“You think my hunch may be right then?” put in Bob, his eyes shining. “P’r’aps this big wall might become part of the dam itself!”
“Yep! Here, take a squint through the telescope and see for yourself. The top of this wall is more’n halfway to the top of the canyon.”
Bob applied his eye to the glass and confirmed his comrade’s statement. “Can’t we take some measurements?” he wanted to know.
“Won’t be necessary. We couldn’t climb to the top anyway—”
“Then the transit’s no use?”
“Except as a telescope. But at that it’s told us a lot. But that was a wonderful hunch of yours, Bob. I guess you must be a born engineer. To put it through we’d have to stop up the mouth of the tunnel into which the river runs. Then extra masonry work on top of the cliff would bring it up to the necessary height.”
“I’ll bet a road could be made from the edge of the canyon to the top of the cliff,” asserted Bob confidently, “and what work had to be done here at the river bed could be managed by derricks and cranes from that spot. Don’t you think so?”
“It’d be a big saving all right if it could,” exclaimed Jerry at last. “And I believe it will work. There’s only one thing more to find out and that is how long the tunnel is.”
“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” said Bob. “That’s to go through it. Are you ready?”
Jerry realized that they had wonderful news to bring back to the boss. To find a location was good work, but to find a dam almost ready-made would mean such a saving for the Reclamation Service that the stunt would be almost unique. It fired his enthusiasm and stilled any fears he might have of the danger to be overcome.