Mere than 1,000 piles are being driven, These are of different lengths, the longest being about 65 feet. The piles are of Oregon pine, some of them are more than eighteen inches, Jsome nearly two feet, in diameter at he large end. In order to be driven, they must be very nearly straight. Each one has a steel point at the lower end, and of course a steel ring is used at the upper end. The pile driving hammers are in two sizes, weighing three tons and four tons. These hammers are buisted by engines, and dropped from a height of five or six ft. When the 65 foot piles approach their full depth, tach blow of the hammer lowers the pile only about one fourth of an Inch. this will give some idea of th: hardness of the earth, and the con-Sequent firmness and durability of the foundation.
The construction also includes rows of steel plates, 65 ft. long, crimped. together of the edges and driven into, the ground to form solid walls, to prevent the water from undermining the foundation. Of course, these walls will be 65 feet deep, so there no danger of their being undermined by crawfish or muskrats. To 4 layman, such elaborate foundations 14 precautions might seem almost' [superfluous, but the engineers are taking no risks, and leaving nothing. to luck.
The length of the lock, from gate gate, will about 325 ft" The gates are to be 30 ft. wide, and the rise and fall of water will be 20 ft. (Quite a number of ordinary cana! oats can pass through at one time, and the engineer in charge states the manipulation of the lock be very rapid.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.