Coyote Gulch

Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Colorado Water
I'm trying to catch up on the news. Here's Carl Hoffman's obituary from the Rocky Mountain News [Decemver 29, 2004, "Carl Hoffman designed major dams of the West"]. Hoffman worked for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, designing dams and spillways. He started with 'em in 1932, just before the New Deal broke.
He worked on Hoover (Colorado River) and Grand Coulee (Columbia River). Two of the biggest concrete dams of the era.
Ivan Doig describes the building of the Fort Peck Dam in his book Bucking the Sun. It's a great read for the comparison of the engineering between the types of structures.
Hoover is a concrete arch-gravity type, in which the water load is carried by both gravity action and horizontal arch action. Grand Coulee is a Gravity dam which means a dam constructed of concrete and/or masonry which relies on its weight and internal strength for stability. Gravity dams are generally used where the foundation is rock and earthfill in proper quality and quantity is not available.
Here's the lowdown on the Fort Peck Dam: It was built using hydraulic methods; meaning that the embankment materials were carried and placed at the damsite in flowing waters. Still the largest hydraulic earth filled dam in the world, the dam contains Missouri River bottom sands, silts, and clays dredged by electrically operated dredge boats and then pumped through twenty-eight inch pipelines to the damsite. After completion of the dam the resulting reservoir, Fort Peck Reservoir, covered the majority of the Missouri River dredge sites. On June 24, 1937, the Corps diverted the Missouri River through the four flood control tunnels. They completed the dam three years later, in 1940.
6:12:42 PM

Weblog Readership
Dan Gillmor is pointing to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that shows the number of weblogs increasing and the number of weblog readers increasing at an even greater rate.
5:58:24 AM

2004 Presidential Transition
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff would like some clarification on Alberto Gonzales' role in the treatment of prisoners during the war on terror [January 5, 2004, "Gonzales nomination deserves scrutiny"]. Gonzales is President Bush's nomimee for Attorney General. They write, "A president should have broad latitude and the benefit of the doubt in filling Cabinet posts and, that said, Alberto Gonzales very likely will be confirmed as the next attorney general of the United State. He has the credentials - White House counsel, Texas Supreme Court justice - and, importantly, George Bush's trust and confidence. And he is the kind of success story that the nation loves - child of impoverished Mexican immigrants who went on to Harvard law school. But whether he should be confirmed by the Senate is another matter. It depends on his answers to questions that will surely be put to him by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which starts hearings this week, on the most significant issue involving his nomination: his attitude toward the treatment of prisoners in the war on terror."
TalkLeft has been covering the story for months now.
Andrew Sullivan: "I know no one is ever responsible in the Bush administration for any mistakes, and I still think Bush should get the benefit of the doubt in picking his cabinet. But that doesn't mean these hearings shouldn't be used to highlight what is still going on. I have a feeling Gonzales may face a much tougher time than we now expect."
5:32:11 AM

Denver November 2004 Election
Ken Salazar is not the U.S. Senator-elect from Colorado any longer. He was sworn in yesterday, according to the Rocky Mountain News [January 5, 2004, "Salazar brothers take office"]. Congratulations Senator. Give 'em hell in inside the beltway.
The Denver Post editorial staff sounds off on Senator Salazar and Congressman Salazar today [January 5, 2004, "Salazars take office inside the Beltway"]. They write, "Shortly after he was elected, it was clear Ken Salazar was ready to dive into his work. He's already met with attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales and eventually could cast a key vote on his confirmation. (So far, he says he expects to help confirm Gonzales.) And he recently signalled that he won't be steamrolled, saying Republicans can expect a "bloody fight" if they try limiting filibusters on judicial nominees. He said it would send the wrong signal about the parties working together and suggested unnecessary showdowns can be avoided by President Bush consulting with both parties before making nominations."
5:24:42 AM

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