farmer, and work will
be completed early this year on an
other tract of 1600 acres.
In finishing the work to dste about
II miles of dikes or levees have been
built by means of long boom clam-shell
dredges. These levees hsve an aver
age height of eight to ten feet above
the bank. At the base the levees have
a width of 70 to 80 feet. On the crowa
of each levee a space of 20 feet Is left
to be used as a highway. The mate
rial for the levees le dredged from the
river, deepening the channel along the
shore. Tide-gates, equipped with auto
matic valves thst close against the ris
ing tide and open to discharge water
as the water outside recedes, provide
for irrigation. When the river Is at
flood stage pumps will be used.
After each district Is enclosed with
a protecting dike, trunk drainage ca
nals of about 10 feet width and eight
feet depth are cut through. Minor
ditches about three feet In depth and
width are cut to these. Leading to these
minor ditches sub-soil drains are be.
lng driven with a moulding machine.
In preparing the reclaimed prairies
after drainage the company usea a
caterpillar gasoline tractor of 40
horsepower cspacity that draws five
structlon work tinder wsy In Portland
are reproduced on the last page of
this section of this edition. These
are illustrative of the genersl activity
In the city, and many more similar
pictures might have been taken. Con
struction work In Portland was never
more extensive then at present, a con
dition that Is in marked contrast with
wnat most of the cities of the country
hsve experienced during the past year.
Portland has prospered and progressed
In spite of the tendency to dullness In
the country as a whole.
One of the big works of the yesr hss
been the preparation of the hillsides
west of the city for residence purposes.
Portland has unlimited room for ex
pansion on the east, but the west side
area Is limited by steep htllsldes that
hem the city In. Several years ago a
large addition on the hills, known as
Portland Heights, was opened end giv
en streetcar connection, the line Inter
being extended to Council Crest. Hun
dreds of fine homes soon were erected
end Portland Heights Is now one of the
city's finest residence eectlons. The de
mand for more homes on the hills Is
now being met by the preparation of
several new additions north of Port
land Heights, the coat of work on these
projects being estlmsted at li. 500. 000.
Kings Heights is the first of these
additions lying north of Wsshlngton
street. Steep hillsides have been uti
lised by (Trading roads at heavy ex
pense, the entire cost being put by the
owners at $.".00,000. A streetcar line
from Twenty-third and Washington
streets Is already In operation to Klnge
Heights. It was built at a cost of $30.
(00. and It U difficult to lmsglne a ride
of greater beauty. From any part of
Kings Heights there Is a splendid view
of the city, the Willamette and Colum
bia Rivera and snow-capped mountains
In two states.
The most novel Improvement on the
heights, however, is the building of
Westover Terrsces. a residence subdi
vision north of Kings Heights. Here
wide terraces for building lots, with a
road winding through them at easy
gradee are being constructed by power
from hydraulic giants.
Washing down the hil) for Westover
Terraces is a stupendous task. It is be
ing accomplished by the same company
that cut down tie MUs In Seatuea
lt-lnch plows, turning a width of SO
Inches. Those who are familiar with
the situation declare that the vast body
of now useless land along the Colum
bia River will In time rival the famous
diked land of Holland.
business district and Is as extensive as
the largest project of the kind that was
csrrled out In the Puget Sound city.
Huge hills are melting away before the
streams of water that are being proj
ected at them with mighty force. The
first house to be constructed in the ad.
dition was built 140 fset below the
previous earth level.
When this improvement Is completed
Westover Terraces will contain 110
acres, or about 325 lots. The compsny
In charge is spending $1,500,000 for the
property and Its Improvement. Some
idea of the Immensity of the project
Is gained from the fact that the hy
draulics throw from 12,000,000 to 13.
000.000 gallons of water dally, or half
as much water as consumed by the
entire city of Portland In the same
time. The work was started In April.
190$. and will probably require 1$
months more to complete.
The water used for this project Is
pumped from Guild's Lake. The dirt
and water are carried back to the lake
by a flume one-half mile long. The
filling of this lake Is no less Important
than the Improvement of the hillsides.
The fllled-ln ground ever.aislly will be
used as the site of manufactories, and,
probably, as railroad yards.
Railroads own a large amount of low
land on the east that will be filled, al
though no plans for this work have
been announced. It Is the opinion of
msny tbst the railroads will ml their
land by dredging a channel between It
and the Island that sepsrstes the land
from ths main channel of the Wil
lamette, using the tract for terminals
st which ocean-going vessels could
dock.
Before the end of the present year
Portland will see the completion of
two new bridges that will greatly re
lieve the present congested trsfac con
ditions across the Willamette River.
One of these bridges Is being erected
by the O.-W. R. N. Co. for the ac
commodation of trains of the Harriman
lines. The other, known ss the Broad
way bridge. Is being constructed by
money secured on bonds voted under
the Initiative.
The railroad bridge, which will take
the pface of the present double-deck
span In North Portland, was to have
been completed In 111, but this wss
Impossible because of delays In ma-
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terlals. The bridge Is practically done,
except the draw span.
This bridge will have two decks, the
lower for trains and the upper for
streetcars and general traffic The
draw span will be of the lift type. It
will be possible to raise the lower
deck to a height of $5 feet above high
OIMXP mil.
water without moving the npper deck.
By this arrangement general traffic
will be disturbed only when the high
est vessels are passing under. In which
case both decks of the bridge will be
raised. This bridge is being built at an
approximate cost of $1,800,000.
Two million dollars In bonds ware
voted for the construction of the
Broadway bridge, but the cost will not
be more than $1,500,000. After over
coming long-fought obstructionist leg
islation, work on this bridge was be
gun and rushed during theyear. The
sub-structure has been completed and
the contract has been let for the iron
work. It Is expected that the epan
will be ready for use before the end of
the present year.
This viaduct is 70 feet wide and the
central span gives 65 feet in the clear
above high water. Tho draw span is
of the double-bascule, or "Jack-knife"
type.
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