TURNED OUT OF BED

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 201, 26 July 1926, Page 10

TURNED OUT OF BED

WAIKATO RIVER DIVERTED. BIG EXPLOSION AT ARAPUNI. JUST LIKE.AN EARTHQUAKE.: HAMILTON, July 19.; -.A tremendous explosion, resembling tho blowing up of an ammunition dump, when three thousand tons of rock and' earth and water went skyward, and then, for the first time in its history,' tho Waikato river found itself in a strange bed. This spectacular feat of turning the old river out of the bed where it has lain for so many centuries happened at Arapuni on Saturday, and though it was a decidedly delicate operation no bones were broken, and the patient is doing well. In order to build tho 300 feet high dam that will raise tho Waikato river sufficiently high to enable its waters to bo harnessed for the Aranuni hydro-electric scheme, the bed of the river must bo laid bare and dry, and to enable this to bo effected, a 1320 feet long tunnel 25 feet in diameter, with a fall of nine feet, had to bo pierced in the right bank of the river.

This was a tremendous job in itself, but, when tho whole scheme is completed, will not be part of it—to use an Irishism. This tunnel is merely preliminary dead work which has no connection with the finished job; but all the same is absolutely essential to enable the job to be done. It is a costly and ticklish bit of work, and to tho lay mind would appear to belong to the realm of impossibilities. It is such feats that give tho layman a deep admiration for tho mind capable of playing such tricks with Nature. There had been rumours in the Waikato for some time that the blow-up was to take place in July, but the time was kept a close secret. No one knew exactly how things would pan out when the big heap of explosives was let off, and naturally a crowd was not desired. Tho news must have leaked out, however, for some hundreds of people lined the banks of the Waikato on Saturday, and they were rewarded with what some of them called “the sight of their lives.” Even a wait of a couple of hours and some rain showers did not spoil the impressiveness. There were really two explosions—one for the intake dam, or “dumpling,” as the engineers call it, and the other to blast away the rock and earth stop-bank which protected the exit of the tunnel from the river. It was at first thought the dumpling explosion was not a success, but a gang of workmen soon cleared a channel in the loosened earth, and the Waikato rushed into the tunnel as though it had been accustomed to that track all its life.

For the big blow-up to clear away the stop-bank at the exit it was necessary to have a cushion of water, and this was why tho “dumpling” was shattered first and the river led into the tunnel. Sixty “mines,” each containing 401 b of explosive, were used in the big event. There was much speculation /as to what was going to happen while the preparations were in train for tho second explosion —the crucial test. A scream from a whistle announced that the button had been pressed, and the little crowd on the banks held its breath.

Suddenly a vicious explosion caused people to step back and feel for something to support themselves against! In the valley tho report echoed 1000 times, and people must have hefard it for miles around. The earth shook as though an earthquake had happened, and from the river there rose tons of water, rocks, and earth 500 ft. in the air, for all the world just a good shot of the late lamented Waimangu. As the traces of the great upheaval had subsided, everybody asked his neighbour whether it had been a success or the other thing. When it was known that the result was entirely satisfactory, congratulations were extended to the engineers and men who carried out this remarkable work.

Big as Saturday’s explosion was, it is not the biggest. Under the Waikato ■. river bed, just in front of the mouth: of tho diversion tunnel, there repose two tons more of high power explosive, ; and the next time there is a flood on this will be detonated, and the bed of the river will then be lowered sufficiently to enable the engineers to get ' on with tho actual dam, which will raise the Waikato the 300 ft. or .so necessary to get sufficient fall to drivo the huge turbines that will generate tho electricity we hope to be using in i Auckland by 1928. _ I

PLANT FOR ARAPUNI. !

RECORD HAULAGE FEAT.

SPECIAL RAILWAY TRUCKS. J AUCKLAND, July 19. | The Railway Department is preparing to essay a haulage feat that is easily a record of its kind for the Dominion, one that has been rendered necessary by the arrival in Auckland of some of the heavy plant for the Arapuni hydro-power scheme. Usually heavy machinery can be dismantled for transport purposes, but in connsction with some of the Arapuni gear the irreducible minimum is largely in excess of any weights previously handled by the department. For a start, it might be mentioned that the quarter stator gear, collectively, weighs 108 tons, and the shipment includes a “spider” that weighs a shade over ten tons, a cross-arm of nine tons, and a shaft of seven tons and a-half. There are a fair number of packages of handy weights of about five tons each, and a multiplicity of packages of lessor weights. Four of the packages in cpnnection with the quarter . stators weigh 27 tons apiece, and the handling of them by rail has required a lot of careful preparation. Tluee U.B. wagons have been fitted up for the purpose, and special bogies have been attached. Moreover, when the special train sets out for Putaruru, which is the nearest railway station to Arapuni, special precautions in regard to the Parnell tunnel , and bridges en route will be taken m plant has come to hand by the me steamers Maimoa -and Ton.riro," which are now in port, and vill be discharged in a few days.