Modern Construction Equipment

The latest in modern machinery was used to dig this earth which was loaded into wagon by means of an elevated wagon loader hitched to 16 horses and operated by four men.

This machine was a great labor saver. In the rear was a wide flow that threw dirt into the wagon beds. The wagons were self-dumping and no time was lost as they followed in close order. Three-horse team pulled these wagons to the embankment.

After a layer of dirt 8 inches deep was laid, it was sprinkled with water from the Ridenbaugh Canal located at the uper end of the reservoir area.

The wet earth was then compressed by a heavy roller, first drawn by four-to-six horse teams and later by a steam engine tractor.

The compactor proved so effective that it became the forerunner of the modern compacter used in preparing roadbeds on out highways. One of the original dump wagons and the concrete earth compactor can be seen in he Van Slyke Museum in Caldwell Memorial Park.

Scooping earth from the reservoir floor and piling it on the embankments was a dirty piece of work. Clem Shorb of Caldwell remembered, as a boy, that when the wind blew from the direction of Deer Flat, it caused huge dust storms.

The dust blew in great waves,  some as high as 100 feet or so, to Caldwell. Everyone had to get inside and shut up their homes, but even then the dust would be thick on everything.

Two steam shovels worked constantly at piling the dirt. It was a process of laying 8-10 inches of dirt, sprinkling it with water, rolling it down, and then starting a new layer on top.

The packed earth was as firm as stone pavement. As the embankment became taller...

...the contractors laid movable, narrow gauge track across the dam. And then two trains of 14 cars each, filled by shovels and...

...hauled by "dinkey" or "donkey" engines, were constantly on the move.

The track was shifted from side to side, as each layer of earth was built-up. When the earth core reached the desired height, it was covered with gravel; 6-8 feet thick on the downstream side while on the top and the reservoir side it was 3 feet thick.

It took 3,000 yards of gravel hauled daily, or an amount that would need a string of wagons 12 miles long.