Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, May 9, 1909, Page 15

PART THREE HALF-TONE PAGES 1 TO 4, 47. THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE. A PAPER FOR THE HOME OMAHA BEE YOUR MONEY'S WORTH OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, FIVE CENTS. INGLE COPY BIG HORN'S TURBULENT FLOOD HARNESSED BY BOYSEN Power Project that Will Furnish Electric Current to Drive Mining and Reducing Machinery and Open New Source of Wealth to Add to the World's Store of Precious and Useful Metals COFFER DAM, WITH CENTRIFUGAL PUMPS. EN YEARS ago Asmus Boysen, a banker of Grey, la., while rambling through the mountains of central Wyoming came upon the Big Horn canyon, a huge gap which the Big Horn river has made dividing Copper and Owl creek mountains. He saw the enormous rent made in moun- tains and was impressed with the idea that the Big Horn river could be harnessed and a power plant could be ipstalled which would fur- nish power in sufficient quantities to develop the untouched wonder- ful resources of that section of the state. Being first of all a man of action, Mr. Boysen at once set about to perfect his plans for acquiring the site that he might build a dam and power plant. He has met undreamed of obstacles, but through it all his faith has never wavered, but he has gone persistently for- ward until he is about to see the fruition of his labors and a giant power plant will soon be in operation, a monument to a man whose unshaken confidence in the west has spurred him almost single- handed to block the flow of the mountain torrent and provide cheap power for himselt and neighbors. * When Asmus Boysen first made his discovery he treated with the Indians and secured valuable leases to 178,000 acres of land on the Wind River reservation from the Arapahoe and Shoshone Indians. When the United States government wished to throw these lands open to settlement they negotiated with Mr. Boysen and on March 3, 1906, Mr. Boysen exchanged his claim on these Indian lands for a clear title to 640 acres, on which the famous Big Horn gorge is sit- uated. He received title to the land through an act of congress. Copper mountain is situated on the east side of the gorge and for the lnst ten years it has been known that this mountain is filled with valuable copper and gold ore. To develop these mines Mr, Boysen, through the Big Horn Power company, has built a splendid dam which will furnish power at one-sixth the cost of power produced by coal. Engineers pronounce the ccnsgtruction of the Boysen dam in Big Horn gorge one of the greatest of engineering feats and Mr, Boysen's energy has created some most valuable property by being able to fur- nish this most necessary power and also to provide means for irri- gating 30,000 acres of land which is absolutely worthless without whater, which can only be supplied by the aid of the Big Horn dam. Steam power for the construction of the dam, or for working mines in that vicinity, cost between $600 aud $700 a horse power a year and many mines which it was absolutely impossible to reach with any kind of power can now take advantage of Boysen's efforts. The dam is about half way between Shoshoni, Wyo., and Ther- mopolis, and is most unique in its construction, in that a power plant is situated within the dam, which is an Ambursen type of reinforced concrete, This hydro-electric implacement is fifty feet high, includ- fng flashboards, and the length of the dam is 124 feet. Nestling in the very mouth of the Big Horn gorge, the dam is a most picturesque eight. Although it is 180 feet from the lowermost parts of the dam to the top, it looks small in comparison with its surroundings, for the mountains rise 900 feet, almost perpendicu- larly, on each side of the dam. A road has been carved out of the mountains on each side and the dam will form a bridge across the river, making a most beautiful drive. A lake about fourteen miles long, and in some places two and oue-half miles wide, will be formed by the dam, backing the water up to within five miles of Shoshoni. Giant mountains rise on each side of this lake, which will furnish the power at the dam. Room is at present provided for five units of a capacity of 1,000 kilowatts each, which is equal to a total horse power of 6,700, The novel feature of the Installation is that the water wheels, generators, switchboards and other machinery are all within the dam, and this SETRI Ty VIEW OF THE GORGE IN WHICH THE DAM I8 LOCATED. Triumph for One Man's Foresight and Indomitable Energy and Enterprise in the Face of Difficulties type of comstruction presents several very advantageous features. The trash racks are on the upper face of the dam and the wheel cases are connected by short intakes through these trash rack open- ings to the water., The gates are operated by electric motors. As there are no pipe lines, canals or flumes in connection with this plant the continuity of service is absolutely assured and depreciation is reduced to a minimum. The water wheels are S, Morgan Smith company's wheels, regulated by Lombard governors. The genera- tors are Westinghouse, three-phase 60-cycle, 2,300 volt, revolving fleld type machines. The switchboard is of blue Vermont marble and is equipped with double throw ofl switches. Power for local distribution will be used at 2,800 volts. This will be used for operating the machinery of the Boysen Mining com- pany the mines of this company being on the mountain adjacent to the plant. For the distribution of power over the transmisslion lines the voltage will be raised from 2,300 to 40,000 volts. From its very location at the mouth of the Big Horn gorge the construction of the dam was » most dificult feat. Because the dam 8 located in a narrow, rock canyon, with verticle walls rising 900 feet on each side and because the river has a maximum discharge of 25,000 second feet during the summer months, and because the water does not reach such a stage as to permit work until late in the tall, it was necessary to do all the construction work during the win- ter months. The severity of the winter weather made 1t necessary to heat all the material used for concreting. It was found that cause the buttresses had such extremely heavy sections it was possible, by heating the materfal to from 80 to 90 degrees, to place conerete in gero weather without any perceptible freezing. Careful tests were made on each section after it had been concreted. The river above the dam is filled with loose bowlders to a depth of several feet, which made the comstruction of coffer dams, which were used to divert the water while excavation for the foundation was being carried on, extremely difficult In fact, it was only by a geries of dams that it possible to control the water at all. It was impossible to use shect pillng of eny kind whatever, owing to the character of the river bottom. Heavy log cribs were used for the upper sections. These were gheeted in order to take care of the scour, Lighter crib dams were installed after all the loose rock pos- sible had been removed and heavy tow-filling placed between the two lines of cribbing. Below this a sandbag coffer dam was con- structed to catch the seepage from the upper dam and divert it into a flume, This flume carried the seepage water down the canyon and over the top of the lower coffer dam, there fortunately being enough fall in the river at this point to permit of this. One section of the dam was completed at a time, the river being diverted, first from one slde of the canyon and then from the other. p The plant will soon be ready to supply the mines which are wait- ing for this cheap power before giving up their wealth. Copper mountain is at this time known to possess great wealth, Two fissure veins extending fourteen miles east of the Big Horn gorge, contain- ing rich ores, running fine copper and gold, appear on the very sur- face and holes sunk in the ground show these veins improve as they extend Into the mountain. At this writing the best developed mine in this section is the Wil- liams-Luman mine, already sunk to a depth of 800 feet and known to possess copper running as high as 80 per cent. The largest vein on the property of this company was forty-three feet wide where it was first struck and sixty-seven feet wide at a depth of 400 feet. An additional shaft to one side of this vein has been sunk 400 feet further down and cross-tunnels will soon be run. The story of the Willilams-Luman mine shows what may be done in this section after cheap power is available, *Peb” Willlams was grubh-staked by his father-in-law, a well-to-do cattleman, and lo- cated this mine. The ledge of copper which he discovered is most prominent and the wonder was at that time that it had not been found before. He held the property about one year and spent something like $2,000 in its devel- opment, when he sold to the pres- ent owners, the Williams-Luman company,’ for something over $100,000, This company was at first composed of some wealthy sheepmen of Douglas, Wyo. later some bankers of Billings, Mont,, bough. a sixth interest for $160,- 000, and & few weeks ago these same Billings bankers bought an- other sixth interest for $200,000, making $960,000 which they pald for a third interest. While this mineral is of such immense value that it pays to ship it to Denver to be smelted, the freight is so high the owners are preferring to await the coming of the Burling- ton road, which will be close at band and which will thus greatly reduce the cost of transportation, The second best developed mines are the mining properties belonging to the Boysen Mining company. This company is now cutting the copper veins at a depth of 600 feet below the rich out- cropping on the top of the moun- DAM SITE ENTRANCE OF BIG HORN CANYON. tain. The ore runs from 3 to 15 per cent in copper. There are also four veins containing free gold half a mile north of the copper veins on the Boysen property and assayg of this have averaged from $56 to $85 a ton. Between the Willlams-Luman and the Boysen property are some 500 mining claims undergoing development, the fissure veins show- ing nearly all this distance on the surface, The four leads of gold veins only show on the surface in two places, one on the Boysen property and the other on the Hale property. The Hale property is situated four miles east of the Boysen property and ore from Mr. Hale's mines has assayed some $40 in free gold to the ton, This mine has 100,000 tons of ore blocked out and ready for treatment. It has been developed wholly on local money and differs from the other mines of Copper mountain, just named, in that it is a free milling gold property instead of copper. With a vein about one mile in length as at present traced and a width of eight feet and an average value of $30 a ton in gold, the dividends from this mine may well be imagined. It has been in operation for some time and can be mined, milled and turned into bullion for less than $10 a ton. The mine is now closed awaiting powe to furnish water as the water supply has run out. Large sums of gastern money are pouring into Copper mountain and a great deal of work is mapped out and will be done in the im- mediate future. The hope of getting power from the Boysen water power plant has been largely instrumental in bringing in this east- ern capital, Mining is altogether too expensive a proposition with- out cheap power, and when Mr. Boysen saw that power was neces- sary to develop his mines and when he decided to build his dam he concluded to make the plant large enough to supply power to neigh- boring claims. He can do this for $100 a horse power, whereas coal power costs about six times that much. The impression has gained ground that Mr. Boysen was receiv- ing financial backing from English capitalists in his great undertak- ing but that s erroneous. He has built this dam and power plant with his own funds assisted by a few friends. The fame of the dam has crossed the Atlantic, however, and representatives of English capital have been sent to America to to buy the plant. The Big Horn Power company which built the dam is incorporated with a capital of $700,000. From its very situation there is almost no end to the possibili- ties of developing power and the Boysen dam is the key to the en- tire situation. No other power plant may be located in that section of the country and no other dam may be built in the Big Horn can- yon without interfering with the granted rights of the Big Horn Power company. The power of the plant may be increased in the future by adding units and it is estimated that this power may be extended to 50,000 horsepower, Placer mining will soon be in operation by using the power from the Boysen plant. A company has been organized to place a huge dredge on the Wind River this summer which will take from the river about 2,000 yards of silt a day. This gravel has shown from 38 cents to $1.08 per yard in gold. Mr. Boysen also proposes to utilize some of his power from the plant in the operation of a smelter which he will build on his property near the plant. This will greatly reduce the cost as transportation over the mountains is expensive. It costs $16 a ton to get coal to Copper mountain and that is one thing which makes the Boysen plant such a valuable prop- erty. A charge of 40 cents per 100 pounds js made for freighting from Shoshoni to the Boysen dam. No soil is more productive than the soil of Wyoming if it can be supplied with sufficlent water and the Big Horn Power company i preparing to redeem 30,000 acres of this land from a barren waste and transform it into fertile farms, providing splendid homes for set- tlers and adding immense wealth to that section of the country, This land lles about flve miles from Shoshonli, a hustling town on the Northwestern road, and can be watered in no other way except by pumping water from the river, which can only be done by using the surplus power of the Boysen dam. Water will be needed for irrigation in the spring and sum- mer when the melted snows from the mountains are rushing down the Wind river and when the dam is able to furnish a surplus of power. Practically all the farm and garden products of the older established farming sections will grow In this section and are being grown today whevever water may be placed on the soil. Oats will grow 100 bushels to the acre. That untold wealth is resting in Copper mountain is known to all who have investigated the matter and that this wealth needs but the cheap power which ecan be fur- nished by the Boysen Power plant, is a certainty. It costs big sums of money to develop mines to make them give forth their rich ores In paying quantities, and when this cost can be cut to one- sixth of the old cost the value of the Boysen dam to that section of the state ¢an readily be seen. Mr, Boysen is recelving numerous re- EXCAVATING DAM FOUNDATIONS AT BOTTOM OF THE BIG HORN RIVER. quests for power and it is no longer a question as to how he may sell the power he has developed, but rather a question as to whom he wishes to favor with this power, which may also be used ia light- ing neighboring cities. What the Boysen dam and water power plant mean t section of Wyoming can only be imagined, but the visitor to Sh and the surrounding district is soon convinced that the res| of that district are placing the greatest reliance on‘ wonderful work and look upon Asmus Boysen as the man whe change the map of Central Wyoming and bring wealth and prd ity to those who have staked their fortunes as pioneers in the country, When mines are working, towns lighted by electr| Ity, presperous farmers are raising bounteous crops under the irrigf ion ditches pumped full of water by the power plant, prosperity| rill reign supreme and to Asmus Boysen well deserved credit wil be given. | The work of bullding the dam was a giant undertaking outside of the engincering problems, for all the heavy machinery had to be hauled half way across the continent on the railroad and then freighted with four and six-mule teams over rocky roads from 8ho- shonf to the dam, fourteen miles away. For two years a stream of these freight teams has been hauling machinery and lumber and cement and proyisions and coal, a team making the trip out one dry and back the next. A large part of the journey was made along the low lands of the river, but this road will be flooded when the dam blocks the water in a week or 50 and the Big Horn Power company has been compelled to blast a road higher up along the side ot the mountain, above the water of the lake. The idea of pumping water is not entirely new, but has proyen itgelf immenscly successful in other places. A large area near Carr, Colo., above the ditch systems, has been benefited by the extension of the power company’s wires. The scheme has also proven a sue- cess at Windsor, as the following press dispatch of a recent date will show: fhat onl nts his vilt rer~ ew GREELEY, Colo., May 2 (Bpecial.)—The extension of the Northern Colorado Power company's line to the locality twenty-five wiles north of here, ncar Carr, will mean the reclamation of many acres of that arid region, it is believed, into a farming tract. 'Carr is now merely a station on the Union Pacific road and above all frri- gation projects so far established. The plan proposed for the Carr district is to sink a number of wells, install an electric pumping plant and raise the water from the wells. It is said that the water supply is ample. The success of a pumping plant near Windsor has been proven on the Percy Clegg ranch. An electric motor brings water from a well at the rate ot 700 gallons & minute, and this is being used on 100 acres. The system which could be used near the Boysen dam is much more simple than the Colorado scheme, as all that is necessary is to pump the water from the rivers onto the higher ground into some reservoir which might easiiy be provided. There is quite a slope in the land from Shoshoni to Casper and there are nearly a million acres of land along the Northwestern 10ad which might be Irrigated by the use of the power plant at the Boysen dam. With this fmmenge reclamation project in view the dam might easily be enlarged by placing units along the side of the river and thus in time it is not out of the range of possibilities to secure 100,000 horse power during the flood seasons. The gap at the entrance to the Big Horn gorge Is $00 feet high, with mountains of solid rock on each side, so that it is only a matter of how far the company would want to back up the water and how high it would want to build the dam. The supply of water Is eternal and .the forces that have been going to waste for ages will now be turned to (man’s uses through man’s enterprise, il CLOSE VIEW OF BOYSEN DAM, SHOWING DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION.