Los Banos Rotary Club History
Tells Of Canal Construction

Bert Perkins, a construction engineer associated with Morrison-Knudsen Co. and M. H. Hasler, Tuesday noon gave members of the local Rotary Club an interesting insight into various phases of the construction work that is to be done by his company is this area in connection with the Delta-Mendota canal.
The company was recently awarded a contract for construction of some 20 miles of the canal from a point just north of the Pacheco highway west of town southeast to the Hamburg ranch. The bid for the job was slightly more than $4 million. The same company has just completed another section of the canal in the Tracy area.

In his opening remarks, Perkins complimented the people of Los Banos for their very cooperative and cordial reception here, and stated that several officials of the company have stated that in their twenty to twenty-five years experience in moving from town to town they have never previously experienced such cooperation and friendliness.

Briefly reviewing the history of his company, Perkins said it was one of the Big Six which constructed Boulder Dam, and is one of the largest construction firms in the country. Last year construction contracts of the company amounted to more than $8 billion.

Perkins said that when construction gets underway here the company will employ approximately 500 men on the job, with a payroll of about $25,000 a week, a good portion of which will be expended in local retail outlets.
Following the preliminary survey and engineering work, Perkins said the first job will be the excavation and earth moving. Most of the rough excavation work will be done by a huge machine known as a monighan, which is an overgrown dragline outfit that bites out a 22-ton hunk of earth at each swing. Under good conditions, Perkins said, the monighan has moved 8,000 yards of earth in one 8-hour shift. The machine cost over a quarter-million dollars. An idea of its size can be imagined by the fact that when it was shipped from the factory, 19 flat cars were required to handle all the pieces. The machine is now being partially dismantled at Tracy and will be brought to Los Banos by special heavy duty trucks. The moving job alone will cost more than $50,000.
When the rough excavation work has been completed and the fill portions brought to grade, a huge trimming machine will be used to trim the sides of the canal and provide a perfect earth finish for the 4-inch concrete lining. The cement is also handled by a huge paving machine, which under good conditions can pave as much as 1,000 lineal feet a day.

The company will build a large gravel and cement batching plant at the Wm. Affonso gravel pit, where all cement will be prepared for the job. Perkins said between 60 and 70 trucks will be required to haul the cement from the plant to the paving machine. Actual paving, he said, will not get underway before next spring.

In addition to the canal, there are a large number of culverts, overshoots, irrigation outlets, bridges and spillways to be built, and a contract for the construction has been let to McDonald, Young & Nelson of Berkeley. This company will build offices and headquarters buildings at the Affonso ranch, and direct their operations from that point. Construction of their plant will get underway within the next week or so.

Perkins said the canal will be 48 feet wide at the bottom, with sides sloped at an angle of 1 ½ to 1. Depth will vary from 14 to 16 feet.

Answering a question as to probability of local employment, Perkins said a large number of men would be employed, as many of them as possible locally. However, large scale operations won't start for some time. Persons interested should apply at the company's office on the Pacheco highway, a half block east of I street.

September 13, 1949

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