This image is being made available for educational and research purposes only, under the fair use clause of the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 § 107 U.S.C.) Further questions regarding the image or its use may be directed to the California History and Genealogy Room, Fresno County Public Library, 2420 Mariposa St., Fresno, CA 93721-2285; (559) 488-3195, press #3, then #5.
Description
The first concrete was poured at Friant Dam on July 29, 1940. Four small, diesel-electric cars ran on two tracks each transporting 4-cubic-yard buckets. The cars were lifted from the track by two 30-ton gantry cranes and lowered on to the forms. Steel trestles standing 210 feet high, and 2.200 feet long, supported the track system. Along the trestles ran two huge hammerhead cranes with 300-foot arms and a "whirley" crane with a 125-foot boom. Supplementing the hammerheads and revolving derricks were a pair of stiff-leg derricks with 180-foot booms. This system poured 5,500 cubic yards of concrete each day. The final yard of concrete was placed on June 16, 1942. A total of 2,130,480 cubic yards of concrete went into building Friant Dam, ranking the dam as the fourth largest dam in the world behind Boulder, Grand Coulee, and Shasta Dams.
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