A ..
I don't think it was.
Q ..
That's in Arizona.
A ..
That may have been rebuilt.
Q ..
The Salt River Project.
A ..
This was the McClure Dam in New Mexico where they put on some special gates.
I never heard of them before. There was a picture. It was in Civil Engineering
several months ago. They put what they called fuse gates on it that apparently will
fail when the water level gets so high. It works hydraulically, and they can set them
differently so they don't all fail at once. Which reminds me. I don't know, are you
familiar with Lake Barcroft?
Q ..
Just a little bit. Not very much.
A ..
Well, you know, there's a dam there. It failed once. The other lawyer that I
admired was Armistead Booth, who was a member of a law firm founded by his
father in Alexandria. I did a lot of consulting work for him when the reservoir that
supplies Alexandria with water--oh, there've been all kind of housing developments
built around it. I can't even think of the name of the stream.
Q ..
Occoquan?
A
Occoquan, yes. There's a big water supply dam on there. It was owned by a water
company to begin with. They were increasing its capacity so they had to go all
around the reservoir and buy additional land, and Armistead Booth was their
attorney. They had a lot of law suits. I was always his expert witness. He was also
involved in lawsuits on Lake Barcroft before it failed. One time there was a big
flood and the people down in Alexandria got damaged. Its gates were hinged at the
third point so that they would tip when overtopped.
The people downstream sued and claimed that all of the gates tipping at once and
sending a flood wave downstream is what damaged them. These gates were wooden
structures and as soon as one gate tips, why the water level will drop a little bit and
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