Crews drill, test dam site for construction
<p>A Crux Subsurface drilling platform on the west side of the canyon clings to the steep, 45-plus-degree angle terrain as it drills.</p>
Dam Platform East Guylines
<p>As water spills away from the aging Flower Creek Dam, the city’s reservoir, the apparent leaching of silica through the concrete is apparent. The state has said it will not issue another five-year permit for the dam, necessitating the new construction.</p>
<p>A Crux Subsurface drilling platform on the west side of the canyon clings to the steep, 45-plus-degree angle terrain as it drills.</p>
Dam Massive Crane
Dam Drilling Platform East Assembly
Dam Drilling Platform West
Dam Drilling Platform West Distant
Dam Erecting Platform
Dam Flaking Dam
Dam High Crane
Dam Drilling Platform
<p>Williams displays the bedrock core samplings from 75 feet beneath the canyon floor.</p>
Actual construction on the Flower Creek Dam won’t begin until next spring, but already there is a lot of activity at the site in preparation for that project.
Construction on the $8.2 million gravity-type dam will begin soon after the spring break-up next year, but with the recent completion of the city-Lincoln County constructed road to the site, work has begun on assessing bedrock by core sampling to be sure there is sufficient base beneath to secure the dam.
When city crews completed the 800-plus foot road to the dam site on June 9 at a cost of about $70,000, work immediately began on the core sampling.
“I think we were in here the next Tuesday (June 12),” said Brian Williams, an engineer and geologist with NTL. “We’re under a timeline.”
That timeline involves completing the bedrock sampling in a timely manner so analyses can be completed in a timely manner so the actual design of the dam can begin, Williams said.
“We need to wrap this up by June 27, so we can do the reports and get them to Morrison Maierle (Kalispell engineering firm) and Rizzo (Associates) so the design work can begin,” Williams said.
Williams explained while the type of dam is known, the actual design cannot begin until engineers have the canyon core samplings, which crews were drilling to depths of 75 feet.
“This is an incredible crew,” Williams said of Crux Subsurface, Inc. “They’re the only company like this west of the Mississippi. They can drill anywhere. I’ve seen them put (ski) gondola poles were you would have thought it impossible,” Williams said.
Williams said a target completion date for the reports is the end of October, giving the winter months to do the actual dam design work.
“They’ll need the winter months to do the design work,” Williams said.
Williams commended city, county and Noble Excavating crews for their work on the new road to the dam site.
“It’s pretty good, and it’s wide enough, as you can see for the crane.”
The city had received a bid of $290,000 to build the road, but a cooperative effort from the trio agreed to pay Noble Excavating $50,000 for the project.
Said City Administrator Jim Hammons: “I saw the check. Noble Excavating got $50,000. We probably spent another $20,000 on the underlay and fuel, but it’s a long way from the $290,000 that was bid.”