mvtbigd.html

The Hood River Glacier, Hood River, OR., September 26, 1912, page 1

MANY VISIT THE BIG DAM
Over 600 Men Rushing The Work
White Salmon River the Scene of Bustling Activity in the Huge Power Project

A trip to the big dam and power site on the White Salmon river, three miles from Underwood, is well worth while, and is being taken advantage of by many Hood River people. While this project has been underway for several months, the magnitude of the work has not been realized until of late. The population of the two camps at the works exceeds the combined population of Underwood, White Salmon and Bingen, and a regular organized city government, in many respects, exists at the camp. Order is maintained by a complete police department, there is an organized fire department, a resident physician cares for the sick and injured, and the entire hustling little community is well cared for in every respect.
There is a place where social functions are held. The aristocrats and society leaders live on "Nob Hill," a section of temporary houses set apart for the married men and their families. The foreign element are grouped by themselves, the Greeks, the Italians and other nationalities living by themselves and having their own cooks. For the American laborers bunk houses are provided for sleeping quarters and a large dining room, or "mess hall," with long tables has been erected where the meals are served.
The main office of the company is a busy place, reminding one of the office of a large manufacturing concern, with the numerous heads of departments, stenographers, clerks and bookkeepers. It is here that the visitor must secure a permit to visit and inspect the huge work, and a guide is furnished the party, to see that the visitor does not stray to dangerous and forbidden points of work, and to courteously answer questions.
The present force consists of 600 men who are working day and night to complete the work. The preliminary work of getting ready for the big plant has occupied several months, and called for the expenditure of large sums of money. A road had to be made for three miles around the sides of the deep canyon through which runs the White Salmon river, the road connecting with the county road at Underwood, on an easy grade to the river, crossing on a heavy truss bridge capable of holding the heavy trucks loaded with machinery and lumber for the plant. This road has been well graded and graveled, so that the freight teams can haul maximum loads from the Underwood station, while several motor trucks are kept busy in the freight service.
L.G. Westfall, the Underwood lumber dealer, has the contract for supplying 4,000,000 feet of lumber for the works, and is now delivering 20,000 feet per day. The large stave pipe will be built of lumber from his mill.
The site selected for the dam is at the point called the "Narrows," where the two sides of the canyon nearly meet, and where the water from the river rushed through at about a mile a minute. To enable the dam to be put across this narrow place where the bed rock also lines the river, the water was diverted through an artificial channel cut through the rock, it being necessary to make three tunnels connected by flumes to take care of the water. The new channel is 1000 feet long, and carries the entire current of the river, while the work of construction on the dam is going on.
While one gang of workman is beginning to lay the concrete for the dam itself, now that the heavy preliminary work is done, another gang is putting in the foundations for the powerhouse, one mile down the stream from the dam and still another is cutting out a right of way for the largest pipeline in the world. The pipeline is to carry water from the dam to the power house.
This huge pipe, which will be 13½ feet in diameter, will be one mile long, and in one hour 35,000,000 gallons of mountain water will rush through it to turn the great turbines in the power house.
There are other pipelines in the world longer than one mile, but none of them 13½ feet diameter. The next largest one is only a little more than 12 feet through.
So carefully must this pipe be laid that it is to be built on a level as true as that of a railroad track for most of the distance to the power house. To make the grade, a steam shovel is now digging its way along the upper bank of the river, high above the stream. One of the cuts made by the shovel is 50 feet deep.
At the end of the pipe line, on the elevation above the power house a large cement reservoir will be erected. From this reservoir two large iron pipes nine feet in diameter will carry the water direct to the two large power house turbines, making a drop of 170 feet. It is this fall that will give the energy which is to be transformed into electricity.
From Underwood high tension wires will bring this power to Portland, 72 miles, supplying towns along the north bank of the Columbia River enroute. Everything is in readiness to begin work immediately on the company's plant and distributing system in Portland as soon as the franchise is formally passed. The company's plans call for an expenditure of between $3,000,000 and $5,000,000 here within the next two years.
With the completion of the White Salmon project, work will begin at once on a plant of 30,000 horsepower on the Klickitat river, following which a plant on the Lewis river is to be built to furnish 50,000 additional horsepower.
Two very fine residences are being built on the hill above the powerhouse, one costing $5,000, to be occupied by the superintendent, and the other costing about $4,000, to be used as a men's quarters, for the regular employees. Bailey & Colby have the contract for the wiring of the two houses, which will be a very complete job. The residence, and probably the men's quarters, will be fitted throughout with all kinds of electric appliances for lighting and heating. Electric heaters will furnish heat, electric ranges for cooking, and numerous devices will be employed for making use of electricity in every form.