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<br /> <br />Alva B. Adams <br />gTunnel <br /> <br />'""40 <br /> <br />~ . <br /> <br />tQ The construction oHhe Alva 8. <br />fYAdams Tunnel was the qBT Project's. <br />. most noteworthy enginee~Jng . <br />achievement. Workers tu~neled through <br />13 miles of granite to build 4 tunnel capable <br />of carrying 550 cubic fe,et per second of <br />water t.o the Front Range" ~nd eastern <br />plains. Construction was ~one <br />simultaneously from the ~st and West <br />undemeath the Continent+l Divide. <br />When the two construction crews met <br />in the middle onJune 10, 19i14 they were <br />off by less than 1/4 inch irtline and <br />elevation: quite a feat inde~d! <br />The enormous task-ofporing the <br />9,foot-9-inch C-BT main artery drew <br />attention nationwide. On Jpne 23, 1940, <br />a ceremonial dynamite blas~ was set .off, <br />marking the beginning .of construction. <br />Twenty..five hundred spectators wimessed <br />the event, and -the Greeley Tribune ran a <br />large front page staty on the tdouel's start. <br />The major international ne~s .of the day I <br />France's surrender t.o Germahy and Italy, <br />shared equal billing with this event in the <br />local preS8. : <br />Progress on the tunnel cQntinued over <br />the next four years, although donstrUction <br />was halted at times due to ~hnpower and <br />material shortages caused by World War II. <br />The day of the final holing through <br />attracted media attention froin across the <br />nation; in fact, NBC radio btbadcast live <br />to a national audience from ~fthin the <br />tunnel, eight miles beneath t~e <br />Concinental Divide. <br />Water deliverles to the Front Range <br />would have to wait another t&ree years, <br />however, due in part to delays it) securing <br />hard~to~get lining materials ar(d periods <br />. when all construction was ,stop-ped by the <br />War Production Board. 1 <br />. On June 23, 1947, the fit\.t water <br />deliveries occurred. At 11:13 ~.m., water <br />was released from the west portal and <br />emerged at the east portal almc}st three <br />hours later. ; <br />Governor Lee Knous openep the gates <br />of the west portal, allowing the first water <br />to begin its journey to the East Slope, and <br />then drove to the east portal in ti~e to see <br />the water emerge. Dedication c~remonies <br />were being conducted there by pscar <br />Chapman, Secretary of the Interior. <br />During a banquet held in Lovel~nd later <br />that evening, keynote speaker Michael <br />Straus, CommiS8ioner of the Uni~ed States <br />Bureau of Reclamation, called dIe C-BT <br />one of the greatest water projeccP in the <br />world. ' <br />The Adams Tunnel ensured- the <br />prosperlty and stabilization of the ~conomy <br />in northeastern Colorado, an j <br />accomplishment worth celebratidg. With <br />the key feature now completed, Nq;WCD <br />and USBR officials turned their attention <br />to finishing the remaining water ,wrage, <br />delivery, and transmission facilities of the <br />project. ~ <br /> <br /> <br />.... GOtlernor Lee <br />K"ouS pushes button to <br />release first water. . <br />through Adal11$ 'Tunnel <br /> <br />~ Spectatorstliewfi~st <br />water as it reaches East <br />PortaiofAdamsTunl1e1 <br /> <br />20 <br />