Massive Job By Bulldozers

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30818, 2 August 1965, Page 1

Massive Job By Bulldozers

(From Our Own Reporter)

OTEMATATA, August 1. From 150 ft up a spur on the Canterbury side of the Waitaki river last night, the Aviemore diversion resembled a motion picture set.

The scene at 11.40 p.m. was lit by a score of 1500-watt floodlight clusters at the top of 30ft steel towers on both banks of the river, and single floodlights strung along the bridge.

Far below the spur, near the edge of the falling river, bulldozers were lined up on each bank. Drivers wearing white, yellow and grey plastic safety helmets uncovered the machines and the diesel engines added their pulsating roar to the noise.

As one, the bulldozers, clanking and snarling, began shoving the stockpiles of clay and gravel, 10,000 cubic yards in all, into the river. The headlights of the bulldozers traced dancing lines in the darkness of the overcast freezing night, as they lumbered powerfully u>. and down the steep stockpile on the Otago bank pushing the coffer dam further and further out into the river. On the Canterbury bank, where the stockpile was not so steep, the bulldozers went forward, blades down, and reversed in unison. COLD WIND The Aviemore power project is known to the workers as “Pleurisy Point” because of the bitter winds that sweep down the Waitaki Valley. However, up to 1 a.m. there was no wind. "The only time there is no wind, the wind is changing direction,” a charge hand said forebodingly. Shortly afterwards, a chill wind sprang up from the south.

Steadily the dam edged out from both banks as the bulldozers tore tirelessly into the heavy spoil. The progress of the ends of the dam could be measured against the concrete piers of the bridge immediately below. The clay and rocks slopped into the river. The lightgreen, frozen looking water turned a muddy brown as it gnawed at the advancing ends of the dam.

Slowly the 70 yard gap narrowed. The pinched flow of river quickened. Now two bulldozers side by side from each side were pushing out the dam. The other bulldozers in each team were feeding spoil down for the leaders to push further across the river. REMOVING “DUMPLING” Fifty yards upstream on the Canterbury bank, a massive, diesel-electric drag-line calmly took 4} cubic yard bites of the “dumpling” blocking the entrance to the intake to the river diversion tunnel. The solid monster swung round and spat the huge mouthfuls of rocks and clay on to solid ground.

A 44-gallon drum, in which lOin by 4in stringers burned as cheerfully as kindling wood, provided the only warm spot for the inactive onlookers. On the bridge, 30 spectators looked down on the everlengthening ribs of spoil from either bank. They included six young children. Adults and young were wrapped in balaclavas, scarves and jackets and wore gumboots. The wind blew colder and harsher. Downstream, out of the

limelight, four bulldozers, two from each bank, slogged doggedly at putting across a smaller coffer dam to protect the Aviemore project from the water of Lake Waitaki. GAP NARROWS By 2.30 a.m. the ends of the upstream coffer dam were only a cricket pitch apart. By 3 a.m., the gap had been narrowed to 12 yards. The 4.30 meeting in the centre of the river forecast by the onlookers changed to 3.30 a.m. The gap narrowed at a tremendous pace. A bulldozer from the Otago side put in a load to make the join. The driver tried to cross. The front end of the machine sank for a second, The heavy blade was in water. The driver reversed quickly.

A bulldozer from the Canterbury side rushed another load forward and the driver made the crossing. ENGINEER HAPPY

The resident engineer for the Ministry of Works at Aviemore (Mr S. M. J. Smith) looked happy. A vital stage in the £22 million project had been passed. His wife and children, all the men on the job and their friends shared in the sense of successful accomplishment. The bulldozers were throttled back and everybody went to the mess hut for tea, an early morning breakfast (3.26 a.m.) and a smoke. At 5.5 ajn. Mr Smith was once again very happy. The downstream coffer dam had crossed the river. This will be used as a road for heavy machinery in a few days. The one-way bridge will be dismantled.

Daylight came with the bulldozers still snarling, clanking and shoving. The day shift came as well, and the compacting rollers, payscrapers and other heavy equipment prepared to consolidate the victory won.