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against the scouring action of the water as it leaves the <br />passages leading from the gates. The gate structure is <br />heavily weighted with a filling of earth on top of the piers <br />between wooden bulkheads, forming a driveway across <br />the canal. The earth filling is held in place by a huge <br />box of timber which must in time, possibly very soon, <br />require to be replaced by the more durable material of <br />reinforced concrete. This rebuilding of the top of the <br />dam and the top on the headgate is a part of the perma- <br />nent work now contemplated. <br />By referring to the photographs of these headworks it <br />will be noticed that they are very advantageously lo- <br />cated, where the natural trend of the river is directly to- <br />ward the gates, and in this respect the river has never <br />changed its current or direction since the works were <br />rebuilt by the Great Plains Water Company, in 1898. <br />The dam has never suffered any serious break since it <br />was built, and altogether the works are now in a way to <br />remain permanently undisturbed if properly protected <br />and guarded. <br />WASTE GATES AND SAND GATES. <br />For the more careful regulation of the flow of water in <br />the canal three waste gate structures of wood were origi- <br />nally built, 900, 2,900 and 6,900 feet below the <br />headgates, by means of which the entire flow of the <br />canal could be returned to the river. In 1902 these waste <br />gates were supplemented by a new structure, 3,150 <br />feet below the dam, designed and built by Mr. Thomas <br />Berry, who was at that time Chief Engineer of the Great <br />Plains Water Company, or its successor, the Arkansas <br />29 <br />